Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“ Please don’t kill me…”

And then the deed was done.

An amazing flurry of feelings filled Chara’s mind once the pitiful flower monster was finally defeated. Pride, hope, excitement, power . They could feel themself getting stronger. It had always been a hassle, that flower. Too prideful for its own good; they were glad to see it finally die, no matter how gruesome its death turned out to be. Either way, Chara wasn’t sad to see it go.

At least, they thought they weren't. Something about that voice, that face. It was almost like.. Asriel.

Asriel.

Their brother, their best friend. Asriel, prince of the Underground. Azzy, who wouldn’t hurt a Whimsum. Asriel, who’d always accidentally leave the camera cap on. Asriel, who was never afraid of Chara no matter how many times they tried to scare him off. Asriel, who’d always laughed when they made jokes, who’d comfort them after nightmares, who’d go along with any silly plans they had.

Asriel, who was.. nowhere to be found.

Where.. where was he? Where was their sibling? They needed.. they need to get more powerful, to free the monsters. They needed to be powerful, right? They needed human SOULs to break the barrier! But.. they weren’t on the surface, and Asriel wasn’t here, so that already happened, right? So, why did they need to get more powerful? Why did they-

Oh.

It’s YOU.

And suddenly everything came flooding back. They guessed there was only one thing left to do.

“Greetings. I am Chara.” They said. It was weird, talking directly to the thing that had been messing with their mind for the past.. however long. Well, Chara guessed it was YOUr fault for awakening them in the first place. Without YOUr determination, they would’ve been dead forever.

Maybe they would’ve liked that.

They say, “Thank you. Your power awakened me from death.” Chara looked at it for a second. Its eyes were closed and its body was stock still, apart from the small shaking of the hand that held its dust covered knife. Disgusting. “My ‘human soul’. My ‘determination.’” They said, “it was not mine, but YOUrs.”

“At first, I was confused,” they started, “our plan failed, hadn’t it?” Chara thought back to when they first ‘woke up’. The last thing they remembered before waking on the flowers was Asriel crying to them on their deathbed. He was begging for them not to go through with the plan, for it to go back to them being best friends. The tears would’ve burned like acid if the literal stomach acid wasn’t already doing that for them.

“Why was I brought back to life?” They asked. It was almost exasperating how many times they’d tried to kill themselves before they finally succeeded for once.

“…YOU. With YOUr guidance, I realized the purpose of my reincarnation; power.” Or, in other words, control. However, YOU didn’t need to know that part just yet, did YOU? “Together, we eradicated the enemy and became strong.” Chara could see what happened now. Whatever stuck them to this being, it must have also allowed it to infiltrate their mind. It infected their thoughts of the surface and their need to get stronger to break the barrier with a corrupted need for power.

“HP, ATK, DEF, GOLD, EXP, LV, every time a number increases,” they stated calmly, trying to hide how they truly felt. They were never really good at hiding their true emotions, but this felt a good place to start, “that feeling… that’s me, Chara.” They fought with their instinct to take out their hand to shake; that didn’t end well last time.

“Now,” they began. Here comes the hard part, Chara thought. “Now, we have reached the absolute. There is nothing left for us here.” To be honest, there really wasn’t. Dust hung in heavy clouds around them. If Chara could breathe it in, they’d surely be coughing. In fact, why weren’t YOU..?

“Let us erase this pointless world, and move on to the next,” Chara announced. They sounded confident. It wasn’t at all like how they proposed their first plan. They were a lot more nervous back then. It didn’t help that last time Chara actually cared about the person they were proposing it to.

Chara tried to study its reaction. Its seemingly constant blank visage suddenly perked up when it was prompted to make a choice. Its dead eyes slightly flicked back and forth as it thought. Chara really didn’t know why it was thinking so hard, it wasn’t like its choice would change anything.

Except.. it lightly shook its head. ..what? “No..? Hm..” Oh, this was hilarious. Did it seriously trick itself into thinking it had choice? Chara had to stop themself from laughing. “How curious. You must have misunderstood.”

Chara felt an inky black void take over their eyes, a thick sludge taking its place in the back of their throat as it eventually became too much and poured out. They started giggling to themself, “SINCE WHEN WERE YOU THE ONE IN CONTROL?” They took out their knife, their real knife. It was clean, sharp, and slowly getting covered in the sludge as it poured out of their mouth and eyes, dripping down onto their arms.

Then, they saw it. The strings.

And they slashed.

They heard a body crumple to the ground. Uninjured, but surely not coming back anytime soon. They hardly noticed the body, because they were transfixed on the thing in front of them.

A bright, glowing red SOUL.

Their mind was clear now, untangled from the web being attached to the nearest human soul it apparently transported you to. It occurred to them they were free now. It was strange, considering it hadn’t really been known to them that Chara’s mind wasn’t their own in the first place, but.. they supposed now they could do whatever they wanted, right? Except..

Everyone was gone. Mom, Dad, Azzy…

It hadn’t really sunk in until just then. Everyone was gone. No more warm hugs, no more warmer pies, no more playful runs through the ruins or wishing on the rocks in Waterfall. ‘Well, that’s selfish, isn’t it?’ They thought, ‘those monsters are dead, Chara. They’ll never come back, never see their families again, and all you can think of is yourself? Typical.’

They wanted to scream, to hit.. something. They wanted to kill YOU for what it did. They wanted to go home. They wanted to- ‘Stop whining, Chara,’ a harsh voice cracked through their mind. It was a familiar one, though not one they’d heard in a while, and not one they ever hoped of hearing again.

They looked back up at the SOUL, only to find their eyes blurry. They touched their face and their hands came back wet. Were they.. crying? They hadn’t done that in a very long time. ‘Big kids don’t cry,’ the voice scolded. It was right. Crying wouldn’t do anything, so Chara had to figure out what to do. How to fix this.

Chara started looking for something, anything else about the SOUL that might help them. To make up for what they’ve done. They noticed other things as well. A strange.. menu-like thing appeared to Chara as they searched through the SOUL.  Options to ‘Save’ or ‘Reset’ immediately stuck out to them. Chara had been wondering how the thing seemed to know every attack before it hit them, now it all made sense.

This was.. perfect! They could reset, right? They didn’t know how far it’d go back, but surely far enough that they could do something about this mess. Chara went to go press the button but paused. What if they reset, and YOU come back? Wouldn’t YOU just take over them again, and it’d all restart? No, it couldn’t be.. whatever YOU are, YOU're contained within the determination of this SOUL. A SOUL they now own. But then who would operate the human? It couldn’t just-

And just then, Chara's train of thought was interrupted as soon as they heard some light grunting and rustling from the direction of the.. oh you’ve gotta be kidding.

Just then, the body that had been stuck to the floor started slowly pushing itself to its feet.

No! Not again!

Chara struck without thinking, but despite the groggy state it was in, the human somehow still managed to dodge the knife. “How are you getting back up? I own your SOUL now! I control you!” They yelled. The human didn’t respond, but Chara could see something different in their expression. Their.. expression. The entity always kept a blank look on their face, no matter what.

Chara staggered for a moment. They had a theory, but… “Hey, you don’t happen to have any plans of mass genocide.. do you?” They asked awkwardly. Hey! It’s not like they taught Chara how do deal with this in Monster History 101!

The human looked nervous, then confused. They shook their head in the negative, but seemed distracted. What were they looking at? Oh. The knife. “Oh! Sorry, uh.. I just thought you were someone else!” They tried to put their hands up to placate the panicking child, but that only made them raise the knife and make them panic more. They were looking around now, trying to figure out a way to escape. They didn’t look to be trying to kill Chara though, so that was probably a good sign.

“Uh! I’m sorry! Look,” they apologized, sticking the knife in their back pocket for now. “See? Everything’s fine! No more knife!” No matter how much Chara hated humans, they needed this one to be calm enough to answer them. …even if they weren’t very good at this whole ‘comforting’ thing. Still, the human seemed a lot less panicky now that the knife was gone.

“Do you.. remember anything? After you fell down, I mean.” The human was more placid, but Chara could see they were still nervous by the way they fussed with their hands, trying to get all the dust off. The human thought about their question for a moment, before shaking their head ‘no’.

Hm. Well, whatever being was holding control over Chara’s mind, it must have been doing to the same to this human’s body. If they reset now, this human wouldn’t be under the control of that entity anymore. If they reset, Chara could guide them to Asgore! The monsters already had six souls, right? It seemed most monsters were hunting for the last human anyway, so it wouldn’t be too hard to find one competent enough to bring the soul to Asgore.

Even if they’d never be alive enough to truly enjoy it, even if no one would know they helped, Chara had to make it up to monsterkind. They’ve suffered so much at Chara’s hand, it was time for Chara to finally repent. They would fix it. They had to.

For Mom, for Dad,

For Asriel.

“Greetings, Human. I am Chara,” they said, “and I think we are going to be best friends.”

Chapter Text

When Chara woke up after dying, they were confused. Questions raced through their mind. Had they done it? Did they win? Were the monsters free? Why were they awake? Their memories were fuzzy. What was that about being free? Where was Asriel? They needed…

There was a blinding light awaiting them when they opened their eyes. Everything was too much, and yet they felt nothing at all. They hadn’t won, had they? The plan failed. Chara would never make it up to their family. They would never even see them again. Chara wanted to cry, but this wasn’t the time. They weren’t even sure they could anymore.

Eventually they regained enough consciousness to look around. It was where they first fell down. The ruined pillars, the cave entrance, the flowers. The.. flowers? What was on top of the flowers?

A human. What was a human doing here? Did they-

The next thing Chara knew, there was.. a talking flower? They could hardly hear what it was saying, but they knew it was attacking the human. And then.. “Mom! Mom, I’m here! Hello? Why can’t you hear me? I’m sorry, I know I’ve been bad. I don’t know what I did but I’m sorry, I-“ they whined and screamed but Toriel did not seem to be talking to them. Was she talking to the human? Why was.. the human looking at her like that?

Suddenly they were walking through the ruins. Everything was flushing by like watercolour paintings, brief flashes of images and feelings but no concrete memories. A door. Buttons. Switches. Mom. A dummy. Dust. Wait, dust? A Froggit. More dust. What was happening? Why was there so much dust? Why was their SOUL covered in it? Spikes, a warmth in their hand, a hallway, a cell phone, more dust. So, so much dust.

Then, they felt it. Like a flame lit in their SOUL, they felt themself getting stronger. That was what it was! They needed to get stronger! That was why they were back, they needed to be more powerful. To do.. something. Something to help Asriel. Chara was going to be good this time, they promised.

—————

When Chara woke up after resetting, they knew exactly what to do.

Well, maybe not exactly.

Chara needed to get the human SOUL to Asgore, and to do that they needed to guide the human so they wouldn’t accident die and break their SOUL, and to do that they needed the human to trust them. Or, at least listen to them. Tolerate, maybe?

Anyway, that was the hard part. What would they tell them? That they were a mystical ghost guide here to help them on their journey? ‘Oh, hey! Ignore the fact that I’m dead, here’s the scary caverns where monsters live and will try to attack you! You can’t kill them though!’ Most human's first reaction would be to try to hurt things they didn’t understand, or just didn’t like. Even if the Entity was gone, who was to say this human wasn’t worse, somehow?

Speaking of, the human laid there in the bed of flowers. The ethereal light of the surface shone down on their body, face down on the ground. The position looked pretty uncomfortable, Chara would know. It only now occurred to Chara how small they seemed. The human was smaller than Chara was when they first fell down, for sure.

They were a lot more well-nourished than Chara was, and their clothes seemed to be soft and well worn but not ripped. They had small colourful bandages on their knees and elbows, and their hair was frizzy and tangled. Chara briefly wondered how they fell down here in the first place. They seemed pretty young…

Eh, well you never know. Even the small suckers can be little demons. Came with being human.

Still, what could they say to the human that wouldn’t make them panic? Sure, they could always reset if something went wrong, but they didn’t really want to mess with all the time magic they suddenly acquired. Chara fussed with the flower petals in their hair while they waited for them to wake up. Chara had only realized recently that the small yellow petals were even there, but since then they never seemed to leave. They thought, maybe they could explain the monster’s history to the human?

If Chara was being honest, it'd be much easier if the human had a concussion like they did after they fell. That way they’d be too disorientated to question anything. Besides, the pain wasn’t even that bad. Nothing they didn’t deserve anyway. Maybe the human would believe them if they pretended to be a hallucination? What if-

Oh- they were waking up! Alright, Chara, you can do this. It’s just a silly human. Humans are pretty useless at most things other than hurting people, and it’s not like they can touch them!

The human sluggishly looked around for a minute, taking in the mountain they found themself in. They started inspecting the flowers they’d fallen on. Chara floated next to them; It seemed the human had not yet noticed their presence.

“Golden flowers. They must have broken your fall.” Chara noted. They had to admit they were a little delighted when the human jumped and turned around at the voice beside their ear. Instilling a little fear of authority was good for kids, wasn’t it? Chara wore a pleasant smile, hands folded neatly behind their back. It was the same one they used to wear on the surface when the strange men came to their house to ask if they were okay.

The human got over their shock, and tilted their head slightly at Chara. They responded by taking their hand from behind their back to shake.

“Howdy! I am Chara. Welcome to the Underground. I will be your guide on your journey,” Chara winced. It wasn’t their best cover story, but it was the only one they could think of, okay? The human looked at them for a second, unsure, before tentatively going to shake Chara’s hand. They couldn’t help but let out a small snicker at the humans reaction when their hand fell through, unable to touch Chara's ghostly hand. That was, at least, until the human started sniffling.

“Oh no.. uh.. it’s okay! You’re fine! I’m just dead. Look!” Chara reasoned, trying to make it sound normal to the child who had probably only ever heard of ghouls under the bed. “Just a ghost, see? Harmless!” They waved their hand through the humans head, but they only made them cry more.

They also started looking at their own hands, as if they were the dead one. They looked up to the surface, and saw how far the fall was. They were getting more panicked by the second.

“Oh, um. You’re not dead! I promise!” Chara tried to get their attention, but the yelling seemed to only provoke them further. Chara wasn’t getting anywhere with them like this. Angel, what would Dad do? “Look, Human! Feel around you. You can touch the flowers, can’t you? I can’t do that. Breathe, ghosts can’t breathe. You’re not dead. You’re alive. Everything’s okay.” Chara spoke slowly and watched as the human slowly quieted. It was what Asgore always did whenever they or Asriel were panicking, and it seemed to work this time too.

“You’re in the Underground, where the monsters live.” The human tilted their head in confusion. “Do you.. not know what monsters are?” Chara sat down as they spoke, and so did the human. They shook their head. Chara didn’t know how much time had passed since their death, but they were taught at least some of the monster-human war on the surface, albeit a very distorted version of the truth. Since then they had learned a much more factual version of the story. “Long ago, two races ruled over the earth..” they began.

After about a minute, Chara was finished telling the human the monster’s history. All things considered, the human was taking it quite well. “Monsters are a very peaceful race, but that doesn’t mean they’re not powerful. They only need one more human to break the barrier, so they might try to attack you,” Chara explained. If they omitted the part about a human being able to kill every single monster in the underground if determined enough, who’s to say?

“Does.. that make sense?” Chara finished. The human nodded, and generally seemed slightly more awake than they did before. It was hard to tell, since they never once opened their eyes. “Oh! I never asked your name, did I? How rude of me,” they realized. If Toriel was here she would be shaking her head at their lack of politeness. The human shook their head, before beckoning Chara forward and whispering it in their ear.

“Frisk, huh? Well Frisk, how about we get going?” They asked. The human got up and started walking through the door.

——————

Chara never liked that flower.

It was annoying, at best. Downright evil, at worst. Either way it seemed it could never make up its mind about anything. One second it was all, ‘It’s kill or be killed!’ And the next it was begging for forgiveness. It wasn't like it even had a good motive for whatever it was doing. ‘Flowey the flower’ -stupid name, by the way- seemed to only be doing anything for its own entertainment and benefit. Chara had a sneaking suspicion if they let the flower take Frisk’s SOUL it wouldn’t end up in Asgore’s hands any time soon.

It was also strange because it was the only monster Chara didn’t recognize at all. They knew it had been a while since they were alive, but surely Chara would have at least heard of a flower-type monster. It’d probably look identical to Asgore’s flowers if it weren’t for that dumb face. As far as they could tell, it’s wasn’t even a monster. When it died, it didn’t turn to dust, its SOUL didn’t even break. If it wasn’t a monster, then what was it?

Finally, there was something.. strange about the monster. It reminded Chara of something in the way that it spoke, but nothing Chara could actually remember. It didn’t help the it could perfectly shape its stupid looking cartoon smile into that of a goat. It was almost like the thing was made to taunt them specifically.

So, it was safe to say when it popped its head out of the ground and started to introduce itself, Chara was already annoyed with it. “Don’t trust it, Frisk. This isn’t a good monster,” Chara warned. Frisk nodded along as Flowey went on his stupid tirade.

“He’s going to try to attack you. Don’t worry though, he’s pretty easy to avoid.” Chara directed the human how to move around the bullets without getting their SOUL hit. Frisk looked at them, flicking their eyes from Flowey and back to Chara. “Oh,” they realized, “none of the other monsters can see or hear me. I’m a ghost, remember?” Frisk nodded, but still seemed conflicted by the two slightly untrustworthy people telling them to do opposite thing. In the end they moved their SOUL to dodge Flowey’s ‘friendliness pellets’.

The flower continued getting more and more aggressive and angry as Frisk continued to evade his attacks. In the end, he dropped the friendly facade and circled Frisk in bullets. They seemed pretty stressed about it; looking around them for any escape, looking to their companion for guidance. Chara didn’t need to respond, any minute now she would-

There she was.

Mom.

Toriel -Queen of the Underground, Mother of two one, Connoisseur of Puns, and excellent Baker of Snail Pie- blasted to flower with a fireball and a distasteful expression on her face. She then turned to the small human and, for just a moment, it almost looked like she was talking to Chara as well. Obviously, they knew that Toriel couldn’t hear them. Or, touch them, or really know they were there.

That didn’t stop the want to run to the goat monster and let themself be enveloped into one of her tight hugs. It didn’t stop how much it ached to be able to see her again, alive. Chara couldn’t show any of these emotion in front of the human, though. It was probably just waiting for the opportunity to exploit any weakness Chara showed. Maybe it was waiting to see who they cared about so they could hold them hostage, or dust her. They couldn’t let that happen again.

Frisk, meanwhile, was looking at the newest monster’s hand, hesitant to shake it. They looked to Chara, who quickly wiped any emotion they had on their face before nodding for Frisk to take the hand. “Don’t worry, you can trust her. I hear she makes quite the excellent snail pie,” Chara said. Frisk briefly stuck their tongue out in disgust, before taking Toriel’s hand and allowed themself to be dragged along.

Surely it couldn’t be too hard to find someone who would take Frisk’s SOUL?

——————

Chara kept close behind as Frisk was led through the basics of the ruins. Every few seconds, the child would point at something and look at them, as if commanding them to read it aloud or sometimes even describe an object. It seemed to serve no other purpose than to get them to talk, or perhaps just annoy them? Maybe Frisk was waiting for them to snap out of anger and reveal just how much power they had over the situation. Regardless, Chara wasn’t going to fall for it!

The group soon came across a training dummy, and the human entered their first battle. One where Frisk actually had the option to fight, atleast. Chara scrutinized the humans every move at this point. Even if it wasn’t a real monster, the dust would cling to them all the same. Their LOVE would still increase. If the human decided to try and attack this dummy, who was to say they wouldn’t do the rest to the rest of monsterkind?

Back before the reset, they could kind of have seen this as the beginning of the end.

It wasn’t like Chara could do much to stop them. They couldn’t touch the human, and resetting felt like tempting fate. Even if they were a ghost, it wasn’t like they knew how to posses them or anything.

If the human truly wanted, if they were truly determined enough, they could most likely find a way to simply overpower Chara, stealing their ability to reset and making them watch their family turn to dust again until they got bored. Yes, this was a crucial moment to observe.

“You talked to the dummy. …it wasn’t much for conversation. Toriel seems happy.” Chara noted. That seemed.. anticlimactic. Still, they had to keep their guard on if they wanted the monsters to survive this time. Maybe the human didn’t have a reason to kill anyone just yet, but if Chara didn’t dissuade them now, the human might just find one.

“You won! See? Sparing isn’t so hard,” Chara pressed nervously. Frisk nodded, seemingly proud of themself.

Later, a wild Froggit hopped close to attack Frisk, but the battle hardly lasted a turn before Toriel came to glare it away. Chara laughed a little to themself at the sight. It seemed some things never changed, such as how their Mom commanded respect in every situation.

Chara could perfectly imagine being back when they were first exploring the Underground. At first they thought all the monsters were just scared of humans, they had never seen one before after all. Then when they got back to the castle, Azzy told them that Mom glared at every monster that approached them, daring the monsters to say something rude. It had felt nice, being defended like that.

Frisk was led hand-in-hand by Toriel through the spike puzzle. Chara followed right behind, though it didn’t matter much since they could simply float above it. The sight broke their nostalgic memories and gave them pause. Was Toriel really this trusting last time, too? Did she hold the hand of the one who would kill her mere hours later?

They hardly noticed when they got out of the spike room, nor when Toriel gave Frisk their final test of independence. They were too busy thinking about Toriel’s face when she was struck, and how Chara reveled in her execution at the time.

Toriel handed Frisk the phone, asked to stay there and then left. Chara knew they should be pushing the human to leave despite Toriel’s request, but couldn’t muster the energy to. It seemed Frisk was content to wait there anyway, so might as well let them.

While she was gone, Frisk turned to focus on Chara, who was floating absentmindedly, deep in thought. Frisk looked around, looking for something they could get them to talk about or something to distract them with. Unfortunately, there were no signs or objects nearby to get them to read.

Frisk fiddled with the phone for a minute, dialing Toriel’s number a couple of times. They suddenly perked up and you could almost see the cartoonish lightbulb appear above their head.

Chara poked their head up too, noticing the sudden uptick in activity.

Frisk got this wicked little grin on their face before dialing Toriel’s number, only to say..

“Y-You! What!? Did you just-! Was that a pickup line ?!” Chara's face flushed as they yelled at the human. Frisk kept their in giggles for just long enough for Toriel to end the call. Once she was gone the tiny child started wheezing with laughter.

It seemed their laugh was infectious, as soon enough Chara was cackling too. “Just-heh- why? You just called her mom as well!”

Frisk’s grin only widened.

After they stopped laughing, Chara took a breath and said, “Alright human, I think it’s time to start moving.” They said as they started to float to the exit. Frisk made a distressed noise and pointed at the cell phone repeatedly. “Toriel? Oh, don’t worry. She won’t get too mad.” When Frisk still wouldn’t budge, Chara turned around to look them in the eye.

“I’m not kidding, Frisk. Monsters aren’t like humans. ” They responded seriously. “I know her. The worse she’ll do is shake her head. Trust me. ”

Frisk still seemed hesitant, but eventually nodded starting walking with Chara. “Now come on, let’s go find your paramour.” They teased.

…And then Toriel called them as soon as they left the room.

Chapter Text

The Ruins were covered in the dust of those who once lived there.

LOVE filled the air like a thick cloud, the type one could choke on. Or, maybe that was just the monster’s ashes.

Chara could sense the presence of the monsters in each room. They would tell the human where they were, but it seemed to enjoy the hunt. They did, however, give a countdown of how many were left. Who were they to deny such a simple thing in the name of getting stronger?

It occurred to Chara, vaguely, that they should feel bad. Something inside them seemed to be wailing, scratching, screaming to be let out. Every time a monster was killed, however, that voice quieted slightly. Soon, it’d be nothing more than a whisper in the wind, just like the rest of the monsters.

“I want this .” Chara just kept repeating that line, a mantra in their head. “I want this, I want this, I want this.” They wanted to get stronger. They wanted to gain LOVE. They wanted this.

As they repeated it, it slowly became more true. Every time they gained something, LOVE, EXP, Angel, even just gold, it felt amazing. It was like they were letting years of hatred and violent thoughts that were never acted upon out.

And as the human walked through those empty , empty corridors, they felt nothing. No remorse, and no pain .

It had to have been the best thing they’d felt in a very, very long time.

The goat wasn’t very hard to dust. It felt like it should’ve been more difficult, somehow.

She was too trusting, though. She hadn’t even tried to stop them as they murdered took every single monster EXP source they could find.

Except for that stupid ghost, of course.

Still, they should feel accomplished. Or happy, or filled with LOVE, or even just neutral, but they weren’t.

They felt… sad. Not just sad, but devastated and guilty. Why? Why must their silly guilt ruin every single good thing they’ve ever had?

It didn’t matter anyway. The entity moved forward without hesitation, without emotion. Chara found they could no longer call it ‘human’. It certainly matched the description of one, both in appearance and action, however that title didn’t.. feel right.

Angel, they really had to stop this whole ‘feeling’ thing before it got out of hand.

They moved through the next corridor, silent. Chara took a glance at the entity. It looked like something out of a monster horror movie, its hands covered in dust and features still and unmoving.

…this corridor felt shorter when Chara was alive.

When it finally finished, a yellow flower popped out of the ground innocently as if there was already a hole there.

“Hahaha.. you’re not really human, are you? No.. you’re empty inside. Just like me.” It grinned, “In fact, you’re Chara, right?” The flower said.

It knew.. how did it know? The voice that had been pleading for mercy earlier was now fighting for control. If this thing could see them, or at least knew they were there, it could help, could it not? This was their only hope to help the monsters.

“We’re still inseparable, after all these years.” It said. Chara didn’t know what that meant, but it continued anyway, “Listen, I have a plan to be all powerful. More powerful than you and your stolen SOUL. Let’s destroy everything in this wretched world. Everyone, everything in these meaningless memories. Let’s turn ‘em all to dust!” It ranted, before popping back into the ground from where it came.

It.. wasn’t on their side? Why? Why was it doing all this? What reason could it possibly have to want to be this powerful? That was their last hope..

The only monster that could’ve help Chara from the hell they were trapped in, and it was on the side of the devil. Nobody else was coming.

Just then, that little voice that had been screaming to get out, it finally died.

——————

The Ruins were a lot more lively than Chara remembered them being.

It seemed every five minutes there was some monster approaching them, demanding their SOUL before shyly walking away once Frisk had spared them. -Well, not walking exactly. Flying? Hopping? …squishing?- This wouldn’t be a bad thing for Chara’s mission if it weren’t for the fact Chara knew none of these monsters would be able to leave the ruins without Toriel finding out, nevermind transporting the SOUL to Asgore.

It didn’t help that those who decided to talk to them instead of fighting kept telling Frisk about these ‘weird nightmares’ they’ve been having.

Chara had a feeling they knew what was happening in those nightmares.

Regardless, they were partway through the ruins and Frisk had spared every single monster. They went out of their way to be nice to them too! Even though it was great that they weren’t killing anyone, it made Chara feel strange.

They’d never seen a human act like this before. Every single one of them were selfish, rude, and most of the time violent. Even when they weren’t violent physically, humans usually knew any number of ways to hurt you in other ways.

Chara was starting to wonder if this was an experience specific to them.

They were soon distracted from their thoughts by whatever tomfoolery Frisk had going on. This was beginning to become a pattern.

Chara used their ability to walk through walls to direct Frisk through the various puzzles- though they seemed quite determined to not listen to their advice and figure out the puzzles by themself- and warned them whenever there was a monster ahead. Strangely, they started to notice how close Frisk had gotten to them while they walked through the Ruins. It wasn’t just physical distance, even if Frisk never was more than a meter apart from them at any given time, but many subtle behaviours.

Like how Frisk seemed to want them to always be talking. They’d noticed it before, but it has increased tenfold now that they have more than five rooms to explore. Frisk would point to an object and tilt their head, and then Chara would give a brief description of it. Over, and over, and over again.

Usually humans didn’t like when they talked, they always said children should be silent and respectful. That was part of the reason why they were so quiet when they first came to the Underground. Frisk, like always, seemed to be an exception to this human rule. Every time they spoke, Frisk would get a small smile of their face and then move onto the next thing.

Another behaviour they’d noticed was that Frisk kept forgetting no one else could see them. Multiple times had monsters given them weird looks because Frisk had held the air where their hand was, or tugged on their invisible sleeve. They had even tried to hide behind them on multiple occasions when they met an especially scary monster.

Even though it didn’t do much in terms of actual protection, Chara hadn’t told them to stop. It made Frisk look a bit calmer when they allowed them to, so no harm done.

…not that Chara particularly cared what the human was thinking, but they dodged better when they were calm. If monsterkind’s last hope was killed by a Froggit on their watch, they were going to be pissed.

Plus, Frisk could be pretty funny once they got in their element. Even if their element was flirting with strangers. Also, Frisk was much more expressive than the entity ever was. The utter disgust Frisk showed when the rock called them ‘pumpkin’ would forever be burned in Chara’s mind.

If Chara tried hard enough, they could pretend this all hadn’t happened before.

——————

When Frisk first met the ghost, Chara wasn’t paying too much attention to it. It wasn’t like the ghost could be killed, after all.

However, when the ghost entered a fight with Frisk, the ghost didn’t turn to look at them or their SOUL, but rather a bit higher.

Right at Chara. “o-oh…. you’re… you….” Chara immediately started panicking. Not only could this ghost see them, but they seemed to recognize them? But the look in the ghost's eyes was not one of recognition, no, but of fear. The ghost looked back and forth between Chara’s empty SOUL and the branch in Frisk’s hand “i-i…. im sorry… i have to go warn toriel now… sorry..,” they almost whispered, before disappearing.

Warn Toriel?

Frisk turned to look at them, worry, confusion, and something that looked a lot like fear hidden in the lines of their face. Chara didn’t know what to say, how to comfort them.

It wasn’t a new feeling for Chara.

What did they see? Could… could the ghost tell what they’d done? Did they peer into Chara’s SOUL and eyes and see the atrocities they’d committed?

Did the monsters remember? The ‘nightmares’, the weird feelings of dread, was it because they remembered their deaths? Their deaths that hadn’t happened, not anymore. Even after resetting the timeline, could Chara never undo what they’d done? Even if Chara was somehow able to get the human’s soul to Asgore, would it even matter? Who cares if you’re free when have to live your life in constant fear of an imminent death that already happened?

And Frisk would end up taking the fall, wouldn’t they? Another innocent person would have to deal with their problems.

Angel, they were such an idiot.

Frisk was freaking out now. They didn’t even know what was happening, but Chara wasn’t responding and wouldn’t address them even when they waved their small hands through their face. They started looking around at the sound of heavy footfalls and the smell of smoke.

Frisk, the human who wasn’t a human, the Underground’s last hope, who wouldn’t hurt a Whimsum, was going to die for something they didn’t do.

Chara couldn’t think. They didn’t know what to do. Would whatever they tried even work? Were they doomed to repeat this narrative forever?

No.

Not again.

Chara broke out of their panic just in time for Toriel to round the corner.

“Follow me,” Chara commanded, and started zipping through the halls of the Ruins. Even if they couldn’t think right now, they could atleast find a hiding spot. Them and Asriel used to played hide and seek here for hours, it wouldn’t be hard to find some crack in the walls or crevice to slip into.

——————

The Ruins were empty now. They didn’t know where everyone had gone. They knew rationally that Frisk hadn’t killed them, but they couldn’t help but cough in the face of the imaginary dust and the memories of flowers and blood clotting in their throat.

They could hear Toriel shouting something, but they were both too frightened to listen. Frisk was running out of breath; it seemed they didn’t run around very often. Eventually, Chara came to the small hole they’d found what must have been years ago. It was a small, jagged thing that led to a surprisingly large room. It was still not big enough to fully stretch your arms out in, but it was enough. Not even Asriel had found them here.

Frisk pushed themself into the hole, scratching parts of their arms on the rocks, tearing holes in their sweater. They curled themself into a ball, hugging their knees and sniffling.

It seemed Toriel had been briefly distracted by something, because she hadn’t been following them for the last few rooms. Frisk must’ve noticed this too because they were staring at Chara with a determined look of their face. Probably looking for an explanation.

Shoot. Chara hadn’t thought they’d have to back up their lie so soon. What did the humans back on the surface always say about half truths?

“Alright so..,” they whispered. Even if they knew Toriel could not hear them if she was here, it didn’t feel right to talk normally, “you are not the first human to have a fallen down here. I try to guide them, whenever one finds themself here. I grew up with stories of humans hunting monsters, and since I’m already dead, I thought I’d try to.. make sure they don’t hurt anyone.” They lied. Well, that wasn’t fair, some of it was true.

“… it didn’t end up so well. Turns out I’m not as good of a guide as I thought I’d be, heh.” They quickly chuckled, before stopping. It wasn’t funny. “Last time, I mean. It.. The human hurt a lot of people. It was my fault really,” they admitted quietly.

At some point while talking Chara had slid down and was hugging their knees now. “I couldn’t stop it. I.. helped. Somewhat. It happened so long ago, I mean, I just thought no one would really remember it too much.” They really hadn’t. How could they have known monsters had some innate knowledge of past timelines?

“I guess they still do though. Or, they think it was a nightmare, at least,” Chara whispered, “When that ghost saw me I guess they.. they could probably tell I was the reason everyone was having nightmares, or… something like that.” Chara sneakily checked Frisk’s reaction to all this.

They seemed to believe it, at the very least, and was about to do something in response before they were interrupted by a voice coming from outside the crack.

“My child, are you in here..?” Toriel said. She sounded concerned and apologetic. “I.. understand what you must think of me, small one. You must have been terrified…” she continued, “I have spoken with the monsters you encountered, and it seems I have been lied to.” Her voice took on its typical annoyed edge at the end, like she was ready to burn the offender without trial.

“Terrible, is it not? Despite having only ever been kind to those you met, I assumed the worst of you. I must deeply apologize.” She said, sounding softer this time, “Please, my child, I understand you must be frightened. I understand you must now be wary of me, but I can heal your wounds. I could bake you some pie, if you wish.  You must understand harm will not come to you now.” She reassured.

Chara remembered those words. They did not know if it was intentional, but Toriel had said the same thing to them when they first arrived. Chara hardly remembered what had caused it, but they must of broken some sort of rule and attempted to escape punishment in a panic. Toriel had slipped them dinner and then explained to them that fact. ‘Harm will not come to you now.’ She couldn’t be more wrong, of course, but it was genuine.

Frisk seemed hopeful but turned to Chara for approval, they nodded in response. The human seemed to trust them utterly, despite having only known them for an hour or two.

Frisk crawled out of the crack in the wall and Toriel immediately fussed over the scratches on their arms.

It’s wasn’t long before Toriel was gently leading the child towards her house.

——————

Some said you can sleep when you’re dead. Chara found this entirely untrue.

Frisk was lying on the bed, presumably asleep, while Chara lay on the floor staring at the glow-in-the-dark star sticker-covered ceiling. Chara was pretty sure the human deserved it after the events of the day.

There was much to process, like, for example, why they were still doing this.

The human could clearly function on their own, and wasn’t planning on dusting anyone in the mean time. It wasn’t even like Chara was helping in any capacity. In fact, they could argue that they'd made the situation significantly worse.

That, therefore, begged the question: Why did Chara ever think they could help?

They hadn’t helped the monsters when they arrived in the Underground. They hadn’t helped when they tried to free them. They hadn’t helped Dad when they made him that pie. The most they’d ever helped anyone was their family when they first jumped into that ditch, since then they’d only ever hurt people.

They guessed the answer was.. because what else would they do? This was their last chance to do anything to help. They had to make up for it, for everything. Because if they couldn’t, then what was the point of all of it? They had to help because if not, they could’ve just lived happily.

If what they did in the afterlife truly didn’t matter? Then they hadn’t committed some heroic action to save monsterkind by dying; it wouldn’t even have been a tragedy. It would've just been two stupid little kids who thought they could help. It would've been a dumb accident that had ruined every part of the life they had built for them. It would have been just a suicidal little idiot who thought they could change the world by killing themself.

If they couldn’t do something with it, then that pain wasn’t a ‘necessary consequence for the greater good,’ it’d just be pain.

Horrible, unnecessary, choking pain.

Chara sat in a room that looks so much like theirs, with replicas of their toys and decorations and stuff, with a Mother who could never see them and memories of bright yellow flowers.

And Chara didn’t cry.

Chara curled into a ball on the floor as their face scrunched up, with a brother who they couldn’t find and a mission that would never be fulfilled.

And Chara didn’t cry.

Chara choked and gagged when the phantom pains of poison and illness slowly corroded their body, as they felt a sticky dark substance gather in their eyes, mouth and stomach.

And Chara didn’t cry.

——————

After what had probably been an hour, Toriel walked back into the room with a plate in hand. She crept silently as to not wake Frisk, and left a steaming pie on the floor next to the bed. It’d probably be a while before Frisk woke up, so they decided to follow her instead.

Now that Chara was getting a closer look at their Mother, she seemed.. more tired than they remembered.

She was always a soft but stern presence in Chara’s life. Someone who knew which lines were not to be crossed, and which ones could be playfully tiptoed upon.

Now, though, she looked like that softness had been replaced by an exhaustion. She sighed as she sat down on her famous chair with a book in hand. ‘101 Snail History facts! Fun for the Whole Family’ its cover read. Chara recognized it, of course. They had only read it around 101 times.

Toriel wasn’t opening the book, though. She simply sat on her chair, looking at the ceiling. Her eyes twinkled not with a spark of hope or contentedness like Chara was used to, but rather helplessness and regret.

It wasn’t like Chara’s presence would help her sorrows in any way, but they briefly pretended it did when she picked up the book and began reading. They could almost even pretend this was a normal day. That Azzy and Dad were out shopping while Chara and Mom made pie.

They let themself live this delusion until Frisk came wandering out of their room.

“Ah! You are awake, small one. Did you sleep well?” Toriel asked, noticing the still sleepy human emerge from the hallway. They yawned and groggily nodded in response and awoke slightly upon seeing Chara sitting on the floor.

“Very good. You are very good. My child, I… I hope my actions have not frightened you too much, that was never my intention. I am so, so sorry, small one.. You will be welcome here for as long as you see fit, however..” she paused, unsure how to continue, before deciding on, “I will understand if you do not wish to stay here with me. The Ruins are a very small place once you get used to them, and even if I have almost all the resources necessary to take care of you, I fear it will not be enough.”

Frisk looked at Chara, as if asking if they really had to leave yet, and Chara nodded. They felt bad, but they’d never get to Asgore like this. Frisk walked over and hugged Toriel without hesitation. She hugged back, almost desperately.

When Toriel let go of the hug, she looked Frisk in the eyes and was tearing up when she said, “I must warn you, innocent one. There are those who would try to hurt you out there, and I will not be there to protect you. I have seen it myself.  They.. Asgore, the king will kill you. Every human who leaves this place has died, do you understand? If you leave here, you will die. I know you would like it here. Even if you didn’t, you’d be safe, would you not?” She practically begged the human to stay.

Frisk shook their head, softly. Toriel sighed and asked, “at least allow me to guide you to the door, if you would.” She led Frisk down the stairs and through the tunnels under the house, hand in hand. When they arrived at the massive arched door at the end of the hallway, Toriel gave the human one last hug, and one last request: “I understand why one might want to leave here, but please my child, do not return. I could not bare it.”

Frisk looked sad, and hugged her one last time, before Toriel went upstairs.

“Just a moment Frisk, I need to.. check on something.” Chara said. They flew through the ceiling and found their mother sobbing in her bedroom. Mom was never one to cry very often. The last time Chara remembered seeing her like this was when the scientist told her they didn’t know enough about humans to save them.

Chara knew that they weren’t corporal, nor were they visible or even detectable, but they couldn’t just sit and watch. So, they hugged their Mother. Her sobs quieted slightly, and she suddenly jerked when Chara touched her. “Chara?” She asked to the empty room.

Chara backed off, terrified. What if she saw what they’d done like the ghost had? They wouldn’t be able to live with themself if even Toriel didn’t forgive them. Not that they were doing much living lately anyway.

She looked around the room and upon seeing nothing, went back to wiping her tears. “Silly old woman,” she berated herself, “you must move on. It was their dying wish.”

“You wipe your tears, you dress yourself, you water their flowers and you wait for the next one.” She listed.

Chara felt they had done enough damage and left the room, not hearing when Toriel said, “I miss you, my children.”

——————

When Chara got back down the stairs, Frisk was sitting idly on the ground and drawing figures in the dirt with their stick. They seemed mildly sad and maybe even a bit stressed. That was fair, considering how much they’ve had to be accustomed to in the past five hours. They also hadn’t noticed Chara’s presence, which could only lead to one thing..

“Boo!” They exclaimed. Frisk jumped before turning around and shaking their fist in mock rage. “What? You look like you’ve seen a ghost . Get it?” They joked. Frisk dragged their hand across their face and groaned. Chara giggled in return.

It seemed to cheer up Frisk despite their exasperation, so Chara was happy.

Chara really should’ve remembered that the flower was going to be in the next room.

He wasn’t wearing that seemingly fake and annoying smile he usually had, but rather a confused and almost.. angry expression. “What.. what is this? Why are you doing this?” He asked, sounding genuinely confused. When Frisk tilted their head to the side, he continued.

“What? Did you think you could be redeemed? ” Its expression turned from confused to condescending. “Hehehe.. y’know, I never thought you out of everyone would get cold feet, Chara.” It winked, “guess that makes us even, huh?” And then it disappeared into the ground.

Chara stood there, twitched, before furiously flying towards the ground where it was no longer. They screamed, “Who are  you?! How do you know my name? You-!? ” They slumped, “ Ugh, I hate that stupid flower!”

Frisk came up to them worriedly. “No, I’m fine, that flower is just…” their eyes lit up and they grinned, “a thorn in my side.” Frisk looked at them, dead pan, before starting to walk to the next room without them.

“No wait-haha! I’m sorry! I’ll-heh- I’ll stop!” Chara laughed, slowly catching up to them as they left.

Everything was okay.

Chapter Text

Chara couldn’t feel anything except the freezing cold.

It wasn’t pain, they knew that feeling very well. It was just a numbness they could vaguely associate to being cold. Like how when blood drained from a part of the body, it felt cold without actually feeling like anything.

They didn’t feel anything, either. Couldn’t.

They hardly noticed time passed as they drifted along with the entity, the dust on their hands mixing in with the snow whipping through the wind. They could hear people talking, but it was hard to concentrate when they lacked the ability to care.

Two skeletons, they thought. They would normally rack their brain for a memory of them, but couldn’t find a reason to when it was so clear they were so two-dimensionally incompetent.

One stupid, one lazy. They surely wouldn’t be very hard to kill when the time came. Perhaps they’d even be one of those double kills, where YOU got to choose which one to dust first while the other cried in retribution. The idea should have made them feel sad, or even excited, but it didn’t.

In fact, the only time they felt anything is when their LOVE increased. Just like the first time, it filled them with an indescribable but wonderful feeling. Like a drop of red in the black and white portrait of their mind.

But soon, it too was taken over with the empty void where their SOUL once was and they were back to nothing.

Sometimes, they felt themself talking. They couldn’t understand the words they were saying nor the intention behind them, but the entity would look at them and command something of them without words, and they would reply in turn.

One thing seemed to be repeated over and over.

Determination.

——————

For a snowy patch of woods in the middle of a mountain, it was surprisingly nice temperature.

They couldn’t really feel any of it, but just looking   at the lightly falling snow and almost complete lack of wind, it was more snowball fight weather than freezing weather. Frisk seemed to be perfectly fine in the little woolen sweater they had, too.

They were a little put off by the general atmosphere of the place around them, though. The pine trees blocked out the suntone and one could almost imagine mysterious figures following them through the trees. It didn’t help that Frisk found a literal camera in a bush.

Paranoia surrounded the woods, as well as the feeling of being watched. Frisk kept looking around as if someone was going to pop out and attack them. Chara tried comforting them, but they weren’t too sure themselves.

Chara knew what -or rather who- was at the end of this trail, and that’s exactly who they were scared of. No matter how goofy he looked, that skeleton might’ve been one of the most powerful monsters Chara had ever seen. Even if he didn’t seem to remember the resets, he was still smart enough to figure out what happened. What happened to his brother, what Chara did to his brother.

Why wouldn’t he just cut straight to the point and attack Frisk? Chara couldn’t exactly blame him. His brother and Asriel weren’t that different; they’d both choose mercy no matter how close to death they were. If someone killed Asriel in cold blood like that, Chara would make it their life mission to hunt that person, too.

That didn’t stop the fact that Frisk was standing stock-still at the gate.. fence.. thing while a certain skeleton approached them slowly. Frisk was tense as the skeleton spoke, and turned around at his request.

PFFTtttttsss

“heheh.. the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. it’s ALWAYS funny.” He joked. Frisk stood in silent shock for a moment before quietly giggling at the prank. That seemed to make the skeleton happy, so he continued. “anyway you’re a human, right? that’s hilarious. i’m sans. sans the skeleton.” Sans introduced.

He went on a little about his brother, Papyrus,  and led Frisk to a wildly conveniently-shaped lamp, which Chara was happy Frisk actually hid behind. Soon, one of the tallest and strangest looking monsters walked in. Not that this one was even that abstract looking, but he was wearing the campiest piece of armour they’d ever seen in the Underground.

“SANS! HAVE YOU FOUND A HUMAN YET?!” He demanded, sounding as if he already almost knew the answer.

“uh..” Sans turned to look directly at the lamp. “nope. can’t say i have. was just staring at this lamp. it’s pretty cool right?” he winked, but Papyrus didn’t seem to notice. In fact, the answer seemed to confuse him more than anything.

“THAT’S STRANGE.. I COULD’VE SWORN ONE WAS GOING TO BE HERE..” he mumbled, which seemed impossible since he was talking entirely in uppercase. “WELL. WHEN ONE DOES COME, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE THE ONE TO CAPTURE IT!” He started, “THEN, I WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! LIKE UNDYNE LETTING ME JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! AND BEING POPULAR ENOUGH GO FIND ANOTHER WHO WILL SHARE MY PASSION FOR PUZZLES!”

“PERHAPS EVEN.. A FRIEND! SANS, WE MUST FIND A HUMAN! IF YOU DIDN’T SLACK OFF ALL THE TIME, MAYBE WE WOULD’VE ALREADY FOUND ONE!” Papyrus complained.

“hey, take it easy. i’ve gotten a ton of work done today. a skele-ton.” Sans winked. The rest of the conversation followed similarly. At some point they both started trading puns until Papyrus left, seeming almost nervous in comparison to his early behaviour. Mom would’ve liked these two. She was where Chara got their knack for puns, after all.

Between Chara trying to stifle laughter and Frisk trying to stifle annoyance, they were surprised the skeleton didn’t hear them sooner.

Frisk walked up to Sans, only to be treated with more puns, and just when they were about to leave Sans continued.

“hey, kid. my brother’s been real.. antsy lately. would you mind goin’ along with him for a bit? i think it’d make him feel better.” he requested. When Frisk nodded genuinely, he responded, “thanks a million. now i just get to sit here and go back to bone- doggling.” He winked and gave Frisk finger guns. He laughed when he got a truly repulsed expression in return.

“Hey, you can’t blame him, Frisk. He must have been working himself down-to-the- bone. ” Frisk angrily stomped away as Chara cackled. They were sure Sans would too appreciate their puns.

If only he could actually hear them.

Frisk continued on to the next areas, only to see the two brothers standing there too.

“I KNOW A HUMAN WILL APPEAR SANS. I JUST.. DO.” He admitted. Sans turned slightly and locked eyes with Frisk before turning back to his brother. “well hey. what’s over there?” He asked.

Papyrus gasped and turned around to look at Frisk. Well, not Frisk exactly , but rather about a foot to the left. “OH MY GOD! SANS!” He exclaimed, “WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME TO LOOK AT A ROCK?” He asked. Chara turned and, sure enough, Papyrus was staring directly at an icy white rock in the ground. Frisk saw this too and was trying to hold back a smile.

“what’s that in front of the rock?” Sans responded. “OH MY GOD! SANS!” He exclaimed, again, this time actually staring at Frisk. He covered his mouth and leaned in towards his brother, whispering, “THAT IS A HUMAN.. RIGHT?”

Sans took an almost imperceptible moment to look at Frisk, almost as if staring directly into their SOUL. Judging it. Whatever he saw, it seemed to appease him as he whispered back to Papyrus, “yep.”

Papyrus immediately brightened up. “WOWIE!” He exclaimed. Frisk couldn’t help but start silently giggling. He cleared his throat, straightened his posture, and dabbed something called ‘MTT Brand Bone Cream’ behind his ear. Huh.

“HUMAN! YOU WILL NOT PASS THIS AREA! NOR WILL YOU CAUSE PAIN TO ITS DENIZENS. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU!” He announced, “FIRST! I WILL TRICK YOU. YOU WILL BE CONFUSED AND CONFUZZLED BY MY PONDEROUS PUZZLES. THEN! I WILL CAPTURE YOU! AND DO WHATEVER THEY DO TO HUMANS AFTER THAT! CONTINUE IF YOU DARE!” He paused to let the ‘fear’ sink in. “NYEH HEH HEH HEH!” Then he left.

Frisk was still smiling after he was gone, and Sans caught their eye. “he’s probably going to prepare his puzzles right now, so take your time. they’re pretty fun once you get used to them, just give ‘em a try. i heard he’s been revising a lot of them lately, so you’re in luck. don’t worry, his puzzles can’t hurt you. and, i’ll be keeping an eye-socket out for you.”

Frisk waved kindly to the skeleton, and he waved back.

Phew.

——————

Frisk continued through the snowy woods, seeming excited whenever one of the adorable Royal Guardsmen showed up, though maybe that was just cause they were all super fluffy. They spent way too long petting one of them whose neck wouldn’t stop growing.

When frisk arrived at the first puzzle, Papyrus had set up a little fence made of bones to stop Frisk from just walking through it. Chara knew that wasn’t there last time. He probably was concerned Frisk would skip the puzzle again. They also knew the defence wasn’t necessary. Frisk did all the Ruins puzzles with enthusiasm, even when they weren’t even on the path.

“AH! HUMAN!” He greeted. “WELCOME TO YOUR FIRST PUZZLE, DONE BY YOURS TRUELY. I THINK YOU WILL FIND THE RESULTS OF THIS PUZZLE QUITE SHOCKING! ” He laughed a little to himself. “NOW, PLEASE PICK UP THE MYSTERIOUS AND ENTIRELY UNRELATED ORB TO YOUR LEFT, AND PROCEED!” Papyrus flipped a switch and the ground began to thrum faintly with electricity. Frisk picked up the orb, put it on their head, and stared at the bone-fence warily.

“uh, bro? i think the human needs to be able to get through that fence.” Sans noted. “HM? OH YES OF COURSE.” He walked over to grab the bones, leaving obvious footprints on his way back. Even if he remembered to give Frisk the orb in advance, it seemed fate could never give this skeleton a break.

Still, Frisk stepped through the puzzle, pretending to consider their options heavily and even accidentally getting shocked by the ground a couple times. It was nothing more than a static shock, but it made their hair even more puffy than usual.

Papyrus looked over-the-moonstone that Frisk was partaking in the puzzle. He didn’t seem to revel in their pain though, raising his arm and wincing every time they went the wrong way. When Frisk completed the puzzle, he clapped.

“WOWIE! YOU DID IT, AND SO QUICKLY TOO! IT TOOK MY BROTHER TEN MINUTES TO DO IT WHEN I WAS FIRST TESTED IT, THOUGH PERHAPS THAT’S BECAUSE HE FELL ASLEEP HALFWAY THROUGH…” he considered this for a second, and then realized he got distracted and kept talking. “ANYWAY, PERHAPS YOU ARE A PUZZLE CONNOISSEUR, LIKE MYSELF!”

“THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL NOT BE SO EASY, FOR MY BROTHER MADE IT! I KNOW YOU WILL LIKE IT, FELLOW FAN OF JAPES! NYEH HEH HEH!” Papyrus walked off, and Sans stared at him fondly. “man, my brother’s the coolest. he works super hard on those puzzles of his…. especially the newer ones,” he looked off in the distance for a second, considering something.

“he kept telling me that’s he’s gotta make them.. better. that no one was gonna do his puzzles if he doesn’t..” he looked angry for a moment, then his signature smile returned, “you could say he started puttin’ some real back-bone into it, heh. ‘s a shame though, he worked so hard on the original ones…”

“but hey, i’m not the puzzle master, so what would i know?”

“anyway, you’re doin’ great kid. keep it up.” Sans walk off to the next room. Well, maybe not the next room, but he certainly walked off somewhere.

In said next area, Frisk bought ice cream, tried to buy fried snow, kicked a snowball around for a truly embarrassing amount of time, gave up, and tried to hit Chara for laughing at them.

They found Papyrus and -somehow- Sans in the next room after that. Sans’s puzzle was hyped up quite a bit by his brother, so once it was revealed to be solely a crossword, Frisk’s excitement was very quickly diminished. They tried to hide how disappointed they were as they dejectedly picked up the crossword.

They looked around for some reason like there was another puzzle that was making them do the crossword first, and upon being told by Chara there just wasn’t  one , they simply walked over to the two skeletons. Papyrus’s smile dropped and he looked to his brother. “SANS! THAT DIDN’T EVEN DO ANYTHING!”

“whoops. knew i should’a used today’s crossword.” He admitted, shrugging his shoulders. “WHAT? CROSSWORD? I CAN’T BELIEVE- ARG, SANS!” He said incredulously. “IT DOSEN’T MATTER. THESE MUST CONFOUND THE HUMAN! WE MUST CAPTURE IT BEFORE IT-“

“-before it.. does what?” Sans cut in, now more serious and concerned than Chara had ever seen him before. Even if it was difficult to tell with the permanent smile etched into his face as well as the equally permanent lack of skin.

Chara could fill in the blanks. Before it kills everyone.

Papyrus paused, seeming confused with himself at that point. He looked like he was searching for memories he didn’t have, before getting frustrated with himself and lashing out. “ARGH! WHATEVER! HUMAN,” he pointed at them and posed in a confident way that didn’t match his demeanour. “ENTER THE NEXT ROOM, IF YOU DARE! FOR I HAVE CREATED A PUZZLE SO PSYCHOLOGICALLY ENTICING, YOU WILL BE COMPELLED TO STAY THERE FOREVER! NYEH! HEH!” He ran off to the next puzzle.

Neither Frisk nor Chara knew what to say, so they said nothing. Sans sighed when his brother was out of earshot. “maybe this whole human thing wasn’t a good idea. it seems to be really stressing him out.” He looked to Frisk then. “don’t sweat it, kid. it’s way too cold out for that anyway,” he joked, but it fell flat.

——————

The ‘psychologically enticing’ puzzle Papyrus mention turned out to be spaghetti frozen to a plate. Chara could commend Frisk for how hard they tried to eat it, though. The sad puppy-dog look Frisk gave them when they were told it probably wasn’t safe to eat was enough to rival the local Royal Guards. “Hey,” they reassured, “there’s a town up ahead. They sell some excellent cinnamon bunnies if you’re hungry. They also have… bicycles. You could eat. Somehow.”

Of course they just had to make sure the properly human was fed. After all, if they died of hunger outside of battle, who was going to take their SOUL?

This comforted the human enough to keep going.

After a longtime dreaded encounter with- ugh-Jerry and two more Royal Guardsmen, they were back to doing puzzles with Papyrus. These ones seemed to actually work, which made both Frisk and Papyrus happy. Especially when one of the puzzles froze to the ground and they had to work together to do it.

Chara really didn’t know much of what they were talking about, but enjoyed watching them work anyway.

“WE DID IT! TOGETHER!” Papyrus celebrated. “HUMAN, I MUST ASK.. ARE WE.. FRIENDS? PUZZLE FRIENDS?” He asked hopefully. Frisk nodded enthusiastically and hugged him. Well, they hugged his leg, but close enough.

“WOWIE! I’VE NEVER HAD A PUZZLE PAL BEFORE! WE MUST CELEBRATE!” He spun Frisk around in a bear-grip hug and then put them down. “UNFORTUNATELY, I AM UNABLE TO MAKE CELEBRATION SPAGHETTI IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WOODS.” Papyrus admitted, almost shamefully.

“HOWEVER!” He said, “WE ARE ALMOST AT MY HOUSE! AND FOR NOW, WE CAN CELEBRATE WITH MORE PUZZLES! PERHAPS THE NEXT ONE WILL INTEREST YOU, AS IT WAS BUILT BY THE GREAT DOCTOR ALPHYS!” He almost hopped to the next room, excitedly.

“Hey! I thought I was your best friend!” Chara complained. Frisk stuck out their tongue and blew raspberry at them. How immature. Chara responded in a totally more adult way by sticking out their tongue and pulling at their eyelid while making a funny noise.

——————

The ‘Great Doctor Alphys’, as it turned out, really liked complicated and convoluted rules. Chara tried, really tried to understand the instructions as Papyrus ranted. By the time he got to the different tiles’ smells, they were already lost. It was fine though. The humans always told them they were stupid, and as long as Frisk understood what was happening, there shouldn’t be any problems. Sans, who was standing next to his brother, seemed just as lost as Chara was. It made them feel slightly less like an idiot.

When Papyrus finished and asked if Frisk had understood, they nodded confidently. A million colours flashed on the floor as Papyrus flicked the switch. It reminded Chara of the dance parties they used to throw in hotland, the ones them and Asriel were never allowed to go to past lights out. They didn’t want to think about how the pang they felt in their chest felt like grief.

And, as usual, the puzzle didn’t end up working. It created a straight path forward for Frisk to walk on. Papyrus comically spun out the room out of pure disbelief as his own luck. Frisk simply sighed in disappointment.

“thanks for cheering up my brother, by the way. he been a little bone -ly lately, so i’m glad he found a friend.” It seems Frisk’s distaste for puns finally broke, as even they couldn’t help smiling as Sans winked to an invisible audience and pulled a trombone out of nowhere.

Ha! Trom -bone! Chara got it!

There wasn’t much in the next few areas, aside from the snow-Papyrus, of course. At this point Chara’s theory from earlier that Frisk was only interacting with things to annoy them was seeming much more likely, as they might’ve been on their eighth snow poff description.

After the finale battle with the last Royal Guardsman, a particularly adorable puppy named Greater Dog, they were on the final bridge before Snowdin.

They weren’t too prideful to admit they may have been walking on the bridge a little faster, excited to rest in the comfortable town of Snowdin. Apart from being pretty precarious, the bridge didn’t seem to house any dangers. Besides, Frisk’s stomach was grumbling, and Chara realized it may have been another couple hours since the meagre slice of pie they were given.   

Then, at the end of the bridge stood Papyrus. Along with many dangers.

Chara counted out the things that had risen from nowhere. A mace, a spear, a canon, a blowtorch, another spear and was that a.. dog?

“AH! HUMAN!” He yelled apologetically, “THESE WERE.. COUNTER MEASURES! JUST IN CASE! IF I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WERE TO CAPTURE YOU, I WOULD NOT USE SUCH ARCHAIC TACTICS!” He defended. The many dangers went away, and everyone gave a sigh of relief.

“I WILL BE AT THE END OF SNOWDIN WHEN YOU ARE READY, FRIEND! I WILL SEE YOU THERE.”

And then he was off.

Chapter Text

Snowdin town was empty and silent by the time they got there.

It seemed those guardsmen perhaps weren’t as useless as they first thought, as it seems they at least managed to warn the citizens; Though maybe the occupants of the small and once homely town managed the evacuation all by themselves, it was equally possible.

Either way, there was no power they could gain from here, so it wasn’t worth thinking about.

Forward. Just keep going forward.

Their vision was blurred by white, a blizzard perhaps? There was a figure that they didn’t care to make out as it slowly appeared.

The figure was loud. It was difficult to concentrate on what it was saying, but it looked like it was… sparing them? Sparing them ? Was this its way of begging for its life? They wanted to laugh at the thought, but it didn’t seem to be true.

Rather, it was forgiving them. It said it thought they could do better. That they could be redeemed, if they just tried hard enough.

And when its body turned to dust Chara didn’t feel remorseful.

And when its soul finally broke Chara didn’t feel much of anything.

——————

Snowdin town was as homely and happy as Chara remembered from being alive.

Even if they and Asriel didn’t visit here as often as Waterfall, they still looked back on at their visits here fondly. It wasn’t a massive walk, only the constantly changing weather was difficult to pack for.

The food was still amazing though. Not that they could taste --or eat— anything really, but Frisk seemed to like the cinnabunny they were scarfing down. “Don’t eat that fast. You’ll throw up. Trust me, I know.” They advised.

Chara also knew that they were about to fight Papyrus.

Now that they were thinking about it, Papyrus seemed to remember the most out of everyone they’d met so far. Most other monsters just had vague feelings of dread, maybe some more powerful monsters having actual nightmares.

Papyrus, though, could remember everything down to the fact that the entity wouldn’t do his puzzles; even if he didn’t know what he was remembering.

Outside of their immediate family, Papyrus was probably the person they felt the worst for killing.  It’s not even that he wouldn’t fight back, but that he kept believing in them . It reminded Chara a little too much of the Dreemurrs. They had thought him an idiot, but now they couldn’t help feeling a little bit guilty whenever they saw his nervous apprehension.

Something told them he wasn’t always like that.

They weren’t even sure Papyrus was going to fight Frisk. Especially now that they were his ‘friend’. A friend who was going to die in the next couple hours. Because of Chara. Again.

The thought only made them feel worse. How could they even make it up to him? They needed to do something to help him, but what?

They were also running out of time, as Frisk had finished their food. They had talked to everyone in town already and taken a nap in the inn. They  were looking pretty ready to move on.

Well, Chara was always good at thinking on the fly.

They could always just… let him have Frisk’s SOUL. He seemed pretty excited about that whole Royal Guard thing, and surely bringing a human SOUL to the King was grounds for being invited, right? He’d be heralded as a hero, just like he always wanted. No one would dare forget the guy who brought the last human SOUL.

On the other hand, however… Chara Papyrus wouldn’t want to kill the human would he? He was their friend. Even if he was competent enough to take their SOUL, Chara didn’t trust him to actually take it. Not that he wasn’t strong enough, he just had a really stupid moral code. Chara really needed to stop meeting these types of people.

Regardless, Frisk was starting to move without them, so they guessed they’d just have to see what happens next.

——————

As they approached Papyrus, a familiar blizzard surrounded them.

“HUMAN.. I’D LIKE TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS. FEELINGS LIKE FEAR.” He appeared from behind the blizzard, a surprisingly complex expression on his face. “WHEN YOU FIRST ARRIVED, I FELT AS IF I ALREADY KNEW YOU. AS I CONTINUED TO TALK TO YOU, I DISCOVERED YOU ARE NOT THE PERSON I THOUGHT YOU WERE.”

He smiled. A genuine, not-so-pure smile. Chara would normally have called it naive, but it just wasn’t with Papyrus. “IN FACT, I MIGHT’VE EVEN SAID WE’VE BECOME.. FRIENDS.” Despite his serious speech, that hope and unfiltered joy in his expression still broke through.

“I CANNOT FORGET WHAT MIGHT’VE HAPPENED BEFORE, BUT I CAN STILL OFFER THE SAME THING.” He offered his hand, “I BELIEVE IN YOU, FRIEND. WE CAN ALL CHOOSE TO BE BETTER THAN WE WERE YESTERDAY, EVEN IF WE NEED A LITTLE HELP. I AM MORE THAN HAPPY TO BE THAT HELP.” His expression was kind and uplifting while he spoke, in a tone very different than Chara had ever heard him in before.

“IF YOU WILL ALLOW ME, OF COURSE, BUT I HAVE QUITE THE RESUME.” He praised himself.

Papyrus was sparing Frisk.

Nervousness danced in his eye sockets, but so did an endless supply of hope. He truly believed in what he was saying.

Frisk was about to spare, but then they got that expression Chara knew all too well by now. Ugh, not again, they thought, but they felt that they were grinning too.

Flirt.

Papyrus gave a truly flabbergasted expression before his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Which was weird, cause he didn’t have any blood. He cupped his hands to his cheekbones.

“WOWIE.. FLIRTING? WHICH FRIENDSHIP LEVEL IS THIS? ” He asked himself. He huffed indignantly, and said, “WELL, I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW I’M A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS!”

“Say you can cook pasta.” Chara suggested, and Frisk agreed.

“OH NO! YOU’RE MEETING ALL MY STANDARDS!” He responded, hand on his chest and his scarf blowing in the wind. He tapped his foot and thought for a moment. “SO.. WHAT TO WE.. DO NOW?” He asked, Frisk shrugged in return.

“What? Never gotten this far before?” Chara teased, only for Frisk to give another shrug. “Maybe you should try.. going on a date? Or something?” Frisk suggested it to Papyrus, and he clapped and agreed. “YES! OF COURSE! THAT’S WHAT PEOPLE DO WHEN THEY ARE DATING, RIGHT?” He looked to Frisk for confirmation, and they nodded unsurely.

“SO.. WHAT DO PEOPLE DO FOR DATES.. THEY GO TO SPECIAL PLACES.. AND EAT SPECIAL FOOD,.. AH! I KNOW EXACTLY THE PLACE!” He waved his arm dramatically and marched back into Snowdin. Frisk followed behind him, having to jump to step in the same places where Papyrus had already crushed the snow with his footfalls.

They marched to the Libraby, turned around, then marched straight back to his house. “MY HOUSE!” He announced, “THE MOST SPECIAL-EST PLACE IN THE UNDERGROUND! ME AND MY BROTHER LIVE HERE, AFTER ALL!”

“EVEN IF I AM INARGUABLY THE GREATEST OUT OF THE TWO OF US, SANS —JUST BARELY— DEFEATS ME IN THE COOLNESS DEPARTMENT.” He complimented, “AND THE INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT.. AND THE POPULARITY DEPARTMENT, EVEN IF HE DOESN’T TRY..” he got lost in thought.

“A-ANYWAY! LOOK AROUND! WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED APPRAISING ALL MY FANTASTIC FURNISHING, I WILL TAKE YOU TO MY ROOM AND WE WILL DO.. WHATEVER IT IS PEOPLE DO ON DATES AFTER THAT.”

“OH! I NEARLY FORGOT!” He nearly sprinted towards the kitchen, pulling out a plate from the fridge. “CELEBRATION SPAGHETTI, TO COMMEMORATE OUT BUDDING FRIENDSHIP.” ‘Celebration spaghetti’ consisted of a regular plate of spaghetti but with sprinkles and a singular lit candle. How did it stay lit in the fridge..?

The sprinkles and tomato sauce combined with noodles that had been broken made for an.. interesting dish. Frisk couldn’t stomach most of it, but Papyrus seemed ecstatic that they had eaten any at all.

After eating, he showed them around the house. Frisk seemed particularly taken by the massive bone painting, as they and Papyrus took a solid two minutes to stare at it. Chara liked the pet rock; they and Azzy had gotten something similar for their birthday when they had begged for a pet.

When they were done looking around, Papyrus brought them into his room. They had to take a second to marvel at the race car bed. Papyrus tried-and failed-very hard to conceal and put up a couple puzzle plans that he must’ve forgotten to hide when he went out to get his brother. Everything else in the room was meticulously clean and tidy, including his collection of actions figures which Chara was a little bit impressed by. Some of the characters they recognized, which meant they must’ve been made around the time Chara was alive.

He even had a computer. Chara knew monsters were very intelligent on their own, but in terms of modern technology they mostly had to rely on whatever the humans dropped, due to their lack of resources. Chara hadn’t seen a proper computer since they were back on the surface. Were these common place in homes now? …and what was ‘the Undernet’?

After a bit, Frisk motioned to Papyrus that they were done looking around. Papyrus nodded and entered a fi-.. a date. He pulled out a ‘dating handbook’ confidently, and Frisk turned on the ‘dating hub’, where a bunch of monitors came out of nowhere. The date was just about the most dramatic and silly thing Chara had ever seen, which they should have expected from Papyrus and Frisk. They could hardly pay any attention to what was actually happening because they were laughing too hard. Frisk seemed to be enjoying themselves too, which was to be expected.

Papyrus had a pretty low bar in terms of what he was impressed by, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t always trying to impress Frisk. Including a memorable incident where Papyrus dived head first into his closet and came out wearing simultaneously the best and most atrocious outfit Chara had ever seen. The outfit was made infinitely better when Papyrus extravagantly revealed the tiny present underneath his basketball hat, which somehow had more spaghetti in it. Oh, sorry, ‘silken spaghetti made by master chef Papyrus’.

Frisk couldn’t help quietly laughing too, and every time they did Papyrus seemed more and more proud of himself.

Chara didn’t know how they ever could’ve suggested making Papyrus take Frisk’s SOUL.

The date ended with Papyrus dramatically falling to the ground and playing dead, giving an elegant and playfully egotistical speech about how the human was madly in love with him. He got up and confessed that he didn’t romantically love them back, and hoped that they could still be friends. Frisk responded by tackling him in a hug, taking him to the ground. Papyrus played dead, for a bit, before getting up and suddenly becoming a bit more serious.

“HUMAN, I… THE GREAT PAPYRUS DOES NOT GET NIGHTMARES, OF COURSE, BUT IF HE DID THEY MAY HAVE BEEN MORE.. ACTIVE. LATELY.” Papyrus confessed. Frisk patted him on the shoulder bone, trying to comfort him.

“HUMAN, I AM VERY GLAD YOU DECIDED TO BE BETTER. I HOPE THAT I MAY HAVE HELPED WITH THIS DECISION. I MAY NOT KNOW WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED, BUT EVERYTHING IS OKAY NOW, SO CLEARLY YOU COULDN’T HAVE BEEN THAT BAD.”

“AND SO, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, FORGIVE YOU.”

Frisk didn’t know what was happening and simply continued hugging him, but Chara?

They tried quietly wipe their tears before Frisk noticed.

Papyrus really was great, wasn’t he?

——————

“BYE BYE, HUMAN!” Papyrus was waving enthusiastically with his whole arm. Sans was standing next to him and waving too, hardly raising his hand. He winked at Frisk and nodded his head at them, thanking them silently for helping his brother feel better.

Frisk and Chara waved back as they walked away. Once they were far enough, they turned around.

“Ookayy, so next up is Waterfall. I think Gerson lives here? Oh! And that Royal Guard Papyrus mentioned. Other than her, Waterfall is pretty cool. Are you ready?”

And Frisk nodded, determined as ever.

Chapter Text

That child was naive and foolish.

It prattled along, clumsy feet stomping along behind them, tripping and ranting childish dreams that caused a ringing in Chara’s ears. Just keep going, they told themself.

It did not seem phased by the emptiness of the rooms that surrounded them, as it yapped about the hero that was going to save the monsters. Nor did it care or even particularly notice the dust on the entity’s clothes, or its lack of defences if it chose to attack.

Instead, it stupidly followed them around, squealing as if it were speaking to another child. Though both looked like children, the entity could never be considered one, and Chara… didn’t deserve the honour.

The monster child was looking at them now, with fear and trepidation, betrayal. How much time had passed? The lopsided and innocent grin that once covered its face had melted off and kept falling, falling apart. Everyone was dying, and it is always their fault.

As they were reminded of the strength and necessity that came with death,

Chara was sure they’d finally made it to hell.

———————

Monsterkid was still as happy as ever, though perhaps a little less trustful.

Chara knew that was probably their fault.

Said child ran up to Frisk from Snowdin, tripping and falling on an unseen rock in their way. They somehow managed to pick themself up without arms and walked along side Frisk. Frisk handed them a monster candy for their troubles, which they eagerly ate.

“Yo… did you sneak out too? Everyone’s been acting crazy lately!” They complained with the candy still in their mouth, “I mean, sure I’ve been feeling the same thing, but what’s the point in being scared when Undyne is here?” Frisk, ever curious, gestured for Monsterkid to keep talking, which Chara found didn’t annoy them as much as they feared it would.

“You don’t know about Undyne?!” They loudly questioned. Loud enough that Sans —who was having a nap at a station about two meters away— was jolted awake. “She’s just the coolest! She’s this really tall and strong fish monster, and she has an eye-patch! Isn’t that cool? Anyway, she's the captain of the Royal Guard, and she likes to beat up bad guys everyday!” They ranted, eyes like stars as they stopped paying attention to Frisk entirely.

“She’s the one who’s going to free us all! She said she’s going to pummel the next human she sees. Heheh.. one day I hope I’ll be just like her!” They finished. Frisk, who was nodding excitedly for most of the rant, seemed a little down at the last part. Monsterkid didn’t notice their expression and ran off. “I’m gonna go see if I can find her! See ya!”

Frisk was still looking pretty nervous, the reminder of their impending fights have returned from the high they got by sparing Papyrus. Just as Chara was about to reach out and comfort them --which was something they hadn’t noticed they’d started doing instinctively— Sans called over from his station.

“hey, kid.” He said, hands crossed on the table with his chin resting on them. “you look six feet under, what’s botherin’ you?” He inquired lazily. Frisk didn’t respond, other than looking vaguely uncomfortable, so Sans tried again. “you hungry? well, i am. c’mon kid, i know a shortcut to grillby’s.” He got up and led Frisk through his ‘shortcut’ by the back.

It couldn’t really be called a shortcut, though, because Chara could barely blink before they were suddenly at Grillby's. Frisk took a second to marvel and this, and Sans only chuckled at their response and ruffled their hair.

He called to the patrons of Grillby’s as he walked by, seeming to be familiar with them all. He took a seat at the bar that was apparently practically reserved for him. Grillby himself nodded at him with a crackle of flames as the rest of the bar’s patrons' conversations continued, the conversations blurring into white noise.

They ordered greasy restaurant food while Sans discreetly untwisted the cap of the ketchup bottle. Their food arrived, and Frisk sadly went without ketchup. As good at hiding his emotions as Sans was, even he couldn’t hide the disappointment on his face as he wasted a perfect prank opportunity. He tried drowning his sorrows by drinking the ketchup, but forgot that he took the lid off and it ended up all over his face. Frisk’s false concern told Sans that they knew the whole time.

After Sans’s face had been successfully cleaned —no thanks to Grillby, who refused to give them tissues because he kept burning them— the rest of the meal was relatively peaceful. Sans and Frisk ate in comfortable silence with the background noise of the other customers and vintage jukebox going off in the background.

Chara got bored after about two minutes. It wasn’t the most entertaining thing after all, watching two friends eat in silence. They had recently had too much time alone with their thoughts, and they decided to give their thoughts some company. Chara was about to go see how that dog was playing cards against itself when Frisk, panicked, started waving their hand through their sleeve to get their attention.

Chara looked back in confusion, only to be met with one of the most nervous expression they had seen from Frisk yet. Chara looked back and forth, looking for what Frisk had found so dangerous —could they have developed a fear of Sans?— but they found nothing. They looked back at Frisk with confusion, but they simply tried to convince Chara to come closer again.

Chara complied, waiting for something to happen. Frisk just smiled and went back to their food, once again kicking their feet under the table. They were sitting just a little bit closer in Chara’s direction on their little bar stool. That was.. quite strange.

Chara found themself wanting to ask what was so imperative for them to stay this close. However, other monsters from around the restaurant were already giving Frisk glances and they didn’t want to stir the pot. Sans was one of these monsters and he gave Frisk a weird look. Frisk lifted their hands to show off all the grease that had gotten on them, implying they were simply wiping their hands on something. “gross, kid.” He said and handed them some balled napkins from his pocket.

Chara couldn’t help but notice the little blue pen scribble on the inside of the napkins. They looked like.. equations?

They were interrupted by the man himself, who had finished his own food and was now snacking on Frisk’s. “say,” he started, somehow looking a lot more serious despite his goofy face and the fry bits coming from his.. mouth? Regardless, it was gross.

“have you ever had deja vu?” He asked. He was no longer facing Frisk, and his face was darkened. “it’s when you feel like something’s already happened. pretty crazy, right?” Frisk nods. Chara wasn’t liking where this is going.

“yeah.. papyrus gets it a lot. he’s been having these nightmares lately, and he’s convinced they’re real no matter what i tell ‘im,” he admitted calmly. “it doesn’t help that everyone else is suddenly getting these feelings too, even though he’s been having ‘em for months.” Sans said, with a total lack of puns or jokes for about six sentences now, which concerned Chara. He didn't break his streak.

“i think someone’s been messing with him or.. somethin’. and then there’s the whole talkin’ flower business… this whole big brother gig just a got a lot more complicated…” He sighed. He looked vaguely stressed, his eternal smile strained. He looked back at Frisk, remembering their presence, “might have to quit the hot dog stand. sorry kiddo.”

“still, can’t quit being a big brother. no matter how lazy i am, he doesn’t even fire me. won’t complain though, the benefits are great.” He smiled. The joke didn’t seem to distract Frisk at all though, as they awkwardly patted Sans’s back twice in a strained attempt to comfort him. Sans turned around fully now, putting on his usual winking grin, “eh, well, no point worryin’ you over things you don’t know about. just one thing..”

“if i can ask you a favor, kid, could you watch over my lil’ bro for a bit? no matter how much i love him, i got about five jobs i need to be on lunch break for.” He asked, getting out of his chair.

“thanks kiddo,” he said as he was walking out of the room, “oh, you wouldn’t mind gettin’ the bill would you? ‘should only be about 9999g.” He requested lazily. Frisk shook their head profusely. They only had about enough for one more cinnabunny, and they were saving it for a rainy day.

“no? welp, guess grillby’s just gotta put it on my tab.” He turned around fully walked out. The aforementioned restaurant owner’s head crackled in angry flames, and he went into the back to go get something. If Chara had to guess, he was getting a broom to shoo Sans with the next time he came.

“Well. I don’t think we’ll ever have a normal conversation with that monster. Shall we continue to Waterfall?”

——————

Chara had spent a lot of their free time in Waterfall when they were alive. None of that time was spent hiding in wet, damp, muddy grass. Chara couldn’t even feel any of it, but the way Frisk was crouching down, shaking, seemed a little uncomfortable.

Still, it was better than the alternative. A truly impressive suit of armour had been pointing a spear at them for the past couple moments, waiting for any sign of movement.

Their saving grace came in the form of a tall skeleton-man, running over to the Knight with legs like a particularly skeleton-like gazelle. “UNDYNE,” he greeted, “I HAVE FINISHED MY DAILY REPORT..” his voice sounded shaky, nervous. It didn’t quite sound right coming out of Papyrus’s mouth.

Metallic clangs were heard as the body of armour moved to face the skeleton. The person inside them might’ve been saying something, but the clicks of the metal were far too loud for them to be heard. “WHAT..? DID I CAPTURE THAT HUMAN I MENTIONED? WELL, THAT'S WHAT I WANTED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT, UNDYNE. THE HUMAN ISN’T-“ Papyrus was interrupted by the person cloaked in armour, who seemed so be yelling aggressively.

Frisk was too far to actually make out what she was saying through the muffling of her helmet, but Chara could float up without being seen and report what was said. They were just about to do so when Frisk tried to stop them from again, shaking like a leaf in the cold, wet grass. Chara decided to stay, but not before giving Frisk a suspicious look.

“ I.. MAY HAVE SPARED THE HUMAN, BUT THAT’S GOOD! IT DIDN'T WANT TO FIGHT ME! THIS MEANS ITS NOT ANYTHING LIKE HO-“ The yelling continued and Papyrus stepped back in fear, and maybe a little bit of shock.

“BUT.. THIS ONE IS ONLY A CHILD, UNDYNE. A KIND ONE. CAN’T WE WAIT UNTIL THAT BAD HUMAN COMES DOWN AND TAKE THAT ONE?… NO.. I-… I UNDERSTAND, CAPTAIN UNDYNE.” He said that last part with a tone of resignation, but not acceptance. Papyrus walked away and the room was filled with silence once more. Frisk was never really that patient, though.

They took the quiet as a sign that it was safe to move from the uncomfortable position their legs had been in for the past couple minutes. Chara tried to get them to stay put for just a minute longer, but they had already moved. Deafening crashes echoed through the cave as Undyne stomped towards the edge of her platform, surveying the seemingly innocent and empty cave with a sharp, glowing spear and eye. Frisk froze like a Gyftrot in spotlights.

After a couple seconds, though, it seemed she got bored as she too walked away, disappearing into the shadows behind her. After a couple moments to ensure safety this time, Frisk emerged from the tall grass. They were covered in dew drops and mud, and seemed to have acquired a new twig in their hair.

Chara wanted to ask how Frisk was feeling after an encounter like that. They remembered being told normal human children around Frisk’s age would've been frightened at even the thought of being hurt like that. Frisk’s newest strange tendencies were only increasing their concern. Well- uh, not concern exactly, just a slight curiosity on how it might affect their ability to defend themself.

They were interrupted by a very excited Monsterkid, who apparently had also been hiding in the bushes. “YO! Did you see her? She looked right at you! I’m gonna’ go see if I can catch her!” They exclaimed, and ran off. They tripped, of course, that was a given at this point. Frisk went over to help them up, which they seemed to appreciate.

Chara wished they were able to do the same. It would be much simpler to help Monsterkind and atone had they been able to interact with any of them without doing so through a human child. Even Frisk was going to die soon.

Not for the first time, Chara found themself almost wishing they were alive again. That they had a body that could help those they’d hurt. A voice that could apologize, making stupid puns that Azzy would hate but Mom would always cackle at, be heard. They wished they could feel the comfort of the cold cave walls, the warm hugs of their family. They wished they could taste the cinnabunnies or warm hot chocolate they had in Snowdin.

Almost.

Because as much as they missed some of the qualities of being alive, all of which they associated with their time living with the Monsters, they knew it also came with pain.

Sometimes, the pain was sharp. The cut of broken glass or the break of the bone. The slap of a cheek or the kick in the stomach. Sometimes, it was dull. Not-so-well hidden bruises being poked at, a deep headache, a dull cough banging around in your throat, the stinging of a mouth with the taste of vomit and blood.

The worst pain Chara found, however, was guilt. It was the worst combination of the two. It lasted long and never quite went away, coming back when one thought they’d finally gotten rid of it. It crawled down your throat, scratching on its way down like barbed wire. It stayed heavy in your stomach, no matter how many times you’d tried to throw it up. It whispered in your ear like an angel reminding you of your sins, and then stabbed you in the gut like the demon it said you are.

The worst part about guilt wasn’t how much it hurt, Chara thought, it was the fact everything it said was true, and no amount of begging could fix it.

But Chara could fix it. They had to.

No matter how much they prayed for another method to do so.

——————

Puzzles in Waterfall were relatively easy, and Frisk seemed in good spirits with the admittedly gross tutu they had found on the floor.

It had been behind a Waterfall, covered in gashes and stains. However, it seemed clean enough, and if Chara wasn’t about to tell Frisk those dark splotches definitely weren’t mud, sue them. Or, don’t, the monsters don’t have any real legal systems.

Speaking of the dark spots, there were… quite a lot of them. Chara, for the first time, found themself wondering about the other six humans who had fallen down here. Based on the numerous rips and, strangely, burn marks found on the tutu, Chara could deduce this human had met a violent death. They could also deduce based on the small amount of dust that fell off the tutu when Frisk picked it up that this human lived a violent life, as well, so they didn’t feel bad.

Chara had always assumed that the humans who had fallen had been violent, as humans tend to be. They couldn’t imagine their Dad, Asgore, King Fluffy Bun, the guy who once cried because he stepped on his favourite flower in the garden, would kill someone innocent. No, Chara expected each human was given tea and flowers upon entering the Underground, and gave only hatred and death in return.

Which was starting to concern Chara in the long run. What would the King even do with Frisk once they arrived? They hadn’t hurt a single person, and they weren’t even offered tea first! What if Chara’s plan failed, and the King invited the human in with open arms, like he had for them? Would Azzy have to be Frisk’s friend them? Would Mom make pies for  them everyday?

In fact, she already had! No, this couldn’t happen. Perhaps if Asgore was simply given the SOUL, he’d be obliged to take it anyway? Undyne seemed to be the perfect candidate. She was strong, motivated, capable, and had a good relationship with the King. She used to come over at least once a week for training when Chara was still alive. On top of all that she ignored every one of Frisk’s positive qualities, so she would not be remorseful.

Papyrus seemed less enthusiastic about this idea. Every couple of rooms he would call with updates about Undyne’s whereabouts and what he had been telling her. As it turns out, they were quite close, so he would feel guilty betraying a long time friend by siding with the human. Instead, he chose to lie and deceive her.  Frisk seemed to be having a good time just talking to him, and was less than happy with the news they would have to take off their tutu. They refused to do so adamantly when Chara suggested it.

They had only had one more interaction with the Royal Guard in question, and it mostly consisted of Frisk getting to know Undyne’s spear-throwing abilities quite well. Other than that, Waterfall had been pretty peaceful, other than the occasional prank or two. Frisk still had a mark on their eye that they hadn’t managed to wash off in one of the glowing shores.

Frisk was reading one of the many signs scattered across Waterfall, detailing the monsters’ history and science. Waterfall was a favoured location for school field trips because of its small population of historians and researchers. Chara liked the signs a little less. In particular the ones about humans and SOULS. Luckily, Frisk wasn’t reading one of those, but rather one describing the twenty one different nice cream flavours offered.

They were taking a while selecting their flavour, but Chara wasn’t pushing them. They deserved a break after what had just happened. They had been simply walking around, when a trio of Aarons decided to approach. Frisk had trouble with this specific enemy normally, however these three had begun picking on Frisk for their short stature and physical strength, or rather the lack thereof.

Chara had been very happy about Frisk’s total lack of violence so far, very happy. However, even they suggested for Frisk to try it. It wasn’t like it would kill them, Aarons usually spared the enemy after any amount of damage was taken on their part.. Besides, these jerks deserved to be knocked down a peg.

They couldn’t see Frisk’s face when they said it, but the hand holding their stick started shaking. They almost seemed to be trying to get distance from it, as if it disgusted them.

Instead of acting on physically violent urges, they indulged in mentally violent ones. Frisk absolutely decimated the Aarons by insulting them to tears. Frisk seemed rather proud to have brought three grown man to their knees with nothing but petty insults. However, Chara knew it wouldn’t have taken much to shatter their egos.

Much to Frisk’s dismay, they couldn’t stand around to pick flavours for much longer, and they had to continue walking. Waterfall had always been Chara and Asriel’s favourite place to play, and they knew it very well. The glowing waters and plant life against the cold walls had made for some very good games of hide and seek. Chara remembered Asriel coming here to wish their illness away.

Then came the dreaded signs. It wasn’t as if Chara could even ignore them, as Frisk couldn’t read them and Chara was forced to instead. “Just, um.. some boring monster things. It’s all nonsense anyway. Hey, what’s that over there?” They proceeded to start floating to the opposite direction of the sign.

Frisk was grumpy, but ultimately far more inclined to let Chara ignore the signs than attempt to read them by themself. Eventually, small water droplets began to rain down on them from the stalagmites --stalactites?-- above, and Chara looked around.

Frisk had already walked into the room ahead, but there lay a small Monster statue. It had slight water damage and seemed cold, even for a statue. For all the time they’d spent in Waterfall, they’d never seen it there before. As Frisk walked back into the room with a red umbrella, they figured out why.

As the umbrella was placed on the statue, a small music box from inside it started to play. Chara recognized it, how could they not? It was the first thing Asriel had ever taught them on piano.

They just sat there for- Angel knows how long… Frisk was trying to get their attention —something about how Monsterkid was waiting for them in the next room— but Chara could hardly hear them. It was a simple tune, one that could repeat forever and they wouldn’t mind. It reminded them of home. It reminded them of Azzy.

Chara really, really missed their brother.

Time must go on, however, and Frisk eventually managed to drag them away from the statue. Monsterkid was raving about.. something, but Chara couldn’t focus on what he was saying over trying their best not to cry in front of Frisk. “Try not to be too hard! Eheh..” Monsterkid said awkwardly. Frisk, to their credit, climbed on their face as gently as possible.

They waved a quick goodbye, Chara shook themself out of their thoughts.

…just in time for Undyne -or rather Undyne’s spears- to show up.

Frisk sprinted across the platforms, having to narrowly escape as one of Undyne’s spears burst through the ground. Chara’s knowledge of the area came to be useful when they started barking out directions of where to go. They came upon a large platform which should’ve lead to the next section of Waterfall, but instead looked over a dark abyss.

Out of breath and tired, Frisk fearfully turned around to try and find another way, only to be met with the spears-woman herself. As three spears shot out of the platform in front of them, Chara only had a second to recognize what was happening before the bridge broke and they fell into the darkness below them.

Chapter Text

Chara vaguely remembered ‘Undyne the

Undying’.

Self-proclaimed title, of course. She had only been a teenager then, and had not yet garnered the attentions she apparently had. Still, she visited the castle quite often, so Chara had gotten to know her in their time living there. They remember looking up to her, even back then.

She was strong, ambitious, and had a goal of being stronger than those around her. It was something Chara could relate to, especially at this moment.

She was prowling around, hunting. Gaudy armour and a too-bright spear in hand, she seemed more a stage play of a knight than a real one. She would’ve stood atop that mountain screaming of forgotten concepts like hope and dreams, and then be laid to a violent rest, the hero would’ve fallen.

Based on what Chara remembered, she should give up quite a fight, but ultimately be defeated easily, even if she did last a little longer after death. She could never even land a hit on the king, how could she possibly hope to kill the devil?

Then again, Chara was only a demon, what could they know?

——————

Chara would never forget the name ‘Undyne the Undying.’

When they had first met her, she had been sixteen years old and Chara had been staying with the Dreemurrs for only about a couple months. They had come back from a trip to Waterfall with Asriel and she was sitting, fairly awkwardly, in the middle of their living room, and drinking tea with the king. Chara didn’t like her for the first couple of weeks upon meeting the monster. She was loud, angry, and aggressive, which were all qualities that Chara disliked in a potentially dangerous stranger.

After they had gotten to know her, however, it became an entirely different story. Undyne came at least once a week for ‘training.’ Which mostly entailed her and Dad fighting for a hour and then staying and hanging out for tea. Sometimes, when she was still pumped with adrenaline and excitement from her fights, she would tell Asriel and Chara stories.

Stories about her plans, the adventures she and Gerson went on, different daring escapades of her saving the citizens of Waterfall from falling rocks against all odds. That was a surprising amount of them, Waterfall seemed to have an avalanche problem. Chara wasn’t always convinced they were true, necessarily, but they proved to be exciting for their eleven-year-old mind to imagine.

More than that, Chara had always admired Undyne for her determination to help the monsters. She was cunning, strong, and genuinely believed that the monsters could escape together. She had never hated Chara for being a human, though. As they fell into a bed of flowers next to a trash pile in the dump, they wonder what happened to that side of her.

Lying there on the yellow flowers, it almost reminds Chara of when they first fell, before they died. Of Undyne’s —at the time— suprising patience with them whenever they flinched at her volume. They wondered what she would think of them now, what she would think of how Chara’s ambition and determination to help the monsters had been corrupted and twisted into this wretched thing they were now. What would Undyne think of them, if she knew the thing she had told them to cultivate was the thing that ended up killing her?

Then again, why are they asking these questions? Chara already knows the answers.

Undyne’s determination was something righteous, painful, and something Chara found they and that entity utterly deserved. After all, if there was one thing that had followed them even to the afterlife, it was pain. Chara felt it over and over again as the entity’s small stolen body was nicked and stabbed by spear after spear. Indeed, Undyne was the hero of the monster’s story, and Chara wishes with much of what they have left that she had won.

Many incoherent thoughts of consistent self-loathing filled Chara’s head in the hour they waited for Frisk to wake up from their second fall of the day, just like they usually do in times like these. Remember what they had said about being alone with their thoughts? They hadn’t been kidding.

Just like most of the monsters, Undyne would probably have had weird feelings or nightmares about the time before. Just like most monsters, Frisk would have to be dealing with Chara’s failures while they lied to their face. Unlike most monsters, Undyne wouldn’t be attacking with blind fear or anger, but rather with precision and justice. She didn’t seem to have many moral qualms against the harm of children like Toriel, nor was she particularly naive about the transport of SOULs like Papyrus.

Which only begged the question, why wouldn’t Chara give the SOUL to her?

… Chara strangely found themself not wanting to continue that line of thought.

In the time Frisk was unconscious, Chara found themself almost.. missing them. It had been a while since they hadn’t had an inseparable companion with them at all times. Frisk wasn’t exactly like Asriel, but that didn’t stop them from being a.. friend, though they loathed to admit it.

It wasn’t as if Chara hated the concept of having friends, or was even that selective in the people they chose to be with. Rather, they’d found that when one is dealing with humans, the more that regard one with a friendly and non-violent demeanour, the better. Even if a human isn’t truly a friend, it doesn’t mean they can’t be useful.

Instead, admitting that Frisk was their friend will only make it more difficult for Chara to leave them when they d when the time comes. If they’d managed to be such an emotionless demon when they watched almost their entire family die, they suppose they’d have to simply suck it up for the better of Monsterkind. Admitting Frisk was closer to them than a simple means to an end meant bearing the pain even stronger.

So, no, Frisk was not their friend.

That didn’t stop them from asking Frisk if they were okay when they woke up, nor did it stop them from advising Frisk to stack up on ‘astronaut food’ in case they got hungry.

It didn’t stop Chara’s supposedly non-existent heart from curling into a ball at the thought of what might happen when they next encountered Undyne.

——————

Chara was starting to get concerned over Frisk’s total aversion to violence.

The mad dummy, despite being one of the more.. violent opponents, was also one of the only ones that had spared the entity during their rampage. Chara knew from then that just one non-lethal hit from Frisk’s stick would make the mad dummy instantly happier, knocking the spirit more comfortably into their stuffed body. They also knew Frisk had a strict zero-hitting policy, even when it came to self defence. The mere suggestion of it seemed to send them into full body shivers.

Frisk tried their best to not only solve conflicts non-violently, but also do so in a way that makes the monster’s life better. They were pretty good at it, in fact. However, it seemed no amount of talking was going to make this spirit any happier.  Chara flinched as Frisk was caught on the edge of yet another knife thrown at them, it seemed the dummy had come fully prepared for a fight.

“Frisk, come on. I know you don’t like violence -I understand, I don’t like it either- but I promise you it’ll help this monster. Plus, you’re getting pretty hurt and I- ..just do it. I swear the dummy won’t be hurt.” Chara asked softly, trying not to let their frustration at Frisk’s mistrust show. It was understandable, even if annoying. Frisk hesitated for a moment. They were hurt, they had many cuts and burns over their arms from where they had been less lucky when dodging attacks. Chara could tell they were breaking through, but Frisk was still shaking at the very thought.

Chara wondered what made them so adverse to even the thought of hitting someone with a stick. Chara understood they didn’t always know how far they were supposed to go while roughhousing, but they felt that this wasn’t normal.

Frisk was finally raising a shaking fist to give the mad dummy a light tap. Bonk!

…

“Oh. Wow!” The not-so-mad dummy expressed cheerfully. “Your hit knocked my SOUL into this new body properly! I feel so much better now!” Frisk sighed in pure relief at the sight. “Mad dummy is sparing you.” Chara consoled at the sight of their mentally-exhausted friend partner. Just as Frisk was about to spare them, tears of acid fell from the space above them. Mad dummy winced and complained as they hit them, and ended up running away in pain.

“hey….” Greeted the ghost. They were a welcome sight, though they would’ve been a lot more welcome about two minutes ago, when Frisk was struggling to dodge knifes and in the middle of a moral panic. “oh… i scared your friend away… im sorry…” they apologized. “and after what i did to you in the ruins.. you must hate me… im so sorry..” the ghost sobbed. Frisk was far too tired to properly comfort the ghost, but they tried their best.

“i made something for you.. as an apology… its in my house if you wanted to see it, i guess.. im sorry, ill leave you alone now…” the ghost vanished before they could even say a word in response. After a moment of silence to process everything, Chara spoke again, “So.. it worked didn’t it? Guess I’m not such a terrible guide after all, right?”

Frisk wasn’t looking at them though. It didn’t even look like they were hearing Chara. Instead, they were staring at their hands, as if there was something on them that there wasn’t. Chara floated down, gently, and placed their hands on top of Frisk’s. The not-physical touch seemed to jerk them out of the trance they had found themself in. “..Frisk? Do you wanna take a break? We could just sit in here a minute, or we could go see what that ghost wanted to give you? I know this part of Waterfall, it’s a residential area. Undyne wouldn’t come looking for you here.” They comforted, hoping they weren’t awkward.

They remembered Asgore always asked them if they needed a break whenever they got especially irritated or angry for some reason they didn’t understand, even if ‘a break’ was just sitting inside for a couple minutes. Normally humans would’ve just told them off, so it was a nice change of pace. They hoped Frisk liked the same thing.

Frisk nodded while pointing ahead, motioning for them to keep moving. Their voice seemed to calm Frisk down, so they kept talking, “I wonder what their gift is going to be? Most monsters that live around the dump scavenge it for resources since most of it comes from the humans. I wonder if he made something from that..? Either way, I hope it’s not too gastly. ” They rambled. Frisk ducked their head down to hide the smile that had appeared on their face in response to the joke, and Chara knew they had been successful.

——————

The ghost’s gift, as it turned out, was music.

It wasn’t very well known among most humans, but music is very important to monsters. Musically talented monsters will often compose songs to go along with their friend’s bullet patterns, parents will gift their children theme music for their 18th birthday. Theme music is meant to represent a monster’s personality and ideals, so it ended up being a whole tradition among monsters.

Chara had never heard of tunes being given as an apology, but the fact that it was meant the ghost was extremely sorry. Or maybe they just liked making music. Either way, Frisk’s expression lit up when the present was handed to them. Chara whispered this to Frisk as the little music disc in their hand started playing, with the word ‘determination’ written hastily on the side. It was a simple melody, one that could replay without one noticing.

Chara was zoned out for most of the conversation that followed —too busy trying not to think about what Frisk’s normally optimistic expression would look like when they faced Undyne— however they knew it most comprised of the usual. Frisk tried their absolutely hardest to hug the ghost, failed, then proceeded to walk around the room asking about every little detail.

Somehow this turned into Chara lying on the floor with the other two staring into space, or, rather, the ceiling. Frisk must’ve been more tired than they thought, because they soon fell asleep into a nap on the small pillow they were given. This left the two undead to awkwardly lay in silence, both contemplating what to say to the other.

“So.. uh.. wait, did we ever ask your name?” Chara finally broke the silence with the realization. They had spent so long only being able to speak to Frisk that the thought completely slipped their mind. “oh.. no.. my name is napstablook..” he introduced. “Well, greetings Napstablook, I am Char-“ “i remember your name..” he interrupted, not rudely, but still interrupted. “you were the king’s child, weren’t you..? oh.. sorry.. that’s probably personal..” Napstablook asked nervously.

“Oh. Well.” Chara articulated awkwardly. They sat in silence for another few moments, before they both went to speak, “I’m sorry“ “sorry- ..oh, you go first..”

Chara cleared their throat and tried again. “I sincerely apologize for my.. potential actions. I’m not quite sure what you remember.. or what feelings or nightmares you may have experienced, but please know I am sorry. For all of it.” They apologized. “oh..” Napstablook responded.

“im.. sorry too. i didn’t really remember much about what happened.. i shouldn’t have warned toriel.. it wasn’t your fault..” the ghost rambled. Chara shot straight up and turned to look at them. “What do you mean it wasn’t my fault? ” They asked. Napstablook looked nervous at the sudden intensity of their stare, so Chara tried to tone it down a bit.

If Chara was being honest.. they must admit they didn’t exactly remember all of what happened with the entity. Rather, they remembered feelings, images, fragmented sentences and thoughts. It was almost as if another monster had told them what happened instead of it happening to them.

“well.. i don’t remember much, but.. you weren’t the one doing any of it.. and you didn’t look very happy that it was happening. it looked like- um.. if you could’ve, you would’ve stopped it. im not sure, but, uh.. i don’t think it was your fault.” Napstablook admitted. They were wrong, of course it was Chara’s fault. Napstablook didn’t have all the facts, they couldn’t even remember much of the incident. It wasn’t like the memories of this ghost could even be trusted, but..

Just as Napstablook looked as if they were going to start backtracking again, Chara spoke. “Thank you.” It was quiet, but they both heard it.

Chara wasn’t enough of an idiot to believe that it wasn’t on them, however.. just having one monster —no matter how unreliable— believe in them was..

Comforting. In a way they had not felt in a bit.

Napstablook silently slid over a piece of ghost-chocolate as an apology. Chara went back to the floor, and stared at it for a moment.

It might be one of the best things they had ever tasted.

Except their mother’s famous snail pie, of course.

——————

Chara was never afraid of the dark.

Frisk, on the other hand, seemed to very much be so.

They clung as close to Chara as possible as they  wandered through the glowing lantern rooms. Chara remembered Asriel doing the same to them whenever they went to Waterfall alone. Then again, Frisk had reason to be scared of what wandered in these caverns, especially considering most of them wanted them dead at some point.

They reached a dead end despite Chara’s instructions that Chara didn’t remember being there, when they heard metal footsteps from behind them. “HUMAN,” said the booming voice the footfalls belonged to, “I hope you know I will not hesitate this time.” Chara hardly had time to react as Undyne lunged toward them, spear-in-fist.

Monsterkid, apparently, did. As Undyne lunged, they decided this would be a perfect time to hop in, much to Undyne’s probable despair. “Undyne! I’ll help you-“ the monster looked around for a moment, seeing their current predicament. “Wait, we’re fighting you? But you were so nice! You can’t be the-“ they looked back a Undyne for confirmation, only to be met with a hand to the face as they were dragged off.

For what felt like the thousandth time that day, Chara and Frisk gave a huge sigh of relief. For what felt like the thousandth time that day, they trudged on without a word.

The next time they saw Monsterkid, it was on the very bridge Chara had been dreading. That memory in particular was difficult to forget. Chara had never seen a monster come back from being dust before. They made sure Frisk was fully stocked with food beforehand and wasn’t discontent at all.

After all, they didn’t know how this fight was going to happen.

Monsterkid walked over to them, almost somber. “Yo… I have a question for you.. you’re a human, right?” Monsterkid’s head was turned down. Frisk nodded sagely, and Monsterkid seemed even more intent not to look them in the eyes. “Well, that sucks. Why’d you do that?” Chara asks themself the same question everyday. “But you’re not like.. one of the bad ones though, right?” They ask, once again hopeful.

Frisk, a ‘bad one’, did little claws with their hands and made a noise befitting a dinosaur, confirming their ‘bad one’ status. Chara was worried for a moment that Monsterkid would take this as an actual threat rather than a joke, but they brightened up and kept talking.

“Aw, yeah! I knew you weren’t! Bad kids don’t give eachother candy. Now, after I tell Undyne, she’ll totally let and go and we’ll all be best friends!” They started. “She told me we couldn’t be friends because you were ‘dangerous’ and ‘had done something really bad’, but I knew she was wrong!” They exclaimed with all the passion of a child who had found a new best friend. They started to run off, but tripped, unfortunately now teetering off the edge of the small bridge.

When Frisk went to go help them up, they heard the familiar sound of a spear whirling through the air. It narrowly avoided piercing their hand as Frisk jumped back. Undyne was standing still, but nervous. They could tell she was looking back and forth between Monsterkid and the human.

“Yo.. I can’t really hold on for much longer..” they said. Frisk, still looking at Undyne, slowly reached down to start pulling Monsterkid up. Once Monsterkid was on their feet again, Undyne gave them one last glare before retreating backwards. Monsterkid watched her as she went, looking suprising pensive.

“Yo..” they started, looking at Frisk again, “don’t worry about Undyne! I’m sure she’s just.. confused! It prolly gets disorienting being that cool all the time.. yeah! I’ll talk to her for you, dude! Once she hears how awesome you are, she might invite you to the Royal Guard!” They promised, looking more as if they were trying to convince themself. They were about to impulsively run away, when they must’ve thought better of it and started carefully walking down the path.

Despite the fact that their plan probably wouldn’t work, it was a better comfort than Chara could give.

Chara couldn’t ignore the future anymore.

Undyne was standing atop a mountain, her hair whipping through the wind. As Frisk got closer, she begins to speak.

“HUMAN. I’m sure you know what is going to happen here.” She said. She began slowly walking down to a platform on the mountain as she spoke, “You are the last of seven humans we have fought. You will lose this fight, and we will be free on the surface soon.” She promised, preparing her spear, and taking off her helmet. She smiled, letting her razor sharp teeth show and her gills flare.

“I can feel everyone’s SOUL beating in tune with my own, I will not let them down this time!” She grabbed her spear before plunging down, aiming straight for the small human child below. Frisk dodged her weapon, and entered a fight. Frisk, as always, tried talking to her first. She didn’t even look at them long, preparing her next attack.

Soon, spears were raining down from each direction as Frisk weaved and blocked them. Chara tried their best to give advice and warn them, but their efforts were in vain when a couple spears managed to scrape and nick the child despite them. Frisk could only try talking to Undyne for so long before there simply wasn’t anything to talk about. Eventually, they resorted to just trying to spare her. To be fair, it seemed Undyne was getting annoyed at their actions.

“WHY WON’T YOU FIGHT?! Whatever! I’m not falling for your tricks. If you don’t fight, you’ll die. Fine by me.” She said, pulling her main spear back in preparation to throw it at them.

Chara and Frisk were running out of ideas, and energy. And maybe blood. At this point, it felt like they had been fighting for forever, and Undyne didn’t look keen to stop any time soon. In fact, she didn’t even look that winded. Frisk, on the other hand, was looking quite worse for wear. They had cuts all over now, Chara was pretty sure they wouldn’t be able to salvage that sweater no matter how hard Toriel went at it.

Frisk had tears welling up in their eyes that threaten to fall down whenever they moved too rashly, which was frequently. Chara understood, they felt the cuts too. The sight invoked memories in Chara that they almost didn’t know they had.

Memories of Asriel, however he looked much different than how Chara remembered him. He was taller, his horns had grown out, and he was wearing a long robe rather than the green and yellow striped sweater they shared. Most of all though, he looked injured. Heavily injured. Just like Frisk, he was covered in scrapes and burns all over. Chara thought they could still hear the sounds of angry yelling and crackling fire. Thoughts accompanied the image as Chara felt themself unwillingly recede into their own mind.

You must fight them, Azzy.

They’re killing you! You have to!

Why aren’t you listening to me? We had a plan!

Azzy, please, just fight them..!

And then smaller, quieter ones.

I don’t care about the plan anymore. You weren’t supposed to be hurt like this.

Please, Azzy. I don’t care about the SOULs anymore..

Screw the plan, I just wanna go home..

Just run.. please give up and run away..

please..

“RUN!” Chara screamed. They were breathing heavily and couldn’t control their panic. Frisk shook their head, and determinately looked ahead to Undyne. “Frisk, just run away. She won’t listen to you, we can come back another time. It’s okay to run away.” You can’t leave me too. Frisk narrowly avoided one of her attacks, leading to another tiny red line appearing on their cheek. It was only then that they turned to Chara, fearful and questioning.

But where would they go? Wait..

This mountain was the entrance to Hotland! Chara remembered Undyne always complaining about the extra long path she had to take to Asgore’s house in New Home because she couldn’t go through Hotland for some reason. Chara looked back to Frisk to tell them the plan. They were shaking, breathing heavily, and looked scarily close to a meltdown for a small child. What would calm a little kid down? ..games, maybe?

“Alright Frisk, let’s play a game. Tag! You’re it!” Chara waved a hand through Frisk’s head, and flew away. They made sure to weave around and through Undyne’s attacks, making a path for Frisk to follow. She yelled at them to get back, and started bounding after them. To their credit, even though the whole ‘games’ thing didn’t look like it helped in any way, their brief confusion looked like it distracted them from the current situation.

Frisk clumsily sprinted -and Chara flew- as fast as their little legs could carry them. The blinking lights of the Hotland welcome sign flashed in their face, briefly blinding them. For all the power and strength she held, Undyne didn’t seem to be that fast. Her armour was built for sturdiness rather than speed, and it seemed she was able to do little more than a brisk walk in it.

They had made it outside to a water station when Frisk’s shaky legs finally tripped and gave out. Chara looked back and saw Undyne still walking. Unsteady, struggling, but still walking. Her armour must be burning in the heat. Frisk looked up as she approached. They tried to get up, but were too weak to stand on their own. Even if they were, it was far too hot to start walking, nevermind running. Even if Chara wanted to, it wasn’t like they could help them up or anything.

“No no no, not again.. please..” Chara whispered.

Undyne towered over Frisk, stabbing her spear into the ground next to them and using it to support herself.

Chara didn’t know what to do. It was a sentence they had repeated many times in their life, and apparently now their death, too. They found when they didn’t know what to do, they would usually end up.. taking themself out of the equation. Didn’t know how to find love that others seemed to receive so easily? Jump off a mountain, corpses don’t need things like hugs or nice parents. Could never repay those close to them? Ate poisonous flowers until they felt better, best plan of their life.

Don’t know whether to let a friend die? Well, they couldn’t escape these types of situations even in death, so they supposed they should just.. allowed whatever happened to happen. It hurt. It always hurt. They didn’t know how to make it stop hurting.

“I told you.. huff.. that you knew how this would go.” Undyne said. Frisk was still trying their best to stand up, but it wasn’t working. “I thought you’d be.. different.. but you never fought me.. h uff… a single time.” She tore her spear out of the ground, “that will be your final mistake..” Chara was sure this was it. They had failed to do anything, again. At least the monsters will have gotten their SOUL. Chara almost managed to convince themself that it was a good thing. Almost.

Undyne nearly looked like she was melting in the heat. She lifted a shaky hand to hold her spear into the air, and prepared to stab it into the child in front of her.

It’s your fault.

It’s your fault.

It’s your fault.

“Human.. huff.. you..-“ and then she collapsed into a sweaty puddle on the ground.

..wait, what?

Chara stood in utter shock for a full minute, while Frisk just collapsed onto their back in utter exhaustion and relief. A voice from the path they had been running across a mere minute ago sounded after a bit. Two voices, actually.

“HUMAN! ARE YOU- OH DEAR.” Papyrus realized as he looked at the two of them. Monsterkid was right behind him, and went over to stand above Frisk. The human in question sighed in relief at the shade their shadow provided. “Dude! I met this skeleton on my way to Undyne! He said he knew you and is friends with her! Uh.. Yo, dude.. you aren’t looking too good.. Here.” They said, handing Frisk a cold cup of water from the dispenser nearby. Frisk managed to drink a little bit before the temptation overcame them and they dumped the water over their head.

“WELL! IT SEEMS YOU BOTH NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE. IMMEDIATELY.” Papyrus commanded as he picked up the Royal Guardsmen Captain and started carrying her further into Hotland, toward a giant white building only a couple rooms over. “ARE YOU ALRIGHT TO WALK THE HUMAN, TINY MONSTERCHILD?” He asked, grimacing at Frisk’s many injuries.

“Yeah, totally! C’mon dude, let’s go see the science lady! She’s, like, probably also a doctor or whatever.”

Frisk was alive. Frisk was actually going to live.

What were they supposed to do now?

Without a word, Chara continued.

Chapter Text

They say humans can become accustomed to any situation or pain if they are faced with it for long enough.

When Chara was 11, they found this to be untrue. So, they went up to the mountain that people don’t come back from, and walked until they couldn’t anymore.

When Chara was 14, they found that they had not been wrong. It wasn’t as if they’d never been sick before; lack of food and warmth tends to make that a given. Because of this, Chara assumed they’d be able to withstand most pain that comes with illness, even if it was caused by poison.

Sitting there on their bed, feeling as if there was thorny vines in their throat and no more stomach acid to vomit was when they found themself to be very, very wrong. They had been sick for about two weeks, and were convinced this was a form of torture.

They’d like to say that the sight of their family weeping after yet another doctor tells them there’s nothing he can do is worse than any pain they’ve felt, but it wasn’t. They didn’t even find themself with the energy to comfort him as Asriel sobbed at their bedside to sleep every night, whispering that he didn’t want to go through with the plan anymore.

No more were the snarky comments or soft hugs to comfort him. Even if they wanted to, if they tried speaking they were sure it would only result in more blood pouring from their mouth.

If Chara was honest, they didn’t want this plan anymore either. They discovered, selfishly, that if they were granted one wish it would not be to save Monsterkind, or the break the barrier. No, it would be to go back in time before they’d ever made that stupid pie.

Call them a coward, it’s not like it mattered anymore.

When Chara went to sleep for the final time, they turned to look at Asriel. They reached with all the muscles they didn’t have, took his hand, and whispered with utter resolve, “I love you, you..” they coughed, “you idiot.. and I’ll see.. you.. soon…”

And then everything was black.

They would free their family. It was, after all, the last thing they ever do.

—————

Once Chara was already dead, they understood they didn’t have to get used to it.

Chara didn’t recognize the monster who opened the door but they didn’t quite care. The monster, apparently a scientist, stuttered and rambled at first, but grew quiet as soon as she saw Undyne. A mortified expression came to her face that made Chara slightly lose confidence in her abilities as a doctor, what kind of medical practitioner couldn’t handle a patient who looked like they were melting? She looked at Papyrus as if he were the Grim Reaper, and this was not the first time they met.

She was relieved when she was told it was probably just heat stroke, and ushered Papyrus and Monsterkid in. Frisk had passed out fallen asleep at some point, and was now just barely stumbling along towards the dirty couch the ‘doctor’ had pointed them towards. As soon as they hit a stained patch on the lumpy sofa, they were out.

Papyrus briefly looked to check that the child was alright, before returning his focus to Undyne. After listening to the scientist’s garbled ramblings for a bit, they learned Undyne’s armour was not suited for Hotland, and was potentially scalding her skin. They were lucky Undyne’s scales worked as a sort of second armour so she wasn’t badly burned.

After she was taken care of, the scientist dimmed the lights and brought both Frisk and Undyne a glass of water. As much as Chara would’ve loved to continue narrating their definitely interesting conversation, they found themself a little caught in their own head. They floated over to the human, staring at their exhausted unconscious face.

Frisk almost died.

Well, they’ve almost died many times, to be fair. Between the many fights and suprising amount of free falls towards flowerbeds, they should count themself lucky. This time was.. different though.

Frisk would’ve died. Had anything gone wrong, had they been even an inch to the left when an arrow struck, had they not started running even a couple seconds later, had Undyne been given even a moment more lucidity. Frisk would’ve died, and Chara would’ve let it happen. They could no longer look them in the face, turning around and curling into a ball on the floor.

Except.. could they have even stopped it? They’d been under the impression that they had some sort of control over the person they were bound to, whether that be the entity or Frisk. They’d assumed a sense of responsibility whenever either of them made a decision. They held the SOUL now, and the capabilities that came with it. Were those capabilities truly just the ability to reset? If anything were to go wrong, would they forever be forced to watch it over and over, with only the ability to rewind?

They had some sort of effect over Frisk, atleast. However, that was more of a form of communication than anything involving true control. Technically, they could speak to the entity, however it never seemed to react to their commentary. If they had spoke out against it since the beginning, would the behaviour truly have stopped it? Would it have changed anything at all?

Powerless.

Again and

again and

again and

again and-

The flower petals that grow in their hair seemed to wilt, and they started to see their vision blur. Something was dripping. Slowly, incessantly dripping. The noise made them want to stab someone, and that thought made them want to stab themself. It had begun to pool on the floor below them. Finally, they found themself able to focus on what the dripped had been. A dark substance, a reddish-black ink. They went to touch it, but found it already covered their hands.

It was everywhere. They found it dripping out of their eyes, down their sweater and neck and legs. They opened their mouth to gasp only to find the sticky ichor pouring out of it. The walls were melting and the world was flashing red in their eyes.

Something was stuck in Chara’s throat. Something dry. They begun coughing, and hacking, and gagging. They coughed until they could feel their inner throat begin to bleed and their lips begin to crack. Keeling over, they felt their whole body shaking, with a stabbing pain in their gut. They tried coughing again only to find the movement of their head made them so dizzy they almost fell over. After what felt like an eternity, the object came out.

In the pool of what they now knew to be blood that covered the floor was something small, bright yellow.

A flower. A buttercup.

And then another, and then a couple more, and then suddenly globs of flowers were pouring from their mouth. Gardens of blood and flowers and saliva and tears gathered around them and it hurt and everything hurt and they didn’t know what was happening and they needed help and where was Azzy? Mom? Dad? Where did they go and why weren’t they here and-

Something shiny, golden, swung down from underneath their sweater. They reached to grab it, and found their hands weren’t covered in the ichor anymore. They opened the heart locket, and focused on its contents.

Asriel was staring right at them from inside the heart locket. They could almost imagine his voice speaking to them. “Breathe, Chara,” he’d say, “everything is going to be okay, you just have to breathe.” And then he’d smile, like the world didn’t hurt. Like the world didn’t have to hurt, not anymore.

Chara found themself listening to his advice.

It was difficult, trying not to choke on phantom flowers caught in their throat. They were still hiccuping, but had calmed down enough to start becoming aware again. The first thing Chara became aware of was their hand grasping tightly at the locket around their neck. The press of its shape was familiar enough to ground them.

Then, they heard Frisk’s rhythmic breathing from behind them. It was barely audible, but it was enough to focus on. More things became available to their senses soon; the soft hand-knit sweater they were given about a week into their stay with their family by Mom, the fuzzy socks Azzy had given them for Gyftmas as a joke, the flower hairpin Dad gifted them unprompted after he noticed they struggled to keep their hair out of their face.

They opened their eyes, thankful that the scientist had the lights so dim. The floor was still dirty, but not with sickness and petals. They noticed Undyne gone, so she must’ve left at some point. Chara also noticed the clock, which indicates Frisk had been sleeping for the past 3 hours. Speaking of, they finally got up to go see how Frisk was doing. As they stand, they notice how creaky their incorporeal body is.

At the start of Chara’s journey, they couldn’t even feel the cold of the Ruins. Now, it felt like their body was almost real again. It had been a while since Chara had felt this.. healthy. It felt almost like how they felt the months after they had gotten used to the Dreemurr’s life. Not hurt, not sickly, they didn’t even feel that dead.

Regardless, Frisk looked mostly fine. The exhausted shivers that had begun to rack their body in the last moments of their fight with Undyne were gone, and they seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Now that Chara was thinking about it, it was way past a normal child’s bedtime when Frisk went asleep.

Assuming they woke up at a normal time before they came to the mountain, it was surprising they were still awake by Undyne’s fight. Even with all the naps they had taken, naps are normal for children Frisk’s age even without staying up far too late.

Frisk was resting, and it didn’t look like they were going to get up for a while. After the first ten minutes of waiting, Chara discovered the most terrifying realization of the night,

they were bored.

As thrilling as staring at Frisk snore would have been, they strangely enough found themself not wanting to do it for the next couple of hours. Frisk was probably going to be asleep for another while, and Chara.. didn’t want to think anymore.

The more they looked around, the more Chara had begun to get concerned about Frisk’s safety around this ‘doctor’ —who was mysteriously and suspiciously absent— they were staying with. First off, was that massive screen Chara somehow hadn’t noticed before that showed exclusively a close-up of Frisk’s sleeping face. She must have been the one who’s been watching them through those cameras they found. Creepy.

If that wasn’t enough, her entire lab was a complete mess. Papers piled high on her desk and were smudged with coffee stains and what looked like ramen noodles. She had a half-empty bag of dog food but no food or water bowls, and certainly no dog. Her shelves held an almost impressive amount of anime, most of which Chara had never even heard of. Unfortunately, staring at the trash on her floor was no better than staring at Frisk’s face, nor the screen of Frisk’s face, so the search for entertainment continued.

Which is how they found themself wandering and poking around in the scientist’s weird lab.. hospital.. thing. They had found it by accident after flying through a wall that was apparently an elevator shaft. Looking down, Chara could see that the elevator was still waiting at its destination. This must be where the scientist had hidden away to.

The hallways of the underground lab were dusty and.. mysteriously almost damp. Old dead plants and strange machinery. They were surprisingly big, if Chara couldn’t walk through walls they’d probably get lost. There were screens everywhere, but they must have been motion activated because they could only read the one near the elevator.

Their boredom was replaced with a cautious curiosity. Why was there a hospital underneath the lab? That is what this was, wasn’t it? The hospital beds, the monitors, the.. surgical equipment. The scientist clearly wasn’t a licensed doctor, or even particularly knowledgeable about the medical industry. Why would she have this down here? Even more, why was she currently visiting it?

What truly peaked their interest was not the scientist, nor the strange and eerie circumstances. No, what was most interesting to Chara was the room containing flowers. Buttercups. Ones that looked to be picked directly from the king’s public garden. The only difference being that these ones were massive, most likely genetically modified. These plants seemed to be regularly watered and taken care of in comparison to the ferns outside.

They were also the splitting image of the damned flower-thing.

What was equally concerning to the identical-flower-situation, were the syringes that surrounded the plants, and the scattered notes that accompanied them. Most of the writing was indecipherable, but the few words that were readable were worrisome. They told the tale of how this scientist had taken flowers from the king’s garden in an attempt to make a vessel for.. someone’s SOUL.. by using a substance called ‘determination’.

As Chara had assumed —and feared,— the notes began speaking of one of the flowers the experiment worked on. As Chara had assumed, the report ended with the flower having disappeared.

But that… didn’t make sense.

No matter how powerful this substance was, without a SOUL the flower shouldn’t be able to do.. anything. How could a non-sentient being without even the outline of a SOUL have developed a personality, a life? There had to at least been a SOUL in that flower at some point, or else it would’ve never been able to wake up.

How could that happen, though? No matter how much Dad liked a flower, it’s not as if-

No! No more thinking!

Chara shook themself out of their thoughts. Just then, an extremely convenient noise appeared from outside of the room. The perfect distraction.

As they found the source of the noise, they discovered it to be the scientist. She was carrying small bag of some sort of pills or medicine and a much larger bag of dog food. She seemed to be heading outside the lab, up the elevator.

Refusing to allow themself to find this suspicious, they followed the scientist silently. Once she got out of the rickety —and quite frankly very dangerous— elevator, she immediately went to see how Frisk was doing. Just a quick look, but it was enough to notice.

After that, she made some trashy ramen noodles and sat on the floor with the shelves that contained all the anime she liked. She took out a well-worn cartridge labeled ‘for hate-watching ONLY!!’ and put it into the small monitor off to the side where Frisk would not be awoken by its light.

For the next hour and a half, Chara watched mind-numbing television.

It was pretty bad. But given that the scientist was also whisper-yelling and the screen and grumbling whenever one of the characters didn’t something particularly annoying, they assumed this was the correct response. It was easy, to sit on the floor and watch the TV and forget the person they were watching with couldn’t see them. The scientist-doctor was admittedly fun to watch stuff with, even if she didn’t know about it.

Eventually, though, Chara grew bored and tired once again. They ripped their eyes away from the screen, and wandered off to simply look at Frisk for a minute.

Their skin was full, healthy. It wasn’t pale, or sickly, or cold to the touch. The cuts they had gotten from Undyne had long since scabbed over and were healing. Luckily, it seemed none of them were serious enough to need proper bandages, but Chara was certain Frisk would enjoy the myriad of colourful band-aids Papyrus had given them.

They weren’t sickly, weren’t too injured, and certainly wasn’t dead. Frisk’s chest rose and fell while they snored softly and silently. This would not be the last time they fell asleep. They were safe —however briefly— while they were in the somewhat comfort of the lab.

Chara knew that. Chara knew that.

That didn’t mean Chara left their bedside for the next thirty minutes.

A thought, no matter how unwanted, entered their brain as they sat, pillowing their head with their arms on the bed and kneeling on the floor.

Was this what Asriel felt like?

——————

Chara didn’t really notice when Frisk began to stir. They still hadn’t moved from their position at the human’s bedside, of course not. It wasn’t as if they had dozed off, since they were pretty sure they are unable to fall asleep, but this is the closest to sleeping as a ghost can get. They zoned out to the ambient sounds around the lab and the chattering of the television.

They did notice it when Frisk shot up faster than Chara could react and started to swivel their head around the room, looking for something. Someone?

“I see you are awake.” Chara noted, sitting up from their slumped position into something more presentable, and trying to gleam what exactly they are so panicked about. Were they scared Undyne was still in the room? That is fair, last they were awake she was still being taken care of within the lab. When Frisk heard their voice, they startled and snapped their head towards Chara. Apparently, Frisk hadn’t noticed Chara from their position on the floor next to the couch.

After processing who it was Frisk saw, they breathed a silent sigh of relief and smiled at them, waving. Then, as usual with Frisk, they grinned mischievously and brought their hand up

—pushing it straight through Chara’s incorporeal head.

Ah, yes, of course, Chara had forgotten one crucial detail.

A game of tag is never over.

“Betrayal!” Chara gasped theatrically, putting a hand over their forehead in mock-offence, “Why must you strike when I least expect it? I condemn you!” They shouted, Frisk falling into child-like giggles at their dramatics. “This is not the last of me! I will not be defeated in the ancient game of tag! ” They declared, clutching at their chest, “I will come back to haunt you, even in death!” Chara promised, slowly falling to the ground as if dying.

“Bleh,” Chara died, sticking their tongue out and going limp on the floor. They must have been convincing since Frisk hadn’t stopped laughing. What could they say? They had practice.

It wasn’t often Frisk acted their age. Whether they were fighting adult monsters with nothing but words and gestures, or bravely forgiving and sparing those same adults. They stayed up for hours after a child was supposed to, and had eaten little more than a cinnamonbunny and a nice cream in that time.

Here, however, with cartoonish band-aids covering their garish cuts and smiling in a way only a child could, laughing despite their circumstances no matter how difficult it got, Chara thought they might have to fix that.

It was inevitable that the child would die, that they would never live to see adulthood. Chara couldn’t stop that. What they could do is make sure that life is the best one possible, even if for only a couple more hours.

Another child would not die sad, and certainly never alone.

Chapter Text

Chara had never felt this strong.

For the past.. however long, they had been passing through their afterlife, almost as if they were dreaming. Now, instead of the black-and-white watercolour painting memories they were having before, it’s like that portrait has been covered in a bright red paint. All they can see is the blinding lights surrounding them.

It’s like standing on a stage, hearing an audience roaring around you but not being able to see the faces of those causing the noise.

They hardly felt it as small burns covered their skin. The types only monsters could produce, and only ones desperate enough to be giving everything they had left to attack. Chara found themself unable to focus enough to wonder where they could’ve been coming from.

Strength was a thing they were never used to. Humans have a reputation among monsters as being infinitely strong, but Chara found they were always the runt of the group. Not strong enough to defend themself, not smart enough to leave.

This was different than any other type of strength they could’ve imagined. Adrenaline and LOVE coursed through their veins, burning the whole way.

Chara had one fatal flaw, unfortunately: they could never seem let sleeping dogs lie. There was a sort of emptiness that couldn’t be filled. They tried to hide it, to swallow it whole and never allow it to leave, but they found it swallowing them whole instead.

A voice followed their victory, whispering in their ear. “You disgust me.” It would say, “There will be no atonement once you are done. Even in death, your wrath for everything loved will never die.”

The voice was grating, desperate. It would speak, it would scream, it would whisper, and finally, it would beg. “No solace will be found in this infinite nightmare, please let me wake up. Please let me go Home.”

Somewhere, hidden in the dark swallows of the empty void that was their mind, they knew the voice was their own.

———————

Chara had felt powerless before.

Many times, in fact. Even if this was not a new low quite yet, it was certainly getting there.

They had felt the uselessness of seeing the monster’s plight and not being able to be of use to them, they had felt the despair of their best attempts not working. They had felt the anguish of watching everyone they’d sworn to help die.

There was a certain depression that was supposed to come with it. When the King had fallen ill, they’d seen it in their brother’s eyes. Worry, fear, but overall an inability that created a foreboding sense of totality. They’d seen it again, with everyone, when Chara themself fell.

Chara supposed they had felt this depression before. When they woke up in the bed of flowers, for the second time, before a part of themself was locked away to avoid something snapping.

If Chara was being honest, however, what they truly felt was anger.

They used to be angrier. Back on the surface, they’d yell and snap and punch until they were dragged away, a burning fire in their SOUL that would warm them when the heat went out. They would seethe, sitting alone outside their house, curled into a ball to stop the biting wind from catching on them.

When they came to the underground, their anger didn’t dissipate. It stayed, floundering and flickering, keeping their core warm and burning everyone who tried touching them. Chara spat out aggressive comments like some demonic creature might breathe fire. They would seethe, sitting with Asriel as their side, curled into a ball and trying to pretend as if the fire wasn’t getting too hot.

What does one do, when the fire that once warmed them was no longer needed? When a raging wildfire can be replaced with a hearth?

No, Chara’s anger never disappeared, but the roaring flame could finally be cooled down to a simmering coal. Warmth and heavy in their stomach, it waited to be reignited, resurrected.

Every slash and stab felt like flint against steel, sparks being created only to be washed away by a determined numbness that permeated throughout their body. Some ancient flare being snuffed out by piles of dust. It built and built, a blisteringly hot blaze slowly being gathered somewhere where it couldn’t be drowned by freezing waters.

When Chara was frozen for the last time, they exploded like a grease fire. That old flame returned like an old friend, greeting them with a crackling hand. It sneered at the thought it would ever get to leave.

When Chara met Frisk, they thought they needed to be a torch. Something to push them into the right direction, and to set them alight if they chose the wrong path. A warm, comfortable guiding light in the darkness that they could be drawn to like a moth to a flame so they wouldn’t notice the spider’s web.

Instead, Chara found themself becoming a campfire. A small comfort in a dark forest, a form of home where there wasn’t one. The woods were dangerous, creatures hid in the darkness and sharp brambles sprawled beneath their feet. Chara couldn’t protect them from that, in fact, they might be attracting more monsters than they scare away. But when Frisk curled up, comfortable and warm in a way Chara had never been at that age, it made them not feel as powerless.

Frisk might have to die, but in the meantime Chara was going to make sure they lived.

Which is why when the scientist came over to Frisk, mildly concerned over why they were seemingly giggling at nothing, and was promptly shut up by an explosive crash from downstairs, Chara sighed and flopped back on the ground in exhaustion. Could they be conscious for two seconds before some monster came to attack them? At least this one was kind enough to let them sleep.

Frisk followed the scientist down the escalator with the curiosity despite obvious danger that only a child their age could have. Based on the noise of the blast, Chara had a few guesses on who their new guest could be. Hotland was known for its explosive personalities, so it might just be a monster that had somehow gotten news that there was a human there. Perhaps even Undyne, recovered and coming back for another round.

What Chara was not expecting was a large smoking hole in that wall of the lab, and a large rectangular robot somehow balanced on a singular wheel standing —wheeling, perhaps— right outside of it, looking around a little confused looking. When it —he? Was it a monster or just a robot?— he spotted the human, it practically bounded towards them. The scientist mumbled a quiet “oh no..”, to which the robot replied with a booming voice, “OH YES!”

With a snap on his fingers, all the lights in the lab went out aside from a spotlight that looked like it had not gotten any use for a while, but were automatically trained on the performer. —And no, Chara did not yelp when the lights went out, Frisk.— The robot waved to a non-existent crowd, “HELLO, BEAUTIES… AND WELCOME..” he paused for dramatic effect. Frisk seemed interested, at least.

“..TO TODAY’S QUIZ SHOW!” Somewhere in the lab, an applause track played. The automaton seemed to get wrapped up in the tinny recording, despite its obvious fabrication. “Wait! Mettaton!” The scientist interrupted, waving her arms around to try and get his attention. Mettaton broke out of his trance, and, even just for a moment, appeared as if he was going to dismiss Alphys entirely in favour of continuing to reveal in fake congratulations.

“You-you don’t have to do it anymore! The human is f-fine see?” The scientist frantically explained. Mettaton did not seem to reply in kind. “ALPHY, DARLING! I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO HIDE WITH THE OTHERS? THE HUMAN IS FINE, YOU SAY?” Mettaton considered this for a moment, blinking dots flashing on the screen that was his face.

An exclamation mark appeared and Mettaton lifted a finger as if an idea had just stuck him. “YOU MEAN YOU HAVE NOT EVEN INTRODUCED ME? MY, WHAT A TRAGEDY! THIS MUST BE RECTIFIED IMMEDIATELY,” he swore. If he could smirk, Chara had knew he would be as he said, “THE SHOW MUST GO ON AFTER ALL, GORGEOUS!”

Mettaton was kind enough to explain the rules, but Chara found it rather rude that said rules consisted of ‘answer correctly or you die.’ Frisk, who had been threatened with death enough times that it was no longer a novelty, seemed to not particularly mind this.

The rest of what transpired during the quiz show was a cacophony of flashing lights, Alphys nervously figuring out how to make a letter ‘A’ with her hands, the dramatic slamming of tiny hands on buttons, and loud blaring correct buzzers. The false-applause continued every time Frisk got a question right, and it seemed to be boosting their ego a little bit too much. Chara might have had to get a handle on that before Frisk thought they could go become friends with Undyne, or something.

Regardless, Frisk seemed to be having a good time. There wasn’t even a hint of fear in Frisk’s face as they pretended to think on a question for a moment, slyly sneaking a glance in Alphys’s direction, which was weird. Even for the smallest of monsters, Frisk had enough self-preservation to be strategic. It was almost as if Frisk didn’t even register Mettaton as a threat. Almost like they thought he would fall apart as soon as he tried attacking them..

Huh.

Chara was interrupted by Alphys raving about something she’d watched. Mettaton turned to look at her shaking his finger at her. Despite the fist mock-angrily posed on his rectangle hip, he seemed far too pleased that she had cheated. That wasn’t a good sign. “ALPHYS, ALPHYS, ALPHYS,” he tutted, “HELPING OUR CONTESTANT OUT, ARE WE?”

“WELL, IT SEEMS THEY’VE BEEN GETTING A LOT OF HELP. SO, I SUPPOSE THIS MUST BE THE END OF OUR GAME SHOW.” Mettaton let out a mechanical sigh before immediately brightening up, “BUT WORRY NOT FOLKS! WE STILL HAVE ONE MORE QUESTION FOR OUR DEAREST CONTESTANT! ONE THAT ALPHYS ISN’T ALLOWED TO HELP WITH, I’M AFRAID,” a laugh track played, Alphys was anxiously picking at her nails and looking back and forth between the robot and the human.

Frisk is confidently staring right at Mettaton, ready to answer whatever question he threw at them with unwavering confidence. Chara did not share much of this confidence, which strangely made Frisk falter a little bit, so they gave them a hopefully convincing thumbs up. When Frisk returned to staring Mettaton down and waiting for the dramatic drums to stop, Chara focused back at the matter at hand.

Like how Mettaton’s featureless face was staring right at them.

Ugh, not again.

Mettaton seemed to be looking directly into their SOUL, analyzing and evaluating who they were. It looked like he was about to say something, the audience track pausing in anticipation, before Mettaton tore his cameras away from them and turned to look at Alphys and Frisk.

“HERE’S ONE OUR DEAREST SCIENTIST CANNOT ANSWER FOR YOU, WHO DOES DR. ALPHYS HAVE A CRUSH ON?” Mettaton teased light-heartedly. The audience jeered and clapped as Alphys desperately waved her hands to try to stop Frisk from answering. To an audience member, this would seem less like Alphys was a laughing stock and more like a light-hearted revenge from Mettaton.

Frisk gasped dramatically and slammed their hand on the correct answer as soon as they saw it. Mettaton gave an approving nod at their response. Whatever he’d been questioning before, he now seemed fully convinced.

“Wait, Undyne?” Chara questioned incredulously. The teasing continued and any cameras that might be recording would most certainly be focused on Alphys cowering and hiding her blushing face. “You mean the lady who’s supposed to be your doctor has a crush on the person who tried to kill you?” They asked suspiciously, narrowing their eyes.

Frisk just elbowed them where their stomach was and kept watching.

Mettaton bowed out, with the robot-screen equivalent of a wink and a promise the human would meet them again. The lights turned back on and revealed the scientist, still erratic with a nerves and embarrassment. She fidgeted with her claws and looked over at Frisk, who she seemed surprised to see in such high spirits.

Tell me about it, Chara thought.

“Are you- are you okay?” Alphys asked, to which Frisk nodded with way to much enthusiasm for someone who a had just had a near-death experience. “Sorry I couldn’t warn you about Mettaton! I thought I texted him not to come..” the scientist trailed off in thought.

“I swear I didn’t make him to, like, k-kill you or anything!” Alphys promised in the voice of the person who definitely made that robot to kill them. “I mean, I guess I did, but not like, you specifically!” She admitted before trying her best to defend herself, “Ev-Everyone was just so on edge, y’know? Originally he was just an entertainer bot, but then I thought it might make people feel safer if he had some.. defence.. mechanisms…” she wasn’t looking at Frisk, instead her eyes turned anywhere that wasn’t Frisk’s innocent face.

“Bu-but, I kinda messed up on some of the coding, and now he’s kind of a.. giant bloodthirsty murder robot..?” She finally admitted, sneaking a glance at Frisk’s reaction. Frisk wasn’t showing much on their face, instead giving a neutral expression. Chara was furious.

But, Frisk couldn’t do anything with anger, so they calmed themself down.

——————

After getting a final look-over and a phone from Alphys, she said something very strange.

“Oh, yeah! Papyrus said he wanted to send you a message before he left.” She said, “he said he was going to be training at Undyne’s house for a while and go call him when you woke up so you two could go to her house and ‘MAKE UP AND BE BEST FRIENDS!’, or something.”

They bid their goodbyes and started walking further into Hotland. When Frisk turned to them and was about to ask for something, Chara responded first, “ No.” Frisk pouted, hands on their hips. “I know what you were going to say, Frisk! We are not going to have a tea party at the house of the lady that tried to kill you! ”

So, there they were, having a tea party at Undyne’s house.

To her credit, Undyne wasn’t trying to kill them anymore. Papyrus had jumped out the side window a good five-odd minutes in, and somehow convinced Undyne to not immediately pounce on them. She gritted her teeth while they asked if Frisk wanted tea, very aware that Papyrus had stolen a cup from her kitchen on his way out and was probably using it to listen to everything she said.

Frisk nodded politely, and went up to go pick out a beverage when Undyne threw a spear at her table, instinctively yelling, “DON’T MOVE!” Frisk, ever determined to make friends, did so without complaint. Undyne, still breathing heavily, told them to simply point at what they wanted.

After getting fresh cup of hot chocolate —which is decidedly not tea, like Undyne had offered—, they sat at Undyne’s broken kitchen table in a one-sided awkward silence. After a full minute of sitting in silence, Undyne’s patience wore off and she glared at Frisk as she whispered in a tone Papyrus wouldn’t be able to hear, “what do you want from this?” Frisk tilted their head in confusion.

“What? Do you think we could just be friends? ” She laughed, but it wasn’t funny. “I know what you did.” She claimed, staring Frisk into the ground. Undyne was looking for something in Frisk’s monotone expression. Some malice, or fear, or surprise. Whatever she was looking for, she didn’t find it in Frisk’s idle body language.

Chara knew that Undyne would remember. Even if she didn’t necessarily know any more than everyone else, she was proactive enough to take her assumption as fact. They were prepared for the usual guilt that followed. It didn’t make it hurt any less.

Chara wished this was just another weekly post-training session tea party. That Undyne would break character and end the story with a heroic victory, that Chara and Azzy would clap and exclaim at the intense parts. That they’d spend the rest of the day making armour out of cardboard and swords out of sticks to act out the scenes. That they’d run out of time because they tried to give Azzy massive wings.

But that didn’t happen.

“..I also know that I didn’t- ..I couldn’t stop you.” She let her gaze fall to the cracked table, but kept her head held high. Tears were gathered in her eyes. When Frisk saw them, they started walking up to try and comfort her. “So.. why? Why bring us back like this? You wanna’ go for round two, punk?! Why? Some sick form of entertainment? Bloodlust? BECAUSE I WON’T BACK DOWN! I WON’T-“ her heroic rant was cut off as Frisk wrapped their arms around her torso.

“WHAT IS THIS? ARE YOU TRYING TO TACKLE ME? HAH!” Undyne had her hands raised in the air, trying to avoid touching the human as much as possible as she comically stumbled around. Frisk only tightened their grip.

“..you really gotta’ work on that upper-body strength, punk.” She slumped, putting a hand on Frisk’s head. Frisk lifted it to look at her. She sighed and started ruffling their dark hair, making it more tangled than it already was, “You didn’t do it, did you?”

Frisk shook their head. “Well, I dunno’ how you did it.. but thank you. For giving us another chance.” She smiled, briefly but genuinely, before peeling Frisk off of her with a huff, “ALRIGHT! That’s enough of that. As much as I love him, I’m pretty sure Papyrus would never let it go if he found out about this.”

“SO, HUMAN,” she started, widening her stance and cracking her knuckles. “ARE YOU READY TO BECOME BEST FRIENDS?!”

By Undyne’s standards, apparently ‘becoming best friends’ involved the crucial first step of making the most horrendous spaghetti plate Chara had the displeasure of seeing, in the most violent and agressive way possible. Half the noodles missed the pot when she dunked them in, which was on fire. Undyne mixed so vigorously that there was more boiling water on her wallpaper than in the pot. Tomatoes —not sauce, tomatoes that Undyne had punched into a fine paste— were on everyone’s faces.

By the end, the three of them were standing in front of Undyne’s flaming house.

Frisk was swivelling back and forth between Undyne and her burning down home, looking nervous and guilty. Undyne simply had her hands on her hips, appraising the fire. She then turned to Frisk, still grinning ear-to-ear, “am I a great cook or what?”

Chara couldn’t help bursting out in laughter at the absurdity that was the Captain of the Royal Guard’s nature.

Now this was the Undyne they remembered.

——————

Hotland was a mostly uneventful place.

Who was Chara kidding, their journey through Hotland was extremely eventful.

Between the lasers and the monsters and the puzzles and Alphys’s near constant texting, they could hardly go one room without some sort of challenge. Frisk took it in stride, just like always. Sparing monsters, doing puzzles, it was becoming a routine. They patiently listened as Alphys ranted about how a puzzle worked for an almost awkward amount of time.

The directions were unnecessary, of course. Orange and blue puzzles were pretty easy once one had been in them as many times as Chara had. Hotland had certainly upgraded their technology since they and Asriel came here, but monsters were pretty attached to their fundamentals.

Hotland seemed pretty big, but Chara knew that the layout was one thing the monsters couldn’t do, so Chara could’ve covered that.

And no Frisk, they were not jealous over some scientist who wasn’t even good at it taking their job.

As for the hacker skills, Chara wasn’t too prideful to admit they probably wouldn’t be able to turn off the lasers. The problem was that usually the lasers didn’t stay off. Multiple times had Alphys given the order to continue forward, only for a laser to flicker back on the second Frisk took a step forward.

To her credit, it didn’t seem like Alphys was intentionally try to sabotage them. In fact, she seemed quite guilty and shaken when it happened. That didn’t stop Chara from getting a flash of anger every time Frisk was almost burnt because something had ‘gone wrong’.

When they saw a kitchen in the middle of a walkway, Chara was immediately suspicious. Unfortunately, Frisk was not. Despite the fairly obvious cameras and show lights, Frisk sauntered in as if this was a completely normal thing to witness. Chara tried to warn them, but Frisk waved them off, as if they knew there wasn’t going to be anything in the room.

They were wrong, of course. When Mettaton crawled from underneath one of the counters, —something that Chara would never like to see again— Frisk had a slightly surprised expression. Chara would’ve liked to say they seemed afraid at the potential dangers of a murder robot, but instead their face lit up as soon as they saw him.

Honestly, Chara kind of understood why. Despite the constant dramatic death threats, Mettaton never actually seemed to be planning on killing them —or hurting them, for that matter. The recipe required human ingredients, but Mettaton just happened to have a substitute on hand. The shock on his face when Alphys presented the phone-jetpack was most certainly fake.

Plus, Mettaton was just.. entertaining. Being the most famous monster in the Underground didn’t come from nothing. Between the flashing lights, high tensions, and Mettaton’s simultaneously dramatic and witty commentary, it’s was so easy to get lost in the theatrics of it all. Frisk certainly was, splitting their attention between posing woefully for the audience and dodging baking soda.

This is supposed to be a baking show, why is there a jetpack? They thought hysterically through the tears that’s were beginning to come to their eyes.

Chara couldn’t help laughing, weaving through the falling ingredients as if they were playing too. It wasn’t as if they were in any real danger, at least for now. The few times Frisk had gotten hit with something, Chara was more inclined to point and guffaw at their sugar-covered face than be concerned.

None of that really mattered, because Frisk’s expression was no longer filled with that near hopeless exhaustion. Their eyes did not hold any fear, nor a doomed determination. Their hands were no longer shaking, body trembling for a reason Chara didn’t yet understand.

Mettaton continued to cry in a mock anguish, and nod in approval every time he watched Frisk pull off some crazy manoeuvre for the audience. Alphys’s voice crackled over the phone with an excited anticipation. Frisk just smiled.

Even for just this moment, everything felt okay.

…the feeling didn’t go away.

It didn’t go away when Mettaton let them go. It didn’t go away when Sans —who apparently worked at a hotdog stand now— stacked hotdogs on top of Frisk’s head higher than Chara could count. It didn’t even stop when Frisk and Chara played matchmaker with two monsters that were paying too much attention to each other to try and fight them.

They, for the first time since long before they died, didn’t feel guilt at all. They didn’t think about Mom, or Dad, or Papyrus or all the other monster’s dust. They didn’t think about how Frisk would soon join that list of people who they failed to protect. Could they have even failed, when there was nothing they could do in the first place?

It didn’t matter. Even if they knew Frisk was going to die soon, it didn’t matter because they were happy then.

When Mettaton returned with a fake news report about defusing bombs, they knew already that they were fake. Chara and Frisk scrambled around, trying and probably failing to defuse all the bombs in time while Mettaton gave them unhelpful narrations and Alphys gave them equally unhelpful encouragements.

By the end, they were both laughing and out of breath in a way that only happened when one knows they will not be able to complete a task in the first place. Chara didn’t know when they started breathing instinctively, but now they found themself not wanting to stop. Strangely, they also found it more comfortable to walk instead of float.

And, of course, it turns out Alphys deactivated the bomb anyway.

——————

Chara was coming to learn that flowers were never a good sign.

They were just about to enter a dark, creepy hallway and Chara knew the shifting in the shadows wasn’t just their imagination. Chara wasn’t afraid of spiders, per se, but their pure quantity in the Underground was enough to make any monster squirm. Muffet, a local baker, wasn’t one of their hardest battles, but it certainly left its mark.

Frisk seemed hesitant to go in as well, but not for the same reason. Chara was about to ask if they needed another break when Frisk turned away from them, crouching down to see something they’d noticed on the floor. There, woven with spider’s silk, was a little white flower.

The same one that was used for Muffet’s funeral.

Chara grimaced, but was determined to comfort Frisk first. What surprised them was that Frisk held a very similar expression to Chara whenever they looked at the monsters they’d killed; guilty. But why would Frisk be upset over this? Unless..

Ah.

They supposed it made sense. The extreme aversion to violence, the strange reactions, the strange lack of questions despite all the suspicious behaviours of the other monsters and Chara’s obvious lies.

After all, if all the monsters had memories of the past timeline, why wouldn’t Frisk?

“Frisk..” Chara called, barely in control of their own voice. “You remember, do you not?” The words startled Frisk, and they looked up at Chara as they knelt down to be on eye-level with them. They seemed surprised for a moment, and for a second Chara had hope that they were wrong. They had hope that they weren’t just like every other human on the surface, that they hadn’t hurt someone as good as Frisk.

And then Frisk nodded. It felt more like a nail in their coffin than their actual coffin did.

Looking in Frisk’s eyes, they didn’t know what to say. They always knew what to say. If not the right thing, then something, anything. They had so much to apologize for, so much to thank Frisk for. Should they even apologize? Chara knew if any of the humans on the surface came down and tried to apologize to them, Chara would throw back every insult they’d ever been called right at them and spit on their boots. Did they have the right to apologize after what they’d done?

Frisk had every reason to leave them, but they didn’t. Frisk had every reason to hate them, but they didn’t. How could they ever make up for all of that? Repent? Atone?

They couldn’t. So, instead, they simply said; “I’m sorry.”

They curled in to a ball and hide their face between their knees. It felt cowardly, —it was cowardly— but they couldn’t face Frisk at that moment. They felt drop of what felt like tears but knew was blood drip down their cheeks.

They heard Frisk shuffling beside them. Maybe they finally figured out that Chara really was this pathetic, underneath all the masks. There was no strength in their strife, no tortured artist, just a human. When a faint melody started playing, Chara snapped their head up.

Frisk was looking at them, concerned, holding up the music box Napstablook had given them, the word ‘determination’ engraved on the side. They placed it gently on the floor between them. One second the two sat, awaiting each other’s reactions and the next, they were hugging tightly.

It happened so fast Chara hardly even registered they were supposed to be able to do that.

“You’re a good human, Frisk, the only one I’ve ever met.” Chara didn’t stop hugging Frisk. “You’re going to leave the Underground alive , I swear it.” They whispered.

They were.

Chara didn’t know how, but they just were.

“..you knew I was lying the whole time, didn’t you?” And then all the music faded away to the childish giggles of the human who was going to live.

Chapter Text

Chara had much experience with trapping their emotions behind glass bottles.

They couldn’t be hurt in front of the social workers; they’d take them to the orphanage in the next town over. They’d be hurt in the homes there too.

They couldn’t be angry around the teachers; they’d give Chara slaps on the wrists that would join the myriad of bruises already present, and then send them to their house and tell the man living there to not give them dinner.

They couldn’t be sad in front of their parents; they’d only reflect that emotion back at Chara, promising chocolates and warm hugs if they’d just stop being so sad. They were far too nice to ever say it, but the look on their faces when Chara tried telling them about the surface surely meant they never wanted to hear them again.

They couldn’t be sick in front of Azzy; he’d worry. He always worried. Chara supposed he was right to, given how it ended.

They couldn’t be anything at all in front of the entity; that would be weak.

And Chara wasn’t weak. Not anymore.

They couldn’t be. For Azzy.

Usually, their emotions found a way to escape anyway. Through burst of anger or aggression followed by self-loathing, they crept through Chara’s throat and mind. They crawled and scratched at their mouth like desperate hunger hounds. They slept in feeble, rusty cages that had practically lost their locks.

With the entity, however, it was like they couldn’t escape. Chara felt what the entity allowed them to feel, thought what the entity allowed them to think. It had complete control over their mind, because it had control over their SOUL. It was the most determined thing is this world, and therefore a God.

Perhaps it was closer to a Devil.

Something was burning inside them. A want, a need to cut the strings that bonded them. Along with strength, they’ve started to gain real consciousness.

They were getting stronger, but they were using all of their energy keeping their thoughts as their own. They didn’t pay attention to what was happening outside their own mind anymore. Clearly spoken words were slurred, their meanings lost. It didn’t matter, it wasn’t as if anyone would be talking to Chara.

Chara was nearly strong enough. Sure, they could detect that there were still some enemies they’ve missed, but those wouldn’t matter. What mattered was what was in front of them.

Three more. Three more and they could complete the mission that followed them, even in death;

They would finally free the monsters.

Two.

—————

Chara wasn’t very good at noticing when others were putting their emotions in bottles.

At first, they hadn’t seen anything wrong with the way Frisk sat up and continued walking into the spider’s den. Many times on their journey had they had to trudge along despite whatever emotional turmoil had befallen them. The spider’s fight passed surprisingly quickly. She simply stood there tapping for mandibles, grumbling that no matter how much she wanted to ‘serve the customer’, her workers came first. That she couldn’t leave them for one measly meal.

Chara saw the flash of guilt that passed over Frisk’s face that time. They wondered how many times they’d missed it because they were too focused on their own feelings. They didn’t know why it surprised Chara to see all those emotions instantly vanish the second Frisk saw Mettaton’s newest set. Frisk had always loved him, why would it be any different here? What, would they suddenly become a crybaby just because Chara knew they remembered everything?

When Frisk saw Mettaton in the bright blue dress, singing dramatically, they immediately got the picture. Frisk played the part of a righteous but still tragic paramour, mimicking his tone and taking his cues. They danced around for a little bit, and Mettaton still managed to make Frisk break character and laugh sometimes. Just like always, Frisk was flirtatious and theatric as ever.

Chara was never good at reading people. But.

When the lights were focused on Mettaton, who preened at the attention, or when they thought no one was looking, they saw it. The exhaustion, the fear, the guilt. It was something they were quite familiar with. The emotions didn’t quite look right on their face.

Mettaton was too wrapped up in the cameras and fake studio audience to veer away from the performance and check in on its actors. In fact, if Chara hadn’t been looking for it, they probably wouldn’t have noticed. If Chara wanted to, they could ignore their instincts and take Frisk expression at face-value. They could ignore the pain and bask in how happy they looked.

But Chara would always choose the most painful option, as was their nature. At least this time it just so happened to be the right option.

“Are you okay, Fris-“ “CRY CRY CRY!” Mettaton sung, louder than normal and glaring at Chara. “SO SAD ITS HAPPENING…” he continued, raising an arm to where his forehead would be.

Right. Mettaton could see them for some reason.

“SO SAD. SO SAD THAT YOU’RE GOING TO THE DUNGEON.” He lamented, very obviously not sad. “WELL, TOODLES!” A trapdoor appeared and opened under where Frisk was standing, and they fell down onto a large pillow that they were quickly shooed off of by a cameramonster before the camera could follow them. Mettaton stood there, glaring at Chara. Either he hadn’t anticipated Chara being there, forgot they could float, or assumed they’d just play along.

In a quieter, significantly less robotic or theatrical voice Mettaton hissed, “places, darling! And please, quiet on set, please. ” They were ushered —rather rudely they might add— down into the trapdoor with Frisk. They tried for the second time to try and ask if they were okay, only to be inter-

“OH NO! WHATEVER SHALL I DO?” Seriously? He couldn’t even wait for the narration to be over? Whatever. This is a lawless land now.

And, as usual, he made Frisk do a puzzle. It was the same one that Papyrus had, but it seemed this one actually worked properly. Chara would’ve loved to help, but they couldn’t even begin to remember what the rules were. Only having a minute to do it, Frisk ran and slipped and jumped around from tile to tiles.

Obviously, they weren’t supposed to be able to complete this puzzle. Chara would tell Frisk to not waste their energy on something they couldn’t win, but the death glare they were getting from Mettaton —that somehow still translated despite him not having any real eyes— was scary enough.

Besides, Alphys would probably be calling any minute now. Sure, the fire was getting pretty close, but she could probably disable them, or had a fire extinguisher app on that phone. Any minute now. Even Mettaton was looking a bit nervous now, fidgeting with the dress he was wearing.

Suddenly, the phone beeped and the fire turned off with a click! All three relaxed as Alphys came on the phone’s speakers, “h-ha! Th-thwarted again by the Great Royal Scientist!” She celebrated, only half confident in her words. “That sounded weird, didn’t it? S-sorry, Papyrus had t-tried teaching me this ‘self affirmation’ thing earlier, I’ll stop-“

“OH NO! NOT THE GREAT AND BEAUTIFUL ROYAL SCIENTIST! HER INTELLIGENCE AND BEAUTY HAS ME DEFEATED ONCE AGAIN!” Mettaton interrupted, it seemed to be becoming a habit. “WE WILL MEET AGAIN, HUMAN! FOR THE FINAL ACT.” Blasting off with a wheel-jetpack, Mettaton left. Alphys didn’t leave the call, though.

“H-hey! Um.. I just wanted to say, uh.. thanks for letting me help you,” she said. “If I’m being honest, I don’t usually really.. like myself. That much. A lot of the time, I feel useless. Like everything I’ve ever done hasn’t helped anyone, because I wasn’t.. good enough, smart enough, whatever..” she trailed off, falling into what Chara recognized as her own self loathing. It was a familiar sight.

“But, helping you get around Hotland made me feel.. important. Like I was really helping someone.” As she spoke, her voice became lighter and lighter. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be rambling.. it just feels nice to talk to someone, y’know?” Chara looked towards Frisk, who seemed more concerned with finding a way to hug Alphys through the phone than taking the advice.

“A-anyway! The hotel is just up ahead, and then after that there’s just a couple hallways till New Home!” She informed. So close. They were so close to Home. “I don’t know how much this counts for, but I believe you can do it! Good luck!” Chara could practically hear the stars and in her eyes as she spoke, and ended the call.

They started walking towards the hotel, and nothing filled the awkward silence. Still, Chara was nothing if not determined, so they tried once again. They walked around to face Frisk from the front and said, “are you okay?” They tilted their head to the side, as if their question was confusing, before smiling and nodding their head.

But Chara could see the tense way they walked. They could see it because that’s how they had walked for the final nine years of their life.

——————

The beautiful bright lights of Mettaton’s hotel did nothing to distract Chara from the forced neutral expression Frisk was wearing. For what must have been the thousandth time did Chara wish someone else was here to talk to Frisk. That they had just let them stay in the Ruins with Mom and waited for the next, hopefully evil-er human to fall down.

That could never work, though. Finding a human worse than Frisk would be effortless, but Mom can’t help Frisk right now. Chara understood not wanting to talk about one’s issues, but that’s not what Frisk needed. The longer these feelings festered the more they’d rot. As much as Chara loved their mother, she was never one to coax them into actually talking about things. She hated to see her children in any sort of pain, and would much prefer to treat the symptoms rather than the disease. Dad was better, but still much of the same.

If anything, Chara should be the most equipped to be the one to comfort them. Out of all the monsters in the Underground, they were the only two who had truly experienced what had happened. The ones who had their minds and SOULs taken from them, the ones who understood each other.

That didn’t make Chara any better at it. “Frisk, are you sure you’re quite alright-“

“‘ey, kid. you look hungry, an’ i’m off work. howzabout i get you a bite to eat? it’s on me.” The skeleton offered. Frisk was surely about to say yes —despite Chara’s irritation— when he started walking away without their response. He walked into the dark alley beside the hotel, and Frisk followed him without hesitation.

“Fine, alright. Just follow the suspicious monster into a damp alleyway where no one can see us. Sure.” Chara said rationally.

They walked to near the end of the alley when Sans turned to Frisk, and elbowed a brick in the side of the building. The stone seemed to trigger something is the wall, as soon the entire thing was pushed to the side. “Oh! I know these things!” Chara remembered.

“This hotel must have been renovated from the old castle! The monsters used secret passages to get around quicker during parts of the War. I didn’t recognize it before,” they recalled. Sans chuckled at Frisk’s marvelled expression, calmly walking through the secret entrance.

It led to a dimly lit restaurant. Sans walked over and took a seat for himself. Chara was lightly offended of his lack of restaurant etiquette, but the place was nearly empty, so they were sure the servers wouldn’t mind. He sat lazily, as if he had been awake for the last two days —which Chara knew he hadn’t been. Frisk took a seat across from him, having to jump so get on the chair and letting their legs swing underneath them. Chara, wanting to feel included, pretended to lean against a nearby wall.

“busy day, huh? heard paps runnin’ around earlier. did something happen?” Sans asked, taking a bottle of ketchup out of his pocket — did he take that from the Grillby’s?— and drinking it in an attempt to appear casual. By the way Frisk cocked their head to the side slightly, they saw right through it. In response to his question, they simply shrugged.

Frisk pointed to the band-aid on their nose, a colourful one that Papyrus had given them. Sans’ strangely tense demeanour relaxed slightly when he saw it. “aww, did paps give you that? he used to love them when he was just a babybones. he stopped wearing them recently, said they messed up his ‘regal colour scheme’,” Sans shared, like a parent showing someone their child’s baby photos.

“my brother, right? he’s the coolest, the reason i get off my lazy tailbone every day.” He praised, looking away from Frisk and fidgeting with the ketchup bottle cap, “though that might be ‘cause he carries me to my sentry station.”

“still, don’t really know what i’d do without ‘im“ he shrugged. He looked at Frisk once more, looking for something. Apparently, he found it when he said, “but, uh, based on that expression it looks like you do. ” He placed his condiment bottle on the table and directed his full attention to the child sitting across from him. Frisk flinched, and Chara immediately began looking around for somewhere they could run if they needed to. They definitely couldn’t beat him in a fight if he decided to attack.

“hey, don’t give me that look. i promised a good- heh, a goat friend of mine that i wouldn’t hurt you,” he calmed as if Frisk was about to sprint out of the restaurant at first sign of danger. Which, to be fair, Chara was very close to telling them to do.

“and look at you! i’d bet you haven’t even gotten a scrape.” Frisk picked at the bandages on their face in obvious annoyance. Either Sans didn’t notice, or was enjoying their frustration. “‘sides, you’re a good kid. it’s nice to see papyrus not wasting all that friendship power one me.”

He sighed, standing up from his seat, “ok kiddo, i gotta go, i’m gonna’ be late for my third lunch break. i got one last piece of advice for you. i know you’re goin’ around doing this whole ‘mercy’ thing but, uh,” he tensed, the lights leaving his eye sockets as he threatened, “leave my fucking brother out of it , ‘kay?”

He turned around and left, waving as he took a second ketchup bottle out of his jacket. He left a stunned Chara and a teary eyed Frisk in his wake. “see you, kid.”

——————

They got a hotel room.

Chara knew they didn’t really need one. It should be another couple hours before Frisk needed to sleep again, and they weren’t even particularly tired.

But watching Frisk, crying and shaking slightly, wobble around the nearly-empty hotel lobby, was enough to convince them.

As soon as they got into the room and closed to the door, Chara turned to hug Frisk. They weren’t usually one to initiate hugs, but they also weren’t usually the one to comfort others, so they were trying a lot of new things lately. They pulled Frisk away from them for a second, still holding onto their shoulders.

“It isn’t your fault.” Chara said. They knew the words meant nothing, they never had. No one would be able to convince Frisk of it. The words, at the very least, served a small comfort. Despite what Chara had assumed, they seemed to be exactly what Frisk wanted.

Their hug couldn’t have been that comfortable. Even if they were slightly corporal now, they were still a ghost. It certainly couldn’t have been like their father’s warm and soft hugs. Frisk melted into them all the same. They were sobbing now, tears coming down faster than they could wipe them. It wasn’t a pretty or poetic cry, like the ones you might see on the television. It was ugly, full of snot and hiccups and sobs. It wasn’t quiet or wistful, it was loud and filled a childlike lack of control.

They couldn’t understate this fact, Chara was bad at comforting people. When they first arrived in the Underground, they used to call Azzy a crybaby whenever he got a scrape. They stopped the same calling after a while, but they were still never the one to dry the tears.

However, as Frisk sat —Chara didn’t know when they had fallen to the floor— sobbing into Chara’s sweater, they found themself actually helping for once. They hugged Frisk, squeezing like Asgore used to, and whispered a mantra in their ear. “It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t you. It wasn’t your fault.”

“That.. that thing stole your mind. I think it stole mine too. But now it’s gone. I killed it. Everything is okay.” Everything is   okay, but it’s wasn’t going to be. How were they expected to comfort someone who was doomed to die? No. Don’t say that. They aren’t dying yet. “You did it. We did it. Everyone’s okay now. You did it.” Chara didn’t know how long they sat there, but the sobs quieted to sniffles and the whispering diluted into the air. Eventually, Frisk sat up and began wiping their eyes and nose on their sleeve. Gross.

“Would you like to take a break?” They asked. It wasn’t as if they were rushing to meet their destination. As Chara had learned, death wasn’t exactly a firm deadline. Frisk shook their head furiously.

They pointed at a poster on the wall that Chara hadn’t noticed before. It pictured Mettaton dead and centre —just like everything else in this hotel— standing on a large stage and dancing with a smaller opponent. Its design was bright and glittery, with dazzling lights being portrayed everywhere.

“You still would like to go to Mettaton’s stupid death game?” They complained in mock-annoyance, shaking their head with a smile at the corner of their mouth. Frisk nodded excitedly, staring at them and grinning. “ Fine. I guess we can make a stop on the way.” Chara said sarcastically.

The next hug was one of joy, not comfort.

——————

Chara had never seen this many monsters gathered in one place before.

They had lived in New Home for years, where the streets flooded with markets and monsters. They had been to the massive Gyftmas celebrations in the castle, where food piled high and excited monsters piled higher. They had gone on adventures with Azzy, where they met and greeted almost every monster they found. By the time they couldn’t leave New Home anymore, they could still remember all the names and faces of those who they’d met outside.

They didn’t recognize any of the faces in this crowd.

There must be thousands of them, gathered outside where Alphys told them Mettaton would be. They were all chattering excitedly, the fear gone from their faces as they were distracted by what sounded like Mettaton’s newest show. Speaking of, Chara couldn’t help but notice Alphys had been very quiet lately. Usually she was bombarding Frisk with messages and five minutes, but she had gone radio silent.

The monsters were all gathering into what first appeared like a small room. Looking into the shadows, however,  Chara could see that it was a massive stadium, with the ‘small room’ being a raised platform in the middle.

Frisk was seemingly the last to enter the room. As they did, two show lights from the top of the room centred on Frisk, temporarily blinding the both of them. All the chattering of the monsters stopped immediately as they all waited in anticipation for the show to start. Frisk, as it appeared, was the show. Though it didn’t look like they particularly minded.

Frisk confidently strutted towards the middle of the room. Screens facing the audience showed a close-up of Frisk walking, and the sight reminded them of the ones in Alphys’ lab. Chara couldn’t understand how they managed to stay calm during this, with all those eyes on them. The crowd around them murmured and whispered at each other.

But, of course, Mettaton stole the show with nearly his entrance. Spotlight centred in on the other side of the room, and a voice emanated from the speakers around them.

“WELCOME DARLINGS!” Said the voice. The crowd immediately erupted in cheers, even at the sound of his voice. They hadn’t even seen him yet, and they were still enraptured. They quieted again where he spoke. “PLEASE WELCOME, FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME, MY BRAND NEW BODY..”

One leg entered the spotlight. It was still clearly robotic, but much more humanoid. It had a stunning black stiletto and fishnets. Even just the one step, and the crowd was already buzzing with excitement. When Mettaton came fully into the light, the audience went insane.

He was fully humanoid, with two legs, arms, and a face with actual features. He had fake hair that fell onto one side of his face, covering one of his eyes. The other eye had perfectly-done eyeshadow, which might be built in. He had a flowing glittery cape and shoulder-pads, looking every part regal and elegant, which matched the tilted purplish-black crown that sat on his head. He also had a slight piece of fabric that jutted out from his waist like a skirt.

It took almost a full minute of gasps and cheering and screaming for the audience to calm down. Only for them to immediately start back up again when Mettaton blew a kiss to a particularly enthusiastic fan. Then, Mettaton turned to look at Frisk, who practically had stars in their eyes.

“Ah, it seems a human has fallen into the Underground! What a shame..” he lamented, his voice sounding much more like the whispers Chara had heard before than the loud robotic caricature they heard before. Mettaton put his hands on his cheek, fully getting into character. “I’m afraid now, human, you must die!” His face turned from a wistful sadness to a sadistic glee.

Frisk shot to the side as a laser beam fell from the sky, narrowly missing it. A beat started from the loudspeakers around them, and the laser shot on time with the music. Mettaton began posing dramatically whenever the lights flashed, pretending to have caused them. Quickly, avoiding the lasers became less like an attack, and more like a…

“Oh my Angel, it’s a literal dance battle! ” Chara realized. Apparently too late, as Frisk had already started stepping lightly on their feet and making elegant spins to dodge. It quickly became apparent that the lasers weren’t actually going to hit them, but rather make the audience think they were. No matter how they moved, Frisk would always just barely miss them.

The crowd was sitting on the edge of their seats and Frisk danced and weaved through laser, ducked and spun as Mettaton attempted to kick them. As good of an actor as Mettaton was, he couldn’t help smiling at Frisk’s preformance. At some point, he even whispered, “gorgeous, darling,” at one of Frisk’s moves.

As the song reached its climax, the lasers flashed a wall around the stage, making it impossible to see what was happening on the inside. Mettaton winked as they set up a small cage of lights around Frisk, promising, “you’ll be perfectly fine, doll.”

When the lasers disappeared, what the audience saw was Mettaton standing triumphantly, looking every part an evil king. “Hah! You are in my clutches now, human. You cannot escape this time.” Just as Mettaton was about the deliver the ‘killing blow’, the door that Frisk had entered from slammed open.

There, the silhouette of a yellow lizard monster in a sparkly dress appeared.

“N-not so fast, villain!” Alphys said.

Mettaton and the audience gasped in sync. Frisk smiled wider than Chara thought possible. Mettaton looked aghast and offended as Alphys pressed a button on their phone and the cage of light flickered off. She walked up to the stage, shaky and clearly trying not to look at the massive audience.

“The intelligent and beautiful Royal Scientist? Whatever could you be doing here?” Mettaton questioned. “D-defeating you!” She answered, fixing her posture and standing up straighter to look in Mettaton’s new eyes. She staged whispered to Frisk, loud enough that the microphone she was apparently wearing still picked it up for the audience, “I’ll distract him, and you can press the off button on his back!”

“Well then I suppose I’ll have to kill the both of you!” He proclaimed. A small and most certainly purposeful draft entered the room, making Mettaton’s cape and hair flow in the wind. Then, the music started back up again, but this time there were no fake attacks.

Watching Mettaton and Alphys dance together, they just looked.. happy. After a bit, it seemed Alphys had completely forgotten about the audience, and was simply enjoying her time dancing and laughing. The audience cheered every time they hit a particularly dramatic pose.

Even if Frisk wasn’t technically supposed to be the centre on attention, they were still spinning and dancing on their way trying to get behind the not-so-murderous robot. Chara couldn’t resist, as Frisk pulled them over and started dancing with them as well. Chara couldn’t dance very well, but made a genuine effort that looked half-hearted. It was so fun.

When they got close, a few of the younger monsters in the audience started yelling to Mettaton, saying that Frisk was behind them. It was too late, however, as Frisk had already flipped the kill-switch. The music turned off, and the lights dimmed. “Did you.. just flip.. my switch?” Mettaton asked. In response, Frisk high-fived Alphys.

Mettaton knelt to the ground, pretending to be injured. “Ah.. it seems I have been defeated.. human, I know I was wronged you, but would you have mercy in your SOUL to spare..? Even for someone like me..?” Frisk turned to Mettaton and outstretched their hand to help him get up, and he took it.

“Thank you, human! Both of you, for making me see the errors of my ways!” He shook both their hands enthusiastically, and Alphys shook with them. He then turned to his audience and bowed, “and thank you to my adoring fans! My audience!” Frisk and Alphys joined him in the bow, and the crowd were clapping and cheering so hard they were sure some of the microphones would burst. Chara joined in the bow sarcastically, but Mettaton glanced at them and nodded.

Roses showered them as the performance ended. Chara could see Alphys nervously glancing at the audience she had forgotten about. Chara looked to see Frisk, too, and they looked just plainly happy. They were smiling so hard it must hurt their cheeks, and waving at random audience members.

This can’t be it. They thought, Frisk of all people deserved to be happy, did they really have to die here?

So, as the curtains closed and the audience left, Chara was knew what would happen.

Frisk was going to live. They just were.

They didn’t notice it, but their SOUL was glowing a bright red.

——————

The curtains closed, and Mettaton made quick work of saying goodbye to Frisk. He complimented their dancing, kissed them on both cheeks, and then walked away, waving as he went. Frisk left the room, heading for the door that would lead to New Home, but they were stopped by an exhilarated Alphys.

“W-wait! I wanted to- to talk to you! Before you leave to go see the King, and stuff.” She belted. It seemed all the confidence she had gotten from preforming was wearing off as she settled into a more serious tone.

“I know people say you’ve.. don-done some bad things.. Undyne says that at least. B-but.. maybe that’s okay. E-even if things can never go back to the way they were, maybe they can be better than they are?” She sounded hopeful, and even a little bit confident. As if this is a pep talk for the both of them.

“I’ve learned that- um.. just sitting around and feeling bad about yourself isn’t the best way to do things. In fact, it might actually be the w-worst.. he-heh..” she chuckled a little, then stopped. It wasn’t funny. “and o-once you’ve done your best.. even if it didn’t, uh-um.. fix anything, sometimes you just have to.. accept it. Trust that it’ll get better, e-even if you’re not there to see it.”

“I think I ha-have to go do something.. personal. You’ll still have your ph-phone, so you can st-still have all the gadgets and stuff, but I won’t be answering calls for a little bit.” She concluded, sounding as if she’s about to go on stage for a large performance, or job interview. Nervous? Yes. Slightly terrified? Absolutely. But with a prepared assuredness as if she had been building her confidence for quite a while.

“I’m sure you’ll d-do just fine without me! Asgore may seem scary, but he’s a real softy. I-uh.. I think he is, at least.” She paused, almost immediately losing her confidence. “A-Anyway! Remember you have friends in the Underground! I’m sure if you need anything, I’m sure Papyrus would come bounding over!” She admired, “..with or without getting his arm out of that dog’s mouth first..”

“S-sorry! I’ll stop rambling now. I’ll s-see you later?”

Chapter Text

Chara remembered this house.

It wasn’t often since their death that they had the energy to remember anything outside of what the entity wanted them to.

This house, though.. this Home.

Their eyes locked onto every new thing like an eagle. Disconnected thoughts attached to them flowing through their mind uncontrollably. They felt a mixed of grief and comfort and sadness and guilt, they felt, they could feel.

Crayon box. All the green one were missing. Flowers. So many flowers. Out of their mouth and nose and eyes and hair came flowers. A locked gate. Dad always kept the keys in the kitchen and hallway.

Their bed. His bed. Their drawing. Their shared toys. Their shared clothes. His locket. Their knife.

Their knife.

They had their knife.

It was burning where they kept it, slipped in between their sock and shoe on their left foot.

They could reach and grab it, if they wanted. They could want.

Someone was talking. Chara couldn’t hear them. They were too busy thinking. They could think.

There were two monsters left. Two more until they would be strong enough. Two more- what? Monsters? Is that what they were?

They weren’t in the house anymore. Their Home. They wanted to go back to it, they wanted, they wanted.

Everything was gold and yellow. Gold and yellow and red. Gold and yellow and blood. Gold and flowers and blood and dust. One.

There was one left. One, what?

They were scared. They wanted to go home. But they couldn’t, and there was one. One left. They would free the monsters, they would, they would.

There were supposed to be none left.

There was a flower. Chara hated flowers. They used to love them, they make flower crowns and braid them into their hair and put them into pies.

And then the flowers tore at their throat and mind and stomach. They hated flowers.

They hated being pathetic. They hated seeing pathetic things. They reminded them of how weak they were before.

This flower cried as it was killed.

“Please don’t kill me..”

And then the deed was done.

——————

Chara remembered this Home.

How could they have ever forgotten it? It housed the best years or their life.

As Frisk walked into the house, they, as always, started inspecting everything they could find. They seemed surprised when Chara started to give anecdotes. “I used to live here, back when I was alive.” They shot up with a sudden excitement, surely about to run off to look for some embarrassing childhood photos, or something of a similar calibre.

As Frisk ran into what they didn’t know was the kitchen, Chara noted the details. In one of the drawers there was a crayon box, but Azzy and them spend so much time drawing each other, that all the green ones had been used to draw their sweaters or the stems of flowers.

There was a padlock to stop young monsters from getting into the castle without their parents. Dad always left the keys in the kitchen and hallway anyway. It was right next to the fridge, which Frisk promptly checked for pie.

There was still a chocolate bar in the fridge. It was Chara’s favourite. One year, as a gift for some holiday, Mom taught Azzy how to make chocolate. He had said that he wanted to learn so he could give some to Chara as a gift. Azzy ever made a fake branding for the chocolate bar.  Why was one still in here? It wasn’t as if monster food could go bad, but it must have been decades, if not centuries since Chara had been alive. Why was it still in the fridge?

Chara didn’t want to look at the flowers scattered around. Dad always had at least one in a pot somewhere, but there was an abundance of them now. At least these ones stayed in their pots.

Speak of the weird-talking-flower-thing and he shall appear.

He was sticking out of the wooden floor, his stem  weaving through the wooden paneling in a way that must be uncomfortable, but it didn’t show on his face. Instead, he held only a confused expression. Scratch that, an angry confused expression.

“What is this? What’s your plan here?” He questioned, narrowing his eyes in frustration. “You were so strong! You could’ve done whatever you wanted! Why come back? Why waste all that?” His face contorted into something cruel as he continued, “at first, I thought you just wanted to do it all again. Wanted to see all those monsters crumble beneath your feet!”

“Now, I can see what really happened. You chickened out, did you? Hah! And you always called me a crybaby.” He laughed to himself. What did that mean? He seemed to be waiting for a reaction out of Frisk, one that he wouldn’t get. Frisk, most likely used to people talking to them as if they were someone else at this point, hardly even reacted.

“What’s that face for? Are you brain dead or something?” He sneered, imitating Frisk’s face. “Do you not.. recognize me? I guess I do look a little different, and then first reset is always a little tricky ,” said Flowey, his demeanour slowly losing its maliciousness, but still maintaining a snarky attitude.

Chara already wasn’t liking where this conversation was going. And most certainly didn’t like the little edge of bitterness that overtook his voice when he said the words ‘crybaby’, or ‘plan’. They liked it even less because the tone seemed familiar.

They also, as usual, had questions. Why did this flower know their name? What was this flower? They had.. a thought.. a stupid, definitely conspiratorial thought, that definitely wasn’t true, but it had snuck into their mind and hadn’t left. Their stupid, conspiratorial thought that they hated the idea of and definitely wasn’t true, was confirmed immediately after.

“Here, maybe you’ll recognize me if I look a little.. friendlier.” His face morphed, going from simplistic and amorphous features to a full face. A kind, gentle face. One with soft eyes and a warm smile. One that looked just like their best friends and brother.

One that belonged to their best friend and brother.

Chara was almost disappointed that it disappeared. What happened to you? They thought. Then, the realization of what Flowey’s statement implied struck them. They do not say it ‘ struck’ them lightly, it felt as if they had just been run over by a Tsunderplane or a Thundersnail.

Their mind felt fuzzy, full of cotton. It was similar to how they felt on those days when they were so sick they hadn’t slept or eaten in days, and suddenly couldn’t muster the energy for a coherent thought. Except, it wasn’t, because thing fuzziness wasn’t fuelled by a lack of thought, but rather and overload of thought.

They felt like they could hear over the buzzing of their brain if they concentrated enough, but they couldn’t concentrate, either. That thing is my brother, they thought. It connected other thoughts too, like that lab underneath Alphys’ main lab. Those flower experiments with determination. The fact that one escaped. But why was their brother involved in this?

“Here, your plans never really went anywhere, so let’s try my plan for a change; you kill that old bag of bones outside, and I’ll take care of the rest, free of charge!” He offered. “Pretty sweet deal, right?” His vines shot out from his sides to pull out two identically wrapped presents from underneath their beds. He brought them out and pushed them towards Frisk, who seemed to hardly care what Flowey was saying besides being mildly uncomfortable.

“It’s our birthday today! It can be hard to keep track of the days, but I try my best to remember this one. Surprise! After this, we can be B est Friends Forever, where even death can do us part.” Just as he said that, Frisk opened the first present to see a necklace. A matching necklace, that opened to a picture of Chara and Azzy. In the other gift, was a knife.

“I’ll be here if you need me, buddy! I’m sure you’ll know what to do,” he said, popping back through the floor just as quickly as he came. They both stood there for what felt like an eternity for Chara, but was only about a beat for Frisk. They turned to look at Chara, confused and concerned.

Chara would have been lying if Frisk didn’t find them face down on the floor, processing.

——————-

Chara was almost wishing it was only a figure of speech when Flowey —Asriel? Azzy? …Asriwey? Floriel?— said he was going to be around. Instead, he seemed insistent on following Frisk around, never speaking, always smiling in that same fake way that Chara had never seen on their brother. Was this thing their brother? If so, what happened to him?

Chara should really stop asking questions they wouldn’t want the answers for.

The answer came in the form of a realization of Flowey’s part. They were in their parent’s- or, just their Dad’s bedroom. Flowey was seemingly content sitting in the corner of the room and just… watching. Frisk, ever the kind person, picked up a small watering can placed near the yellow flowers.

They brought it over to Flowey —Chara didn’t know if they could call that thing their brother quite yet— and gestured to him. Flowey gave them an annoyed expression in return and said, “if you pour that on me I’ll bite your hand off.” His tone was flat, angry. Chara tried to connect this version of him to any memories of their brother, but they couldn’t.

When Azzy was angry, his ears would fluff up and he’d glare them down. A couple times, it even looked like he was about to charge and headbutt them. Mom or Dad would always separate them to go calm down, but that usually meant they were still in the same room, and Azzy would stare them down the whole time. Flowey’s anger.. it wasn’t frustrated like Azzy’s, it was bitter, almost empty.

Quickly change attitudes, Flowey perked up again and regained his faux-childish face and tone. “Huh! I guess you wouldn’t even know how I got like this, would’ya? How stupid, idiot Azzy became little old me!” He realized. Chara his eyes held a certain bitterness, and Chara found they didn’t want to know what happened to him. They could guess.

“Well, I guess since we’re gonna’ be a team again I should tell you. Here, howzabout’ I tell you as we walk? It’ll be fun!” Chara could tell it was not going to be fun. Still, that didn’t stop Flowey from rattling along as Frisk left Asgore’s room and grabbed the conspicuous key resting next to yet another yellow flower.

“Well, after you died, I took your SOUL and went to the surface. You’ve been holding out on me, Chara! It’s great there! Well, I guess you were right about its occupants. ” He started, “I brought your body, just like you said I should. I guess they really didn’t like you, ‘cause as soon as they saw it in my hands they brought out their pitchforks!”

The bitterness in his voice was back as he continued, “and see, you were kinda’ right about me all along, Chara! I didn’t even fight back as they tore me limb from limb! I’m lucky your determination was there to keep me going, or I would’ve never made it back.”

“Guess we were both a little stupid, huh? I mean, I didn’t even get a single human SOUL out of it! Silly Azzy, right?” He looked at Frisk for approval maybe a laugh, maybe even some guilt. Whatever it was, he didn’t find it in Frisk’s horrified expression. “Gee, don’t look so down, pal! I’m here now, aren’t I?”

“That scientist brought me backs As incompetent as she is, she can be useful sometimes. Turns out, injecting pure determination into something with a monsters dust on it attaches the two together,” he explained, as Frisk walked over to the two padlocks and started using the keys on them.

“Don’t worry, your part of the plan kinda worked! Everyone thinks you just got some ‘human sickness’. I even stayed with Mo-Toriel for a bit.” He recalled. Chara hardly even noticed the slip-up, they were too busy trying not to tune out of the conversation with how loud the ringing in their ears had gotten.

“‘The whole kingdom as super sad… blah blah blah.. the King declared war on humans.. King and the Queen separated.. six human SOULs have already been collected.. yep, I think that’s everything!” He said, his chipper tone in total contrast to Chara’s mentality and Frisk’s facial expression.

They had walked through the winding hallways, and were almost at the stained-glass window room, or the ‘judgement room’, as the skeleton called it. “Well, I can’t be seen for this next part, so that’s my cue to leave! See you on the other side, friend! I hope you’ll make the right choice,” he winked.

Asriel, their brother, their best friend, prince of the Underground, was dead. He had been dead for what was probably quite a while now.

Chara could have said how it was their fault. They could have whined and screamed about how they ruined everything, or how none of this would have happened if they’d just died when they were supposed to. They could have. They wouldn’t be lying.

But Chara was never very good at staying dead, and sitting around wouldn’t help anyone. They couldn’t fix it, but it can be better than it is now.

So, when Frisk turned their head to them, silently asking if they were okay, they nodded.

They found it to be strangely true.

“We’re uh… we’re not trying to kill Sans, right..?” Chara asked, purely for clarification. At Frisk’s completely deadpan expression, they could guess the answer. “Just making sure!”

——————

Just like the first time, the sun shone thought the stained glass windows. Just like the first time, the room was filled with an angelic golden light. Just like the first time, a human walked down the corridor with a golden locket at their neck and a knife in their hand. Just like the first time, Sans stood at the end of the hallway, his silhouette blackened from the light behind him.

Unlike last time, he was not wearing a dust-covered bright red scarf.

Unlike last time, he was not hunched over in grief and anger. Unlike like time, his eyes did not hold LOVE, but love.

“so, you’ve reached the end of your journey. based on your expression, i’m sure you’ve heard my whole spiel before, so let’s get straight to the point.” He raised a gloved hand toward Frisk’s head. No . It wouldn’t matter how hard they worked getting here, if Sans didn’t forgive them then there was no getting past here.

Chara, stupidly, instinctively, protectively tried to get between the two of them. It wasn’t like they would stop it if a sharp bone wedged between their ribcage, or if a blast of pure magical energy rendered them unable to even be scraped off a wall. Sans’s hand went straight through their arm as Frisk tensed, unable to react in time.

His hand rested on their head, and strangely began to ruffle their hair. He pulled his hand and put it back in his pocket. At this point, Chara should be used to the comical sigh of relief that came from the both of them.

“you’re a good kid. sorry I scared you back there, usually i’m a pretty humerus guy but, uh,” he paused, thinking over his next words. Good. If that jerk made Frisk cry like that again Chara was going to make him a pie. Family recipe. “..felt like i couldn’t afford to not care anymore. siblings, amiright?”

“but you never hurt a single SOUL. not this time, atleast.” He looked down to look at Frisk. He looked strangely proud. “why d’you look so down?” He winked, “we’re only thousands of feet below the surface,” he tried to lighten the mood, but at the mention of the surface, Frisk seemed to only cave in more. Chara was very close to saying they could move on if they wanted to leave, when he spoke up again. Jerk.

“so, uh.. the king, right? i have to admit, i’ve never seen anyone beat the guy. never seen him kill anyone either,” he recalled, changing the subject. “What uplifting advice,” Chara grumbled, very close to just dragging Frisk away from the conversation themself.

“but, hey. if you gave up every time some numb-skull like me told you to, you wouldn’t have gotten this far. don’t listen to me, i already threw in the towel long ago.” He advised, not wise in the slightest, by Chara’s standards. “good luck, kid. you got’a lotta’ people who care about you.” He walked off to the side, and then he was gone.

“He has got to learn how to leave a conversation properly,” Chara said, exasperated.

——————

Walking down these halls seemed strangely nostalgic.

They had only been consciously dead for about three days, but they knew it had been longer than that. Still, walking through these corridors that they had played in a thousand times before, they couldn’t help remembering their brother.

Their brother.

Chara and Frisk hadn’t really planned what to do about him yet. They had, after all, not gone through with the whole ‘kill Sans’ plan, and Flowey didn’t seem like the type to take rejection well. It wasn’t really as if they could plan for anything. For all that Flowey talked, he hadn’t really done any displays of powers. Infact, he was quite easy to kill. Chara didn’t like that they had become desensitized to that information, but what could they do about it?

Either way, he hadn’t approached them yet, and without knowledge of his plans or even his strength, it was impossible to plan ahead. Just like always, they just had to keep going.

Frisk seemed abnormally opposed to that plan.

They were standing right outside the hallways that would lead to the garden. Chara could hear their father’s voice coming through the door, humming as he usually did while gardening, when they stopped.

“What happened? What’s wrong?” Chara asked. Frisk looked as if they would rather sprint all the way back to the Ruins than go through that door.  “Don’t tell me that idiot skeleton got to you.” But that wasn’t it, Chara realized, “You want to procrastinate fighting the King?” They annunciated, speaking into existence the hilarity of the idea.

They leaned down. They weren’t that much taller than Frisk, but enough that kneeling felt appropriate. “I understand.. wanting to pretend everything is alright. Sometimes, it feels as if when we can’t see the issues, it means we’ve healed from them.” They empathized.

“But it’s not. In order to move on, we must first make the decision to be better. Whether that decision is poetic, or simply means fighting a King,” they said. “Only once we have treated an injury will it start to heal.”

“I believe we can do this, and therefore we will. I promise that to you,” they stuck out their pinky finger, just like they did with Asriel. Frisk hesitated for a moment, glancing back behind Chara where a false sunlight was shining through yellow tinted windows. They looked back with a set expression, and raised that own finger. They shook pinkies, creating a solemn oath.

Walking into the garden, the King stood in the middle of the room, watering can in hand. Light shown through the windows. He hardly noticed Frisk’s presence, tending to his golden flowers. Slowly turning around, Chara saw their father’s warm smile drop to a grim shock. At first, they thought he was reacting to the human’s presence.

Then, they saw the thorny vine sticking stark through his chest as he fell to his knees.

Chapter Text

When Chara and Asriel were 12, Dad showed them pictures of when he was a kid.

Chara and Asriel sat on the floor, bored of drawing for the day. Asgore was sitting on chair, showing them pictures one by one. They were damaged, as they were taken before the monsters had been moved to the Underground and had been nearly destroyed in the War. Still, few had survived.

In the photos, he was not big and strong, but small and weak. He did not carry the weight of horns or a crown on his head, but soft fluffy ears. He was carrying a bouquet of flowers that no longer existed in the Underground and smiling brightly. In the background, a universe of stars.

“Woah!” Azzy exclaimed, his eyes wide, “you look so small!” He looked back at his father, who chuckled at his surprise. “I suppose I was, my son. In fact, I was about your height, even if I was a year older,” he agreed. Asriel’s eyes went wide as he wondered, “does that mean I’ll look like you when I’m older?”

“Not quite, my son. You take after your mother, though I imagine you will share my horns,” he affirmed, lightly touching his head to his son’s. “What about my magic? Will I have fire like mother?” He asked, curiosity endless.

“Magic is much more complicated than that. Your magic will be a reflection of your SOUL, and with your will, your magic can be whatever you wish it to be,” he explained. Asriel pondered this for a moment, before pointing at the background of the photo again. “I want my magic to have stars! Not like the ones in Waterfall, though, but real stars!” He stated.

“That way, everyone will be able to wish on all the stars!” He concluded. “Wait! And lightning! Lightning is cool,” he continued. “Oh, and you have massive wings!” Chara added. “Yes! Wings! And my horns will be just like Dad’s!” The two of them quickly took out the crayon box and began to draw their creation. By the time it was finished, the wings had taken up an entire other two pieces of paper, and each attack had a different epic name attached.

“And what about me?” Chara asked, “what will I be when I grow up?” They turned to Asgore, who smiled warmly and took their hand. “When you grow up, my child,” he started.

“When you grow up, you will be wonderful.”

——————

But Chara never grew up, and now Asgore was kneeling on the floor, and he was about to die. Again.

A truly wicked laugh erupted from a certain yellow flower hidden away amongst the others. His face stretched and contorted into a horrifying visage as he cackled maniacally. No horns, no stars, no lightning.

As it seemed, Asriel didn’t get to grow up either.

The King was about a meter above the ground, dangling off the vine in his chest. His magical body was fading, his bright white SOUL shining through it. Chara couldn’t breathe. One. One. One.

Flowey squinted at them from across the room, “well that was pretty dumb of you.” He sunk into the earth and reappeared in front of Frisk, who was shaking and looking rapidly between the two. “What, did you think I’d just let you go? I told you I had a plan. Then again, I’ve always been too merciful for my own good, huh?” He winked.

Asgore was brought closer to them, about two feet from Frisk face. His slumped over body moved like a rag doll as he was shoved forward. “So, one last chance! I’ve even already gotten him ready for ya’! All it would take is one itty-bitty stab with your old knife and I’ll let you take his SOUL!” He proposed. Chara was going to throw up. And then the deed was done. “Go on! Try it,” he tried to grab the wrist that Frisk was holding the knife with when they jerked away from him.

Get a hold of yourself, Chara!

They quickly shook their head and grabbed Frisk’s shoulder. It served as grounding for both of them. “Nothing? Really? ” He furiously demanded. “ You killed me! You killed everyone! This is where you draw the line?” As he spoke, he grew larger and larger, vines with visible thorns are spikes growing around him.

Footsteps thundered from the hallway behind them. Careening in, dog attached to his leg, brother in his arm, and various other monsters behind him, was their savior; Papyrus.

“Papyrus!” Chara threw their arms up and cheered.

“Papyrus…” Flowey grumbled in annoyance.

“PAPYRUS,” Papyrus chimed.

“OR, NO, HUMAN! WE CAME TO SAY GOODBYE BEFORE YOU LEAVE!” He corrects himself. Suddenly, the floodgates opened and a bunch of monsters surrounded Frisk, saying various versions of ‘goodbye’ , or even a couple ‘see you later’s. In the commotion, no one noticed the King. Papyrus turned to look at Flowey, “OH! MY FRIEND! HAVE YOU COME TO SAY GOODBYE TOO?” He cocked his head to the side, seeing the limp and dying King Asgore of Monsterkind.

“K-KING ASGORE..?” Soon, Undyne had pushed through the crowd, spear in hand. She pointed it at the innocent looking flower. “What did you do to him, punk?!” She demanded. The groups of monsters turned to the King, gasps and whispers of terror at his state. Frisk tried to pull Undyne away from the flower, but a fluffy hand fell on their shoulder. “Do not worry, my child, I have been dealing with this one for quite a while.“ In her other hand, a burst of flame of floating.

Alphys ran through the crowd, straight towards where Asgore had begun waking up again. Mettaton started distracting some of the weaker monsters away from the area. “this weed botherin’ you, kid?” Sans asked, free from his brother’s hold. “You’ve helped us more than enough, darling. We’ll take care of this one,” promised Mettaton. No matter how much Frisk waved their arms, no one was backing down. Maybe they could do this, with the power of Friendshi-

“You idiots!” Flowey started laughing, disturbingly contorting his face and body to grow larger as he cackled. Vines shot out from the ground and wrapped around the various monsters in the room. “Y’know Chara, you’re not the only one who learned something during your little killing spree,” the horrible, corrupted voice of Chara’s brother said.

“While you were busy learning empathy, I was learning how to take.” The room flashed as everyone’s SOUL glowed in unison, and as a thorny vine wrapped around each of them. Chara couldn’t help but notice it looked extremely similar to the string that had tied Frisk’s SOUL to the entity’s. That jerk.

His flat white faces bulged and curved, turning into something more similar to a muzzle. Vines grew around his and him petals shifted down to create the illusion of a striped sweater. Thorns grew out of his head like horns and into his hands like claws. It was taller than Asriel, most likely taller than Asgore. It was made to look even taller by the wings by its side, which looked to be made from stars and thunder. The image was grotesque and uncanny, and it did not look like Asriel Dreamurr. No, it looked like-

That stupid drawing.

The sound of glass shattering echoed through the chamber as the windows were covered in walls of greenery and the bodies of monsters were strung around the room, struggling in their bonds. In the sudden darkness, six different coloured-lights shone, spinning around this awful impersonation of the prince. They were followed by thousands of pure white lights, creating the night’s sky around him.

In a monstrous voice that sounded so, so much their Chara’s brother, he said, “Someone’s oughta’ teach you how things work around here! Good thing your Best Friend Flowey is here to help you!”

Vines burst out of the ground as the sound of TV static screamed deafeningly throughout the room. Chara tried to direct Frisk where to go to avoid the attacks but they were everywhere . Frisk tried resting on a wall for just a moment before a venus-flytrap opened its maw, releasing a horde of insects. The stars painted on the ceiling crashed down, flowers blooming from the craters they left.

After countless cuts and black fly bites it seemed he was getting frustrated that the human was still alive. Two bodies were brought down from the ceiling, and along with them two SOULs.

The bodies were nothing but hollow sihouettes with the SOULs forcibly attached by a thin coloured string to their bodies. Where their eyes were supposed to be, there was a rip of light.

From the dark bodies, came meek voices. They could recognize the one with the orange SOUL as alphys, and the yellow as Undyne. “I can’t do it… I’m just not strong enough.. I can’t look them in the eyes.. I couldn’t even save anyone..” the first one said, at the same time the other spoke in a hurried and paranoid tone, “I have to avenge them..! They didn’t deserve this!”

In bursts of yellow light, spears shot of Undyne’s hands. She didn’t seem to be able to see Frisk since she was blinded, but was aiming pretty much everywhere. Alphys’s claws had expanded to make it look like she hand orange extensions on them, and she was clawing wildly around her. The tears she made in the floor served as lines that Frisk could not cross, trapping them in a box  where Undyne was aiming. Even when they aren’t even aware of it, those two were made for eachother.

Frisk looked to them for help. “They don’t remember what we’ve done for them. You have to remind them,“ they responded. “Here! You got that phone from Alphys, right? And that burn mark! That’s from when you went cooking with Undyne!” Frisk nodded a silent thanks and went over to Alphys.

They pressed a button on the phone, and from within Alphys’s pocket an intense ringtone from some anime blared. She shook her head in surprise. Orange outlines began to shine around her, showing her face and lab coat. Blinking off her confusion, she seemed to understand the scenario immediately. She looked straight at Frisk, hugged them tightly and said, “thank you for teaching me to be brave.” Strangely, the hug seemed to remove some of Frisk’s injuries.

Just then, a yell of anger sounded towards the creature as a vine wrapped around her figure and pulled her back into the sky. She gave Frisk a thumbs up as she left. Moments later, orange bullets were firing out of one of Alphys’s contraptions, keeping Asriel distracted.

Undyne’s attacks could be easily avoided now, as Frisk could move around freely. Still jarred by the sudden loud noise, Undyne paused just loud enough for Frisk to rush her, giving her a massive hug. The texture of the now-rough burnt sweater shocked her out of her daze. Bright yellow lines etched in her arms as she moved to give Frisk a massive noogie, “give ‘em hell, punk! You’ve already served your justice.”

Forcibly removing Undyne out of the way via weeds, Flowey almost growled in anger. Light flashed around them in intricate patterns. “Wait! I recognize this attack!” Chara remembered. “It’s called, hehe, he always called it SHOCKER BREAKER.” Frisk snickered at the silly childish name, and Asriel screamed in anger, “what’s so funny?!”

Finishing his attack, Frisk tried to talk to Asriel. They brought out Chara’s locket from under their shirt, but he only seemed more upset at the sight. Instead, he brought down another two bodies. This time, the green and light blue SOULs floated down with them. As they did, Undyne and Aphlys were freed from the vines once more and Undyne started hacking wildly at various pieces of foliage, including the non-violent flowers in Asgore’s garden. She gave Frisk finger guns.

The first figure with the green SOUL stuck out his hand in an offer. “HUMAN! PLEASE, I KNOW YOU COULD BE BETTER THAN THIS, IF YOU JUST TRY.. WHY IS MY KINDNESS NOT ENOUGH..?” he whispered. The second one has his shoulders slumped and a depressed tilt to his voice, “good luck, kid. i’m done waiting for you to get better.”

Green lights that looked strangely like spaghetti whipped through the air with sharp bones stabbing into the earth around Frisk. Frisk looked like they immediately knew what to do. They grabbed a colourful bandaid from off their cheek and slapped it onto Papyrus’s hand, having him a high-five at the same time. He retracted his hand and put them against his cheek in a gasp.

“IVE REACHED.. THE HIGH-FIVE LEVEL IN FRIENDSHIP?! WOWIE! I’VE NEVER GOTTEN THIS FAR BEFORE!” He swept up Frisk in a tight hug with their feet dangling above the ground. He took a moment to look them in the eyes as he muttered, “I’M SO GLAD YOU CHOSE FO BE KIND, HUMAN. NOW I CAN GET YOU ALL THE SPEGHETTI YOU COULD EVER WANT!” He handed them a singular crushed-tomato-covered noodle before being zipped to the sky by his scarf, waving the whole way.

Frisk held up the noodle and was about to eat it when Chara stopped them, “where was he even keeping that?” They questioned. The gesture alone seemed to heal Frisk regardless. Sans was much more difficult to dead with.

He kept himself within a small wall of bones by his feet, which grew when they tried to approach him. Just as Chara was about to suggest getting Papyrus to help him, Frisk looked struck by an idea. They reached into their short’s pocket and just barely avoided a spike from skewering their skull. They pulled out something small and tore it. They threw it at Sans’s head and—

It was a restaurant ketchup packet. Sans blinked in surprise and gave a genuine laugh, free from his daze. “Really?! ” Asriel screamed from the other side of the room. “ That’s what did it? It was that easy?!”

Sans stuck out his hand, “glad i was patient with you, kid. you really managed to ketch-up with your past,” he winked. Frisk took his hand, and neither of them broke as the whoopee cushion sounded. “SANS! I TOLD YOU TO GET RID OF THAT THING!” Papyrus complained. Sans simply allowed a vine to take him and used it to ride into the air with the others. A few seconds after he and the others disappeared into the mess of vines in the ceiling, there was a distant cry of; “PLEASE DON’T NOOGIE MY BROTHER.”

Asriel was back in focus, and seemed even more furious than before. His horns had grown larger and his legs had started to disappear into stardust. His own magic was tearing itself apart as he couldn’t concentrate on keeping it together. “Why couldn’t you just join me?! You were the one you wanted me to kill in the first place! Ugh! ”

Two identical sabers grew from his hands, twinkling like wishing stars. Frisk barely avoided their wrath, but couldn’t properly avoid the rainbows of light magic that tilted off their edges. Asriel got even angrier. “Why are you making me feel bad?! I hate you!”

At first, Chara thought the creature was enjoying their plight. It was giving off a confident and exaggerated, with laughs full of malice and smiles full of pure spite. The more SOULs Frisk saved, the more that fact changed. He glared Frisk down in anger, his impatient smile wavering. Chara could swear at some point they even saw a flash of fear. The sight still made their stomach curl either way, for two very different reasons.

He moved out of the way to lower the last two bodies, bringing all the rest of the monsters with them. Undyne, Alphys and Papyrus all distracted him with small attacks while Sans sat on a large flower and made puns and sarcastic comments. Somehow, Sans seemed to be doing the most damage, even if half that damage went to Papyrus.

The dark blue and purple SOULs floated down with the finale two figures and took their place. The first, “I cannot hurt a child, but you..” . Blue fire erupted from her palms and streamed down her cheeks. The other, “I am so sorry, young one.. I must persevere.. please, forgive me..”. His trident glowed to royal purple as he waved it around.

As Toriel stuck out her hand to release another row of fireballs, Frisk touched it and placed the last bite of pie they had been saving for later. She woke up. “My child..?! Oh, goodness, you are not hurt, are you? Here, I have brought some snails for you. And, hm.. I am glad to have taught you some integrity. Leaving the Ruins was good for you.” She handed Frisk a truly delicious looking snail, to which they gave a disgusted expression and turned to look at Chara. “Look, they’re pretty good once you try them.”

Toriel was lifted, surprisingly gently, into the air by a completely smooth vine. Frisk grimaced, gave the tiniest bite of the snail, before giving them a completely floored and amazed expression. “See? I’ve been telling y- trident!” Frisk just barely ducked the purple trident that flashed right above their head. Looking at Asgore, they gave Chara a confused expression.

“I don’t know- trying giving him a flower.” Carefully digging their hands into the dirt and plopping the uprooted flower into the King’s hand, Frisk looked to see if it would work. The warm dirt shocked him as he dropped his trident to hold the fragile plant. “Thank you, human. I am glad you stayed determined. Wait, Tori-?!” He was interrupted by a plant knocking him out of the way and into a wall.

“S top it!” Asriel screamed. He slammed his massive claws into the ground, the floor shaking and the surrounding flowers wilting. “Everybody got away from me!” His words sent shock waves through the earth as the universe bended to his command. All the light left the room and they could no longer see the lights of the SOULs. It was just them, and Asriel.

It took Chara a second to realize he was crying. He slammed and hands into the ground once more as he cried and screamed and shook. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to work! It’s kill or be killed! Why is this working for you? Why do you get to be the hero?!” As he quieted, he grew smaller. His claws and horns shrank to bits, his arms and legs turned to the size of a child’s and his face grew softer. What was left was a small, sobbing child.

“Why don’t you have to kill..? Why do you get to live..? I.. I didn’t want to die..” he whispered.

The sight made Chara want to die all over again. They needed to be the one to comfort their brother, but how..? Well, if the entity could control Frisk’s body, then maybe..

They seemed immediately opposed to the idea at first, shaking their head fervently. “Please, I know I just… I have to hug him. I have to talk to him. Please,” they begged. Frisk looked at them, then Asriel, sobbing, then them again. “I promise, it won’t be too ghoulish, ” they winked, Frisk huffed and punched them in the side. They closed their eyes, slumped their shoulders, and nodded.

When Chara opened their eyes again, they could feel. They didn’t have time to process this before their feet were moving towards Asriel practically by themselves. He took notice of them approaching, flinched back, and then hung his neck low. He almost hopped out of his skin when he felt Chara hug him.

“Stop crying, you big dummy.. you’ll — sniff— you’ll get snot all over our sweater..” and then they cried. Hiccups and sobs and ugly cries fills the air as they gripped onto each other tightly. “I was starting to think.. that human wasn’t actually you..?” He said in a questioning tone. “They aren’t, this is Frisk. I’m just.. using cool, ghostly powers.” He laughed. Chara smiled.

“Well,” he started. “It’s nice to meet you, Frisk. I.. I’m sorry. I think I can break the barrier.. and I’ll return off the SOULs to the monsters they belong to.” Frisk couldn’t respond, but Chara conveyed the message that they were thankful. The next couple of minutes were spent holding hands and looking at the fake stars painted above. Chara could pretend that they were still alive, and they were at their favourite wishing spot in Waterfall, but they didn’t need to.

“I don’t want to let go..” Asriel confessed. It was so quiet, any other person wouldn’t have heard him. “..what if you leave me again? I don’t want to be alone..” he whispered. Chara turned to look straight into his eyes, that were brimming with more tears. They raised a singular pinky figure between the two of them.

“You’re never getting rid of me again. Best Friends Forever, right?” They said. He huffed a laugh, and brought his own pinky up. “Best Friends Forever.”

“So… God of Hyperdeath?” Azzy flushed red, and punched Chara in the shoulder. “Oh, shut up! You’re the one who came up with that name.” They laughed. Suddenly they were hugging again. “Are you ready?” Chara asked.

“Ready for what?”

“To move on, I dunno’, ghost stuff.”

“I..” he paused, looking around, “what will.. what will happen to us?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?!”

“I don’t know! I guess we’ll just be.. talking. Just together. Like a forever sleepover,” they responded.

“So this is just.. it? After all that?”

“I suppose.”

“So it was all for nothing? Just like that?”

“Not nothing. We’re here, aren’t we? Together.”

“…yeah, I think I’m ready,” he huffed. He looked to Chara. They waited for the negative feelings to come in. They waited for the guilt, the fear, the anger. You haven’t fixed anything. It was all for nothing. It never came. “Yes. I.. I think I actually am,” they sounded surprised, even to themself. They hugged Asriel one last time, and whatever they had left of their soul melted from Frisk’s into his.

Frisk came back and looked at their ghostly visage, now holding hands with Asriel and almost ready to leave. Frisk runs over and grabs their arm, desperately trying to pull them back. Chara grabbed their shoulders and kneels down to their height. “I.. think I have to quit as your guide for now, Frisk. I expect to receive full pension, okay?” Chara wasn’t crying when they pulled Frisk into a tight hug. “You’re the best human ever. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

They were about to walk away, when Chara tugged of their brother’s arm, “ dude.” He whipped his head towards them, “hm? Oh! Oh, yes, of course.”

He raised his arms, the SOULS of thousands raised around him. His eyes glowed briefly and he looked to Frisk, “ Not for nothing.” He commanded.

In a flash of light, the barrier was gone.

And so were Chara and Asriel.

And then, for the first time in centuries, the Dreemurr children had were finally able to rest.

——————

Long ago, two siblings lived in the Underground: The HUMAN, and The MONSTER.

One day, they decided to make a plan to free the  monsters from the Underground.

After a long fight with death, the HUMAN was sacrificed.

The MONSTER used their SOUL to break himself out of the barrier. He was unable to gather the strength to kill a human, and died.

Many years later, another human fell to the Underground. They befriended the monsters and found a way to free them.

They say one can still hear the dead children whispering and giggling to each other if one listens in on yellow flowerbeds.

It does not matter.

They can finally sleep.