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riftfic · 8 months

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15. Determination

. . .

Warnings: strong language, violence

Featured Characters: Sans, Chara/Frisk (Reader), Asriel, Papyrus, Toriel, Asgore

Wanted to get this out to you before the weekend. :) Hope you enjoy!

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Past shimmering magic and the inner turmoil of a hundred souls, another heart-ached voice cried out. Its miserable, forsaken ballad reverberated across your ancient bond. You clung to Sans’ hand like a lifeline. You knew who waited for you beyond the veil. More than ever, you wanted to save him, though words had never been enough.

“Asriel,” you called.

His winged form faded into sight among hazy, darkened rainbows. His muzzle hid in his claws. He appeared confused, scrambled, as if all his motivations had fallen out of sight. The souls that had become him no longer listened. They had filled him with emotions beyond anger and hate and abandoned him to face his demons.

In all his terrible majesty, the frightening creature Asriel had become did not deter you. When you glanced back for reassurance, Sans released his grip with an encouraging nod. You stepped as near as you could and touched a small hand to Asriel’s shoulder.

“Azzy . . .” you said more dearly.

“What . . . what did you do?” he murmured. Behind his talons, his eyes shone with sadness, confusion, and anger. “What’s this feeling?”

“It’s okay,” you chose to reassure him. “I’m here.”

“No. NO!” he snarled and tore away. “I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone!”

A hundred tiny comets gathered at his hands. You took a step back, knowing too well the rain of destruction that followed. With a single push of his arms, those projectiles charged you like a murder of crows after scraps. They whizzed like fireworks past your head, fanning wild the burnt umbre of your hair. You followed the steps you had always taken to avoid their pattern, but this formation was different. Without thinking, you dodged one bullet directly into the path of another.

Sans pulled you out of the way with less than a moment to spare. With a crack and blue flash, his shortcut shifted both of you just a few yards from a meteor shower and cosmic annihilation. Your arms clung to his, shaking. This time, you were truly grateful he had stepped in to save you from the treacherous walk along your tightrope.

“Why?” Asriel snapped. “Why do you like playing with him more than me?!”

The magic that had once immobilized Sans outside this dreamspace now crushed him. Pain splintered through every fiber of his body. Though he resisted, Asriel’s raw, merciless strength forced him out of your hold to his knees. One bone snapped, then two. If he could breathe he might have screamed or even begged, anything beyond the wild silent grimace seizing him now. Bright stars burst behind his darkening eyes. Red began to spark and burn bright in his chest.

“Stop!” you yelped. “You’re killing him!”

Asriel certainly knew. A rage more personal than you had ever witnessed gnarled his face. His razorlike claws curled to channel his magic with mounting pressure. Sans buckled under the torture running fissures through his bones. You dropped to his side and held his cracking form close.

You knew Asriel did it to hurt you. You knew he did it to break Sans’ determined spirit. There was nothing Sans could do to stop it. There was nothing you could do. There was no escape.

You bit back your hopelessness. No. Giving up was exactly what Asriel wanted. Plenty of opportunity had passed to surrender, and now was not the time to relent. You pushed yourself firmly to your feet to chase one more chance.

“Get away from me,” Asriel growled as you approached again. He bared his teeth. “You think I won’t tear you apart?”

You clenched your fists and walked forward defiantly.

“I said get away!”

You had already locked your arms around him.

The fury of his magic sputtered like an engine out of fuel. The invisible death grip crushing Sans squeezed tighter, then tighter . . . then slowly released. Asriel’s shoulders slumped.

Sans coughed dust and shuddered amid the red threads sewing him back together. For a long moment, he simply lay there, mind racing with shock and trauma and relief to be free of him. His natural sense for the inner soul, what he focused to ascertain your sins, tasted sour with malintent. Asriel had wanted him to hurt. He had wanted him to pay.

“Let go,” growled Asriel. He had again curled into himself. “Let me win . . .”

“Please,” you said. “Please, Azzy, you don’t have to do this anymore.”

“It’s the only way you’ll stay with me,” he protested. He hung his head over your shoulder. “I’m not ready for things to end.”

Sans bitterly rose, muttering several choice words that described “the prince of this world” a little less kindly.

“It doesn’t have to,” you said into the great emblem on Asriel’s chest. “It can keep going. You and me, into the sunset, on the surface.”

“No,” he said. “I can’t. I’ll be a heartless little flower running around the Underground, all alone, forever.” Tears sped down his face. “I’m so afraid, Chara.”

His broad, frightening pauldrons and sharp talons retracted. As his silhouette shrank in more than posture, a small, sobbing boss monster child in a green striped sweater took his place. He clung to you as if letting go would untether him from port, sending him adrift into the maelstrom again.

“I’m so sorry,” he said.

Asriel wept at length on your shoulder.

As he watched, a realization both blistering and chilling crept over Sans’ soul. After everything, his great and terrible adversary had been nothing more than a frightened child. He set his teeth and bit his tongue, every inch haunted by the phantom pains of snapping apart. Was any context enough to forgive him?

From the mist of his memory, Toriel emerged. He remembered her grief, her loneliness, the children she had lost. He thought of you, how you had loved the soulless flower enough to save him, even though you couldn’t remember why.

His heart calmed. If he could reconcile anything, it was that he loved you more than he wanted to hurt him.

Eventually, Asriel dried his eyes and smiled at you faintly. “I always was a crybaby, wasn’t I?”

You nodded. “Just a little.”

He surveyed you as if you had returned from the dead—and for all accounts and purposes, this was true. “Is it really you?” he asked. “Are you really . . . Chara?”

You pondered this for a long moment and for many long moments to come. Chara was the name you had been given at the start of your journey. It was this name that fueled the fire behind Asgore’s law, this name that had given weight to Wingdings’ final experiment, this name that had led Asriel down misery’s path. What were you if not the culmination of your experiences? All you had remembered could not be unwritten. And yet someone had reminded you that who you once were and who you could be were two entirely different things. You were not tethered to your ghosts. The road ahead was yours to choose.

You met Sans’ gaze over your shoulder. He stood a safe distance away, hands pocketed, even if his posture were tense. His left eye burned brighter than the right, at the ready, apprehensive but following your lead. Trust. Even when you lost sight of yourself, he believed in you. He always would. You wanted to be that person.

You wanted to deserve it.

“I go by Frisk now,” you said.

Sans’ burning eye sparked with blue and gold like fireworks.

Asriel studied the emotions passing between you. Bittersweetness tainted his smile.

“I was so jealous,” he said, “of you two. I still am. It’s . . . childish, isn’t it?”

“an ass-toot observation,” Sans muttered under his breath.

To his surprise, Asriel actually chuckled, even if small and removed with sadness. Sans’ hackles relaxed marginally at the sound. Even at its coldest, his heart always melted to a child’s laughter.

“Sorry,” Asriel said bashfully, then continued, “I know I can’t have you all to myself. That’s not fair. I’m . . . not entirely sure what brought you together but . . . I can tell it was special.” His small frame shrank further. “I didn’t understand that the way I was ‘playing’ was hurting you . . . or maybe I did. I didn’t care. I couldn’t care. And Sans, you were only protecting them. You were doing what I should have done. I’m so sorry.”

Sans teetered between accepting and refuting the apology. Then, he turned his eyes away, content to do neither.

Asriel nodded knowingly.

“There’s no excuse for what I did,” he said. “I hurt you. I hurt so many people. Friends, family, bystanders . . . I understand if you can’t forgive me.”

Your heart sank to recognize his words. You knew what he planned to do and what it meant. Like every time before, he would break the barrier and return to the Underground’s depths while the rest of monsterkind walked on sandy beaches under a bright blue sky. You would forgive him, and it wouldn’t matter.

“You’ll do great,” he said quietly. “They believe in you.” His eyes drifted to Sans. “Both of you. Whatever you do . . . don’t give up.”

As Asriel’s young form ascended with mounting energy, Sans rejoined your side.

When he had broken the barrier in the past, Sans only experienced the sensation of a colossal power falling around him. Every time, a great, bright light had enveloped him and when he opened his eyes, their long-coveted freedom waited just ahead. To be here, standing among every soul accumulating with fervor, radiating like the sun, streaking through the darkness like new stars—the vision was nothing short of phenomenal.

He rested a hand on your shoulder. His eyes stared into the lights with the same enamoration you had felt roaming the magical streets of New Home. The instant you looked into his face, this moment that had become one of sadness came alive again. You smiled, thankful to share this with him, grateful to have him by your side.

As the barrier shattered into a thousand pieces, Sans’ rapture twisted into dark apprehension. The sight shook you. Shouldn’t he be happy?

Before you could ask him what was wrong, that familiar brightness overtook you more quickly than it ever had before and spat you out from this nightmare into the real world once again.

Your souls burst from Asriel like a flying fish from the water. They rocketed through the air in search of home, spinning around each other like sparklers in a gush of red glitter. Then, they found their marks. They took off like shooting stars, straight toward their empty shells.

The sound of his name called Sans back to life. It sounded spoken at a distance, shrilly, and in dramatic sobs begging him to wake up. The words grew louder until bouncing around his skull. He squirmed in a pair of bony arms that gripped him far too tightly.

“can’t . . . breathe,” he wheezed. He tapped out faintly, three slaps to the dirty, broken floor. “bruh . . .”

“SANS!” screamed Papyrus.

Sans gasped as his brother unsealed the vacuum in his ribcage. He coughed and gagged.

“FINALLY!” Papyrus wiped frantically at his face. “LAZYBONES. ALWAYS NAPPING.”

Sans blinked up at him from his lap, color rising. “were you cryin’?” he asked.

“NO!” said Papyrus. “I DON’T CRY! I JUST . . . CAUGHT SOMETHING IN MY EYE.”

A smile crept onto Sans’ face to recognize this age-old exchange. “what did you catch?”

“TEARS!”

Sans chortled, and Papyrus’ haughty façade quickly crumbled to join him. Skull to skull, arms around each other’s necks, their laughter came from a place much deeper than humor. It echoed through the overfilled halls until every monster in the Underground knew just how happy they were to be alive and together again.

As their voices calmed to smiles, Sans fondly rubbed the smooth bone of his brother’s skull, the same way as he had when the stalk was only a bean. On an average day, Papyrus would have protested, but things were different now.

Sans tallied his friends. They had flocked together around Asgore’s fresh hole in the wall, where he had sheltered your empty body. His relief dissipated. He climbed out of Papyrus’ arms and scrambled through rocks, debris, and cracked hallway floors. Just inside the group, he tripped and fell over his own shoelaces, but that did not stop him. He elbowed his way to the front past Undyne and Asgore on his knees.

Hardly a breath stirred your chest, though subtleties of that new color had returned to your cheeks. A fresh breeze tickled your skin and sunlight glimmered across you with true, unabated warmth. Birds whistled a disjointed chorus into your ears. Though your new name danced around your head in many voices, only one drew you out from the reverie.

“frisk? frisk!” Sans snapped his fingers in front of your eyes. “c’mon, kid. don’ scare me any more than you gotta.”

You pushed his hand away. “Back up or get chucked on,” you gulped. You rolled over and buried your head in your arms, fighting the urge to expel your guts all over the broken floor. Your vision swam. As the memory of today’s events unfolded behind your eyes, however, you bolted upright and swung your head around.

“The barrier,” you said.

“Broken,” Toriel answered, gently brushing the hair off your forehead, “with thanks to you . . . Frisk.”

Her touch had felt different, familiar and knowing, timid and shaking. In the dampened, ocean-salted fur of her cheeks bled an aching recognition. Without doubt, she saw the truth of who you really were, even if she didn’t understand it. You opened your mouth.

“Mom?”

Every face turned toward the flower bed.

Sans’ clenched your shoulder, then, trepidly, he helped you stand. Your eyes, so bright, so nearly crimson, widened to brand this sun-crisped sight on the inner pages of your soul. Your determination swelled red hot until overflowing.

There, among emerald leaves and amber petals, stood Asriel.

He looked just as he had the day you met, daylight burning in a familiar halo off pale white fur. His hands, small, frightened, and confused, held his attention. One paw retracted to clutch his heart, as if something unexpected resided there, as if for the first time he felt alive and whole and real.

“Why am I . . . here?” he asked breathlessly. “What is this inside me? Who . . .”

A moment of awestruck silence filled the passage. Then, to everyone’s surprise, Sans burst out laughing. He chuckled like a pull string doll, arms clutching his stomach with relief and joy and perhaps a slightly twisted sense of humor. Papyrus raised a cold hand to slap him upside the head but before he could, Sans pointed a bony finger at Asriel.

“you stole your own soul, you idiot,” he laughed.

Asriel blinked. “Huh?”

Before he could slip in another word, you had flung your arms around him and tumbled him down into a knot. Leaves, pollen, and petals burst into the air as if to punctuate the act, or perhaps to celebrate it. You nuzzled into the bright fur of your long lost friend, your brother, here, alive, saved.

Toriel and Asgore soon rushed into the fray. How they felt about each other didn’t matter. Their children had returned. Their children were alive. They sobbed and smiled and questioned reality, but whatever the truth, none of you wanted it to end. You lay there happily engulfed, your lost family whole again at last.

Soon your friends had piled in to create a pile of bones and scales and fur. Undyne, Alphys, Papyrus . . . you opened your eyes to look for Sans.

He stood apart, hands pocketed. Though he hadn’t followed, his pinprick eyes watched you fondly over a smile never stronger, never truer. At that moment you knew: it was Sans who had walked your brother home. Somehow, he had discovered the answer and followed through . . . for you. Thankful tears filled your eyes. You should have never doubted him. You outstretched your hand and called his name. He took a bashful step forward.

Suddenly, he froze. Deep below his feet, seismic shudders warped and churned. Their volume and intensity expounded until stones quivered by the soles of his shoes. His phone vibrated, clattering against his phalanges in a life or death intelligence check against the dungeon master. The results snuffed the lights from his eyes. His smile ran away screaming.

“What’s wrong?” you asked.

“we have to go,” he breathed.

Asgore rose from the pile. “Sans, what is happening?” he asked.

Sans snatched your outstretched hand and pulled you from the tangle as well. To Asgore, he said, “everybody needs to leave the underground, now.” His eyes dashed wildly through a mist of sprinkling dust. Hairline cracks were spiraling through the floor, walls, and ceiling, still deciding where best to split apart. “we’re outta time. come on, kid, we gotta move.”

When Sans began running with you in the opposite direction, Toriel launched to her feet with dismay. She clung to Asriel, eyes wide with fright. “Where are you taking them?” she cried.

“trust me!” Sans called back, though regret speared his throat. “run!”

The royals' leap of faith became easier as dirt worked itself loose from the overhead stones in silver drapery. Asgore's booming voice ushered everyone out, a more effective siren than Sans’ quiet cello.

Halfway into the rumbling Core, you still clung to his hand, afraid but trusting. “Where are we going?” you finally asked. “Sans, why are we going the other way?”

Sans flinched as he tried and failed a third time to take a shortcut. The atmosphere swam with an increasing disregard for all laws of physics. The pathways jittered as if each step could fall through or fly away. Thankfully, their footing remained stable, even if deja vu ran their heads ragged.

“when i was in the void,” Sans explained through huffs of breath, “dings said the rift was on the verge of bustin’ wide open.”

The two of you broke from the Core into MTT Resort. Mettaton’s statue lay in pieces, and you splashed through its rippling puddle on the marble floors. As you hurried onward, Sans quickly urged what lingering monsters remained to flee the underground.

The world trembled more ferociously the farther you traveled.

“one more broken barrier and he couldn’t hold it back anymore.” He led you down the stairs, across Hotland’s quickest path. “but the machine in the basement can stop it.”

You passed the Lab. A hard crack split that edifice down the middle and southward through the plateau. Hot steam billowed threateningly out the fissures, which you dodged following Sans’ deft footsteps. The heat nearly blistered you; no doubt the smallest misstep would have seared straight through your boots. At a glance down the stairs, you could see that the River person was no longer present—and neither was the river.

Just before reaching the cave to Waterfall, an explosion threw you viciously to the cooling ground, where you collided with Sans in a helpless pile. The two of you turned back to the Lab in horror.

The building hovered in pieces, slowly lifting in an arc from its shattered foundation. The surrounding earth collapsed into the bubbling lava, splashing and steaming as if a volcano had erupted. A hollow in the molten rock folded inward below an accordion of walls and floors, eaten whole by a crisp fracture slicing reality like a shattered mirror. The Rift was expanding.

“to your feet, kid!” Sans barked.

You scrambled out from your shock and kicked off the ground to follow him.

“I thought you couldn’t fix it!” you shouted above the crackle of earth that chased you.

“dings told me what i was missing,” Sans answered.

“Which is . . . ?”

He hesitated. “i’ll show ya when we get there.”

Clouds of dark mineral dust showered down from the quaking ceiling. Around your feet, ancient crystals and loosened stone scattered and jostled as if you sped through a rock tumbler. Together you struggled through chaos and occasional monsters running past. You wondered if you should warn them about the rift awaiting them.

Sans guided you through a field of glowing mushrooms, which flickered and faded and illuminated again as if time itself combed their stems. You jumped rivers, slipped between waterfalls, cut corners through unfamiliar caves. He knew this place better than you ever did.

The cold air nipped at your ankles first. Then, the yawning mouth to Snowdin glittered bright with a blinding cloud of stirred snow. Relief like the scent of familiar incense curled around you a second too soon. Cracks rocketed into ravines in the stone above. They shot ahead to the far opening, where the cavern arch began to give way.

Sans' fingers finally sparked with blue. He set his teeth.

“hold on tight,” he said.

Just as the ceiling snapped and transmuted into plunging rubble, a shocking cyan portal scooped you up and spat you out into a dark room.

Cold tile pressed against your human skin, and the scent of earthen mildew crawled through the air. The basement. A nearby clatter told you Sans already searched for the light switch.

Under that single fluorescent bulb, there was no hiding his panic. The distant tremors were growling slowly louder, only minutes behind you. Though the earth had yet to tremble here, the sound alone quaked his bones. His shaking hands missed the outlet twice before plugging in the machine.

“Sans,” you said.

He tore back the curtain. That roughened, scorched jumble of metal hardly saw light before his left hand slapped the power switch on its side. It groaned to life with opposition, but once it got used to the idea, it hummed a steady note. The frequency curdled your blood.

“Sans,” you repeated.

His fingers trembled on the keyboard with hesitation, then dashed across the keycaps faster than you could type. Pixels on the screen scrolled through data more quickly than could be read. Its signs and symbols matched the ones you had seen him use when scanning for anomalies: stars, bombs, skulls . . . hands.

“SANS,” you snapped.

Finally he turned to you, though his head hung low on his neck.

For a moment, nothing but tremors, magic, and electricity shuddered the air. Your hair felt to stand on end.

“Why am I here?” you croaked.

This made no sense. It went against everything you knew about Sans to drag you back into the fray. If the Underground were truly moments from collapsing, he should have urged you out with the others. The puzzle had been clicking together, but the missing pieces hid in his pockets.

A hundred emotions crossed his face, emotions he had once guarded from you behind a grinning mask. You couldn’t decide which was worse. He skirted around the back of the machine, where he pried open a dusty compartment. Inside were an empty reservoir and a fogged out fuel gauge that rested on zero.

“thought this was for regular ol’ magic,” he said quietly. “heh . . . putting gas in the diesel tank ‘s what i was doin’.”

You eyed him uneasily.

After a long, long second, he met your stare guiltily.

“it doesn’t need magic or electricity, or gas or diesel neither,” he said. The words left him distraught. “it needs . . . you.”

Your eyebrows tried to touch. “I don’t understand.”

“determination!” he nearly burst. His arms spread wide as if to take flight. “a mighty heaping helping of bloody red determination.”

The statement didn’t strike you as worrisome until you saw just how upset it made him. He paced back and forth, breathing fast like a racehorse. His hands balled into fists until they shook and dug their knuckles into his forehead. Blue magic leaked from his left eye.

The realization snuck up behind you. Even if the lab hadn't been destroyed, Alphys had already run through most of her supply treating fallen monsters who would become amalgamates. Only siphoning from a source could supply determination now--directly from a human soul. You had no idea what that meant for you, but by the way Sans acted now . . .

“stars fucking damn it!” he snarled.

He braced himself against the machine and kicked it once, twice, three times. Then he gripped the corners more gently, and his shoulders heaved.

The tremors were growing louder.

“kid, it could kill you,” he breathed through a mess of tears. He pressed his forehead to the metal. “you could die and even then it might not be enough to work.”

Plaster and dust exhaled from the ceiling.

“but the rift doesn’t care,” he went on. “it won’t stop with the underground or the surface. if we let it go, sooner or later . . .”

Your heart skipped into your throat.

“i don’t know what to do,” he said. He slumped to sit in front of the temporal flux manipulator and cradled his face in his hands. Angry tears slipped through his phalanges. “i’m sorry.”

You watched him shudder under that impossible weight. Your eyes lifted to the splintering ceiling. Your ears turned to the quaking earth. Your tongue tasted dust in the air. Your nose breathed the scent of dirt and magic. Your mind raced with everywhere you had been, everything you had seen, everyone you had met and learned to love.

Sans felt your human warmth draw near. Behind his fingers, a brightening glow of red permeated the bone. His face twisted alongside his heart in knots.

Your soul pirouetted above your hands just as it had for Asgore, only this time no self-sorry streams decorated your cheeks. A smile lingered instead, melancholy but determined.

“frisk, no,” said Sans. He took your wrists and pushed them back toward your chest. “i can’t make you do this.”

“You’re not making me do anything,” you said.

“there’s no tellin’ what’ll happen,” he said quickly. “even if it works, we could go back before the barrier was broken and never get out again. whole thing could rewind to the day we clipped the timeline.” Pain clutched his eye sockets. “you and asriel . . . you two could stay dead.”

“What about your brother?” you asked.

Sans grimaced and blinked another swell of tears from his eye sockets. “there’s a chance,” he said, “maybe the only chance in the world he’ll come back. but it could kill him too. truth be told . . . we’re flyin’ blind.”

Your bright red heart bled for him in your hands. You knelt down only a breath away. “You saved my brother,” you said. “Let me try to save yours.”

Sans shook his head miserably. He still clung to your wrists, though faintly, barely holding on.

The basement floor’s ceramic tiles began to separate and collide, spitting up caulk and crumbs of stone. Flakes of plaster landed on your shoulders and in your hair.

“We’re running out of time,” you said as calmly as you could when your heart rattled your ribs like prison bars. “It’s either some of us, or none of us. That’s the choice, Sans.”

He hung his head, knowing it to be true.

“I’m determined to do this,” you said. The corner of your mouth twitched into a knifelike smile. “You can’t stop me.”

As he searched your eyes, his soul swelled with conviction, burning hot and red like engine coals. He faltered then, mind rushing with a thought he hadn’t considered, a truth he hadn’t faced until dying repeatedly at the fiery claws of a bitter demon. Determination: the power to stay alive, to undo death, to spool back time until you hit that god damn bullseye.

“and i’m determined not to let you die,” he said.

He flattened a hand to his chest, then tugged out his soul by an invisible string. Though scars clenched its shell in a thousand barbed teeth, it burned brighter than the North Star. A brilliant red overtook most of its form, more vivid and overwhelming than he expected, even if the edges whitened like frosted glass.

The sight of it overwhelmed you. Never had you seen a soul like this. Never had you imagined his to be so hauntingly beautiful.

He lifted you to your feet and pulled you close. The walls around you were crumbling, but your souls hummed strong and true.

“i promised to see ya through,” his voice lilted into your ear. “so let’s do this together.”

The moment you understood what he planned to do, you shook your head adamantly. “No, you can’t,” you said.

“yes, i can,” he insisted. “ya always try to do everythin’ yourself. just this once . . . let me help you.”

Suddenly, there it was: the truth you had been denying since the start. It had never been the resets at the core of what hurt him. What had truly wedged you apart had been your drive to shoulder everything like a lone wolf. When you had first decided to rewind the clock, you had done it without a word to anyone. When you had sought to save Asriel, you had pursued it alone. Even when Sans had finally forced your hand, you had resisted his aid at every step. It had crushed him to dust. It had broken bridges in Waterfall. It had cast him into the void. It had nearly driven you to darkness, until once again he had reached out into the encroaching night and saved you.

You held on a moment longer despite the urgency raining down in gray clouds. If he didn’t make it, you wanted to remember how it felt.

“Okay,” you said.

Programs sequenced into action with a few more entries into the data pad, which shuddered the machine into a readying hum. He tied your souls to those machinations in ways you didn’t quite understand: magic threads both warm in the pit of your soul and cold where they spooled into the darkness of an empty chamber.

He lifted his hand to rest on that all too familiar lever and stilled to find yours already there. You smiled confidently, ready with a single nod. His grip gained courage, and together, you pulled down into gear. Lines of data poured down the cracked monitor. The earth beneath you shook harder. A ravine split through the ceiling. Everything went white and still.

NOTES

One more chapter and then epilogue. :') We're nearly there.

Thank you so much for reading.

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#undertale #undertale fanfiction #frisk #sans #fanfiction #rift #ut #papyrus #fanfic #undertale fanart #asriel #chara

55 notes · View notes

ask-dcf · 2 years

Note

Uh chara not to make this subject annoying but uh. You said “Have you never been in love before?” …. Youuuu sorta confirmed your feelings there lol.

I what?…..

Kfc Chara: *Looks down on her smiling with a cat like face*

*thinks for a second* …………… *eyes widen as her face once again for probably the tenth time becomes redder then her eyes*………… F***K!

Kfc Chara: Oh my. Language. heh heh. You kiss Frisk with that mouth?

*looks at them annoyed while blushing* Ok seriously knock it off! You’re not helping!

Kfc Chara: Oh you want my help?~ Then how about I go and tell Frisk. Rip the bandaid off. Heheh *starts slowly floating towards the group*

What?! No. Absolutely not! *Floats after them* Besides Frisk can’t see us.

Kfc Chara: That’s ok. I can just tell their brother Data.

WHAT!?! *Flies after them faster* No! That’s a terrible idea! Data doesn’t have a filter when it comes to talking to people!

Kfc Chara: Perfect then he can get it done faster. Heheh.

Chara Dreemur STOP!

Kfc Chara: Using my first and last name like my mom isn’t gonna stop me. Lol. *nearing them*

I’M SERIOUS! STOP!

Kfc Chara: *almost in ear shot range of the group* Oh hey almost there~ Oh Da-

STOP!

*in an instant Chara had flew right in from of her counterpart with her hands out. She was breathing heavy. sweating. But what was most notable was that her eyes were static and she had a face of fear*

Kfc Chara: *surprised at the reaction she gave* … Woah… hey easy. I was joking ok? I wasn’t really gonna tell him. Was just gonna tell him you swore was all. *she had lowered her arms but was still panting. Even tho she didn’t have lungs* ….. Hey look. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to go too far.

*She looks down, shade over her eyes* Look… I appreciate that… you apologized…. But… I don’t know if…. What I’m “feeling“…. Is real or just passing puppy fantasy. I…. I don’t want to get hurt… or Hurt Frisk…

Kfc Chara: *Feels bad for her and floats closer putting their hand on her shoulder* Hey come on now. That’s not fair. To Frisk or you’re self. I’m sure Frisk feels the same anywa-

You don’t understand! I… *looks at them* I’ve had…. *looks down and holds her poncho on her chest* these “feelings” …. Before…

Kfc Chara: oh… *realizes what she meant* OH!~ ……*really realizes what she meant* ohhhh….. *let’s go of her shoulder and scratches the back of their head* sooooo who was the first?

*Quickly and bluntly* Azzy. :/

Kfc Chara: ^w^ Oh Asri-*Glass break sound effect* O_O …… ASRIEL!?! The goat boy? OUR BROTHER?!

*Looks at them with raise eye brow* …. *her face said enough*

Kfc Chara:…… Wow….. *rubs back of their head* I’m… surprised. I’m not sure what to even say…… What happened?

What does your locket say?

Kfc Chara: Oh well it says ”Best frie-“……*puts the pieces together* Oh! ……. Oooohhh….. *winces with a look of disapproval* Ooohhhhhh noooooo…..

*Looks down* Yeah….

Kfc Chara: *face palm* Jeezus Asriel what the heck…

*looks away* And on my birthday no less.

Kfc Chara: *throws arms in the air and yells* JEEZUS ASRIEL WHAT THE HECK!!!

*She looks at them* I got over it really but…. At the same time…. I’m not sure if I actually am able to show these feelings…. Ever again.… I know Frisk is different and I get that but…. You can see why I’m scared… I just….. *shivers*

Kfc Chara: *Smiles at her gently and puts their hand on their shoulder again as she looks at them with her red teary eyes* Hey. Listen. All that teasing. It’s not to bully you. Far from it. Honestly I support the heck out of it. Not only is it cute but it’s kinda nice to see a version of me have…. “Feelings”… like that you know? And hey. If you have these feelings. Then. Wouldn’t that mean you have some “Hope” For yourself?

*She looks at them with surprise at what she implied... As the two ghosts stare at eachother. She slowly looks down and smiles looking at her hand* I…. I guess…

Kfc Chara: *pats her shoulder* Then don’t give up ok? *smiles* Don’t let your fear control you. I’m sure when the time is right you will have the confidence to express yourself to them. And you have my support 100% all the way, Alright?

*she smiles rubbing her tears away on her arm* Heh… ok… *Kfc Chara opened their arms and hugged her. She was surprised at first but she slowly held onto their arm smiling and buried her face into it. This is the third hug she has had in years…. It was nice….* Thank you…

@somedancingpineapple

#undertale #deltarune #deltarune crossover event #deltarune crossover #ask frisk and data #askkfc #chara #frisk #kris #asriel #Kids need all the hope they can get right? QwQ #wholesome beans

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specialmindz · 3 years

Photo

“Mmm *POMP!* this some good milk, Snas,” said Papyrus, shuffling around in his brother’s makeshift backpack. It wasn’t very comfortable, but as long as he didn’t have to crawl…

“eh, i prefer hot chocolate myself,” replied Sans. “glad you like your milk baby bro, i was worried about how it’d do in the microwave cause’ of all the chemicals, but you’re not dead yet so…”

“Daddy say is okay to put mah super milk in da’ mikeywave…or is I baby guinea pig?” Papyrus narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“guinea pigs are cute pap!”

“…”

Sans blew on his hot chocolate for what seemed like the sixth time. He didn’t put his drink in the microwave like Papyrus’s, he preferred to use boiled water as the cold weather of Snowdin usually cooled it off without him having to do anything.

Today though, they weren’t going to Snowdin, plans had changed.

Alphys had always had a messy workspace, but the Nursery, according to her, was in worse shape. FAR worse shape. She didn’t mind the broken toys scattered everywhere seeing as it wasn’t her room, but the fact that the toys came from the Dump meant they smelled terrible. Sans and the rest of the family were either nose-blind to it, or simply didn’t care, but Alphys couldn’t stand it. She complained weekly about the stench, claiming it was getting worse and worse, seeping from underneath the Nursery door and distracting her from work, but no one would do anything about it.

Today, SHE took the initiative and decided to spray the Nursery with every air freshener they had, making it impossible and even dangerous to sleep in the room; that meant that not only did they have to find a new place to sleep, but Baby Papyrus also missed his nap.

Not good.

“You an idiot,” mumbled the cranky infant, unhappy to be a baby guinea pig.

“whatever.”

“Lazy idiot stink head with stupid broke gloves…”

“heh ha! they’re not broke pappy, that’s how they’re SUPPOSED to look. these are fingerless gloves,” explained Sans, hoping to laugh away his irritation. Papyrus wasn’t having it though.

“Your gloves dumb like you.”

“they’re not dumb! i think they make me look cool…”

“They make you look homeless. I half aspect you to be shaking a tin can around, asking for monies.”

“Screw you, Papyrus.”

“Is I your bindle, big Buther? You’s supposed to carry me on a stick…”

“SHUT UP, PAPYRUS.”

“Can you do da’ har-mon-ica? Pay a song for the baby.”

The young comedian quickened his pace towards the Resort Area. “i’ll pay you a beating, you keep mouthing off,” mumbled Sans under his breath.

“Ooooh, Buther think he tough now cause’ he gots biker gloves! Nyeh heh heh, what gang you from, Snas? Pussies of Anarchy? Renegade Rejects?”

San didn’t reply, he merely pushed open the doors of the Resort and went inside, not wanting to travel all the way to Snowdin’s hotel or teleport whilst carrying his brother in a bag rather than his arms. He knew for a fact that anything touching his body would travel with him, but what about the things that weren’t? Or the things he wasn’t holding on to purposely?

It’s not like I’ve ever lost anything in my pockets when I take my shortcuts, but I still don’t feel comfortable with something so precious in such a flimsy bag…

“Harlem’s Asshats?”

Hm…maybe “precious” isn’t the right word to use for Pap.

Sans grimaced as Papyrus continued to complain and come up with more insulting gang names. He himself was a complainer when HE didn’t get enough sleep, but Papyrus?

“Big-butted Bums of Bloomington!”

His brother REALLY sucked when he missed his nap. He was loud, angry, and mean. Babies weren’t supposed to miss their daily naps and baby bones already had hot tempers to begin with…

TA-TAP, TA-TAP!

The Receptionist, a monster with a giant hand in place of her head, tapped her red painted nails on the counter impatiently, a strange sight for those who weren’t used to seeing it. “Do you need a room you two?”

TA-TAP, TA-TAP!

“No, I needs a doctor cause’ Snas give me irradiated milk!” Papyrus tried to point his finger accusingly at his brother, but found it next to impossible in his current position, so instead he threw his bottle on the ground.

“NYEH!”

CAP, CAP!

It bounced along the tile floor, empty despite his whining, and rolled to a stop before a janitor, who kindly picked it up. “Ah-hawww, looks like you’ve got a fussy baby on your hands!” chuckled the employee, returning the bottle.

CAP, CAP, CAP!

“HAHAHAHA!”

“PAPYRUS! i’m so sorry sir-”

“Oh, don’t be, it’s what I get paid for after all! It’s best you get that little guy to bed though…”

“NOT TIRED!”

Sans took the bottle from the janitor and put it in his pocket. Even if his brother were telling the truth, he knew the Lying Font was still going to ACT tired, and a tired baby was a cranky baby. For Papyrus, a missed nap was all the excuse in the world to be a douche, and Sans would rather fork over 400g then listen to his crap.

Lucky for us, children get discounts.

TA-TAP, TA-TAP!

“STOP HEADBUTTING DA’ TABLE NAIL LADY! IF AZZY NOT ALLOWED TO, YOU NOT ALLOWED TO!”

“E-excuse me?”

“just ignore him, miss-”

“When Azzy be small like me, he used to headbutt the desk. You not remember Nail-Lady? You was all like, ‘STOP ATTACKING THE DESK GOAT-BABY!’ and Moo-Mom say, ‘HOW DARE YOU YELL AT MAH BABY LIKE DAT!?’ and then Fluffy Buns say ‘settle down now ladies, is not that serious,” said Papyrus, voice acting each line. He’d been doing that a lot as of late, trying to “perfect his mimicry for when he got big” and by extension, he ended up disturbing those unfortunate enough to hear him. Asgore’s loud booming voice coming from such a small baby was…eerie…and it was even worse when he decided to imitate Sans...

The receptionist doesn’t have a face, but I bet she’s as uncomfortable as I am right now.

…

How do I get bro to stop talking though?

“…Then you got all mad Nail-Lady and say ‘HE DO DIS ERYTIME HE HERE! WHY YOU CAN’T CONTROL YO’ KID? ERYBODY ELSE CONTROL THEIR KID! YOU THINK JUST CAUSE’ YOU THE KING YOU CAN DESTROY? NOT ERYBODY WICH LIKE YOU!”

“…I actually DO remember,” said the receptionist. “Someone, who used to do that. Yes…there was a small child with an entitled mother who used to headbutt and jump atop the furniture…”

Who was that?

“Yep! I’s there too with Chara, so I knows! You and the Moo Lady used to argue about discounts-”

“Oh my goodness, you’re right!” the woman suddenly remembered. “There was a woman who claimed she should only have to pay the regular 400g because you weren’t her child and THEN she got upset when I AGREED and asked you for 200g-”

“HOW YOU GONNA ASK A BABY FOR MONIES? BABIES SHOULD GET IN FREE! YOU DOESN’T EVEN GOTS CWIBS!”

“That’s EXACTLY how it went, every single time. It was always the same argument.” The monster, who prided herself on her professionalism, could feel herself getting angry all over again, her old forgotten hatred bubbling to the surface. She couldn’t stand the Royal Family. The Entitled Mother, the Spinless Husband, the Destructive Child…and if she recalled, the human they adopted was an actual thief…

“Yep, and Chara was all like ‘don’t be a bitch, bitch’ and da’ Cow Lady say ‘I agwees, but I doesn’t ah-pea-ciate yo’ language my child,’ and Chara go ‘I was talking to youuuu-”

“hey pap-”

“Fluffy Buns smacked them right on the butt! It was funny.”

“Yes…Chara was their name…the thieving human who kept getting in trouble with security. They would go into other people’s rooms and take their things like it was okay and the mother-”

“She say, ‘Oh Chara just curious, you should be more patient wit yo’ customers! Da’ world of monsters be new to them ya’ know? They just a child…!”

“…”

Sans didn’t know how she was doing it, but he could have sworn he heard growling coming from the woman’s direction.

“ha ha…hey uh, bro? let’s just get us a room already, yeah? i’m sure the receptionist here is busy-”

“TWO WOOMS PEAS!” yelled the infant. “One for the baby and one for the Pussy of Anarchy.”

“damnit pap…!”

“Very well, that’ll be 400g then.”

Glaring over his shoulder, Sans forked over the money and headed to their room. “now bro, there are other people in this resort so try not to be a dick, alright? we need to be quiet-”

“WAIT SNAS!” the baby bones picked himself up out of the bag with his wingdings. “I gots to visit the fountain real quick.”

“Oh uh, please don’t urinate in the fountain,” said the receptionist raising a finger. “The rooms have toilets in them.”

“I’s not a gross peepee-baby Nail-Lady, don’t you know a cute widdle skelly when you sees one? I’s looking for coins-”

“Absolutely not!” cried the woman, her tone taking a sudden turn. “This fountain is a memorial to…someone. It is strictly forbidden to gather the coins within, read the sign!” The monster pointed at a sign that said “Stay Out of the Fountain.” Apparently, people were so desperate, they were stealing G from the memorial…

“I NEEDS EM’ TO PAY SNAS BACK!” yelled Papyrus, wondering how much 200g was.

“READ. THE. SIGN. THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE!” she replied, shouting just as loud. Clearly theft was a daily problem for her.

“heh heh, you don’t need to pay me back lil’ bro, thanks though.”

That was…unexpectedly sweet.

“I’s not a deadbeat big Buther…also, I can’t reads so dat sign don’t apply to me.”

“THAT’S NOT HOW THAT WORKS!”

“you do too know how to read, quit your lying pap,” said Sans chuckling.

“I’s not lying, I’s a baby and babies don’t read. Erybody knows that! Isn’t that right Nail- Lady?”

“I just told you what it said, get away from that fountain!”

“Babies also have poor memor-ies. I doesn’t remember what you said,” Papyrus used his wingdings to scoop up a handful of coins and deposited them into his onesie to count later. “I’s very sorry for da’ inco-venience.”

“PUT THOSE BACK OR I’LL HAVE TO ASK YOU TWO TO LEAVE!”

“uh, okay pappy this is getting serious, let’s just put the pretty coins back like the nice lady said…”

“Is serious? THEN WE SERIOUSLY WANT OUR MONIES BACK,” said Papyrus, angrily. Here he was being a good bae, paying back his big brother, (something babies did NOT have to do) and this big person wanted to yell at him?

CLEARLY, she was a baby-hater and didn’t deserve to have such cute guests staying at her gaudy hotel.

“We take back our monies and we go somewhere that ah-pea-ciates sweet babies such as ourselves. Your hotel ugly anyway…too bright, right Snas? We leave.”

“no no no, we don’t need to do that!” said Sans quickly in a panic.

“FINE, TAKE IT AND GO!”

WHAP!

The receptionist slammed the money down on the counter.

I’m so sick of serving thieves…

“wha-ho, lady! let’s just calm down alright? *sigh* geeze…” Sans scratched behind his skull. “why don’t we come to a compromise? that sound good?”

I CAN’T take Pappy to that inn in Snowdin again, I didn’t sleep at all last time!

The comedian winced, remembering the night he spent there with Papyrus. The infant didn’t like the snoring from the other guests in the room.

“Nyeh? Com-per-mize…? Waz dat?”

“it’s a negotiation,” explained Sans. “where arguing people get a little bit of what they want, so everyone’s happy…ish.”

TA-TAP! TA-TAP!

“Okay Snas, I do da’ com-per-mize cause’ I’s a good bae,” said Papyrus sweetly. Seemed he was done acting cranky for the day…or so Sans hoped.

“good boy, pappy! GOOD babies compromise allll the time.”

“No they don’t, but Imma make an ah-ception cause’ I doesn’t like the snoring baes in Snowdin. Remember them Snas? The snoring bunny baes?”

“heh heh, yep, iiiii remember.”

“You can’t tell a sweepy baby to shut the fuk up, cause’ they just babies, so we get no sweep and the Inn lady get all our monies for fee! Is a scam, I KNOWS it!”

“Put the coins back please,” said the receptionist, no longer interested in Papyrus’s stories.

“Kay’. Papyrus picked himself up out of the fountain and waddled over to the counter, his onesie jiggling with coins and leaving a wet trail behind him. I gots a good idea for a com-per-mize Nail-Lady.”

“I thought you were going to put the coins back?”

“Slow yo’ roll woman, we makes a commerize first-”

“compromise’ bro.”

Papyrus ignored him. “I’ll put the coins back like you say…and in return for being a good baby bones, I gets a fee room, kay’? Dat sound like a good commercialize?”

“…No.”

“*pfft!* papyrus-”

“Why not Nail-Lady? It solve both our problems, yes? Why you so unreason-able?”

The receptionist sighed and hung her head, her energy for the day having been completely drained.

I forgot how terrible this infant was, all he does is talk and make things worse. Why is he even here? Doesn’t he have a mother and father to go home to?

Ugh, he’s still going...

“…Good babies get rewards Nail-Lady, is the law. Dat’s how we learns to be good people’s ya’ know? I do something good…then I gets a reward, then I be good again to get another reward. You see where I’s going with dis?”

“There’s a difference between a reward and a bribe, child-”

“I’s not a child, I’s a baby! How you gonna learn if you no listen? BIG people’s get bribes, BABIES get rewards-”

“bro, stop, it’s okay,” said Sans picking up his brother. “i’ll pay your way and if you really want to return the debt, you can pay me back with your OWN mon-”

“Except ugly babies like Snas, they get nothing.”

“…you know what? nevermind, you can sleep out here like the bum you’re destined to be." He put Papyrus back down.

“I can join your gang…?”

“no, we’re full.”

“Bums of Bloomington full?”

“yyyep.”

“Kick someone out.”

CA-CLACK!

The receptionist pressed the security button underneath her desk.

“why should i? you don’t have biker gloves and you’re mean.”

“Baby not mean! Also, I’s family and family comes first. Kick someone out.”

“no.”

CLANK, CLANK, CLANK!

The two boys stopped fighting and grew silent as a giant knight in black armor approached the counter.

“*Yawn* ………Is there a problem ma’am?”

“Yes, there is,” replied the receptionist. “That baby is stealing from the fountain…and apparently the other one is in a gang-”

“what? no i’m not! papyrus is lying!”

“Nope, is true all right. My big Buther a rebel! He drive his motorcycle around at night when is bedtime.”

“no i don’t, shut up papyrus!”

“……...Is this true?”

Sans gave the knight an irritated look, “why don’t you tell me? why don’t you tell me where i can ride a motorbike without filling the underground with carbon dioxide? why don’t you tell me where i can get one whose pedals i can even reach? where i can get one PERIOD-”

“……...You don’t need to be a smartass.”

“…”

“………Please return the coins.”

“…”

“Why you gots so many ellipses in yo’ text Knight-Lady? You sweepy too?” The baby bones crawled over to the sleepy giant and gave her the coins in his onesie. “Here you go Heavy-Lady, now you can affords to sweep like us!”

“that’s very sweet, pappy-”

Papyrus turned to the receptionist, “NOW baby gets a fee room?”

“*sigh*”

Damnit bro…

“…No.”

“Nyeh? Why not? I WAS GOOD, GOD DAMNS IT!”

“Get out.”

“NYEHHHHAAAAHHHH!!”

“papyrus, you don’t need to scream-”

KA-CHUR-GERGERGER!

Taking out a coin pouch, the knight poured some G onto the receptionist’s counter, “…400g right?”

“You don’t have to do that Knight Knight-”

“Yes, I do,” replied the armored monster, handing over the coins Papyrus gave her. “It’s a knight’s duty to help those in need…and we live in times where money is scarce…” She looked down at the skeletal children. “…Remember these words well…following the rules may make others happy and keep the peace, but if it comes at the cost of your or another person’s survival…ignore them.”

“…”

And with that, Knight Knight walked back to her post, leaving the receptionist alone with the two brothers.

The hand monster wasn’t angry anymore, in fact, she felt a bit guilty and embarrassed over her previous behavior. It was true that the coins in the fountain were people’s wishes…and it was part of her job to make sure people treated those wishes and the memorial with respect, but when looking at the big picture and thinking about WHY so many thieves were running about, well, it was clear who the bad guy was.

“I apologize for my previous behavior,” said the receptionist bowing low. “I’d forgotten that rules were made to help others, not act as bait for the desperate. There’s no point in a memorial if there’s no one left to honor it.”

How many people have starved to death for my job?

She winced and shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of such thoughts. What was done was done, all she could do now was change so it never happened again.

“Is okay Nail-Lady!” said Papyrus petting her back with his wingdings, “It’s your intentions dat count, not what you do.”

“that’s true. as long as you’re at least TRYING to do the right thing, you’re still a good person. mistakes are mistakes, ya’ know? you shouldn’t be punished for something you didn’t MEAN to do, ain’t that right pap?”

“Daz right big Buther! Now give us da’ key.”

“say please.”

“No.”

The woman handed the baby bones, who had taken the liberty of climbing onto the counter, the key to their room. “Please enjoy your stay.”

“YAAAASS! C’MON SNAS, IS TIME FOR YO’ NAP!”

“you mean it’s time for OUR nap, pappy.”

“NOT TIRED!”

As the boys headed to their room, the receptionist left her post and walked towards the fountain, removing the sign.

It was never put up again.

#Fonttale #Fonttale au #undertale fanart #Undertale #undertale au #Papyrus #Sans #Baby Papyrus #Kid sans #Undertale fanfiction

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yastaghr · 4 years

Text

Carried Skeleton 12

Summary: A new RESET sees Sans afraid of Papyrus, who can't take it and leaves. Chara wakes up as a ghost. The first of the seven souls comes down (Justice).

PLEASE MIND THE TAGS

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17443730/chapters/63949414

When Papyrus woke up from the reset, he had to run to the bathroom so he wouldn’t throw up on his sheets. The sight of his brother’s dust was going to haunt him forever, and the guilt that it had been his fault? Oh, that guilt was excruciating. Still, he had a script to follow if he was to keep Sans from suspecting anything. It wasn’t as though Sans could remember the resets, but he was sharp. Papyrus didn’t want him to catch on if he didn’t have to.

He stood up from the floor of the bathroom, flushed the toilet, and splashed his face off in the sink. Then he leaped up the stairs to make sure he wasn’t late to yell at Sans’ door. He made it just in time, according to his internal clock.

“SANS!” He called out, using the same tone and inflection he always did.

Sans’ skull poked out of his bedroom door. Papyrus assessed him in an instant. He was pale and sweaty with dark circles under his eyes. He must have had another bad dream. He opened his mouth to speak, looked up at Papyrus… and flinched.

Papyrus pulled back, almost recoiling from the raw fear on his brother’s face. No. No, that was- That was too much. He couldn’t… he couldn’t stand to see Sans afraid of him like that. It was too much - too much for him to bear. He didn’t want to be the source of his brother’s fear. Maybe it would be better for both of them if he went away. He had said that he would play with Flowey anyway. Maybe he should just stay with his older brother instead of his younger one. He could always come back next time to check if Sans… if he still…

His face hardened and he turned away from his brother, only to feel an insistent tug on his sleeve. Without looking he removed Sans’ hand and started towards his bedroom, saying, “I HAVE AN… ERRAND TO ACCOMPLISH, SANS. IT MIGHT BE A WHILE, MAYBE EVEN DAYS, SO PLEASE DON’T WORRY ABOUT ME.”

That didn’t seem to work. Sans must have sensed that Papyrus really didn’t mean to come back. He clung to Papyrus like a limpet clung to a boat hull. Papyrus sighed and shoved him gently but decisively into his bedroom and closed the door. He used his magic to lock him in. Then he headed towards his bedroom to begin packing. He was maybe two boxes in when, through the thin walls that separated his brother’s room and his, Papyrus heard Sans panicking. The thuds sounded like he was throwing himself against the door. That wouldn’t do! Sans had only 1 HP, he wouldn’t survive that if he did it too long! Even the intentless door would cause some damage. He needed to stop Sans from doing that, but how?

When Papyrus’ eye lights caught on the figure of his cowgirl action figure an idea occurred to him. The action figure was faded and peeling in places, but he could still make out the hoop that the cowgirl was stepping through. He knew ropes like those were used to tie up and control cattle. He also vaguely recalled stories of people being hogtied to railway lines. It sounded like the perfect solution to his Sans problem! Now all he needed was some rope. Hmm… maybe bed sheets would be better. He didn’t want Sans to rub himself raw trying to escape.

Papyrus glided into Sans’ room and caught his brother in his arms when he hurled himself out of the room. Sans was too surprised to react in time to prevent Papyrus from grabbing his sheets. He wrapped them around the squirming wiggle worm that his brother had turned into with not an inconsiderable amount of care. He didn’t want Sans to be hurt because of him. Not again.

Papyrus sniffed and tried to hold back the tears he could feel brimming at the corners of his eye sockets. His mind was filling up with two things that swirled and clashed like food coloring in water. One was the images of his brother dying, his brother’s dust, and his brother’s fear. They were flashing in front of his eyes like a strobe light, traumatizing him over and over again in his own head. The other thing that was his own worry. Sans was still so young. How could he cope with being on his own? Papyrus was his big brother, he should be taking care of him like he had promised Chara he would. Never mind that he was only 157 years old and wasn’t even legally old enough to be a sentry. He had to look after Sans! Abandoning him like this wasn’t… it wasn’t…

He shook his head and painstakingly tied off the last knot, holding Sans up and inspecting him from head to toe. His little brother was crying and struggling. His voice spell had given out on him, so he was making no noise, but the tears told all the story he needed. Papyrus gulped and turned his head away so he didn’t have to meet the accusation in those eye sockets.

“I’M SORRY, SANS. I JUST CAN’T… I CAN’T HANDLE YOU BEING AFRAID OF ME… FORGIVE ME.” With that he ran out of the room, out of the house, and into the woods.

=====

The first thing Chara thought when they woke up was, Wait. Aren’t I supposed to be dead?

They blinked and stared down at their body, looking for the wounds that had killed them. They didn’t find them, but they did find something else. Their body… their body looked like it had when they first fell down into the Underground. It was a child’s body. Not only that, but it was see through.

Okay, maybe I am dead, Chara thought to themself. Now to figure out-

“Hey, Yvwi Usdi! For why you here?” A child’s voice with an accent Chara couldn’t place called out from behind them. They turned around and saw them. Their face was serious, with a cast to it that Chara recognized as Cherokee. Their reservation wasn’t far away from the mountain if Chara remembered correctly.

Chara shivered at the thought of talking to a stranger - especially a human. They hated humans, but… maybe it was a necessary evil. They seemed determined to talk to Chara, so they might as well talk to them. “I’m… not sure what that means, but,” Chara looked around, taking their surroundings in for the first time, “I actually live here. Well, near here. My house is just a few rooms away. This is the spot where I fell.”

The Cherokee child blinked. “My people were not aware that there were Yvwi Usdi down here. That is, ah, ghosts? Spirits? They are a race of small, good, human-like creatures that help to guide my people and punish those who are disrespectful or aggressive.”

Chara snorted. “There’s a bunch of ghosts down here, but most of them are monsters. I think I’m the first human one. Or maybe I’m a monster now, too? That would be nice. I’ve always wanted to be a monster. But, well, I am… used to be a human, just like you. I live… lived down here for almost my whole life. I have three… two brothers and two parents. My family should be in New Home if you want to see them. They’re the king and queen of Monsterkind.” The Cherokee child stood to attention, then started to cough. It quickly turned from a normal cough into a hacking cough. Then the blood came up, and Chara’s indifference turned to worry. “Hey, are you okay? Humans aren’t supposed to cough up blood!”

When the coughing subsided the living child stood up and smiled grimly. “I am not, but that is why I am here. I have, in my chest, the cancers of the lung. I am dying. But my people still tell stories of the monsters and their kindness, and we regret not helping them in the War. We learned from the anisoi, the non-Cherokee humans, that it would take seven souls to break their cruel barrier. Since I will die soon anyway, I want my death to mean something. I will gladly give my soul for the monsters so that they might go free.”

Chara stared at them, their emotions swirling. It wasn’t like they hadn't had the same thought and acted on it, but that had resulted in not only their death, but the death of their oldest brother. They didn’t want any more monsters to die like that. But-

“You said it would take seven souls? Would those seven souls need to be taken outside the Barrier?” Chara probed.

“No, inside is also possible. Why?” The Cherokee child asked.

Chara’s face split in a slow grin. “I think… no, I know that monsters can find a way to store your soul. If Gaster could figure out how to make chocolate grow down here he can definitely figure that out. Then no more monsters have to die trying to get souls on the Surface.”

The human smiled slightly, the corner of their mouth quirking up. “That is excellent. I had heard of the monster who brought a corpse to the Surface… was that, perchance, you?”

Chara nodded. “I wanted my brothers and all the monsters to go free. I was old and dying, but the only way I could get Azzy to absorb my soul was to make him think that I wanted to see the flowers in my village one more time. I wanted to see the sun again… I probably shouldn’t have made him bring my body.”

The child nodded. “That was an error, but an understandable one. So, Yvwi Usdi, will you guide me to your monsters so that they can gather my soul?”

Chara nodded, grinning. “I will. Come on, uh… what’s your name?”

“Ama,” The child said, “It means water in Tsalagi, the language of my people.”

“I’m Chara. I picked it myself… my birth name is dead to me. My new name is short for character. I wanted something that wasn’t male or female but something else,” Chara explained.

The child grinned back at them, showing teeth. “Ah. I am Two-spirit myself. It means someone who does not fit as male or female, but as something else. I feel like no gender at all. My mother helped me pick a name that would fit that, and my father proudly announced it to the tribe. I hope your family did the same.”

Chara grimaced. “Not my human family, but the monsters did. Gender doesn’t mean a lot to them. They had a hard time understanding how I could be treated badly for something they see as normal.”

Ama smiled. “That is good, friend Chara. I look forward to the day when my people and monsters may teach the anisoi about that.”

Chara grinned, then motioned for the Cherokee child to follow them. “Me too.”

They lead Ama to their old house. It looked… the same. The tree still had no leaves and the courtyard was still empty. Chara wasn’t sure how long it had been since they died. Hopefully Mom would be able to tell them. They wondered if Azriel was going to be here as a ghost, too. Neither of them were there, though.

From there, Chara led the human through the Underground. It didn’t seem like anyone was around, but Chara figured that was because it was night time. They could see lights in a few houses, so the Underground wasn’t completely abandoned. That was good to know. The only reason that Chara would want the Underground to be empty was that the monsters had reached the Surface.

Finally they reached the Newer Home. Chara still giggled at Dad’s silly name. Ama asked, “For what reason are you laughing, Yvwi Usdi?”

Chara looked over their shoulder as they passed through the long hallway that led to the house and answered them. “I was just thinking of this place’s name. My Dad is… not very good at naming things. The place where you fell is New Home. The icy place is Snowdin. The wet one is Waterfall. The one with the lava is Hotland, and this? This is Newer Home. Again, Dad really sucks at naming things.”

Ama nodded. “There is a city that the anisoi call Catoosa. It is a city on a hill, and it’s name, in Tsalagi, means “on a hill”. Most of the places I know have similarly unhelpful names.”

Chara giggled again. “That’s pretty bad, I have to say. I-”

“Human?” A familiar voice said behind Chara. They turned around and saw their Dad. He was holding Sans and he looked awful. His fur was scraggly, his cheeks were wet with tears, and his clothes were wrinkled. Chara gulped. Something must have really bothered him for him to look like that.

“Dad?” Chara’s voice cracked. He didn’t seem to hear them or see them. He looked way too scared.

Ama looked between Chara and Asgore, then gulped and stepped forward. Asgore stepped back and Chara floated back. Ama looked… so resigned. So serious. So tired. “Are you the king of Monsterkind?”

Asgore nodded. “I am, my child. Why… why do you ask?”

Ama was interrupted by another of those awful coughing fits. Chara swallowed, seeing the pain on Asgore’s face. He’d always been so empathetic. That wasn’t always a good thing.

Ama smiled grimly. “I am Tsalagi, the ones known as the Cherokee, and I am dying of the cancers of the lung. My people regret not helping you in the war; you were always kind and compassionate, and we are sorry. If you can gather seven souls, you can break the Barrier. I am here to supply the first.”

Asgore’s face twisted up in even more pain, and his hand spasmed. Chara closed their eyes and ran away. He couldn’t see them, and they didn’t want to see what was going to happen next.

#carried skeleton #sans #papyrus #chara dreemurr #undertale #undertale oc #yellow soul #asgore #yastaghr

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mx-chara-dreamer · 5 years

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well, uh, seems like my watching those two movies wasn’t entirely an accident

so I need to give some context here

I’ve talked about approaching Altria Pendragon to help me learn some discipline and good habits and such. learn to be better with magic, which as it happens is more or less the same as learning to handle the strains of daily life better; the skills involved are much the same.

I am not Altria’s “master” in any sense. Asriel has stepped into that place. maybe a word from you Azzy would be apt...

🍀 yes. I am new to this “Fate” lore myself, but I am given to understand that I have in essence entered into a contract with Altria Pendragon, as her “master”. Chara here is, in a sense, learning to be a Servant.

yeah. in “Fate” language, I’m a “Demi-Servant” now, like Mash Kyrielight from the game “Fate: GO Fuck Yourself”. (yeah, uh, I’ve got mixed feelings about getting mixed up with Nasu Kinoko’s shit...like...well, maybe you should just say it, Azzy)

🍀 Altria Pendragon regards Nasu Kinoko as an enemy. so do we

anyway, apparently I needed the, uh, spiritual mastication provided by two of the bleakest movies I know, before we were ready for this new sort of duty.

we are now in the position of having to take “Fate: GO Fuck Yourself” entirely seriously. this is a game that now literally has power over our lives.

and we’re not happy about that

#spirituality #pop culture magic #pop-culture magic #otherkin #soulbonded #chara #altria pendragon #artoria pendragon #kinoko nasu #nasu kinoko #fate go #fate go fuck yourself

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kisbunzies · 3 years

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Nights in the garden

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It’s always cold in her dad's garden at night . There were cracks in the mountain that let in sunlight and breezes from the outside world so the mountain tended to reflect the weather up there . she sat on her swing , the one she and her brother asriel built together. How late was it like 3am ? everyone else is probably asleep , except dad he somehow manages to work until sunrise. “Welp might as well give up and head in-”

“Heya flower girl. I see your just *hangin around* there”

“Sans! What are you doin up ? “

“My dads working late . you”

“Same . and for once chara’s asleep.”

Sans and lucida had know eachother since day one but they became bestfriends when they were six because he snuck into to the royal garden. they also learned they both were obsessed with earthbound. It was learned too quickly that Lucida loves bad jokes and will laugh for hours at sanses puns and pranks .

Not long after their friendship started they learned something else they had in common . sleep issues

Lucida and sans both got vivid nightmares , alot of the times about the same thing. It was scary but being able to talk to eachother about it was nice , heck asgore even bought luci a dream book so they could figure out what they meant , but the dream lucida had tonight was special

“So yeah i had a dream both my siblings were consumed by ravenous buttercups”

“Thats weird , i uh had a similar dream”

“You dreamed my siblings were eated by buttercups ? kinda s-”

“No its was different but the same”

“Explain ???”

Lucida got down from the swings and onto her elbows onto the ground infront of where sans was , he seemed to be thinking nervously about what he was gonna say . different but the same , thats never happened before

He took a deep breath in before quickly saying

“I dreamed that you ran into the buttercups after some voices and for some reason i tried to stop you but you insisted that you could help them and then and then and then”

“Sans calm down take your time”

“When you reached the buttercups one ,,,, shot through your skull and just dropped you infront of me”

“Oh well then , dont know what to say to that”

“Luciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii”

“Im joking im joking , but sans”

She put her hand on his shoulder

“Im sure its gonna be fine

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn’t fine

Years after the day that came to be know as “the incident” , things had changed so much for the two it sometimes shocked lucida that her life was considerably normal at one point , chara and asriel were gone , her parents were divorced , she spent the majority of her life till that point in the hospital

To be frank , life for lucida dreemurr was a mess

Walking through the garden she’d spent the happiest days of her life felt dull , each things filled with memories of the past

Wow look it a snail , mom loves those things

Yeah and mom also eats emm too

Chara , you know thats not funny

Aww cmon , im just tellin the truth , when she runs outta butters she replaces it with snail slime

Ewww luci stop them

As she walked over to the old swing , her eyes filled with tears , flowers blooming out of the sockets as she sat down on the old contraption . her and azzy used to spend hours pushing eachother on it trying to see how high they could fly while chara recorded with an old camera they found in a pile of trash . she’d have to go back and look at those recording sometime.

“Oh hey luci , didn’t notice you there”

“Sans ?”

She looked around until she found him , sitting in some flowers that never seemed to die no matter how ruined they were . she walked over to sit next to him noticing his demeanor , this was gonna be a rough conversation

“Yup thats me”

“Heh , guess you never broke the habit of breaking into my parents property huh ?”

“Hey su casa mi casa amirite”

“Thats not how the saying goes but sure”

Sans chuckled just a bit before looking down at the ground at something , it was a piece of fabric and a name tag

W.d gaster

“Missing him again”

“Yeah , i know its stupid but-”

“Sans it not stupid ! your going throw the loss of a loved one , thats tough crap to deal with I SHOULD KNOW”

“yeah”

Lucida looked at , Sans who wasn’t smiling . it just didn’t look right for the guy not to smile . He was usually the funny skeleton who could make anyone smile , you knew shit really hit the fan when sans the skeleton didn’t smile

“I remember him , he was a good dad”

“He always treated you like family huh”

“Oh remember when you and me were like 7 and like he somehow taught me and you fucking sign language in one afternoon and my mom thoughts we were throwing up gang signs”

“Yeah and she freaked out and tried to get your pops to put the entire underground on watch because of it”

“JASHGJH and the week before he let us burn veggietales in an incinerator cause he hated it and my mom thought he was spreading anti christian progaganda”

“OMFG AND SHE TRIED TO GET ME AND PAPYRUS BAPTIZED AND HE BIT THE PRIEST”

“AND GASTER JUST BURST INTO THE CHURCH AND GRABBED YOU AND PAPYRUS BY THE COLLAR AND LEFT LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED”

“JSAHJGHJHGhjadghj yeah , he was cool , im gonna miss him”

“Me too , he might have been pretty chaotic and kinda outta order”

“Omg sans he’s your DEAD FATHER”

“But he was just a good person who wanted to help at heart”

Lucida looked at the badge and motioned for sans to let her see it , she noticed that in the corner there was a little black smudge of some unknown material

“You know , we should put his badge in like a monument or something”

“You think they’d let us do that”

“Of course sans , he did save the life of the royal families only surviving child afterall”

“And made the core”

“And just build the basis of monster science in general”

“A monument would be nice , considering we didn’t get to have a funeral”

Luci looked at sans with a purely sympathetic look , tilting her head a to dully smile at him. Putting her arm around his shoulder she spook what she didn’t know were on of the last time she’d remember his name

“W.d gaster , beloved royal scientist and father , inventor of core”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

hope you enjoyed this random oc fic i wrote at 1am because sleep is terrifying and i wanted to start actually telling people about lucida's backstory

also im not a sans simp HEY HEY LISTEN IM N-

#undertale #fanfic #undertale oc #fandom oc #fanfiction #angst

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stripestheboar · 7 years

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In My Thoughts

And we have another request on our hands. This one is from @kansxy (the other blog wouldn’t show when I tried to link it), who said:

I would like to request some Chasriel. As for a storyline, they could possibly be in school, but humans are still being harsh to monsters. So, Chara is extremely defensive and protective of Asriel and everyone begins to question why she is to that degree. Then Chara realizes that she likes Asriel and then a confession and then he returns the feelings and then boom. Either some fluff or the fanfic ends. If I need to edit something, let me know.

Please, enjoy.

Asriel was hunched over his desk, mumbling to himself as he looked from the sheet to the textbook, solving the various algebraic equations. His eyes flicked up to the teacher’s desk every now and then to glance at the substitute that was there temporarily. After a few quick gazed the last question of his paper soon finished, he shifted his eyes over to a particular group of kids over in the corner. As expected, they were slacking off, gathered around in a circle and laughing with each other. Any minute now, something would happen. Something had to happen; he knew well enough in his time as Flowey what happened when there was a change in routine. The teacher was absent, so the kids would slack off. They would eventually get bored, come over, and start to pick on him or one of the other few monster kids. That’s what always happened when a teacher was out. Cause and effect. It was like clockwork.

Asriel attempted to calm his nerves with a quick breath in and out. He needed something else to concentrate on. With his work done and nothing else to do besides play ok his phone, he looked over to see how Chara and Frisk were doing. While Frisk seemed done with her work and was currently playing on her phone, his best friend was slouched over the desk, playing with a pencil to try and procrastinate as long as possible. Her work only seemed half done, from what he could tell. He thought about going over and offering her a hand, but she didn’t seem too interested in work at all at the moment. Maybe he could-

The young boss monster’s train of thought was interrupted when he felt something light, hard, and sharp hit the side of his head. He rubbed the stinging ache as he looked down at what had hit him. Said object was a crushed can of soda. Oh, boy. Not this again.

“Hey, prince!” one of the girls from the little group called, trotting over to Asriel’s desk. As regal as the title was, it held quite the mocking tone to it. The girl, Jenny, stood in front of him, arms crossed and hip jutted out to the side. Like all the children that liked to poke fun at him, she was a human. “Geeze, you just dropped the can onto the floor like that,” she sighed. “C’mon! It was a snack just for you, goat boy.”

“Cans are actually unhealthy for me to eat,” Asriel said under his breath, watching Jenny pick up the can off the floor and toss it onto his desk. “Meal fit for a prince, right?” Asriel could hear snickers from the group. He just grimaced as she looked at him expectantly. He turned away from her, digging through his bag to get started on some more homework. Apparently this was a bad move, as he suddenly felt him yanked back by a hand grasping one of the very small horns sprouting from his head. Those horns were very sensitive, and he made that fact known through a cry of pain as he reached up to remove her hand.

“Wow, what a fucking loser!” Jenny laughed. “You’re supposed to be king when you grow up? I think you’d be more useful if they turned you into a stuffed animal.”

“Hey Jenny!” came the familiar voice of a certain best friend. “Leave him alone, will you?” Asriel peeked around the best he could with his horn in someone else’s grasp. Chara had approached the two, a sour expression currently being displayed across her normally indifferent face. He felt his horn quickly be released and he wasted no time in rubbing the base in order to soothe the stinging pain. Had Chara not had the reputation she held, that wouldn’t have happened and he would still be trapped. “Got your bodyguard to defend you again, huh?” the bully sneered, looking between the two of them with a scathing look. “Makes sense for such a royal brat.”

“Hey!” Chara snapped, grabbing Jenny’s arm with an iron grip. “Don’t you call him that again, you hear me?” Jenny just scoffed and tried to tug her arm away, but to no avail. “Oh yeah? Or what? His daddy’s gonna come and kill me, to-” Jenny was cut off with a quick blow to the cheek, knocking the girl to the ground and causing her to clutch her cheek in pain as she recovered from the daze of having the sense knocked out of her.

Everyone in the room fell silent, looking at the crime scene in shock, save for the substitute teacher, who was trying to figure out just what to do in case of this sort of situation happening. A minute or two of Jenny’s groans of pain could be heard before everyone just continued on with their conversations. This sort of thing was somewhat normal to the classrooms Chara stayed in. Frisk, of course, immediately got up and rushed over to her fallen classmate. After being shoved away, she stood up and looked at the two, shrugging some. “You didn’t knock her out this time,” she mentioned to Chara. “It looks like mom’s lessons are actually paying off this time around. Won’t she be happy, huh?” Chara gave Jenny a swift kick to the head. “Oh. Okay. Nevermind. Forget I said any of that.”

“You okay?” Chara soon asked the victimized boss monster, pointing to the horn that had been handled so roughly. Asriel gave a kind and thankful smile and nodded. “Yeah, the pain already went away. Thanks, Chara, but you didn’t have to hit her so hard. Or at all,” he told his best friend, who just smiled proudly. “Hey, as long as you’re alright, okay?” Chara giggled, giving Asriel a quick pat on the back. “Don’t let just anyone insult you. If they do, tell me and I’ll sock it to ‘em goo-”

“Chara, to the principal's office,” the substitute called, just getting off of the phone. Chara’s eyes closed with a small wince and she grimaced slightly. “Ah. Here we go again,” she sighed. “See you at lunch, Azzie.” And with that, she left the room. He watched her leave, a smile on his face. Despite the small bit of disapproval he had shown, he was glad she had come to his rescue. She had been there for him as always. Of all the humans that could have fallen into the Underground, he was glad it was Chara.

Chara sauntered into the room and plopped herself onto the familiar chair in front of the desk she had seen many times before. The principle sighed, watching her sit as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “We meet again, huh?” Chara chuckled, slumping into the wooden chair like it was her own private seat. Well, technically it was, since she had systematically carved her name into the wood over the many sessions she’d had here.

“Chara, you can’t keep doing this,” the elder human groaned, head propped up on his elbow. After so many sessions of this, he wasn’t too restrained when it came to expressing how he felt at the moment. “This literally the hundredth time you’ve been sent to my office this year on account of violence. Your behavior is unacceptable.” Chara just gave a sort of scoff. “Oh come on, stop being so dramatic. I think I would know if I’ve been here that many times, okay? I am the one always in trouble after al-”

The principle pulled out a sign-in sheet that had to be made specifically for her. Each entry detailed her time in and out, as well as what she was in for. Hold on- ninety-six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, and this session would be- yep. One hundred. Well damn. She felt like she deserved some type of reward for this. Maybe she could convince Toriel to buy her some chocolate later on.

“Okay, so I’m a bad kid. So what? Just give me detention already,” she sighed, growing impatient. She didn’t want to be late for lunch with Asriel. The principle merely shook his head in a disapproving fashion. “Chara, I understand that you have a rather… violent past,” he stated, mumbling past the last two words. “And I will commend you on only using violence to defend another child, but therein lies the problem.” He reached into a little drawer of his desk and pulled out a sheet, his eyes quickly scanning over it.

“Chara, of all hundred times you’ve been here, 90% of it has been for defending your little monster friend, Mister Dreemuur,” he informed, glancing up at the student slumped in the chair. “Yeah, and? It’s not my fault humans are such fucking assholes to us,” Chara sneered. The principle closed his eyes and set the paper down. “Chara, you ARE human. And please watch you language,” he pointed out. “Yeah, say that again. I dare you,” she provoked in return. He just folded his hands on the desk. “You attack them for fairly trivial reasons.”

“Fuck you! They were hurting Azzie, so I have the right to kick their asses! What, you’re just gonna let them bully him?”

“Chara, last month you threatened to cut open a boy who didn’t return a borrowed a pencil to Mister Dreemuur.”

“‘Borrowed’? More like stolen.”

“It was just a pencil.”

“And it was just a threat.”

Okay. Fair enough. With Chara’s track record, the child was lucky to get such a small punishment. The principle huffed and stood, going over to the window and gazing out of it to look over the school lawn. “Chara, we can’t keep having you be a constant disruption to this school,” he spoke, keeping his voice at a stern level as he turned around to gaze down at her. “If you keep this up for much longer, I’ll have no choice but to expel you.”

While this wasn’t the first time he’d used that threat, he did sound more serious about it than ever, and Chara knew she was nearing the end of her rope. There was only so many times her mom’s position in school could grant her a free pass. While being expelled from school wasn’t too much of a deal to her, she’d promised her family she would at least try. She had promised Toriel, Frisk, and Asriel that she could at least try to live a normal life on the surface, but it was a bit hard when even after a year of living out of the underground (a few months for her and Asriel), humans were still pretty bitter towards them. There were attacks, refusal of service, and even killings. Chara was fairly certain that monster were better off in the Underground, Asriel always told her he wouldn’t have it any other way. He was happy up on the surface, despite all the mistreatment against their people. He always said that all this would smooth out eventually and the two races would live together peacefully. While Chara doubted this very much, she trusted her best friend. If he was happy, she was happy. Besides, she was born human and he was born a monster, and yet they still got along together just fine. Who knows? Maybe he was right this time.

While lost in her thoughts, she completely forgot she was supposed to be pretending to be listening to the principal, who had already figured out that she wasn’t listening, but just kept going so he could get his rant out and be able to say that he warned her come the inevitable day he had to expel her. Toriel would hate him for the rest of his life, but half the school’s parents already hated her for even existing, so it was kind of a fair deal.

“So now you know the costs of continuing with your behavior,” he droned on. “I suggest you clean up you act and bla bla; you’ve heard this all before. I already know you’re not listening, so let’s just get all this written down so you can go back to class, okay?” Chara didn’t answer, her chin resting on her propped-up hand as she seemed to be thinking of something else. He pinched the bridge of his nose again, frustration welling up inside of him. “Why do you protect him so much, anyways? You act like his personal guardian sent down from heaven above.

That might be true. After all, she did take quite a fall in order to meet him.

“So why do you defend him so much? Is this because of some romantic feelings you have for Mr. Dreemuur?”

Chara blinked, now paying full attention. “Wah?” was all she could ask, quickly cleaning out her ears to see if she heard right. “Run that by me one more time.” The principal gave a quick huff. “I was asking if your attacks were provoked by some possible romantic feeling for Mr-”

“What? No! You’re reeeaal funny, Jim-” “Please don’t call me tha-” “Romantic? Seriously?” the student laughed. “Yeah, no. Have you seen Azzie? He’s such a big crybaby! That’s why I have to defend him all the time!” Jim watched Chara on her small rant, smiling to himself some. “Uh huh. I see,” he said simply. “Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”

Oh this guy was really pushing her buttons; but, now that she thought about it, why was she getting upset over it in the first place? It wasn't because of her serious anger issues or anything like that. No, it was something else. Was she really doing all this for Azzie’s sake? If she were to be completely honest, Asriel had always been her number one priority ever since they both reenter the world of the living. With Frisk, the girl she had been attached to ever since the Underground, she was a bit more lenient and didn’t jump on someone’s ass the moment they said a word that could even be considered rude. However, Frisk could kick major ass if she so wanted to (which she never did, sadly), as well as dodge the bullets of a firing squad. Asriel was much more fragile, and thus needed more protection. Well, it could very well be argued that Asriel didn’t really need it, having been the all powerful, high ultra, merciless god of hyperdeath at one point in his life as a flower. Despite this, Chara had always been adamant about protecting her Azzie. He was her best friend after al-

Wait. Did… did she just refer to Asriel as “her” Azzie? She sat there, thinking blankly for a moment as the principal’s voice droned on. No. There was no way. Sure they were best friends and almost never spent a day apart, but that didn’t mean anything. And yeah, the whole beating up anyone who wronged Asriel in the slightest was a bit suggestive of that sort of relationship, but that was just based on interpretation; it was just that she liked beating things. And all those glares she shot at the other girls who smiled at Asriel on Valentine’s Day? Totally normal. She wasn’t infatuated with him at all. Asriel was just a big dumb crybaby who needed her help with pretty much everything.

Well, he wasn’t just that. Asriel was always so kind, loving, determined in everything he did. He was always there for Chara. He also seemed to know when something was wrong in her life when almost no one else did. He could also kick some ass if he wanted to. She loved a guy who could kick ass. He bought her that special type of chocolate she loved so much every Saturday, too.That bleating laugh he made whenever he found something to be amusing was pretty nice to listen to as well. He also hade the cutest fluff on his tail that he would wag slightly whenever he got excited. Speaking of fluff, his fur was so soft and gently beneath her hands, much unlike the hard and wiry feel of actual goat fur (yes, she brought him to a petting zoo just to compare). The small horns poking out from under that fur also gave Azzie a hint at maturity; she adored the way he got so excited whenever they grew another centimeter. Did she mention just how amazing his blue eyes looked whenever they were out in the sunlight? Photo album worthy right there.

Nope. No romantic feeling in sight…

…

Oh.

Oh god.

Oh shit, it’s true. She really did feel something for her best friend, didn’t she? Damn, it wasn’t obvious, was it? God, Frisk probably knew about this far before she even began to realize it, huh? But what about Asriel? No. Who was she kidding? The chances were more than likely that they would both receive the awkward moment of their lives if her newfound secret was ever revealed.

Chara could already picture it now. She would be standing there, looking at Asriel expectantly, the heat rising up to her face as he just continued to stare at the ground for a worryingly amount of time. The seconds would tick by, turning into minutes as the two stood there in silence, waiting for the other to say something. And then, he would just turn around and run off, eyes bleary in humiliations. Fuck the Genocide Route; this was the ultimate nightmare scenario.

So the question now was: what was Chara going to do with her newly discovered feelings? Did she just ignore them and suffer in silence? Or would she actually take the risk and tell Asriel about her stupid emotions just to get them out of the way? Does she a friendship or completely throw it out the window?

The principal watched Chara for a few minutes, waiting for her to snap out of it. She had been sitting there, pondering for a good ten minutes so far, and it was starting to bug him. It was clear his poking, prodding, and attempt at verbal discipline had been a failure. Well, he might as well go back to the more simple punishments. He wrote down her detention slip and stuck it on her head before ushering her out. “See you next Tuesday,” he sighed, closing the door behind her.

“Honestly, Chara,” Toriel sighed, pinching the bridge of her muzzle, still keeping an eye on the road. “Three detentions in the span of a month? You are just asking to be grounded young lady.”

As her mother was was ranting, Chara was already lost in thought. By this point in the day, she had already come up with a decision to her little love complication: she wasn’t going to confess to Asriel. As much as she didn’t like the idea of hiding her true feelings, it was for the best. She and Azzie were best friends, and she wouldn’t give that up for anything in the world. They had been together since she had first fallen down and they had been inseparable since. She would be damned if she let a few weak emotions get in the way of their happiness together.

Chara sighed and nodded occasionally to have her mother believe she was listening. Just a few block and she would be home free. Was she kicking herself for her decision? Hell yes. All she wanted to do now grab Asriel by the shoulders and bring him into a kiss, a fantasy she hadn’t realized was in her subconscious until her little self-realization. She couldn’t help but feel her face heat a bit when thinking about it. Was that shameful or what? God, she just wanted to smother herself with a pillow when she found herself thinking these sorts of things about her goat partner in crime. This was why she wanted to just lay all her emotions before Asriel; she wanted to just get it all off her chest, even if he didn’t return the same feelings she had. Just the mere thought of him rejecting her and pushing away all her affections made her scared. She didn’t want to lose of the most important people in her life. Years of bonding and endless hours of working to bring the two back would just feel wasted when-

Wait. Scared? She was scared? Had she just admitted to herself to being scared over confessing her emotions to her own best friend? What the hell? God, what had her mind come to? Was Frisk really was having an effect on her, huh?Yeah, no. Hiding her feelings? Fuck that. That wasn’t what was going down. She wasn’t scared of anything, and especially not some dumb teenage feelings. She was going to go up, she was going to confess her feelings, Asriel was going to love her for all of eternity, and everything would be right in the world.

Once the car had stopped, Chara zipped out the door like a Snowdrake out of hell before her mother had even finished her stern talking to. The young human rushed through the entrance of the house, nearly giving Alphys a soul attack. “Where’s Azzie?” she demanded, eyes gleaming with determination. She was immediately pointed to the backyard. While she wanted to throw the door open and go in guns blazing, she decided to keep it calm for the sake of the moment soon to come and steadily made her way to the backyard.

The first thing the Dreemuur girl saw upon locating Asriel was the patch of golden flowers he was sitting near. Her lips curled on reflex. While Asriel had taken a liking to the golden blossoms despite his past, Chara couldn’t help but remember a certain taste whenever she laid eyes upon them. Some thought of their colors as sharing the beauty of the sun, only putrid mustard-colored vomit came to Chara’s mind. Hiding the grimace, she went over to Asriel’s spot of the garden, quickly noticing that he was plucking them from the ground one by one, making sure he got plenty of stem.

“Pretending to be with your family again?” Chara joked, sitting down on one of the wooden borders. Asriel gave a little chuckle at the jest, seemingly concentrated on the flowers, as well as his own thoughts. Whenever Asriel was lost in his own mind without a bit of schoolwork in front of him, he was most likely thinking of his life before being brought back with Chara. Well, this is what she had figured out so far. Her own plans of confessing to Azzie were lost, not wanting to interrupt his self-reflection. Instead, she watched his fingers move to delicately intertwine the stems of two flowers. Once they were secured to one another, he went about adding another flower to wind-up. It was strange to see something she only saw as unworthy of even a second glance be handled by someone so delicately, lovingly even. She found it ironic how she had asked for those types of flowers so dearly, even to the point where it cost the both of them their lives for the betterment of monsterkind, and yet now it was Asriel who was the one to infatuated with them.

“What if it worked?” he asked suddenly, almost without prompt. She blinked and looked up from his hands, brow furrowed in momentary confusion. “Huh?” “The plan,” Asriel responded, eyes flicking up to glance at her for a mere second. “What if it actually worked? What would’ve happened?” Chara felt her mouth twist once again at his inquiry. It was rare that they ever gave that subject much thought, much less discuss it. Well, for Chara at least. Who knows? These thoughts could be haunting Asriel in his sleep without her knowledge. Unfortunately for her, she couldn’t beat up dreams. Yet.

“I dunno,” she answered with a shrug. “I try not to think about it, you know?” Asriel gave a nod of understanding, adding another flower to the bunch. While she never went into depth with the idea, she had come up with three definitives: Asriel would still be alive after the event, their parents would be together, and monsters would be on the surface a whole lot sooner. Whether or not they would live very long was up for debate. Still, she couldn’t help but miss being that close to Asriel. Sure, she was dead, but hey, who else got to say they’ve been connected by the soul to someone they loved. She wondered for a brief moment if that exact reason was why she felt such a connection to him. Another flower was added.

“Do you wish it had worked?” he then asked, picking up another detached flower. This was one she couldn’t answer. As much as she loved Asriel, she couldn’t deny the self-discovery she had gone through after the events in the Underground. Pulling off the plan successfully would mean never meeting Frisk, never knowing the friends she had now, and, well, being dead. Her determination couldn’t save her from something like that at the time. Not to mention, would the meetings with the humans have gone as smoothly as they gone with Frisk? She would like to think so, but she couldn’t be sure. With this world, she could never be sure.

“I don’t,” Asriel answered for her, causing Chara to snap out of her thoughts. Well, that wasn’t exactly the answer she had been looking for. She noticed that two more flowers had been added in the span of time she had been out. “You don’t?” she asked, deciding to go along with where this was going.

Asriel had stopped winding the flowers up and presented the finished product to her: a flower crown. There were exactly seven flowers total. Not hearing a protest, the young boss monster gingerly placed the crown upon his best friend’s head, fitting almost perfectly. “I don’t suppose you want me to eat them, do you?” she jested with a halfhearted laugh. Asriel’s lips twitched some at her remark. “Only if I get to have your soul afterwards,” he replied, causing a sort of restrained laugh to emit from his companion. She wasn’t going to apologize for not being enthusiastic about all this.

“I don’t wish it worked because then I would lose you,” Asriel elaborated, resting his hands in his lap. “Then who would be there to give me noogies or beat up all my bullies? Who’s gonna be there to give me a punch in the arm whenever I don’t let them cheat off of me? Who am I going to give all my chocolate to? Sure, you would always be with my soul, but I would still lose the body of my best friend. I wouldn’t want to lose you, Chara.”

The young teen in question gazed at Asriel with softening eyes, her resolve breaking. She just couldn’t help herself. Her mouth opened without her command to do so.

“I love you, Azzie,” she said, as if it was a common phrase she used in everyday conversation. It had just come out of her mouth with no prior thought behind it. Asriel himself became silence, the gears clearly turning in his head as he was processing what was just said. His mouth was hung open ever so slightly, preparing to respond, but Chara wouldn’t give him the chance. “I love you,” she repeated, the words coming out more stuttered and jumbled than before with her mouth being so unused to the foreign phrase spilling past her lips. And yet, she kept going. “I love you more than anything, Asriel.” She paused, her mind going blank. She guessed it didn’t actually think she would get to this part. Despite this, she continued on. “Ever since I’d met you, I loved you. You… you helped me, Asriel. Ever since you found me, you… you’ve changed my life for the better. You made me feel loved. You made me regain hope in this world again. You were there for me, Azzie. You were always there for me. And you cared for me. And you talked to me. And you played with me. And yo-you’re amazing, Asriel. It’s gotten to the point where I can’t imagine my life without you in it, being there whenever I’m unable to get back up. I don’t understand how I could ever end up with you as my best friend. More than a friend, even. I love you, Asriel. I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you, I lo-”

Chara’s rambles were cut off when she was brusquely tugged into a tight embrace. It took her only a few moments to register Asriel’s shaking. Her eyes widened and she slowly lifted her arms to return the embrace. She could hear Asriel’s light sniffles, but noticed that there weren’t accompanied to the wetness that came with heavy tears. Oh god. She had fucked this up, didn’t she? She fucked this all up.

“Asriel, I-”

“I love you, too.”

Chara’s apology was caught in her throat.

“I love you, too,” Asriel repeated, words now firmer as he pulled away to look at Chara with bleary eyes. He always was a crybaby, though she would be lying if she were to say she didn’t have a few tears stinging her eyes. “I love you so much, Chara. You complete me. You’ve always been nothing but my best friend. Even more than that at times. I… I just never thought you felt….” The embrace returned. “I love you, too, Chara. You’ve helped me become who I am. You’ve helped through the thick and thin. Even when I was… not myself, I always thought of you. You were all that was on my mind, Chara. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you again. I-I-I…… I love you. I love you.”

Chara felt tears well up, but she didn’t dare let them fall. Instead, she steadily pulled away and grasped Asriel’s hands in hers. She felt a smile crawl up her face, a similar happy expression already gracing her Azzie’s face. They looked each other in the eyes, holding nothing but love for one another. She gently squeezed his hands, unable to help a giggle that escaped her, exhilarated by this feeling she hadn’t experienced in so long.

She leaned in and planted a kiss on her companion. Her new partner until the end. Her true best friend. Her Asriel.

#Undertale #Undertale Fanfiction #Request #Chara #Asriel #Chasriel #Romance #kansxy #aerosgunns #Fanfiction #Coonfics

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caretaker-au · 7 years

Text

Fan story ! Birthday !

captainthane submitted:

(Okay first of all, this is absolutely not canon !! It’s just something i wanted to try to bring some fun to all of you ^^. Everything here is fan content. It’s my own interpretations so it could have a lot of mistakes and misinterpretations because we only have one chapter of caretaker and not all the background of each character ! So don’t be surprised if i use characters like Sans, Toriel, etc. It’s my first time so i hope you like it ! PS : English is not my first language so i could make some mistakes sorry !)

Asriel is thoughtful. In two days, it’s the birthday of Chara (the day they fall into the underground). He doesn’t know what he can prepare for them. They will be 15 years old and last year they already had a special chocolate cake. He is in Snowdin trying to find some new ideas.

- What should i do ? I already cooked a chocolate cake for them last year ! AAHHH !! Think Asriel ! (Asriel)

-What’s wrong little tiny Asgore ? (Papyrus)

-Sup kiddo what’s the problem ? (Sans)

-Oh Howdy Papyrus and Sans ! I try to find what kind of gifts i can offer for Chara. Their birthday is in two days !

-Nyhe he he the great Papyrus already has the solution ! (P)

- No don’t say it Pap…(A)

-SPAGHETTI !!! (P)

-Papyrus NO ! You know what happened the last time Chara ate your spaghetti….(A)

-They had a perfect expression, they love them ! (P)

-*Sigh* whatever…(A)

-I can prepare some new puns for them ! (S)

-Sans NO ! (P)

-Well they don’t really like puns…(A)

-You are afraid they will act a bit ouf of CHARActer ! (S)

- SANS ! (P)

- What Pap ? You know i have a skeleTON of them *wink* (S)

-*Sigh* Please….

-Okay kiddo…Hey kiddo Chara stil wears a green shirt right ? (S)

-Yes ? (A)

-What about knitting some wears in the dreemurr’s style you see ? Like a robe with dreemurr’s symbol ! You can ask Tori for some help. (S)

-That’s….that’s a good idea in fact !!! Thanks a lot Sans (A).

-You are not so lazy ! i am surprised Sans (P)

-What can i say ? I am not so Bone idle ! (S)

-SANS ! (P and A)

Two days later, in the Chara’s birthday.

-Here Chara my gift (A)

-I already told you i don’t need anything ! (Chara)

-Open your gift ! (A)

-Yes it is ! It’s a rope with the symbol of OUR family Chara (A)

After a few minutes.

-You are beautiful my child (Asgore and Toriel)

-You are indeed…*blush* (A)

-We love you too (As,A and T) !

-NO ! (As, A and T)

End of my first fan story xD ! Maybe it’s a bit bad but i wanted to try it anyway ! Thanks a lot for everything :D !

#undertale #submission #lowercase love #fanfic #captainthane #sounds like a pretty good gift to me!#hopefully chara gets what they REALLY want next year

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seekingseven · 4 years

Text

Mephibosheth Ch.3

Chapter 3 of my Undertale fanfic! You can read the story here on AO3 as well!

┍━━━━━━━★━━━━━━━┑

"Asriel, there are still monsters in there. A lot."

The Prince tried to swallow a sigh. There wasn't any point in arguing with Chara's observation. Bright light oozed out of Grillby's windows and pooled onto the sparkling snow outside, the friendly halo around the building only emphasizing the liveliness within. The sound of clinking glasses and raucous laughter could be heard all the way from Snowdin Town's welcome sign, where a shirtless goat and disgruntled human stood side-by-side.

"Gosh, I, aha, musta misjudged the time. I-I thought the place would be a little closer to closing time and, uh, there'd be fewer monsters. Sorry." Chara gave him an unimpressed look. The goat boy cringed and scratched the back of his head, wincing when his claws snagged on a knotted snarl of fur. He muttered some more apologies and offered to pop into the adjacent shop to buy them a few sandwiches. His companion said nothing. Their eyes were fixed on Grillby's.

"Go-lly, Chara. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to upset you! I know that you're probably not comfortable being around other monsters yet, especially that many. I really wouldn't have suggested we go there if I knew the place would be this packed. If we, I mean, if you want to go on the ferry now, we can." Asriel's apologies were addressed to the snow under his feet - he didn't have the fortitude to look his friend in the face.

There was the sound of rustling cloth and muffled grunts.

"Take your jacket."

Asriel looked up to see his sweater dangling in front of him, collar pinched between Chara's thumb and forefinger. The goat boy blinked twice then shook his head vehemently.

"Please, Asriel. Take your jacket. I don't need it anymore." Chara's voice had dropped an octave lower, soft exhales of air mingling with the words themselves.

"What do you mean you don't need it anymore? We're still in Snowdin."

A cheerful, wet breeze sent an armful of snow in their faces as if to assert the fact.

Chara sighed. "What would people think if Asriel, Prince Asriel, walks into Grillby's shirtless, soaked, and shivering? There's no way that story can sound good, especially with a human in the mix."

The sweater fluttered in the breeze.

"Walk into Grillby's…? I thought you didn't wanna go there."

"You want to go there, so that's what we'll do."

Asriel was about to explain he didn't care much for the place and that the sacrifice was unnecessary, but the look on Chara's face murdered the words in his mouth.

The human's eyebrows were pressed together in concern, eyelids lifted just high enough for Asriel to glimpse the earnest look in Chara's eyes. Almost imperceptible shivers betrayed the fact that the human was already missing the second layer of warmth but had no intention of reclaiming it.

Chara cared.

Something in Asriel's SOUL stirred, and his resolve weakened. The human took a step forward and draped the limp jacket over Asriel's shoulder. Without another word, Asriel slipped it on.

"Thanks, Chara."

"Thanks? It's not my jacket, Azzy."

"No, I mean, thanks for agreeing to go to Grillby's. I promise we'll have a great time."

Chara placed a small, delicate hand on Asriel's shoulder.

"I trust you, goat boy."

Asriel snickered and blinked away happy tears. He slung his arm around his friend's shoulder, smiling to himself when the human visibly relaxed, and sauntered towards Grillby's.

»»-««

A sudden wave of curiosity hit Chara as the pair crept into the bustling restaurant. He stared at the lively scene through his bangs, wordlessly drinking in the scene. An army of anthropomorphic dogs stood crowded around a long table, barking and yelping loudly as chips and cards were tossed in the air. Lanky, serious figures sat silently at the bar. A mosaic of empty glasses stood at simpering attention in front of them, and their grave, hushed muttering was hardly audible. And was that...a family of bunny monsters sitting at a half-moon table? Chara’s eyes widened. It was as if a hundred different worlds and lifestyles converged at one venue. So many monsters!

So many monsters.

So many...

Blood clambered to the human's face. His fingers shook. Chara unrolled the turtleneck collar of his knit sweater and pulled it up to his chin, combed his bangs in front of his eyes, and held onto Asriel's hand even tighter. He let himself be pulled in a direction he only hoped was away from the other monsters. His blood screamed and pulsed at the back of his head.

"Don't worry, Chara," the goat boy said, "nobody even saw us come in."

"Hey, guys! Is that Prince Asriel?" a high-pitched voice cried out.

The entire restaurant went silent.

And then immediately erupted in cheers.

"Yo, Prince-boy! Tell your dad I say hi!"

"Hey, little dude! How's life treatin' ya?"

"Aww, he's made a friend! And they've even got matching sweaters!"

"Drinks on Asriel?"

"Drinks on Asriel!"

"Shut up, Jeremy. He's literally a kid."

"Nice one, Doggo."

"Wha- ugh! That was not intentional."

"You heard it here first, guys! Doggo is a secret comedian!"

"You better shut your stupid, noodle-arm, UFO, saucer-lookin' a-"

"Language!" A feminine voice exclaimed, "the Prince of the Underground is right there!"

Asriel glanced at Chara and inhaled sharply, letting his chest swell with the restaurant's confident, greasy air. He cleared his throat and gave the crowd a friendly wave. "Howdy, all. My friend and I are just here for a snack. How's everyone doing tonight?"

Chara's eyebrows shot up into his forehead. He hadn’t met this assertive, charismatic Asriel he was seeing just now.

"Very well, sir!"

"Better, now that you're here!"

"Jus' fine, lil' dude."

"Yo, Princey! Who's your friend? Never seen 'em around before."

Asriel squeezed Chara's hand tighter and gave the crowd a patient, practiced smile. "I would introduce him, but Mom expects me to be home in about an hour. Y'all know how it is. Didn't mean to cause a ruckus - just wanted to grab a bite and slip out."

Clever. The human was impressed.

"Aw, shoot! Didn't mean to hold you up."

"Mama Goat is gonna be real mad, lil' dude! Better get chomping."

The apologies and friendly noises continued, but Asriel was already leading Chara to a booth nestled in the corner of the restaurant. The human clambered onto the plush seating and pressed himself next to the window. A hushed sigh escaped him as the glass cooled his inflamed cheeks. Asriel gave the crowd one last wave before sidling up to his new friend. Chara stared at the frozen world outside. There was something ethereal about the way the restaurant's lights illuminated the lazy snow flurries outside. Each snowflake sparkled a bombastic yellow, delighted to have a spotlight on them for a mere second before they joined their brothers below. It seemed that Snowdin Town's beauty could only be appreciated when isolated from its weather.

Growing tired of the endless expanse of white, Chara focused on the scene within the building. With careful, squinted eyes, the human scrutinized the restaurant with the sort of acuity only comparable to a fascinated tourist. So many monsters, so many voices...so much friendliness crammed into one place.

Asriel made a grunting noise, the sharp tinkling of metal on wood bringing Chara's attention back to the table.

"Cripes. I've only got ten gold."

A jerk of Asriel's chin directed Chara's eyes to the tabletop, where ten dime-sized pieces of metal lay scattered. Asriel was holding a little brown pouch in his hand, pinching the bottom and shaking it over the table in hopes that more "gold" would drop out. Nothing did.

"Well, that should be enough for maybe a small fries. Or one milkshake. Ugh, but if we eat sweets before dinner, Mom will be very angry." Asriel huffed and scooped the pieces of metal back into the pouch, then turned to face Chara. "What would you like?"

"You'll get in trouble if you eat any sweets?" Chara whispered, rolling his collar back down and staring at Asriel in earnest.

"Well, yeah."

"Oh." The human combed his hair back with his fingers and gave an exaggerated sigh.

"D-did you want something sugary? It's not a problem! Mom's rule only applies to me, I'm pretty sure."

Chara placed his head in his hands, wincing as the dried skin on his cheeks and fingers tore from the movement. He resisted the urge to itch and focused instead on keeping his voice as somber as possible. "No, don't worry about it. I want the same thing as you. Get whatever you like."

Asriel stared at Chara through squinted eyes, then shook his head and crossed his arms. "N-nope. We're getting the biggest, sweetest, milky-est milkshake Mister Grillby will give us for ten gold. No friend of mine is going unsatisfied - not on my watch!"

As the goat boy walked away, chin high and chest puffed and money pouch dangling from a claw, Chara smiled.

That was much easier than he'd expected.

»»-««

It was difficult to surprise Grillby.

This was probably the natural consequence of being a father, entrepreneur, and local confidant. The three facets of his life, all unpredictable and untameable, had taught his SOUL to live peaceably with the unforeseen. A lifestyle of living on one's toes had a way of nurturing a harmonious relationship with a tumultuous world.

He was the embodiment of calm waters. Metaphorically.

Having the Prince of the Underground walk into your restaurant on a Saturday night with a disheveled shadow clinging to his paw, however, was undoubtedly an occurrence worthy of the epithet "surprise." He'd been thoughtfully remolding a highball glass Jeremy shattered, listening carefully to a customer's drunken monologue, when someone announced the Prince's arrival. Shocked, he'd lost control of his flames for a split second and liquified the glass shards in his hands. The surprises kept coming, however. Upon realizing what the lanky, shaggy-haired figure hovering behind the Prince was, he accidentally set the wood beneath him on fire.

Now the floor behind the bar was scorched, and there was a red, goopy mess on his bar top he didn't know how to fix.

And there was a human in his restaurant.

The bartender let out a subdued crackle that could only be interpreted as a sigh.

He was glad that none of his customers had recognized exactly what "Asriel's little friend" was. There were only so many angry dogs and scared rabbits he could placate with his near-inaudible voice, even less when his whirlwind of emotions made controlling his flames an uncelebrated feat.

Saturday nights were relentless in every sense of the word.

He'd just supplied Jeremy with his third basket of cheese fries (and a set of napkins in vain hope the saucer-shaped monster would take the initiative to clean up after himself) when an unmistakable voice diverted his attention.

"Howdy, Mister Grillby!"

Grillby looked down. Asriel looked up.

"Sorry to cause such a, uh, fuss. I thought there would be fewer people or something at this time…"

The bartender folded his hands behind his back, waiting for the little Prince to find the words he needed.

"I, uh…"

The Prince heaved a quivering sigh and looked around. His eyes seemed to be looking for something, be it relief, words, or confidence, but they quickly dropped back to the floor.

An emotive, inebriated speech on the other side of the restaurant had just tapered off, and the ensuing volcano of applause caused the Prince to wince. With a wide, blank look in his eyes, he suddenly turned away and hid his head in his paws.

"I, ah…"

It took a few seconds for Grillby to notice the nearly-imperceptible shaking of Prince Asriel's shoulders. Muffled hiccups accompanied hushed, watery inhales. He knew that sound exceptionally well - what father didn't?

Grillby's metaphorical heart broke.

If this was because of the human…

He shook the dark thoughts out of his head. Yes, it was a human. But it was also a child .

"Your Majesty."

Asriel turned around in surprise. To hear Grillby talk was a phenomenon that must be seen as well as heard, regardless of how teary-eyed and snot-nosed one was. The bartender suppressed a smile at the Prince's exaggerated reaction - now wasn't the time - and made a waving motion urging the Prince to accompany him towards the bar. After effortlessly weaving through the crowds and casting the occasional backward glance to ensure that Prince Asriel hadn't drowned in the mob, the bartender ushered the goat behind the bar.

Anticipating the Prince's confusion, Grillby held up one flaming finger to indicate that he would only be gone for a second. Asriel watched silently as the elemental ducked into the back room and emerged with a spare stool and chocolate bar that, somehow, retained its solid form despite its handler. The bartender set the stool next to the Prince and motioned for him to take a seat, handing him the chocolate bar when he did. The goat looked at the candy in his paws with a distant air of awe. It was king-sized.

"Thank you, sir."

The chocolate bar remained untouched and unopened, but Grillby nodded his head in recognition anyway. He couldn't help but wonder what had happened to get the Prince so shaken up. Nobody in the restaurant had treated Prince Asriel with even the slightest amount of disrespect, so it couldn't be that. And aside from looking cold and a little bit wet, the Prince didn't seem to have any injuries. The bartender rested an arm on the counter and leaned onto it. No need to rush an explanation.

"Excuse me, Mister Grillby," the Prince started up again, "d-do you have milkshakes that cost ten gold or less?"

Grillby dipped his head towards his chest in incredulity. He nodded slowly but said nothing. There was no need for anyone to point out that milkshake prices weren't to blame for the Prince's current emotional state. His flames swelled when he traced the Prince's gaze over to the booth where the human sat. Old grudges clambered at his throat. Grillby pushed them down with practiced expertise.

"My friend is real hungry. H-he hasn't eaten anything in a while." The Prince gave the bartender a cloudy look and dropped his voice further. "I know he wants a milkshake. But he's too afraid to ask for it because I told him Mom will be angry if I eat something sweet before dinner, and I only have money for one thing. And, you know, I just want him to be happy. But I don't want to disappoint my Mom either."

Ah. This made a little more sense. Grillby had always known Asriel to be on the delicate side, both physically and emotionally, so his desperation to please was understandable. After all, validation from others was, unfortunately, the cheapest way to heal temporary cracks in one's self-esteem. Grillby sighed again, his thoughts weighing heavily on his shoulders. The Prince of the Underground was so unsure of his worth that the mere prospect of rejection was enough to make him cry. He stifled the urge to place a hand on the Prince's shoulder - children didn't usually take well to being too close to a fire elemental.

At least there was something he could do to make the situation a little better.

Waving away Prince Asriel's proffered money pouch, Grillby disappeared to the kitchen. He emerged minutes later with two massive hamburgers dripping with translucent yellow grease, balancing the plates on his shoulders as he twirled the utensils between his fingers. The steam from the burgers clouded up his glasses, forcing him to set down the dishes on the bar and wipe the lenses. He motioned for the Prince to follow him, the plates returning to their perch on Grillby's fingertips.

Anxious footsteps echoed after Grillby's. "Sir, I can't pay for that! Please, Mister Grillby!" The Prince's anxious bleating drew the attention of a few customers who looked at the scene and burst into laughter.

"Lookit, Saint Grillby is back at it again!"

"Don't' worry, lil' dude! Mr. Fire Man has got your back."

"Hey, Grillbz! If I told you I was Prince Asriel's long lost cousin, would I get a free hamburger too?"

Realization dawned on Prince Asriel's face, and a mirthful puff of steam escaped Grillby. The bartender believed with his entire being that too many good things were crammed into this small place. He was beyond grateful for his noisy, lively customers - they were as much a part of the restaurant as the burgers, fries, and drinks. Again, the Prince tugged on his pants. Once he knew he had Grillby's attention, the little goat spouted off a string of half-memorized reasons why he couldn't accept the gift. The bartender shook his head and walked briskly to the booth where the human sat, smiling as the Prince bounded ahead, untouched chocolate bar in hand, to give their friend a description of the developing situation.

Grillby almost set the entire building on fire when he saw a flash of pure fury on the human's face. It was gone in an instant, and the bartender reminded himself that this was a child , that he'd been working for hours and was probably seeing things, that there was no reason for a kid to be so ideologically opposed to the idea of a free hamburger.

Setting down the two burgers in front of the children and once again deflecting the Prince's attempts to pay, he gave the human his best impression of a smile. It tilted its head curiously. No further malice darkened its' face - no, no, not its , Asriel had said the human was a he. Grillby noticed coldly that the human had somehow taken possession of the Prince's chocolate bar.

After a few more increasingly half-hearted attempts at refusing the food, the Prince relented. Grillby took it as his cue to walk away. The sound of a raspy voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Thank you, Mister Grillby. We'll remember this."

The human.

Prince Asriel quickly echoed the human's sentiments, insisting that they both were extremely grateful and that he would ensure the Royal Family repaid him as soon as possible. Grillby turned around slowly, keeping a tight rein on his core temperature, and nodded curtly.

Jeremy's insistent cries for another basket of cheese fries were, for the first time, a welcome distraction.

»»-««

With a poorly suppressed burp, Asriel pushed his empty plate into the middle of the table. That was a good burger. He would have to convince Dad to bring him here more often. The Prince absentmindedly reached for a paper napkin and ran it over his muzzle, hoping it would absorb any traces of grease left in his fur.

"Howdya like the food, Chara?"

The addressed looked away from the window and down at their plate, which had hardly been touched.

"Wha-! You didn't eat anything!"

"Yes, I did."

Chara pressed the pads of his fingers delicately on the porcelain plate and spun it around, revealing the other half of the burger. Or lack thereof. It was exactly half-eaten, having been split cleanly down the middle. Asriel giggled, then turned red.

"That's real clever, Chara. Sorry that I yelled at you."

The human blinked slowly, then shrugged.

"No harm done, Azzy."

The Prince nodded and pillowed his head on crossed arms, giving Chara a stern look. With slow, carefully picked words, he explained that they would have to leave soon to get home. Chara was silent as Asriel summarized the geography of the Underground, from Waterfall to Hotland to the Capital, entranced with his descriptions of the monsters that lived in each place. The Riverkid, the Lab, the labyrinth of strange elevators he ensured his ward he knew how to navigate...Chara clung onto every word with wide, sparkling eyes.

The flash of heat and weight of another presence near them snapped Asriel out of his monologue. Chara was already staring with a curious expression at the bartender in front of them.

"Oh, howdy, Mr. Grillby! Thank you so much for the meal. It was delicious." Asriel patted his stomach to emphasize the point. No response. The air was curiously tense. Grillby suddenly inclined his head towards the Prince in delayed response and picked his empty plate off the table, sliding a paper bag meant for take-aways in Chara's direction.

Slowly, Chara bundled up his half-eaten burger in a carefully folded napkin and slid it into the bag along with the chocolate bar. He pushed the porcelain plate towards the bartender and pressed his cracked cheeks to the cold glass of the window until the elemental was gone.

"Alright, then. Let's go, Chara!" Asriel's whispered words were lost in the surrounding hubbub, but him sliding out of the booth and pointing towards the door communicated his intentions flawlessly. With the paper bag in hand, Chara eased himself off the leather seating. He tossed a suspicious glance towards the bartender.

Grillby stared back.

They both looked away, minds prattling off a practiced list of explanations and rationalizations. Asriel gave the bartender a friendly wave as he pressed his paw on Chara's back, utterly oblivious to the tension sparking in the air.

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#chara #asriel #undertale #seeking7 #fanfiction

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