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The first fallen human fell on a Sunday.
Their story is well known, even if misinterpreted after a long century. The young prince Asriel heard a cry for help, and following it, he had found a human, injured from the fall. Taking them to the King and Queen, they raised their child as their own, and all was well until they fell ill and died.
Asriel, wracked with grief, absorbed their SOUL and crossed the barrier to put the child to rest with their favorite flowers. The humans in the village attacked Asriel and mortally wounded him. Asgore, in a fit of rage, declared war on humanity. The rest is history.
The seventh human fell on a Sunday.
To the average monster, the story is short. A human fell in the ruins, and they took a weird route through the underground. A heroic Royal Guard in training, Martlet, heroically pursued them from Lower Snowdin to the Capitol. After a close fight, the sixth SOUL was collected and Monsterkind celebrated another step taken towards freedom.
In the present, however, were two humans who would very much take umbrage with the official history.
"Y'know… I'd never met another heavy sleeper till I met Frisk," Clover drawled.
Chara hummed a little, in acknowledgement. "It gives us time to unwind, at the very least. Frisk can be very…" The red human hesitated, looking towards the living human for a moment.
"Chaotic?" The yellow human supplied. Chara nodded. "I was going to land on hectic, but yes."
A pause lands between the two.
"So the king is up ahead," Chara says, breaking the silence.
"Y-yeah…" Clover muttered. They looked at Chara anxiously. "Y'know, I never met the guy. Before I..." they trailed off, looking out the window. "Mind painting me a picture?", they asked.
"Who says that I know what the king is like?"
"Well, humor me a lil'."
Chara floated to the left side of the room, next to the window Clover was looking at. From there they could see the briefest glimpse of New Home, hidden behind the glowing emanance of the CORE.
"Asgore was a very caring man. A true father, I would call him, had the title not been previously tainted."
"To be honest, it did not look like he really enjoyed his office. M— Toriel was often the one running much of the Underground's government. With her gone… I doubt he is very happy. However, he would never resign or give up. In my time, he was of the opinion that he had a duty to his people to serve them through snow or heat, and I doubt that has changed about him."
"Can I tell you something, Clover?", they asked, almost in a trance, their eyes looking far into the distance.
"Of course!" Clover replied with enthusiasm.
"I… am scared.", they drawled. "For Frisk… and for Asgore." Chara sniffled, though they would reject violently the notion that they were crying for that… human. That dumb, naive human, who did more in a single circuit than they could in so many years underground.
"I do not entirely know what led Asgore to this path. Likely, he felt that his duty compelled him to take action against the humanity that took his child." Chara imparted, wording their speech carefully, their speech that was neither true nor false.
"But Clover?", they intoned, finally looking towards the other ghost. "Asgore will not stop if he thinks this is the best for his people. Frisk will fight him. He won't accept MERCY. If this was any other human, they would be dead before their neurons could send pain signals to their brain."
"…So that's why yer scared of Frisk," Clover carefully let out a breath. "Then why're you scared for Asgore?" they asked, almost rhetorically, having somewhat figured it out, but wanting to hear it from the other ghost.
"There are two possibilities for the coming fight, Clover." Chara declared. "Neither are good for the king."
"One; Frisk dies and refuses to continue. Asgore collects the seven souls. And he has been delaying this inevitably for so long, so clearly the guilt of what he has had to do weighs on him. Not only will he have to carry the weight of this short-sighted war, he'll then be expected to take on humanity."
"But I know something he doesn't, Clover." Chara lamented, their voice hoarse. "Absorbing a SOUL… ends in shared control. Asgore would not be able to so much as move a muscle, and the inevitable result from here is tragedy." Tragedy echoing, through the centuries, almost mocking them.
"Or… Frisk relents their merciful mission. They are no slouch at physical feats, Clover." they piped, giving a sharp glance to the sleeping human. "Even if the main factor in damage is intent to kill, it is not out of the question that they will eventually wear him down. That is why I am scared for Asgore, but if we are to worry about Frisk for a moment?"
"I don't need to say this to you, but…" Chara trailed off, shifting to a grim expression, looking down at the floor.
"This. will. break them."
"Here we are, standing on a yellow wood, the one trailing to physical death, the other emotional. Surely they must have also reached the same conclusion, but they want to keep the reverie of happiness alive for our sake…"
Chara took in a breath, and slowly floated down, sitting on the floor, their eyes locked to the ground.
Clover moved in slightly closer to them, electing to sit on the left edge of the unnecessarily large bed. "I get whatch're worried about. It's a mighty shame that the kid—"
"Kid? They are barely younger than you." Chara bantered defensively.
"…that Frisk has to fight the king. And I get that yer' worried about how that'll go down, but. They're Frisk. Our Frisk, that got so far with nothin' but a smile on their face and a flirt formin' in their mind. If anyone has a hope of shiftin' the impossible, it's them."
"We just gotta have hope for 'em too, I suppose," Clover supposed.
Chara raised themselves from the floor, lightened by their other partner's pep talk. "You're right. If they believe in themselves, and we believe in them in turn, they can move mountains."
"Just… if they have to…"
Clover frowned a little. "Then we'll be there for 'em. As best 's we can, anyway," they reassured.
'As best as we can'. Clover, they begrudgingly concede, was correct. Against their better judgement, they had formed an attachment to their living partner and now without the agency they once had, could not ensure their well-being.
Suddenly, it occurs to them, that somewhere deep within Clover's mind, must be the same thought. They tried hard to deny, but they were true kindred souls in a way. Both of them saw a monsterkind in need of hope, and they both resolved to give hope by the cost of their lives. Perhaps that is why they are connected here and now, they mused.
But, while the road ahead is unclear, they can put faith that beside them would be two absolute and naive idiots. They would not have it any other way.