Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chara steps into their dorm room after a stressful week of living.

They run their hand along the nearest wall until their hand eventually makes contact with the unusually clean switch (Chara deep cleans everything in the dorm because they can't stand dirt in their space) and flicking it on, lighting up the 12 by 19 feet space. Chara removes their brown leather dress shoes exposing the ridiculous star patterned socks Asriel gifted them. Chara takes care to neatly tuck them by the door before they walk to their side of the room, attempting to ignore the bright cacophony of colours that drench Asriel's side of the room and politely sets their set of heavy science based texts on their well polished bedside table.

They sit heavily on their rather firm bed. Resting their head in their hands just…breathing. They haven't gotten a moment to themself all week. Waking up 2 hours early everyday just to ensure every aspect of their attire is impeccable, building rapport with their professors so they can exploit these connections for extensions (mainly for Asriel’s benefit, he can never finish anything on time) dealing with being around humans for long periods of time and helping Frisk with their studies (though that could fall under the previous category)… while they have done this same routine all year it just feels particularly overwhelming this week than it did any other subsequent time.

Of course, constantly suppressing any and all human emotion they can feel on a daily basis doesn't help matters. In fact that's probably why they feel more stressed than usual.

… 

…They should compose themself before Asriel returns. They wouldn't want their best fr-  roommate to see them like this.

Chara stands up and crouches to reach under the bed, pulling out a well maintained wooden box. They brush the non-existent dust off of the top before sitting down and placing it on their lap and unhooking the latch. They open it, revealing a row of well kept blades. 

Now, people may find this habit of theirs unusual or even a bit disturbing but it brings chara joy to collect and maintain knives and they also find it a quite soothing hobby, the perfect pastime to soothe their frazzled nerves.

They carefully pick up the knife placed in the center, admiring its unique burgundy color as well as the slightly translucent circles that remind them of lava. It is a custom made blade that they recently added to their collection gifted to them by asriel and frisk as a piece offering after they both damaged the bow for their violin in an accident involving a spider somehow.

Regardless of how it was acquired (or maybe because of how it was) this blade is their favorite one collected so far. It has a unique design and a sturdy build as well as a very sharp blade and an expertly pointed tip. Chara turns it over in their hand just…taking in its ornate design until they notice the thin layer of dust on it, caused by them not having enough time to polish it as regularly as they would like.

Chara reaches towards their bedside table, opening the drawer and removing neatly folded soft cloth. They carefully unfold it so they can gently wipe down the blade removing the dust and shining the blade.

They focus so heavily on their task they don't notice the blade steadily slipping from their grip.

Until it's already too late.

The knife slips from chara’s hands falling and embedding itself into the hardwood floor at a perfect 90 degree angle.

…

Chara just sits there like an idiot, hand gripping nothing with their knife embedded into the floor.

They feel their eye twitch at the minor irritation but they take a deep breath and bend at the waist to retrieve it, hoping the fall didn't damage-

As soon as their fingers dare to wrap around the handle a bright beam of light suddenly blasts them in the face. Their chin length hair billowing behind them from the sheer strength of the sudden gust of wind. Chara’s eyes snap shut instinctively, they hiss from suddenly being flash banged they rub their eyes squinting to try and see what in the Angel’s name is going on.

The blinding white light quickly shifts into a pitch black that suddenly starts to move like smoke rapidly filling the room.

Chara just sits there mouth slightly agape hand loosely gripping the handle of their knife. Watching as Asriel's colourful posters are swallowed up whole by the darkness.

…What is one even supposed to do in a situation like this?

Chara tries to think of something, anything, their mind rushing a mile a minute but coming up empty just simply due to the sheer absurdity of the situation.

Chara doesn't even think to run before their vision goes black.

.

.

.

Chara opens their eyes, their head pounding. They groan sitting up on the cold hard floor.

They quickly look around, surrounded by a void of pitch black. They can see a large castle as well as…some kind of pillar of darkness in the distance?

“ What.  ”

Chapter Text

Asriel strolls down the hallway to his and Chara’s dorm room, bag slung over his shoulder chewing the remnants of his doughnut with a small brown paper bag in his non occupied hand.

He had invited Chara to come with him to a cafe that recently opened near campus after class today but they declined, choosing to study instead. While Asriel doesn't fully buy this excuse he knows it isn't out of character for them. Most of the time he sees Chara is either with their head buried in a school book, a reading book or sometimes even a score book.

So, he decided to bring something back for them, some bitter chocolate espresso drink that cost him a little too much money. 

Chara seemed pretty down lately (or as down as they can seem when they're always smiling, seriously what's up with that? Doesn't their face hurt at some point?) so he hopes the over priced drink helps with their mood.

He stops in front of their dorm and knocks.

…

No response.

He shrugs assuming Chara’s fully engrossed in whatever their reading.

He gently opens the door…

“Hey Chara, I know you said I don't have to get you anything but i got you a drink i think you-”

…only to be met with pitch black.

“Um…Hello?”

…

No response…again.

Is this…some kind of prank? Chara has messed with him before but how did they manage to turn their whole dorm room pitch black? Did they use some kind of black out curtains??

Asriel cautiously steps inside, closing the door behind him. His paws meet the floor, but instead of feeling carpet or even wood flooring like he expects he feels…conrete? Or perhaps tile?

“Chara…? Hello?”

He walks further into the room.

“Chara, this isn't funny anymore!”

Still nothing, Asriel’s getting concerned now. Is …chara okay? Are they hurt? He can't see anything so he doesn't even know if they're in here or not.

“You know what? I'm just gonna… go ill give you your drink later when you're done with…”

He vaguely gestures around the blackened room with the brown paper bag containing chara’s drink.

“...whatever this is.”

Asriel turns on his heel and starts walking back towards the door, when suddenly…!

The ground suddenly starts violently shaking, making Asriel stumble and fall over, dropping the bag (aka the drink he spent way too much money on).

…

Yeah he needs to get the hell out of here, screw the drink he can just get them another one.

He rises to his feet struggling to stand from the continued aggressive shaking and starts running towards the door.

But as he’s about to reach where he presumes the door is, his paw, instead of hitting the solid floor, meets…nothing causing him to fall forward into the deep dark.

He screams and on instinct reaches up for anything to grab onto to stop his descent which is quickly revealed to be futile as he’s swallowed up whole by the darkness.

Chapter Text

“ Ugh… My head… ”

Asriel sits up, rubbing his head, he looks around seeing the same stuff chara saw. (do i really have to describe it again? I mean it was only one chapter ago…)

Asriel gets off the ground, noticing that his outfit has inexplicably changed from his regular sweater and jeans combo to something similar to the choir outfits at home but fancier with pauldrons and a cape.

While Asriel is confused by how his clothing got changed (and the fact that his fur has a slight blueish tint?) He’s more concerned by how the hell he ended up here and what in the Angel’s name did Chara do to their dorm room??

Wait… Chara what happened to chara!?

Asriel’s eyes widen as he thinks about the implications of a black void that transports people to who knows where that was located in their dorm room the same dorm room Chara was supposed to be in, and seeing as he didn't see them on the way here…

They must be trapped in here somewhere.

He sighs feeling a mixture of worry, fear and annoyance.

Worry for chara’s safety. (and his)

Fear for where the hell is he?

…and annoyance because all he wanted to do with the rest of his day was hang out with his roomie but instead he’s here in the middle of only the Angel knows where worrying more about Chara than himself.

He starts reluctantly walking forward as that's the only direction he can go since everything else is pitch black and the only thing he can see is the path directly in front of him. (that and he thinks he can see…somthing moving in the darkness? Yeah he’s not messing with that…) Hoping he can find them quickly so they can find a way out of here.

A gentle breeze blows past him making his fur sway and causing him to shiver from the cold. The flooring beneath him is colder, sinking into his paws and further freezing him as he walks.

Eventually, he comes across what he can only discern as some kind of puzzle, but it seems to already be solved as all the buttons are pushed down and the path is clear. He assumes Chara did it and takes this as a sign he’s going the right way (not like there was any other way he could have gone…) and continues walking forwards.

Asriel shivers as he walks, wrapping his cape around himself.

“ Does this place really have to be so cold? I'm covered in fur for Angel’s sake! And I'm still freezing… ”

Asriel grumbles under his breath.

“ Hey you! Stop right there! Immediately!! ”

Asriel freezes in his tracks (as if he wasn't already freezing) his cape falling from around his body as he lets go and turns around to see two women, one shorter with her hands on her hips (seemingly the one who called to him) and a taller, meeker looking one slouching. They're both wearing large brimmed hats that obscure their eyes. There’s a faint glow emanating from under the hat lighting their features with warm amber coloured light.

“ W-Wait should we really… ? ”

“ Oh hush Almp, let me handle this! ”

Asriel decides to interject. “ Uhm…hello? ”

The two women turn to stare at him, the shorter one clears her throat.

“ Ah yes, as I was- ” She freezes her hands coming up to dramatically cover her mouth as her eyes widen in recognition.

“ Gasp ”

( Why did she say gasp out loud…? )

“P-Prince Azralay!? Oh your highness I didnt realise-”

( Whose Azralay…? )

“ U-Uhm…Paml, I don’t think that's the prince… ”

The shorter one, presumably Paml, squints her eyes at Asriel, taking him in more closely. Asriel just grows more confused and uncomfortable as this interaction goes on.

“ Oh wait your right… actually…this boy looks like a… ”

She snears.

“ Lightner. ”

Asriel takes a step back upon hearing the venom in her voice.

( What the hell is a lightner…? )

“ Uhm…Hey I dont want any trouble, im just looking for my- ”

“ Hush dopleganger! You have no right to call yourself a light bringer with an outfit like… That. ”

( I've literally never called myself that?? )

Asriel looks confused and kind of offended, while Almp just… kind of stands there awkwardly looking at Asriel sympathetically but makes no effort to stop Paml.

“ What's wrong with my outfit…? ”

“ It's too dark to enter his majesty’s kingdom! And definitely too dark for a lightner like yourself! ”

Asriel looks down at his robe…She’s right the colour is really dark in comparison to the choir robes actually It's completely black. (Minus the white trim and the DELTA RUNE on the chest.)

“ But do not fret, my sister and I- ”

“ Wait what do I have to with- ”

“ Ahem. ” She clears her throat. “ My sister and I ” She really stresses this part. “ Will brighten you up! ”

Paml’s glow seems to brighten as she summons a light stick with a crystal topper her sister sighs and summons her own triggering a battle.

A sudden breeze sweeps over the battle ground dropping the temperature further and causing Asriel’s ears to flop behind him, following the direction of the wind. Various bars, menus and buttons suddenly appear in his vision.

Asriel shivers from the cold.

“ What…What's going on?? ”

" A battle , prince dopleganger! Surely you've been in one? ”

“ No I, havent this my uh first… ‘ battle ’”

“ Um…Paml…maybe we should leave him alone…he hasn't even been in a battle before… ” 

“ Nonsense! We’ll just have to show him the ropes. ”

Paml points her light stick at Asriel making him tense.

“ Now! Do you see those buttons before you? ”

“ Uhh…Yeah? ”

“ Good! Now that button… ”

She points her light stick at the button she is describing.

“... With the sword is the FIGHT button you use it to attack! ”

She points at another button.

“ That button there is your MAGIC menu! You can check the list of spells you have access to and how much TP they cost. ”

Wait… this sounds familiar …

“ Wait, isn't this just dragon blazers? ”

“ Dragon what now? ”

“ You know… dragon blazers. ”

“ Well, I don't know what a… ‘Dragon Blazer’ is…but if you’re familiar with the battle system…then do not delay further! ”

Asriel looks down at the options before him, noting his currently full hp.

He first checks his MAGIC menu, curious on what spells he can cast. He’s presented with several options:

Shocker Breaker - Costs 25% Tp, shocks enemies.

Heal prayer - Costs 32% Tp, Restores HP.

And…

 A-action, whatever that means.

Curious, He selects A-action and yet another menu opens. Displaying some more options:

Cheak

Brighten

Darken

Asriel selects CHEAK…

…and ANOTHER menu opens, is this many menus really necessary?

He chooses to check Paml, as she seems to be the most openly aggressive.

*Paml – Wants to brighten everything she considers too dark .

…Well that was useless.

Paml laughs loudly.

“ Haha you waste your turn to check what's right in front of you!? ”

Paml points her light stick at Asriel and after a sight delay it starts shooting laser beams at him forcing him to hop around like a rabbit to not get hit.

Asriel is huffing and puffing this being the most physical activity he’s done in a while.

“ Can’t we just…talk about this?? ” He manages the wheeze through his heavy breathing.

“ No, not until you accept my light . Now make your next choice! ”

Almp gives asriel an apologetic look.

Asriel chooses FIGHT this time.

A sword manifests in each of his hands.

“ Woah… ”

He turns them over in his hands, taking in the knife-like handles with gold accents the blade reminds him of one of the knives Chara has (a hunting knife?) but the blade is longer and has some weird cut outs near the tip that reminds him of a cheese knife, actually it looks like some kind of loading bar, and the hilt is in the shape of the DELTA RUNE.

He strikes Paml, seeing as she’s the only one attacking him dealing 176 dmg.

Paml gasps dramatically Almp winces.

“ You…You’ve wounded me! ”

Asriel gives her an incredulous look.

“ Was I… not supposed to…? ”

“ No, a gentleman would never hit a lady! Especially one as dark ly dressed as yourself! ”

“ Oh uh…sorry I- ”

“ Now…now you shall pay! ”

*Paml’s attack increased!

Paml points her light stick at asriel again, this time the lasers shoot out in various different directions. Making it harder for Asriel to dodge, he gets hit by one causing him to hiss in pain as it burns through his sleeve and into his skin.

“ Ow what the hell!? So you can burn me but I can't hit you?? ”

“ Its not my fault if you have a…as the youth say ‘skill issue’ ”

( So you know what a skill issue is but not dragon blazers…? )

Asriel sighs, annoyed (and a little scared since he now knows those weird beams can hurt him) checks his hp. 

104/140

…Yea it's not looking good for him.

Asriel goes back into the A-action.

Cheak

Brighten

Darken

He remembers Paml saying something about "brightening him up” and mentioning stuff about light and dark.

…

He chooses brighten .

“ Ah, so you chose to embrace the light and become a true lightbringer I see? ”

“ I…guess? ”

“ Then step into the green light, embrace it, envelop it and you may be on your way! ”

( A bit dramatic but okay. )

Paml points her light stick at him and manifests a green ball of light in front of him. Asriel hesitates.

“ Go on! Accept the light. ”

“ Uh…dosent that hurt me? ”

Almp clears her throat causing both Asriel and Paml to turn and look at her

“ Sorry to interject…but green attacks don't hurt you. ”

Asriel looks at her skeptically.

“ Are you sure, I really don't want to get burned again. ”

Almp nods and Asriel decides to trust her since she hasn't shown any aggression towards him…yet.

“ Alright…I am choosing to trust you. ”

Asriel hesitantly reaches out a clawed finger towards the green orb.

He touches it, his eyes shut tight, body tensed, prepared for more pain.

…

Nothing. No pain at all, in fact he feels better .

He opens his eyes.

The orb is gone and it's his turn again, Paml looks satisfied while Almp looks relieved.

“ Oh, so you didn't lie. ”

Before Paml gets to interject with another bit of scathing commentary,

Asriel notices his SPARE button glowing. As well as Paml’s glow being brighter.

He presses it. Not wanting the battle to go on any longer. (granted he never wanted it to start in the first place.)

You won!

Earned 0 EXP and 35 D$

Chapter Text

Asriel is folded over, hands on his knees trying to catch his breath, apparently battles are far harder to do in real life than in video games (also the wind disappears…does it just… do that during battles then leave?) and his cool swords despawn. ;(

Paml and Almp de-summon their lightsticks.

“There, now you are bright enough.”

Asriel scratches the back of his head awkwardly.

“So uh can I go then?”

“Yes, yes you may be on your way.”

Asriel starts walking, wanting to get the hell out of here before she changes her mind, before he pauses remembering he was about to ask them something.

He turns around.

“Hey, so uh…have either of you seen my friend?”

“Your friend?”

“Yeah! They're like…this tall.” Asriel brings his hand a bit below his shoulder. “They always wear their hair in a bob and speak really fancy. Have you seen them?”

“Short, has short hair…speaks fancy…hm…” Paml looks deep in thought, one hand on the chin and other on hip, the works.

“Uhm…Paml…”

“What Almp? Can't you see I'm trying to think of a person that matches that description?”

“S-sorry Paml but I think hes t-talking about…” Her voice drops to an even lower whisper, if that's even possible, and looks back and forth as if to ensure there's no one listening. “The Demon.” She almost squeaks the words out.

Paml’s eyes widened in realization.

Asriel straight up looks confused (and lowkey offended on chara’s behalf, he knows they're creepy and sometimes pretty scary but to go as far as to call them a demon…?)

“I'm sorry, demon?”

“Oh yes it was a travesty! That…that beast it attacked us viciously and without mercy! …That’s why we were hiding out here in the first place! All I wanted to do…was brighten them up a bit…”

Asriel looks unimpressed.

“By ‘brightening them up a bit’ do you mean attacking them, like you did me?”

“Well yes but-”

“Then you shouldn't have expected to walk away without injury, you can't just…” He gestures with his hands honestly, a bit perplexed at this logic.

“...attack every dark attired person you see and expect them not to fight back. I agree they could have maybe been less…aggressive but, and I hate to say this…but you quite litterally asked for it.”

Paml gasps, apparently offended.

“Well I never! All I was doing was following my lamply urges.” 

(Lamply urges…? What the hell does that mean?)

Asriel is getting fed up. He can tell he's not gonna get anywhere here so he shifts focus back to his initial question.

“Right, yes whatever the point is, have you seen them?”

“Oh, well I was so traumatized by the incident that I-”

Almp has also had enough and cuts Paml off before she can start her overly dramatic tirade. 

“Uhm…they went that way… i-into the city….” she points forward. (literally the only way to go). 

“There are some guards upahead…gaurding the gate to the city…b-but your ‘friend’ might of gotten to them already…”

“Oh…yea…they definitely might have...thanks for the help…”

Almp blushes shyly.

“N-No problem…”

Asriel waves and starts walking.

He shivers, rubbing his arms through his sleeves.

“I forgot how cold it was out here...hopefully I can find Chara soon so we can get out of here…” 

The further he walks the closer he gets to the gate and as he approaches he notices two people huddled together.

One man is sniffling being held by the other. They're both wearing dark blue uniforms with star symbols. The one being held is brunette while the other has black hair and looks exhausted.

They both look like they got beat up.

“There there, it's gone now…” The black haired one says, while patting the brunettes back in comfort.

Asriel approaches.

“Umm…hello?”

They tense seeing him approach.

“Oh no…not another lightner…” The brunette whimpers

He cries harder, which makes Asriel feel awkward. The black haired guard looks more exhausted.

“Look, we can't take another battle…just…go.”

Asriel holds his hands up as if to show he’s not a threat.

“No! No! Uh im not here to…do any of that, just…did you see which way the person who did this to you went?”

The black haired man sighs.

“They went past the gate, into the city though I don't know why you're trying to find that demon…”

(Again with the demon comments, are they really that scary to other people…?)

“Well, they're my friend so…”

The man seems to almost startle with alarm.

“Your friends with that…thing?”

He looks incredulously at Asriel.

Asriel honestly doesn't think Chara is all that bad, sure he once woke up to them standing over his bed staring at him but…

…Okay he admits that's really creepy but his point still stands.

“Look, they aren't that bad...I swear they're decent once you get to know them!”

The black haired man gives him a look, sighing once again.

“Well I can’t say I fully doubt you, I've met a few ‘scary on the outside but nice on the inside’ people… just be careful with that one, alright?”

Asriel waves him off.

“Oh don't worry about me, I'll be fine…”

The guard doesn't look convinced, shaking his head.

“Alright if you say so kid…just take this with you alright?”

He gives Asriel a candy wrapped in colorful paper.

(If this is anything like dragon blazers, This must be a healing item of some sorts...)

“Alright, thank you!”

He waves the man waves back with his partner still sniffling in his arms.

Asriel enters through the gate, closing it behind him.

His eyes are met with a dark city with bright colourful lights and tall buildings, there are a few oddly coloured people walking on the side walk in a rhythmic way that gives Asriel a bad feeling.

Most importantly, he sees a huge castle in the distance, as well as a strange dark pillar reaching far above the teal clouds.

Asriel decides to stop one of the strange looking people, a person with purple skin and white hair with fully white eyes and a cloak. Asriel’s a little creeped out by their appearance, but if that was something that stopped him he would have requested to switch dorms by now.

“Hey uhm…”

“Yes?” It stares at him making intense eye contact.

Asriel grimaces, their voice sounds strange…almost digital like the sound of a phone battery frying. The intense stare isn't helping matters… (it reminds him of Chara actually, they have this way of…staring into his soul even during casual conversation it used to unnerve him but he got used to it…kind of.)

“S-sorry to bother you…but uhm…have you seen my friend?”

It tilts its head.

“Friend? Who is this ‘friend’ of yours?”

“Oh right uhm… I heard people referring to them as ‘the demon’ if that helps…”

The person’s eyes widen.

“You are searching for them…?” They tilt their head further to the side, past the usual limits of a normal person. Which obviously creeps Asriel the hell out.

“Y-Yeah have you um…seen them?” He’s sure it can sense the nervous energy radiating off of him.

“Yes, it was headed towards the castle of the two siblings…” It reaches out a hand from beneath its cloak, pointing a black clawed finger towards the large castle.

“I can take you there… I am curious as to how the demon looks…”

“Great…uh thank you?”

It nods.

“You are welcome lightner.” It reaches out its hand towards him, Asriel hesitantly takes its hand, not wanting to be rude.

Its hand is small, cold and boney, completely different to Asriel’s large warm fuzzy hand.

They walk in silence. With the strange creature guiding Asriel to approximately where Chara is. Asriel suddenly pipes up, wanting to break the awkward atmosphere.

“Hey so uhm… Were they wearing anything distinctive? So I can keep a better eye out for them…” Asriel rubs the back of his neck, he figures that since his outfit changed that Chara’s probably has as well.

It stares at him again.

“Yes, they were wearing a long red cloak with gold trims when I saw them, though I did not see much more of their attire since I did not want to look too long. They were wearing something dark underneath aswell.”

“Oh uh that's actually really helpful, thank you.”

“You are welcome.”

As they walk, Asriel takes in the scenery, they have now reached an area with blue grass and purple flowers. He looks up at the sky, being amazed by how wonderfully the stars twinkle against the pure black.

"This place is…really beautiful.”

The person nods in agreement.

“It is always beautiful…”

They walk until they happen upon an open gate with a few people that are actively running out, shouting warnings.

“Run, Run! The demon is here! It's returned!”

“Chero Has returned! We need to warn Prince Azralay!”

“AHH! We're all gonna die!!!”

They run straight past Asriel and the mysterious person holding his hand. They kick up dust, causing Asriel to cough and his eyes to water, the person seems unaffected.

“Angel, what are they even running from? Chara isn't even that-”

That's when he sees it, through the gate.

There's a terrified looking person, based on their uniform they must have been who was guarding the gate. There's a clocked figure with a scythe pointing at them. The person is backing away.

The figure's calm, very familiar voice cuts through the person's terrified whimpering.

“So. Will you allow me to proceed without any more hassle, or are you going to continue impeding my progress?”

They speak in a low, almost threatening tone.

Asriel eyes widen at the scene, he gets ready to intervene when he realises that the person is no longer holding his hand. He looks around for it before noticing that it is walking away.

“Hey! Where are you going?”

It looks over its shoulder at him, not stopping its gait.

“I have seen enough, you are on your own.” It turns back around, walking slightly faster.

Asriel sighs, honestly not blaming them for not wanting anything to do with this anymore.

“Alright…it's just me then…” He murmurs as he approaches the scene. 

He touches Chara's shoulder.

“Cha-”

Fast, before Asriel can even get a syllable out Chara whips around and swings their scythe at him, Asriel jumps back stumbling over his feet and hitting the ground hard.

“Oof! Chara, what-”

He’s met with a scythe to the face shutting him up mid sentence. He tenses, looking up…

Chara is staring down at him…more accurately staring through him. The hood of their cloak casting a dark shadow over their face, their usually brown eyes seem to glow red in the darkness a gentle breeze blows their cloak’s many layers forward including the hood. Their hair is also tussled, further obscuring their face. The scythe pointing at Asriel’s face has a burgundy blade with red circles that seem to almost pulsate in the dim lighting.

At this moment, at this very monet with Chara looming over him, their smile tight and staring through him like they don't even recognise him…with fear griping at his chest, threatening to lock up his muscles and freeze him in place.

At this very moment. With fear gripping at his chest, locking up his muscles and freezing him in place. His eyes wide with terror unlike anything he has ever felt before, with goosebumps making his fur bristle outwards, in some feeble primal attempt to seem larger, to scare away the threat before him. With his mind screaming danger at him to run away to protect himself, anything…and his heart pounding in his chest like it's trying to escape…

.

.

.

Asriel sees the very demon he was warned about.

Chapter Text

Asriel squeezes his eyes shut tight, fully believing he’s about to die.

…

But nothing happens.

He opens his eyes, both confused and relieved that his head is still attached to his shoulders.

Chara blinks and rubs their eyes.

“Apologies Asriel, I had not realised it was you.”

They de-summon their scythe. And reach a gloved hand down towards Asriel, he takes it and they help him off of the ground.

Asriel is shaking like a new born fawn from his near death experience (and low-key traumatized). He lets out a shaky breath.

“What…what was that for!?” He wheezes out, trying to steady his heart rate.

Chara rubs the back of their head looking away briefly before making eye contact again.

“Apologies again, I had thought you were another enemy. I reacted before I realised that it was you.”

Asriel breathes in and out until he manages to breathe normally again and his body stops shaking (as much). Chara watches him curiously tilting their head slightly in a gesture that would be cute if it was literally anyone else but of course Chara somehow makes that look creepy as hell.

“Are you alright?”

Asriel takes a deep breath. 

“I…I think so…”

Asriel looks around, noting the guard Chara was threatening is gone (they probably ran while Asriel was busy being traumatized).

“Well now that you're not trying to kill me…” Asriel places a hand on each shoulder, Chara tenses. “CHARA WHERE THE HELL ARE WE!?”

Chara blinks up at him.

“...Haha the funny thing is, I haven't the faintest clue!” They exclaim with forced whimsy.

“What do you mean you ‘don't know’ you were the last person to enter our dorm room before I went out! What happened??”

“Well you see Asriel, if I were to disclose those details you would not believe me.”

“Oh come on Chara, we're in a weird alternate universe version of Dragon Blazers. I'm sure whatever you could possibly tell me couldn't ever be more unbelievable than what's already happening.”

Chara carefully removes Asriel's hands from their shoulders.

“Well, since you insist… How this occurred was that I happened to be polishing my favourite blade…”

“Uh huh…”

“Then I had inadvertently dropped it, and it happened to land at a perfect 90 degree angle into our flooring, then when I went to retrieve it, a burst of light emerged from only the Angel knows where and blasted me in the face. Our dorm went dark and when I next opened my eyes I had arrived here.”

Asriel stares at Chara. They stare back…

“What?”

Asriel knows that Chara wouldn't lie to him…

…but that sounds less believable than them being in an RPG.

He looks away from Chara then looks back at them.

“...That…that actually happened?”

Chara responds.

“Yes, and I assume that is how we are…wherever it is we are.”

“Right…”

“I believe we should try to find a way to leave, I still have an essay to perfect.”

“You're not talking about that english essay are you?”

“Yes I am, why do you ask?”

Asriel gives Chara an incredulous look.

“Chara…that essay is already perfect. What are you talking about?”

Chara shakes their head. 

“You are mistaken, It still is not good enough, I still need to do some more edits before it is ready for the professor.”

Asriel gives them a long look.

“We...We'll talk about this when we get out of this place…”

Chara tilts their head.

“Well, I do not exactly see why we need to talk about my essay but alright Let us move forth”

“Yeah, let's go look for a way out of here.”

Chara looks around before them is a wall to the left is thick foliage and to the right is the same.

“Worry not Asriel, I have a solution to this problem.”

Chara summons their scythe and cuts through the thick foliage on the left path, revealing pitch black. They contemplate entering the dark, morbidly curious about what may be within it before thinking better of that idea.

“The other side then.”

They walk to the right and clear the right path instead, exposing a wild jungle with no clear path.

“Well then…I suppose I will just clear the way for us, follow closely behind me.”

Asriel nods.

“Alright.”

Chara uses their scythe for its intended purpose, forcing a path through the bushes as Asriel follows behind them in silence.

“So…uh your outfit looks really cool! pretty different from what you usually wear though…”

Chara mutters something under their breath, intensely focused on their task to the point where they forget to respond, Asriel manages to catch some of what they are saying…

“I slice through the bushes with ruthless intensity, perhaps I should try putting this much effort into wiping out humanity…” They murmur under their breath, barely audible amongst the sound of plants falling.

Asriel isn't all that weirded out by what chara is saying (or that they're talking to themself), he knows they have this strange tendency to narrate what other people (namely him and Frisk, especially Frisk for some reason…) are doing, even themself sometimes. He's come to accept it as just another one of their weird quirks (everything about them is weird really). That last part about destroying humanity was kind of concerning but Asriel just chalks it up to Chara’s dark (and often bizarre) sense of humour.

“Uh chara?”

Chara perks up.

“Yes, you were saying something? Oh right, thank you Asriel I find your outfit ‘cool’ as well, though a choir robe is an…interesting choice.” Their smile shifts into a slight smirk as they lightly tease him.

“Pfft oh come on, you're literally wearing the same thing." He brushes his hair (fur…?) out of his right eye only for it to almost immediately flop back down on account of him styling it that way.

Chara slows down their pursuit to tame the wild vines and pushes their long tiered cloak further aside to properly take in their outfit.

Their outfit is indeed similar, but not the same as their robe has gold trims rather than white like asriel’s and shorter, cropped a bit above the knee with slits in the sides and with pants underneath stuffed into heeled boots, with a utility belt slung across their hips. They let their cloak fall to conceal most of their outfit once again, before continuing to clear the way.

“Correction, similar but not the same.”

“Same difference, you still look like you're about to sing ‘the tale of DELTA RUNE’ haha!”

“Ha! Well at least I know you shall sing along with me ‘Mr. I cannot play video games without apologizing for hurting the enemies Dreemurr’”.

“Hey! Come on, that was a low blow and you know it!” Asriel says, pretending to be offended.

They both giggle like dumb high school students despite being adults going to college.

“While that may have been low, it is not as low as mentioning your current fur colour.”

Asriel tries to contain his giggles.

“What's wrong with being blue? At least I'm not red unlike a certain someone.”

Chara stops clearing the path, their sudden stop nearly causes Asriel to run into their back. They look over their shoulder at him.

“What?”

“Yea you're uh, red you didn't notice?”

He rubs the back of his neck, still chuckling slightly.

Chara looks down at their gloved left hand before looking back at him.

“No, as my outfit covers most of my entire body, how could I have known?”

“Huh, I thought someone would have mentioned it to you by now.”

“Asriel, did you see how strange the ‘people’ in the city looked? I doubt I looked very strange, if at all to them.”

“Well good point, I met a guy with purple skin when I was trying to find you…They helped me find you actually.”

“Purple skin you say? Hmm…sounds intriguing.”

Chara hacks away the bushes in silence, as they work they eventually stumble upon a clearing. Chara de-summons their scythe now that they can walk freely.

As they walk, Asriel notices a door partially hidden by bushes.

“Hey Chara, wait a minute."

Chara halts in their tracks and turns around.

“Yes?”

“Look over there” Asriel points at the door behind the bushes. “Theres a weird door over there.”

Chara starts approaching it and Asriel follows suit.

“Huh…that is quite queer.”

Asriel snorts.

Chara moves the bushes aside. Fully exposing a giant black door with gold trim and the DELTA RUNE in the center.

“Hey Chara, that door looks like your robe!”

“Hmm…You are correct Asriel, perhaps it may be important then.”

Chara presses on the door and it opens slightly.They look through the crack seeing nothing but black.They have a bad feeling about what may be on the other side. Especially since there's another one of those glowing white stars in front of it.

“Asriel, I will go ahead to ensure there is no danger. You should stay here.”

Asriel feels a little uneasy about letting Chara go in alone, but he trusts their judgement.

“Uh okay, I guess ill just…keep watch then.”

“Thank you, try not to die while I am gone, okay?”

“Yeah okay, I walked all this way just to find you, so you better not die.”

“Worry not Asriel I would not let your hard work go to waste.”

Chara touches the star before pushing the door open wider, and stepping through. It closes behind them. Asriel watches Chara go through with concern written all over his face but he reassures himself knowing that Chara is more than capable of handling themself.

Chara stumbles through the door, disoriented by the sudden light and suddenly feeling like they just woke up from a very bad nap. They rub their eyes and observe where they ended up. They take in the familiar light yellow walls,  the tiled floor, the towel wrack with one colourful towel and another less colourful one.

“What…”

They are in their dorm room bathroom.

“How exactly did I…?”

They turn around only to see a regular bathroom door and not the weird fancy one they entered, They look down at their outfit only to see that it had reverted to their green and yellow sweater vest, a white collared shirt and khaki pants and those star patterned socks they received from Asriel.

“…It is clear to me I have finally gone insane, did I…imagine all of that…?”

Chara opens the door only to see pitch black…the entire room's hue shifts to darker bluish tones and black smoke steadily pours through the door. Chara quickly shuts the door once again.

“Decidedly…not imaginary, I am…unsure if that is better or worse than me simply hallucinating…”

Chara combs their fingers through their slightly tousled hair, trying to make sense of everything. They start pacing as they usually do when they're thinking.

“How does this make any sense…? Was I not just…”

While they are pacing, Chara manages to catch a glimpse of themself in the mirror and they quite frankly look terrible (by their standards).

Their eyes look tired with slight bags under them, their bangs stuck to their forehead from sweat, despite it not being hot at all, their clothes are slightly crumpled and most horrifically (to Chara at least). Their hair looks slightly messy and not perfectly smooth and straight like they styled it this morning.

“My word...I look as if I were thrown into the garbage disposal…” (No, they don't, they look a little better than the average college student actually.)

“I must rectify this, at least the hair goodness…”

While Chara is busy fussing over their appearance, Asriel is on the other side of the door, with one his swords summoned in his right hand, the impaling end being fiddled with in his left.

“Golly, Chara seems to be taking an awfully long time in there…I hope everything's alright with them…”

Asriel runs his claw along the cutouts on the blade.

“I wonder what these are for…they seem a little odd to just be…on my sword like that.”

Asriel furrows his brows, examining the sword.

“Is it to like..save production cost…?”

(That doesn't make much sense though, it just kinda..spawned into my inventory…)

While Asriel is deep in idle thought he hears the door beside him creek open. He looks over to see Chara emerging from the darkness within the door.

“Chara! I almost thought you died for a second there heh…”

Asriel waits for a response…Chara doesn't respond instead opting to stare at him…again. Asriel clears his throat feeling awkward.

“So uh…what's in there? Any enemies or…”

“Bathroom.”

“What?”

“There is a bathroom in there, specifically our dorm room bathroom.”

“Wait really?”

“Yes, you may see for yourself to confirm if you wish.”

Asriel pushes open the door and peaks his head inside, seeing exactly what Chara described. He pulls his head back out and shuts the door.

“Huh…that's really weird actually.”

“As if everything here is not weird.”

“True…”

“Let us continue, for that is not a viable exit seeing that the only door leads back here.”

“What about the window?”

Chara gives Asriel a look, specifically the look they give him when he says or does something incredibly stupid.

“What? What did I say? The window is a perfectly good escape route!”

“Yes, yes it would have been if not for what you and Frisk did to it.”

“What Frisk and I…”

Asriel squints his eyes and rubs his chin trying to recall what Chara may be referring to…then it hits him.

Asriel recalls an incident where Frisk and himself got absolutely baked while Chara was out and then they had somehow managed to lock themselves in the bathroom. While they were panicking Frisk had the bright idea to kick open the window instead of opening it normally and Asriel, not being much more sensible then Frisk at that moment, obliged by lifting them up to the level of the window and allowing them to attempt to kick it open…

…which led to the window being kicked out of the rail and being permanently stuck closed and Frisk and Asriel remained trapped in the bathroom until Chara returned and freed them.

…and so far he has still not gotten the window repaired.

“Oh…right…”

“Yes, and now because of you and that imbecile we are not only trapped, but agonised by the notion that there was a perfectly easy to access escape route that has been destroyed by foolish behaviour.”

Asriel grimaces at Chara's harsh words.

“Sorry…”

Chara sighs.

“Asriel, you had already apologized for it months ago. What matters now is that we find a way out of here …and we can start by looking for another one of these strange doors.”

“Yeah alright…”

They continue walking, keeping a keen eye open for another door. As they walk, they notice the vegetation growing out of the ground growing in thicker clumps and harder to wade through, Chara lifts their cloak so it doesn't get caught on the weeds and Asriel lifts his cape and the hem of his robe. Chara nearly trips several times because of the vines being caught on their heels.

“These shoes are horribly impractical.”

Asriel scoffs

“You're complaining about shoes? Try having your entire outfit be impractical.”

“Oh stop being dramatic Asriel the church gown could not possibly be that restrictive.”

“It's not the restrictiveness, it's the length. It and the cape are picking up every leaf off the floor and getting caught on these stupid plants…”

“Well, at least you are not tripping because of very unnecessary heels.”

“Well at least you can wear shoes, these sticks are poking me in the-”

Asriel suddenly can't move at all, the vines wrapped tightly around his paws.

“Huh?”

He looks over to see Chara struggling as well, before focusing back on his own predicament.

“What the hell…?”

Before Asriel can complain further vines descend from trees and wrap around Chara and himself.

“Uh what's happening!?”

They are both yanked upwards with enough force to free him and Chara…

…But now they are both suspended in the air. They struggle before releasing that it barely does anything (it does loosen the bindings slightly through). They both remain suspended in the air looking like buffoons for a moment before Chara speaks up.

“Well, It is not as if I have not been tied up before…” They say as an off handed comment while they try to escape the vines.

Asriel pauses in his struggle just to turn and look at them.

“Chara, did you really have to say it like that-”

Chara interrupts him. 

“Worry not Asriel, I shall figure us a way down!”

As Chara is about to do..whatever it was they thought would be suitable in this situation, They both suddenly hear a voice that does not belong to either of them.

“Ohh no you aren’t you freak.”

“Well that was awfully rude.” Chara comments, as they look around for the source of the voice.

A giant venus fly trap looking creature breaks through the blue dirt, it opens to reveal a woman made out of vines, who seems to be wilting.

“Asriel. You are a horrible plant carer, I used to thrive before you brought me to your dorm!”

Asriel simply looks confused.

“Uh what?”

“And you!”

She points at Chara. Who also looks confused.

“What, Me?”

“Yes you! You saw me wilting and did nothing to help me, Some plant enthusiast you are!”

She moves her arms, more vines sprout from the ground and from around the trees.

“And now….now you and that rainbow goat will pay!!”

Asriel’s heart sinks, he knows exactly where this is going.

(Oh Angel, not another battle…) The two friends seem to think almost in sync, both as exasperated as the other.

“Can’t we just talk about this-” Asriel's panicky exclaim gets cut off by the signature wind that suddenly starts when encounters are triggered. (seriously, what is up with that?)

Asriel closes his eyes, his ears being blown behind him again as well as his robe and cape. Just as he got used to the temperature he's being blasted by cold air. He sighs, already knowing it's too late to stop this.

Chara isn't all that gleeful about this either, the intensity of this wind seems to be worse than the previous times, its intensity blows Chara's hood off exposing their redder than usual hair, and of course the wind messes that up too, blowing it and their cloak behind them, making it billow like a flag in the wind, and exposing more of their outfit.

(I just styled this…) They lament, knowing there is nothing to be done about it now.

Their separate menus materialise in front of their dominant hand instead of directly in front of them like usual, which Asriel is grateful for seeing as they are both restrained and there would be no way for them to access their menus otherwise.

Asriel checks his MAGIC menu, seeing that there's no other viable option. (He's literally tied up, there is no way to attack or anything…)

He sees the same spells as before and checks the A-action menu since he has no TP.

Cheak

Struggle 

Water

He selects check, and then the enemy's name.

….

And his menu closes, nothing happens. He is confused until he realises his turn won't go through until Chara has made a decision.

He looks over at Chara seeing that their menu is a bit different than his. In place of the MAGIC button they have an ACT button.

Asriel observes Chara opening their ACT menu and reviewing their options. They select struggle.

*30 ATK 2 DEF

She seems thirsty.

*Chara struggles against the vines, they become 40% looser!

“Try as much as you want, you're never escaping me, now suffer like you left me to suffer!!”

Seed-like magical bullets manifest and launch themselves towards Asriel. He panics for a moment, seeing no way to dodge before he throws his body weight to the left, making the vine swing to the left and just barely avoid the bullets.

Asriel is sweating from how nerve-wracking that was, he turns to Chara and whisper-yells.

“What do we do!?”

Chara looks down for a moment, thinking before responding to him.

“Based on what the check description said, I believe it would be wise to use the ACT ‘water’ though we will have to ‘struggle’ some more before that becomes a viable option.”

Asriel thinks for a moment before agreeing.

“Sounds like a good plan.”

“An alternative is that we simply strike once we free ourselves, she only has 2 defense and with my ‘WORLD ENDER’ and your ‘Shoker Breaker’ I am sure we should be able to take her down in 2 turns or less.”

“Uh…I think I prefer the first option better…”

Chara nods.

“Well, it matters not which one is performed, the end result will be the same.”

(That last part sounded a bit criptic…)

Asriel tries to ignore that and just makes his move.

He selects the A-action struggle, Chara chooses the ACT struggle.

*You struggle against the vines, they become 40% looser!

*Chara struggles against the vines, they become 60% looser! 

“Chara, you betrayer! You watched me suffer under this oaf's care and did nothing to even attempt to help me!”

Chara stares at the wilting plant lady.

“Ma'am I truly do not believe we have even met before-”

She cuts them off with an attack, consisting of vines launching towards them, they simply swing the vines to evade the attack.

“Oh yes you have, I am Poinsettia! surely you remember such a name?”

Chara does indeed recall such a name, that name being the one of the plant Asriel had bought to care for last week.

…but that's a plant, how could the woman before them have any connection to that plant let alone know them.

Unless…

“Asriel, I believe that is the poinsettia you bought last week.”

Asriel gives Chara a disbelieving look.

“Chara what? That doesn't make any sense…”

“Yes yes, I know I must sound delusional, but look, that lady looks suspiciously similar to it. That would explain why she knows us and seems to have a grudge against us, since you have not watered it since Tuesday."

“Right…but how did it become a woman and sentient?”

“How did our dorm room become a strange version of that ‘Dragon Blazers’ game you always play?”

“Uh…yeah that's fair.”

They hear a frustrated growl.

“Stop talking and make a choice already!”

“I suppose we have been talking for a while.”

Chara makes their selection, Asriel does the same.

*You struggle against the vines, they became 60% looser!

*Chara struggles against the vines, they became 80% looser!

“You two are insufferable!!”

She launches more attacks at them.

Asriel is sweating and huffing from the effort of throwing his body weight to the side to avoid attacks. (Also he's being held up by the wrists, his body is bound to get sick of it eventually.)

Chara isn't really fairing that much better. Their sweating and their arms are trembling slightly, from being held in a stress position for this long.

“This is torture. This is an actual technique used to break someone down.”

“I don't think I can keep holding this for much longer…”

“Do not worry Asriel, after I get down I can simply cut you down afterwards.”

“Sounds like a plan. (I'll do anything at this point…)”

Chara selects struggle again, while Asriel selects water.

*You struggle, your vines become 80% loose!

*Chara struggles, their vines become 100% loose!

Chara struggles free from the vines, and manages to land on their feet.

“Hey! Where do you think you're going, you little traitor!?”

Poinsettia drops seed pods that explode and shoot seeds outwards. Chara, now regaining their full range of movement runs, and manages to narrowly dodge the explosives.

They press attack, and summon their scythe, but instead of attacking Poinsettia…

They slice through the vines holding Asriel, and catch him when he falls.

They skid to a stop with him in their arms, before putting him down (he's really heavy).

“Asriel, are you alright?”

“Well no, my arms hurt…are you alright? I know I'm not really that light…plus your arms must hurt too right?”

 Chara waves him off.

“Yes, yes I am alright. Now make your choice so we can be done with this already…”

Asriel selects ‘water’ from the A-action menu, Though while he's doing that he notices that Chara's name is blue, but he ignores that for now.

A watering can is summoned to his hand and he knows what to do.

When Poinsettia attacks again he weaves around the bullets, getting close enough to…

*You water Poinsettia

+100%

Chara spared Poinsettia! 

You won!

You earned 0 EXP and 100 D$!

“Oh how I feel refreshed! Finally you take time out of the day to take care of me…”

Asriel rubs the back of his neck.

“Yeah…sorry about that…I was uh..busy with school…I'll do better in the future…”

“You better!”

The venus fly trap closes around her and pops back into the ground.

Asriel suddenly feels a thud against his back, he panics for a moment thinking it's another thing attacking him before realising its Chara resting their head on his back and relaxing…

…Until Chara doesn't move from that spot for a little while. Asriel starts feeling a bit awkward, especially since Chara doesn't usually like physical touch.

“Chara…you uh, okay? It's kind of unlike you to be so…touchy? Cuddly? Is that the right word…?”

…

No response.

“Uh Chara?”

He turns around carefully, and they almost stumble over forcing Asriel to catch them.

“Golly, Chara, are you okay?”

…

Still no response…

“Chara?”

He tilts their head up and sees that their eyes are closed…(also their somehow still smiling, even while unconscious…)

(They…feel asleep?)

Well…its not all that surprising, Asriel’s pretty sure he hasn't seen them sleep since Wednesday, not to mention all this running around, fighting and the stress of being trapped in where ever the hell their trapped in, it's honestly miraculous they hadn't passed out earlier…  

Asriel, despite his arms hurting (and also being tired) turns back around and hoists Chara onto his back. Their very light which is mildly concerning to him, but when is he ever not concerned about Chara?

Asriel walks through the rest of the forest with Chara on his back, he ends up pulling their hood back over their head so that leaves and other stuff doesn't get tangled in their hair. (He knows Chara hates it when their hair is messed up and he doesn't want them to wake up cranky…)

He steps through some shrubs before finally making it out of the forest and ending up face to face with another gate, and through it he can see some kind of park with more of those strangely coloured people walking around.

“Finally… Someplace we can rest…I know Chara really needs some…”

He feels Chara stir at the mention of their name and shuts up quickly so as to not wake them up. 

Asriel looks left and right to check for guards or anything else to attack them, and upon seeing none, he deems it safe enough to open the gate and enter the park.

Chapter Text

The park is honestly really nice with plants and not too many people around, though the sky is pitch black and the grass is an odd blue colour, but beggars can't be choosers, at least here he isn't being attacked by creatures every minute.

Asriel decides to explore a little, so he walks around the park with his roommate resting as soundly as they can on his back, with their head resting on his shoulder.

He observes people sitting on benches, having picnics on the grass, all in silence or whispering, which is eerie especially with their large empty black or white eyes staring at either each other or him and Chara but at least they aren't being attacked anymore.

(I'm kinda hungry, I hope they have food here…) Asriel comments internally, while picking his teeth and pushing Chara further up his back.

(I wonder if Chara's gonna be hungry when they wake up, maybe I should get something for them too...)

While Asriel thinks of what he wants to eat, he ends up spotting a van that has something written on it in strange symbols, but it looks like a food truck so he takes his chances.

(Well…I don't know if it sells food...)

Asriel approaches the van only to be greeted by another strange looking person, one with a light purple colouring and black puffy hair with what looks like sparkling stars shimmering in it. They are wearing a blue smock. They look up at him with these big round holes in their face.

“Hello there, welcome to my shop. What would you like to buy?” Their voice sounds like a speaker trapped under water. Asriel winces, but at least it's not as grating as the first one he talked to.

“Uh…what are you selling?

The shopkeeper points to a black board on the counter.

“Oh i didnt realise, heh…”

Asriel mulls over the options.

Dark cream - 25 dollars, heals 40 hp

Dark snow - 15 dollars, heals 20 hp

Gold bangle - 55 dollars, +2 Def

Chaos Scythe - 100 dollars, +4 ATK

(Well…it's not food-food but it's better than nothing…)

“Well what flavors of uh…’dark cream’ do you have?” (I really hope that this is just this world's version of ice-cream…)

“Any flavor you could imagine, just name one and I shall synthesize it for you.”

(Synthesize…?)

“Uh okay…I'd like strawberry for myself, and chocolate for my friend here…”

The shopkeeper narrows their eyes at him and Chara.

“You look closer to a vanilla, while your friend here looks more like a mint chocolate.”

Asriel starts feeling nervous, i mean…what kind of ice-cream parlor judges your flavor choices based on looks?

“Well uh…my friend actually hates mint chocolate, they call it an ‘abominable sin against both chocolate and mint’ they don't like that flavor on anything, especially not ice-cream…or uh dark cream I guess”

The person tilts their head.

“Hm an interesting view, and how about your views young man?”

“Uh…my views?”

(Why am I being interrogated? I just wanted some ice-cream...)

“Yes yours, about your flavour, how do you feel about it?”

“I mean…vanilla is fine, I just like strawberry more…”

“How curious…I shall synthesize your dark-cream right away.”

The shopkeeper goes under the counter and produces a cone, a paper cup and a plastic spoon.

“I am assuming you would like a cone while your friend would like a cup correct?”

“Uh yea…” (How do they know that…?)

The shopkeeper puts a hand over each container.

“Close your eyes child.”

(They don't look that much older than me…what's up with them calling me a kid?)

…

(I could be wrong though, I don't know how these people age…)

“Uh…okay…”

Asriel closes his eyes, feeling really weirded out by this entire interaction and wanting to get it over with.

“You may open them now”

He opens them as instructed and he sees…

The shopkeeper holding out a strawberry Ice-cream in a cone and a cup of chocolate ice-cream with a spoon stuck in it (or I guess dark-cream whatever, you guys know what I'm talking about.)

“What…where did the-”

“Synthesis.”

Asriel decides not to ask any further questions.

“Uh…okay…how much…?”

“50 dark dollars.”

Asriel sticks hand into his pocket. (Wait, since when did the choir robes have pockets…?)

Asriel notices the discrepancy, but doesn't comment on it, counting out 50 dark dollars to pay the shopkeeper.

“Thank you for purchasing.”

Asriel awkwardly balances the 2 servings of desert in one of his large fluffy paws (or hands I guess I don't know I'm not a monster biologist.) while using his other hand to hold up his stick figure of a roommate.

“You're welcome!” As he is about to scurry off to be done with this weird shopkeeper, they suddenly call to him.

“Hold on young man, I have something for your sleeping party member.”

Asriel halts in his movement.

“Okay, uh what is it?”

Honestly, he doesn't think he should take anything else from this person, but it would be rude to refuse a gift.

“Hold on.”

The shopkeeper rummages under the counter, and pulls out an intricate glass vial with an embossed sun with an open eye in the center of it filled with a brown liquid, it's clearly a portion of some sort. They hand it to him.

“I can tell this is a potion, but what does it do?”

“It grants you a speed boost during battle, and replenishes your energy, your friend clearly needs it.”

“Oh.” 

(That was surprisingly nice of them)

“Well thank you!”

“You're welcome child, enjoy your ice-cream”

“I will!” he exclsiks while walking away.

Once he gets far enough away, he breathes a sigh of relief and starts looking for an empty bench for him and Chara to rest at.

(I'm surprised they didn't wake up after all that, they're usually not this heavy of a sleeper…They must be really tired then.)

After a bit of walking (and avoiding the weird people) Asriel finally finds a secluded empty bench.

“Finally…” (My back was getting sweaty…)

Asriel carefully maneuvers Chara off of his back and onto the bench. (Which is surprisingly easy considering their weight and size.)

Asriel sits next to Chara, They lean against him but he doesn't mind them leaning on him, but he does mind how cold they make his shoulder feel.

(They're always so…cold like a corpse or something, I guess that's why they always wear so many layers.)

…

(Maybe ice-cream wasn't the best thing to get for them…)

He starts eating his ice-cream (or dark-cream, whatever.)

(I wonder if they're gonna wake up anytime soon…they have been sleeping for a while.)

Asriel glaces at Chara's ice-crea- I mean dark-cream.

It hasn't started to melt, on account of this place being cold as all hell.

(This ice-cream's pretty good but…why does my tongue feel tingly? Almost like…electricity?)

Asriel takes another lick, and feels another mild zap.

(Weird…I guess this is what I get from buying food from strange people in strange worlds…)

Asriel thinks of something that makes him snort.

(I can just hear Chara's voice right now “Azzzriel, you imbecile I thought I had warned you about buying foods from suspicious vendors, now you might end up in the hospital and stuck me with the bill!”)

Asriel starts giggling at his internal impression of Chara, before covering his mouth to not wake the real one up.

(I'm supposed to be an adult and I'm here laughing at dumb stuff like this…)

He snorts again at his own comment before quieting down.

He eats the rest of his really good yet weirdly tingly Ice-cream. He licks the rest out of the cone before chomping it down with his long snout.

(I wonder what that shopkeeper person meant by that flavor stuff…)

…

(Seriously, when are they gonna wake up? I'm getting bored just sitting here…)

He turns to look at the human snoozing on his shoulder.

(They're so quiet when they sleep, They haven’t even moved at all this entire time…are they even alive?)

…

(Maybe I’m just that comfortable…)

He snorts.

He observes the subtle rising and lowering of their chest with each breath. (Or what he can observe though that overly designed cloak.)

He sees their nose flaring slightly upon each exhale and feels the sudden urge to poke it.

He hesitates before slowly reaching over a clawed digit towards their round nose.

Right as he's about to make contact…

Chara's eyes snap open and their arm suddenly shoots out and grabs his wrist in a solid grip which makes him startle and let out a bleat of surprise. (I mean…who wouldn't be startled if someone went from dead asleep to awake and alert faster than they could blink?)

Chara loosens their grip and rubs their eyes.

“Asriel, What are you doing?”

Asriel feels his face heat up from the embarrassment of being caught…and from bleating like a baby goat

“Uhh…nothing.” He escapes their grasp and turns his face away from them.

Chara stretches, their joints go off like fire crackers, the noise slightly startles Asriel.

“Apologies for falling asleep on you, truly unbecoming of me.”

Asriel turns back towards them.

“Chara, it's fine. You obviously need the sleep anyways, if anything I should be apologizing for waking you.”

They look around at the strange new location Asriel had transported them to.

“Is this a park of some sort?”

“Yeah, looks like it…oh, and I also bought some ice-cream for you earlier!”

Asriel passes the cup to Chara and they take it.

“Thank you Asriel, though are you certain that food from this realm is safe to consume?”

“Uh…no, but I ate mine and I'm not dead-”

Chara interrupts him.

“Yet. You have not died as yet.”

“…”

Asriel doesn't know how to respond to that. So they both sit in silence for a moment…

Until Chara starts eating their ice-crea- dark-cream I mean dark-cream.

“Wha- Chara!? Didn't you just tell me that it's probably poison??”

Chara shrugs.

“At least I will not pawn my hospital bills off onto you.”

“Yea but you'll be dead and I'll be sad.”

“Well you should not be.”

Asriel doesn't take this comment too hard, as Chara says weird cryptic stuff like this to him often.

“Pfft You're ridiculous…how couldn't I be?”

Chara doesn't respond and continues to eat in silence, while Asriel watches them. Chara suddenly stops and turns to him.

“Why are you watching me you creep?” Chara says in a teasing manner.

Asriel rolls his eyes.

“Look who's calling me a creep, you watch me all the time.”

Chara looks away from him, choosing to stare straight ahead instead.

“Well that is for…documentation purposes.”

“Documentation of what?”

“...”

Chara doesn't respond, instead looking down at their ice cream.

(No response huh…)

Asriel really does wonder what Chara does with all the stuff they “observe” about him but he doesn't push it.

…

Chara continues eating their dark-cream. (Bet you thought I'd call it ice-cream again, didn't you?)

“This is making my tohung go numbh.”

“Is it good though?”

“Yesh”

Chara finishes their ice-cream (I'm not even going to bother anymore) they get up and look around for a trash bin, when they spot one they dispose of their cup and spoon in it before sitting back down on the bench.

Asriel suddenly remembers the potion he had received from the shopkeeper and removes it from his pocket and holds it out towards Chara.

“Hey Chara, the shopkeeper gave me this energy potion thingy they said it’s for you.”

Chara takes the vial and examines it.

“…Intresting markings, thank you.”

“No problem.”

Chara places the vial in one of the pockets on their utility belt. They stand up.

“We should explore this park more, before we continue on our journey.”

Asriel shrugs.

“Yeah okay.”

He stands up from the bench, smoothing down his church dress, his cape draping down his back.

“Let's go look around now.”

Chara starts walking on the trail. Asriel follows them.

But as they walk…they can hear the soft patter of paws striking the pavement and rapidly approaching them. 

They both stop, and before Asriel even has a chance to turn around Chara already has the perpetrator at scythe point. Asriel jumps back making his own sound of surprise to avoid being nicked by the blade as Chara whips around.

(How are they so fast!?)

They come face to face with a frightened White and fluffy anthropomorphic goat looking creature with long floppy ears with medium sized pink horns that point backwards wearing a layered green dress with black sleeves and gold ornamental patterns, matching glasses and a bright pink scarf.

“Eek!” The poor little guy squeeked out as he's held at scythe-point his fur looks wet as if he was sweating from running here at full speed he holds up his fluffy little paws in surrender.

“Wait, wait!! I'm not an enemy!!” He frantically exclaims, trying to avoid being decapitated.

Chara, however, doesn't even lower their weapon, instead narrowing their eyes at him.

“How do I know you are not trying to get us to get us to lower our guard in order to attack?"

Before the little guy can try to explain himself, Asriel comes to his rescue.

“Come on Chara, he literally just said he's not an enemy and he looks harmless, just look at him!” Asriel can feel his heart beating way faster than normal from almost getting sliced, and from the anxiety of pleading with Chara (of all people) to stand down.

Chara lowers their weapon slightly to get a better look at the young goat.

His droopy pink eyes are filled with a mix of nerves and fear, and his little snout is scrunched up and he has these little pink paw pads and matching pink claws. He really and truly does not look anything remotely like a threat.

“Y-yes um please listen to your friend!” He grins nervously, baring his little fangs.

“...”

Chara de summons their scythe, causing both goats to let out a sigh of relief.

“If you attempt to attack us, I will not hesitate.”

He lowers his arms.

“U-understood!”

“Who are you and why were you chasing us?”

“Oh yes, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Ralsei. A prince from a different Dark World.”

(Dark World?....is that what this place is called?) Asriel ponders as Chara interrogates who is now known as ‘Ralsei’.

“And I'm looking for…uh.” Ralsei hesitates, not sure if he should name drop them or not. Chara notices his hesitance, but doesn't comment on it.

“Some friends of mine, I was following you because you're lighteners and my friends are also lighteners but I uh…realise that they might not be here…”

Chara takes in Ralsei’s nervous energy and continues their questioning.

“You used terms such as ‘Lighteners’ and ‘Dark World', would you mind elaborating?” They phrase it like a request, but it is a clear demand that Ralsei quickly obliges.

“Oh um right, sorry I shouldn't have assumed you two were familiar with…yes I'll explain, uh this place is called a ‘Dark World’ and Dark Worlds are made via…um…” He trails off feeling nervous because of how intently Chara is staring at him.

(Why are they looking at me like that…? Did i do somthing…?) 

“Dark Worlds are formed via what exactly?” Chara asks, prompting him to continue.

“Uh r-right…Dark worlds are formed by Dark fountains which are created by Lightners that's uh you guys by the way, who stab a blade or any pointed object really, into the earth with their will focused into the blade o-or the part you're stabbing into the ground, of course...”

Asriel, using this information, starts to make sense of what Chara told him earlier.

“Oh so it really is Chara's fault we're trapped here.” Asriel murmurs, mulling over the details of Chara's story.

Ralsei hears him.

“Oh uh they were the one who made this dark fountain?” Ralsei asks hesitantly.

“Yes, I suppose I was and now that we have established how we got here, how do we leave?”

“Well, we need to go there.” Ralsei points to the pillar of darkness stretching up into the sky which seems to be originating from The castle in the distance. “That's the Dark fountain that gives this world form. You need to seal it in order to leave.”

Chara and Asriel turn to look in the direction Ralsei is pointing in.

“Oh, that's where we were headed, I guess we were going the right way afterall.” Asriel says.

“How exactly do we seal it?” Chara asks, turning to stare at Ralsei.

“You're the one that has to seal it, Chara…uh Chara is your name right?”

“Yes it is, continue.”

Yea uh you Chara has to seal it as only a lightener with a powerful SOUL can resonate with the fountain. As for how to seal it…I haven't seen the process in person but according to K- I-I mean a lightener I know your SOUL kind of just…does it?”

Chara nods, taking in the information.

“That sounds simple enough, let us proceed, we have no time to waste.”

(The faster we leave the faster I can finish my English essay.)

“Yeah your right lets go.” Asriel responds getting ready to continue with their journey and get the hell out of here.

(All I wanted to do with my Friday was watch T.V and hang out with Chara… well, I guess I am hanging out with them but that's while we're being attacked by weird creatures so…)

Chara resumes walking along the path, Asriel follows them leaving Ralsei to stand there awkwardly.

(Um…am I meant to follow as well…?)

After a moment, Ralsei decides to follow after them.