#so here's our Asriel and Frisk to give them

[shimmershy]

I want to put your Frisk, Chara, and Asriel in a snowglobe and shake them around /pos

They're so cute and canon it's insane

Also.... I see that lyric from the crane wives, I love them too (it's always Chara fans who like the crane wives for some reason)

Any songs you'd say suit Chara specifically?

Thank you very much!! That's a huge compliment! :]

The Crane Wives are one of my absolute favorite music groups. I got to go to one of their concerts with a friend this year and it was probably the best day of my life to be honest.

Hard question for me to answer because any song can be Characore if I think about it enough, especially The Crane Wives songs because their vibe is already pretty Characore tbh. BUT Canary in a Coal Mine and Strangler Fig in particular fit them really well. The actual meanings of the songs don't fit probably but taking the line "You built your kingdom around me", "I gave you everything I had and now I want it back" from Strangler Fig and deriving the rest of the meaning of the song from that makes me think it's very fitting for them. Plus vibes.

Canary in a Coal Mine is just my favorite song by them, I love it so so much. It always makes me think of Chara. "You and I are friends of empty graves, black air, and black black lungs" HELLO. "And when you break the surface without me, please don't return me to the dark of all the memories". It's just Their Song in my mind.

Back to the Ground. "Our hearts lay still and cold, under ice and frozen soil. I can't stay here anymore, so remember when I go. To give me back, give me back to the ground." Vibes.

Never Love an Anchor. NEVER LOVE AN ANCHOR. This one's so them it's painful. Obviously not related to any kind of romantic love for them. But like. "A ship could never love an anchor, so I did the only thing I could, cut the rope that set you sailing from my harbor". UAGH. " You'll never see the reasons I had for keeping my claws away when they were close enough to hurt you.." Them feeling so out of place with how much the Dreemurrs cared about them, feeling like they're not deserving of so much love because it's so different from what they're used to. They'll mess it up because they're a demon. Etc! I cannot explain this coherently but surely you understand.

The Garden. Less fitting probably but the vibes are there.

I could probably talk about this all day to be honest, I love making connections with song lyrics, but. I will stop here. Maybe some day I'll be able to make all the animatics to songs I want to make because it would be much easier to show it visually.

[reverssentiment]

What are the salient features of Asriel, post-canon, that keep us from "saving" him from life alone in the Underground?

He's soulless (a practical problem),

he'll soon return to being a flower (a practical problem) and would prefer that you think of him like this rather than Flowey (a personal and interpersonal problem), and

he's decided to stay and tend the grave of the fallen child (and this is not really a problem at all; rather, a decision, which the boundary conditions of Undertale require us to respect).

There is a lot of UT post-canon fic out there which treats all these as practical problems. Frisk can just get a soul from somewhere, throw Alphys technobabble or soul arcanobabble at the body issue; get Flowey in therapy; and... also get Flowey in therapy for that last one, because his decision isn't really legitimate, in save-the-goat stories. It's self-harm. Which, personally, is both understandable and missing the point of one of the game's core themes: no matter how many times you restart the story, there are things you can't do; you are not getting a 100% Complete Perfect Pacifist where even Asriel is saved, and it's okay to be wistful about it, but you still need to put down the controller eventually. Getting him to the surface happens a lot in fic, because we all want the goldenest ending, but it could never happen in canon and we just have to live with it. It's thematically potent and I'd lose a lot of respect for Undertale's commitment to its story if you could circumvent it.

(Incidentally, this feels to me like it stems from the same ideas as making "* I have places to be" the wrong answer, a giving-in to Frisk's self-sacrificing, self-disregarding nature which must be corrected. Sometimes, you have to let people live and make their own decisions, outside the boundaries of the story's frame. Your perspective only goes so far.)

...now, fluffier, more sympathetically-traumatized Asriel, on the other hand...!

Ralsei's woes in Deltarune are very visibly the same kind of isolation as what Asriel's dealing with at the end of Undertale, but a) it's worse (a whole lifetime of waiting in a very deliberately empty, lifeless, three-screen-long kingdom) and b) he's stuck there for purely practical reasons. Darkners can't enter the Light World without becoming objects. He never made a decision to be here.

It's not something we can technobabble our way out of right now, but we're only in Chapter 2, right? We can save him, in a way we can't save Asriel: the deadlock we can't resolve has been removed; we don't really have to think about his preferences any more, because the preferences that kept us from helping him and left him stuck in the Underground I mean Dark World are just gone.

His issues are also much more obvious from the get-go, and seem designed to be something we talk him out of – not Asriel's decision to stay by his lost friend's grave, with a weight of meaning and feeling behind it, but hero worship, subservience, religious dedication to the Prophecy and self-image issues, all clear and visible dysfunctions. Giving Asriel therapy has left the realm of fanfiction and wish fulfillment and become part of canon... and the real disagreements we had with UT!Asriel over what he was and meant and deserved have become simple roadblocks for DR!Asriel whoops I mean Ralsei, things we have to help him through. Practical problems where the solution is friendship speech + therapy.

To make a slightly heavy-handed comparison, Ralsei saying we exist to serve Lightners and gratefully referring to himself as Kris's lackey is Anthy saying I'm the Rose Bride because I like it. It's the kind of reason we're inclined to reflexively overrule without working to deal with it at its root. Ralsei is Asriel, minus the irreconcilable and bittersweet parts, someone whose objections to being helped have either been removed or simplified down until we can feel good about disabusing him of them. He's our wish fulfillment in the way that candy on trees might be Susie's and a city of shining lights might be Noelle's and Giant Arcade Consoles might be Berdly's: an Asriel you can help, who you can make go to therapy and deal with the problems that keep him from caring for himself; who'll shut up, comply and let himself be saved.

...so the fact that Kris – whose personal issues are opaque, complex, and frustrating; who appears to be actively hiding parts of their life and motives from us; who clearly doesn't want our help or an improved social life at the expense of their agency – finds him so distasteful might not just be because he's a parody of their brother or Secretly Evil or whatever. If Ralsei is "the kid they're supposed to be" it's not just his fluff and horns!

[moonfang256]

Is Chara with us in Deltarune?

First of all, let's take a step back in time, to Undertale’s world.

When Chara and Asriel died, the prince turned into dust, but his human friend's body was left behind. Because of this, fragments of their soul remained embedded in it and somehow Chara was still conscious, pretty aware of what was happening around them.

After a while, Toriel took their body and buried it where the flowers from the beginning of the game were, where it seemed they would have their eternal rest, but that wasn’t the case...

Everything changed one day when we, the players, burst in with our determination and we called them. Such action caused Chara to awaken and what was left of their being (which was scattered among the flowers) combined with our soul.

While it’s mentioned in “Entry Seven” from the True Lab that humans can’t absorb the souls from other humans, there’s nothing that says that a human soul can’t fuse with another. In other words: Chara attached themselves to the player as a human amalgamate and from there they accompanied us on our adventure with Frisk through the whole underground.

You could say they became a kind of narrator-guide for the player and Frisk, kind of like what Navi is for Link in “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time”. They were in charge of giving us advice, choices, guide, and even in the neutral and pacifist routes, they helped us to stop Asriel as a way to make amends for their past actions.

(Note: They’re also the ones who heal us when Flowey attacks us.)

Once we finish the game in Pacifist and let Frisk go, if we go back in we’ve a chat with Flowey, but he doesn't just talk to us, but to Chara as well. He has understood that Chara, Frisk and us are all different entities, that Chara merged with our soul and somehow Frisk became our vessel.

Throughout the game he confused Frisk and us with Chara because in our soul he detected the fragments of Chara's soul. He basically thought we were all Chara or at least a reincarnation of them, when in reality we aren’t.

Flowey recognized his mistakes and speaks to us one last time to ask us to leave things as they are. He doesn’t want us to become like them, so he asks us to move on.

After that, we appear again at the menu screen with some creepy music playing in the background, right? What happens here is we aren’t really alone.

Even though there’s no one in sight, Chara is still there, waiting to see what we’ll do next.

If we leave and don’t intervene in the game anymore, our soul stays behind and they’ll be satisfied, showing us from time to time how everyone is doing on the surface through Frisk I think (like what happens if Frisk stays with Toriel or the Alarm Clock dialogues.)

Things should have ended there, but something else happened...

---------

We players became obsessed with finding things about Gaster and he contacted us, asking us to be part of his new experiment to create a new future. We accepted without questioning the doctor's intentions, but Chara realized the situation and got to work.

Before continuing, we must clarify that Chara and Gaster seems to don’t get along due to something that happened in the past.

Evidence of this is how Chara acts when we’re in the True Lab.

They try to act strong, but probably inside they’re just as confused and disturbed as we are in this place.

There’s also Gaster calling them a “demon” in the “demon texts codes”, in version “1.05A” (he doesn't even bother to respect their pronouns.)

Back to what concerns us: Chara, realizing we were being dragged into this, decided to look for the closest thing to a Frisk in Deltarune, to prevent Gaster from putting us in the vessel we created and try to do something to us. This is the reason I think we ended inside Kris.

Now in this new world, they, like us, follow the same roles we had in Undertale, with the exception that Kris is fulfilling Frisk’s role of being our vessel and now we’ve more allies.

In addition, Kris intervenes more than Frisk when suggesting choices to the player or do some actions, so Chara may have some small conflicts with them that can be resolved over time.

Another thing to clarify is Chara isn’t possessing Kris, since their remains are still fused with us, unless there’s evidence they can control Kris with our soul while we aren’t in the game, which would explain anything related with the birdcage.

The conclusion of this theory is: Chara (the one from the pacifist, non-genocide route) became our friend and wants to help us and the Fun Gang to get out from this situation we’re in (though things might be different regarding the Snowgrave route).

They’ve always been there for us no matter what and they’re probably the ones singing “Don’t forget”, basically telling us:

"You’re not alone in this, I’m with you”.

[random-autie-fangirl]

I'm gonna say it...the idea that Chara really hates killing monsters or is actively trying to get you to stop at the beginning still makes no sense and is just as out of character as saying they're the one making us kill everyone or that Chara's the one who proposes killing everyone first. It's like fanon that overcorrects and just jumps from one side to the other. I'll see "canon vs fanon" memes for Chara, and be like both of these are equally wrong, what is the defence squad even going on about anymore?

Even before they start taking an active interest in the murder run (which happens at the end of the ruins/beginning of snowdin), they're still...fine with it. They make creepy jokes sometimes and they constantly "alert" Frisk to monsters when they've already... "cleared out" the ruins. (I really think that in-universe is just Chara playing a prank).

Between that and some of my readings of the lines that remain the same on both routes, it almost feels like Chara is...just making fun of Frisk, a little. Poking them in the side and giving them a bit of grief over it (telling them that murder is cringe behaviour, if you will)...but not exactly complaining. Or doing anything about it all, really.

And yet ...I very much think that they could, because apart from them literally saying "since when you were in control", it seems that the choices and narration may somehow be linked together, such as Frisk seeing Flowey for the first time.

They won't get any narration when they first fall or when inspecting the flowers in the first room and consequently when Flowey tries to drag them into a battle, Frisk doesn't have any options yet and they don't have Chara's name on the screen (even the fake fight in Undyne's house has our options menu) and this happens once again in the Omega Flowey fight, Frisk's narration (mostly) disappears and so do their options, along with the memories of Chara that Frisk usually hears when they're dying.

And, of course, there are one or two times when the narrator seems to take direct control of Frisk, think of the "you aren't made of money" moment where you're suddenly stopped from giving too much money over to gyftrot (which then makes it really funny that the Narrator doesn't stop Frisk from killing people) or once when instead of saying "you" (Frisk) opened to the middle of a book, the narrator says "here's a random page" and opens up "randomly" to the page that shows humans in the worst light possible. "fearful of further human attacks..." and consider the difference between "you couldn't think of any conversation topics" vs "but there was nothing to say" one is Frisk's choice, the other is just the narrator's opinion. I don't think Frisk is the one who decides not to say anything then.

And then there's the fact that the Spare option disappears near the end of the murder run, and even before that, there weren't any acting options against Sans and Mettaton, and considering that there's a completely useless act option given in Mettaton's pacineutral fight with the narrator practically saying they have no idea what to do "burn/this is probably what you'll do if things continue in this manner", it makes sense that is at least giving suggestions for acting options, and if they can make options appear, why shouldn't they be able to make options disappear? And I am fairly sure it's supposed to work the same as Chara and Asriel's body sharing in which control is only dependent on how much willpower someone has and how much they want to move, not Level of Violence or anything else.

And to me, that's always been the main point of narrachara, to take it at face value when Chara boasts that they were always in control, that they could take over whenever they pleased, that the only reason Frisk has a choice at all is because they want to see the result, they are inordinately powerful...and inordinately apathetic. They willingly take a complete backseat just to see what a human would do if given the choice and to pretend that they deeply care what happens to their royal subjects feels antithetical to the very idea of narrator Chara. Narrachara is passive, yes, but they are passive by choice. Unwilling not unable to take control.

And then you have to remember that when the change comes, when Chara actively starts helping and almost pulling Frisk along the murder run is at the beginning of Snowdin...when they hear what became of Asriel. Given just how much they attack Asriel by the end and the general need to punish others for their sins, that could be it. Seeing Asriel's fall from grace and him acting as if he's above consequences is what truly gives Chara the motivation to fully destroy the world. Ironic, isn't it? That they destroy everything because they can't face the consequences of their actions.

I also think that given some of what Chara says in the demo handbook, that if they do have a secret opinion that they won't do anything about (and seemingly don't want to tell Frisk about), then I'm not sure it's wanting to SAVE the monsters. Maybe I could talk about it later but in the handbook, Chara tells you that LV just means LOVE and EXP just stands for Ex. Points. They tell you that statistics determine everything you are and that you're basically nothing without them. Chara seems almost averse to telling Frisk that the monsters will die if you win by fighting, and instead always calls it "beat" and "defeat".

I know that two of those are most likely just a way to hide twists but this is Undertale and it's always been true here that a doylist explanation doesn't negate a watsonian one, right? And Ralsei has his own handbook where it both tells you about the mechanics and serves as a tiny window into his character so why can't it be the same here? It sorta seems like Chara...is almost trying to trick Frisk into killing things while not directly telling them to do so. At least Flowey's not a damn coward about his murderous intentions! There are two options here, I think, for what Chara might be trying to do.

One is given that Chara is implied to be Gaster’s assistant scientist in Deltarune and because they so often tend to call things "interesting” or “curious”, It's easy to imagine it as a kind of…test or experiment. They want to know what a human would do if given the choice, and whether a human will always do evil so they set up the fight and spare buttons as a secret test of character. But in this case, it makes sense that Chara also wants to prove themself right. That humanity is true evil like they always said, that Frisk will indeed kill everyone if given the opportunity (and no judgement) so they might have considered that telling Frisk what LOVE and EXP fully mean would be too much handholding or that it would unnecessarily skew the results. Chara gives the opportunity to do evil as a way to root out the wicked.

The second idea is…well, why would Chara know a war had started while they died? If they woke up, still hating humans, still wanting souls to break the barrier, it would make sense that the fastest way to get Frisk killed is for them to attack and be killed in self-defence. Flawless logic, I know. (Flawless logic for a child desensitized to violence. We know their solution to the last problem was murder…why not this one? I doubt Chara would have wanted Frisk to kill everyone, just enough to get attacked in retaliation, plus it's not like a few froggits are important in the grand scheme, right?). In this case, you can see Chara’s wishy-washyness as possibly them not wanting to admit that this is what they're doing (the same kind of cowardliness that stops them killing anything themself until almost the very end of the geno run despite actively encouraging and profiting off Frisk's murders) and thinking that it wouldn't take much of anything at all to convince a human to kill, after all, violence is in their nature, isn't it? In this case, them acting non-judgemental and trying to give Frisk the choice to do anything (while withholding some important information) is not a test, but a trap. Sometimes demons give an opportunity to sin, simply because they want to see the sinner suffer for it.

[idiotic-b-gilson]

The Prank Theory: Or, Why Toby won't make an explicit announcement that Kris' pronouns are they/them despite that obviously being canon.

Disclaimer: people who use they/them for Kris are NOT the butt of the joke here. Although calling it a prank might be a little misleading to begin with, you'll see why.

I know for a fact, judging from my dashboard, that I am not alone in being mad at people misgendering the humans of Undertale and Deltarune (although, I will admit I used to be part of the problem up until quite recently). And we all wish for Toby to just go out and publicly announce that Kris, Frisk, and Chara use they/them only, that Mad Mew Mew is canonically transfem, etc., just to stop all the misgendering. It would certainly be nice and very helpful for the LGBTQ community. However, after giving it some thought, I've come to the conclusion that it most likely cannot happen, and the reason why is the Prank Theory. Treat it as an explanation, but not an excuse.

I came up with Prank Theory over something that's completely unrelated to the above, funnily enough. You see, I have this headcanon that Asriel Dreemurr is not cisgender. I'm not entirely sure what his gender is, but he's not cis male for sure. And I've seen a variety of different takes on this concept. For example, AUs like (Ask) Fallen Royalty by @starlightshore present Asriel as having transitioned in a more feminine direction ((A)FR specifically describes her gender as feminine nonbinary). Others still write Asriel (chiefly the Deltarune one) as transgender male (I've mostly seen that take in NSFW fanfics on AO3, which is a shame cuz it has great potential beyond that. Please tell me where I can find more). Other others still, like my beloved mutual @sukifoof, have proposed that Asriel might be agender. And, let me be clear about something: those are all great ideas, and I love them. But I started to wonder, which of these ideas is the closest to canon? Like, if we also factor in authorial intent, which of these options would fit under it, and which ones wouldn't? That was when I came up with Prank Theory, as a way to kind of imagine at least one aspect of said authorial intent.

Spoiler alert, according to Prank Theory any kind of transfeminine Asriel is incompatible with canon, but again I want to make it clear that that doesn't mean I think they're "wrong" or "bad" or anything like that, and I want to reiterate my endorsement of writing Asriel this way. Besides, my theory could be completely wrong, so...

So, after all that stuff, what does the Prank Theory actually say? Well, in summary: Undertale and Deltarune are some of the most "woke" video games ever made, but conservatives and reactionaries don't seem to have realized that yet, funnily enough. Now, calling it a prank is a wee bit misleading, since it implies that tricking right-wingers into loving a video game with a very progressive setting and message was at least part of what Toby intended. And I don't believe that's the case. He simply makes video games he wants to make, and they just happen to reflect his views on the world, and these views just happen to fly over the heads of some people.

This in and of itself would probably not make it a huge problem for Toby to put in one of his newsletters, or even in an X (as in, former Twitter) post, a correction regarding the genders of his characters. However it does start to become a problem when you factor in that the UTDR community has hundreds of thousands of people in it (although as of the March 2024 it might be a rather liberal estimate), and many of them would be quite pissed off if the video game they like had "suddenly" "gone woke" (ignorant of the fact that both it, and its main creator have been openly "woke" the whole time). And that is a problem in the current environment, because it means that Toby, as well as other people on the UTDR dev team, would be at a significant risk of hate and harassment, which in the Year of Our Lord 2024 could lead to Angel knows what.

On a more cynical capitalist (and much more speculative) level, attracting political controversy this way could sour Toby's relationship with big video game companies which have (as far as I know) played an important part in why Toby's got basically unlimited resources to work on the game of his fever dreams. They saw the widespread, universal acclaim that UT, DR1 and DR2 received, and drew the conclusion that DR3-4 (and the future chapters) will also get a similar reception, and they will get great returns no matter how much money they pour into it. This belief could be shaken if Toby attracted the ire of his transphobic fans by correcting their misgendering of his characters, and thus limiting the reach Chapters 3 and 4 would otherwise have (but again, this is pure speculation, I'm not an economist, nor do I know how much companies like Nintendo have actually invested in Deltarune. So I could be, like, way off).

And that is, in the end, why I believe Toby Fox will not make a statement regarding the canon gender of any UTDR character, at least not while Deltarune is still in development. After it's finished I think he might feel free enough to take that step. But we'll have to see.

Now, I don't know if I'm right. I feel pretty confident in my own theory, but there's a good chance I missed something. So, if I did, please lemme know. In the meantime, let's hope Toby will disprove my theory soon and set things right. And I'll see you around.

[justanechoflower]

She listens to his words patiently, sitting there with him as he told her what he felt. Her face softens as soon as she spots his tears. She lets him finish what he wants to say before scooching closer, sitting by his side. Her hand goes to wipe the tears from his eyes before retreating. She's not all that great at advice. Actually, who is? But even more so on her side since she's not that great at iterating her thoughts. Though, she should try, shouldn't she? Besides, she has a little plan.

I'm not... all that great when it comes to advice. Here's what I think, but take this with a grain of salt, alright?

She says first. Simply as a precaution.

You could.. start to tell your secret to people one by one, instead of going straight to everyone. So that it's not too much all at the same time. I would recommend Sans because he's pretty laidback but considering your history with him, I'm not quite sure.

She takes a deep breath. Fake family. Well, that one's tricky to talk about.

Though, about me and the other askers.. Even if you tell your secret, we won't exactly disappear. Until you decide to stop this whole askblog, you're stuck with us. And I'm pretttyyy hard to get rid of.

She adds the last part with a smile, something to lighten things up a little.

Heck, even without the askblog, I'd still be here, looking over your universe.

She can't tell him that she wouldn't actually be able to. The askblog is a beacon, a sign to creators and askers alike that this universe is approved for interaction by its creator. Without it, she wouldn't be able to access the universe. She would be unable to enter or even gaze in the events of the universe.

But she can't tell him that, now can she?

Though, about the fake family thing... In truth, I honestly don't care whatever you choose as the label for our relationship, other than romance.

She cringes at the last word.

It's up to you what you want to do. Because no matter what you call this, one thing will never change. And that is, you are someone I've grown to care about.

She boops his nose.

And who's to say you can't like it here as Asriel? You can be Azzy or Flowey and we'd all still care for you.

...hopefully. She takes a deep breath. She has an idea and she wants to tell him. And she agreed. So this is alright.

...And about the barrier?

She turns her whole body around to face him fully. She dons a serious face, maintaining eye contact.

I can help you break it.

Asriel: You can?! I mean, of course you can, you're practically a god. If you manage to break it with no suspicion, not only will we finally be on the surface, but I'll probably be free of any royal expectations once I reintroduce myself!

*Asriel scratches the back of his head uncomfortably, as if trying to rub away the doubts that won't stop coming.* The problem is you have nothing to tell them except that you're an entity beyond the code and that's how you can break it. Even if you don't say that it'll be too suspicious if some random human comes and easily smashes it. It took a whole 7 powerful mages to make that wall!

If I'm with mom and/or dad again I probably won't be able to talk as much to you all so no one in this world gets all existential crisis-y... I'll still find some time though! I'm not going to be accompanied all the time. And with Frisk or Papyrus- even sans- it's fine to be around you guys.

Except if it's Sans and Papyrus together. They both know and yet they pretend to be oblivious around each other about this crazy game stuff because they don't want the other to worry... It's so stupid.

Oops, got off-topic. For now, give me more details on breaking the barrier! I'm interested.

[theveryconfusedartistsart-blog]

So since Asriel is coming home for the weekend (and for the festival, he's not gonna miss that) at like the last chapter of Deltarune, it's quite likely that he's coming back just as the game reaches it's climax, that he'll just be coming out of the bus to see a dark world take over the town or the Angel's heaven come to fruition or something and just drops all his bags down in shock...

But actually imagine that Asriel decides to bring his new friend/crush Frisk over because they wanted to see the festival and Az wanted to show them around, basically giving our beloved kiddo an express ticket to actually be involved in the main plot

Maybe they will both get to enjoy the festival a bit before everything goes to shit, maybe they have to make their way through the last dark world (in the background, presumably), maybe Asriel finds Dess again and so Frisk gets to meet her (given the theories that Dess is trapped in the bunker and the last chapter will see us exploring it)

(Also if I am right, and Chara is both the angel and the very definitely final boss of Deltarune, it would be a shame for Asriel to not show up for the final leg of the fight or at least right after it's won.)

You ever try to show your crush around your hometown only for your dead sibling to come back to life in a terrifying angel form, trying to destroy all of humanity (or something similar) to create a "perfect world", because they're still somehow absolutely convinced that they're the One True Saviour and "the future of humans and monsters" (blah blah blah, insert typical Chara bullshit here)? Because that's whats happening to Asriel lol

This is such a cool idea!!

I already really love the idea of Asriel coming back home with Frisk and showing them off to everyone as his romantic partner, introducing them to Kris, and then hopefully getting to save Dess too.

Oh, and having everyone meet/and/or fight Chara like that? It would be intense, especially if Kris and Asriel is dealing with them (and I wonder how Frisk could help???)

[mxdreemurr]

Frisk and Chara Loop de Loop

Words: 4347

Summary: Frisk and Chara are in The Underground, still.

Includes: Meandering structure, interpretive character study, some melancholy, some grief, mention of continuous resets, allusion to no mercy, the difficulties of communicating with people you care about and asking for help, determination.

Chara and Frisk are explicitly part of the Dreemurr family in this, so don't read if you don't agree with that I guess.

Enjoy!

“Oof.” 

You let out a small ‘oof’ as you hit the pile of leaves, landing on your back and staring up at the hole you fell through. The purple stone of The Ruins is all around you. After a moment of blinking slowly upwards, you extend your left arm and raise your hand palm-up in the air over your head. You’re thinking about how it looks like in anime openings or AMVs sometimes when characters do that, and that it’s cool. 

It does kind of look like that. And it is kind of cool.

“How many times has this been?” I think at you.

“Only three or four,” you think back.

I huff mentally. “No, Frisk. Not falling down these holes and landing on the leaves. The whole, everything. Not even just resets, but getting to see Asriel and everyone leaving The Underground and stuff.” I try to cover up my small outburst of emotion and hope you didn’t notice too much.

You lower your arm, resting your hands on your stomach. “I don’t know,” you think. “It’s like Flowey says, it’s—. It’s like waking up from a dream sometimes, you know? They kind of blur together a couple back…” You heave a big sigh and kick your feet. “What about you? Do you know how many times?”

“I…” I mentally furrow my brows. “I’m not great at keeping track of stuff like that. Math is for losers. Tch.” So what if I’m not as great at hiding my emotions as I’d like to be.

Silence stretches on with neither of us saying anything. You close your eyes fully. Eventually I speak up again in your head.

“Frisk… How many more times do you want to keep doing this…? It’s not like Asriel and I need our bodies back that much… Perhaps a change of priorities is in order, and it’s like Asriel said, our parents have moved on, them seeing us again—”

“Stop. Chara. You deserve a happier ending. Both of you do. And your mom and dad love you! They wouldn’t be anything but overjoyed to see you again, I know this. And me too… It’s not just for you, you know. Your family loves you.”

I mentally lean my head on my hand and roll my eyes at you, but I can’t help giving the energy of a small smile.

You smile as well, and lace your fingers together.

“Can we just lie here for a little while?”

“Yeah, of course, yeah.”

***

After only a moment of pause, Papyrus continues on with: “WELL!!! THIS CHALLENGE!!! IT SEEMS… MAYBE… TOO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMAN WITH. YEAH! WE CAN’T USE THIS ONE!!! I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS!!! MY PUZZLES ARE VERY FAIR! AND MY TRAPS ARE EXPERTLY COOKED! BUT THIS METHOD IS TOO DIRECT! NO CLASS AT ALL! AWAY IT GOES!”

The various spikes and spears and flamethrowers and dogs are retracted back from whence they came.

“PHEW! WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!? THIS WAS ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS!!” 

“NYEH!!” 

“HEH!!” 

“…” 

“HEH???”

After Papyrus confusedly makes his exit, you step off the rock-painted-like-a-bridge, feet crunching into the snow covering the ground. You turn and look over at Sans still planted in his spot to the side where he’s been watching the scene unfold. Sans shrugs at you and says, “i don’t know what my brother’s going to do now. if I were you, i would make sure i understand blue attacks.”

You give a polite nod at him and turn to continue on towards town, but he stops you. Seems like he has something more to say?

“hey, kid. you’ve got this look in your eye… you seem dead set about something. determined, you could say? i know you must want to befriend my brother real bad, but uh. no need to be a hero about it. take care of yourself.”

You set your mouth in a line and give another nod, then a hesitant little wave over your shoulder as you turn and head towards Snowdin.

…

“Frisk… I hate to say it, but do you think he may have a point?

You shake your head side to side. “No. Sans is funny, and likes to assume his assumptions about things are true… but it’s not like he really knows anything about us.”

I pause for a second

“…Assume his assumptions…?”

“Sumptions his wumptions?”

“Gumptions his dumptions???”

(… That little bit of impromptu nonsense wordplay got you smiling.)

“Chara.” The goofy smile falls from your mouth a little and turns into something more wistful (Uh oh). “I know you’re trying to look out for me. Thank you.”

“You’re… very welcome.”

“We don’t need to be turning to Sans for advice, though.”

“…I suppose we can agree on that at least. I don’t like when he threatens you. And his puns are B grade at best.”

“Okay no need to grumble, Chara,” you giggle. “And Sans isn’t that bad, in the end. The point is though, I want you to trust me. If there can be one human you can trust—”

“Frisk!!!” I laugh, “of course I trust you. We’re, like, family, you know? How many times has Toriel adopted you? I’ll always trust my family. And I’m sure you could even count as honorary monster at this point, if you wanted.”

“Hmm, I’ll have to think about it…” You do a dramatic little shrug. “But, good. I’m glad you trust me. We’re going to keep on going and I’m going to save you. Both of you.”

(Oh. Oh no. Oh geez, oh crud.)

“Um, Frisk, I don’t know if—”

“Ah ah ah!!! You don’t get to say you don’t deserve it! We talked about this, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember, but—”

“No-butts!!! Hey, how about we go get a cinnamon bunny? I bet that’ll cheer you up!”

“… That’s very thoughtful of you Frisk. Alright.”

“Yesss-!” You do a little victory pose and start skipping to get to the shop faster.

…

“Frisk, you remind me of myself sometimes.”

“Thanks!!!”

(…I don’t think you get it.)

***

Water falls all around us as a familiar tune begins to play. You kneel in front of the old statue, the red umbrella propped up in its arms. The ground is wet and dirty, but even still, you know I would be kneeling beside you if I could. You know I would bow my head if I could. I would put my face in my hands. I would embrace it in a hug and weep on its shoulder. Every time.

You pat your hand on the ground beside you, seeming to understand. I can feel the stone and grit.

“You’ll get your hands dirty. Not to mention your knees already. The water makes all the gravel and stuff stick to you.”

“I know.”

“Woshua wouldn’t be pleased.”

You chuckle lightly, and bow your head for a quiet moment.

After a long couple minutes of silence, you tentatively ask: “Do you remember the music box that’s in here?”

“Of course. It was a gift from our parents. Asgore had a friend who did craftwork like this. It’s beautiful… I, uh, I think this is a good home for it now. We really loved exploring Waterfall.”

You smile a little. “You know it’s not that long until we can see Asriel again, right?”

“I know that!!! Silly!” I respond, exasperated but a little amused. “It’s just that, well… Ugh. You know…” I trail off.

“I do know.”

“He deserved better, he does deserve better. He was so scared and alone as a flower, and then, and then there’s this, the journey and The Barrier, but then he’s just alone again? Even when we can get him to come with us, he still won’t tell mom and dad who he is… and he’s still stuck as a flower! How is that fair…”

“I feel the same way… but about you too. Stuck without a body, also not ready to tell our parents. And I bet that he would feel the same as well. Asriel would want us to be doing this.”

…

(Ugh. If only they knew.)

“Just let them go. 

Let Frisk be happy. 

Let Frisk live their life.”

(What have I been doing. Frisk… you… You have a life too…)

You only seem to be half expecting a response; you’re already hoisting yourself to your feet, and leaning over to give the statue a goodbye kiss on the top of the head. You have so many confident, bright feelings radiating off your soul. I take another look at the statue as you politely step back, before you turn to continue on. 

Asriel…

“Um. Yeah, I guess you’re probably right, huh. He would want us to be doing this.”

You smile confidently and give a nod, marching onwards and outwards through the caverns of Waterfall, its denizens mostly watching on from out of the way. 

(Frisk… I remember when we first met, when you first fell into The Underground. You were so frightened, so afraid and beaten down. Every kindness was like a miracle to you. You were intimidated by the size of the pie, wouldn’t leave mom, and then kept getting captured by Papyrus because you wanted a place to stay. Look at you now, huh… I just hope you can stay this way, keep your determination and your hope, I don’t know if what you’re trying to do is even possible…)

***

The sweltering heat of Hotland is all-encompassing as you make your way along the stone path, the large pool of magma stretching out to your right with The CORE plunked right in the middle of it. Always a little uncomfortable coming through here with that sweater of yours. Not that I can critique your choices in clothing, though.

You stop midway along the path and turn and look at The CORE.

(I’ve been doing my narration schtick as usual, but I’ve been kind of tense since the statue in Waterfall… Maybe it’s time for a good-natured joke.)

“Hey, Frisk,” I nudge you mentally, “you ever think about jumping in there?” I ask, referring to the large pool of magma.

You roll your eyes at me. “Uh, yeah, obviously.” I raise a figurative eyebrow at you. “Not like I’m going to though. Too hot for a bath, don’t wanna become Frisk Soup today.”

I chuckle at that. “Also the magical platforms that save you if you fall.”

“Oh yeah, also that.” We’re both giggling a little now.

After a moment though you cross your arms and put your hand on your chin  thoughtfully as you survey the familiar scene before us. “Hey, Chara. You know Gaster?”

“Uh, yeah…?” I have no idea where you’re going to go with this question, but I hope nowhere too personal about my past.

“… What do you think was his creation that he fell into…? Was it The CORE?”

“The CORE?” I echoed, “hmmm. Lots of places to fall into in and around it I suppose. All the magma that feeds it, and then all the glow-y foggy stuff inside… It’s certainly magical as heck in order to generate magical power, obviously, but I’ve never heard of a reason for it to have the power to shatter someone across time and space…? Not like I know that much about it though… it’s not my specialty,” I sniff.

“And you’re not even a scientist. And you’re like thirteen.”

“I suppose,” I say, doing the mental equivalent of looking at my fingernails. “You’re like, twelve though? So don’t get on my case about it.”

“Hmm, I suppose,” you say in mockery. We manage to last two seconds before smiling at each other and giggling again.

…

(Perhaps it would be constructive to inform Frisk more about what I know of the machines in The True Lab… Well… Maybe one of these resets if it becomes relevant. We’ll see.)

***

Your quiet footfalls across the wooden floorboards make some of the only sound to be heard in the house right now. The white and grey colour scheme lends a feeling like an old photograph. It’s so quiet, no one happens to be visiting at this time, and Asgore spends so much time in the garden taking care of the flowers. I clench your fists unconsciously.

“Before we get the keys and your stuff, is there anything in particular you’d like to see this time, Chara?”

“… The teacups. In the cupboard in the kitchen.”

You nod, and smile, and take us over there.

You reach up on your tip-toes and open the cupboard doors. Inside are plates, bowls, and a collection of painted teacups, all sitting on a yellow checkered cloth. I mentally indicate which one I want and you pick it up for me and bring it down. It’s white porcelain with a soft green and yellow floral design on it. I can feel the weight and coolness in your hands.

I remember sitting at the big table, beside Asriel on the long side, mom and dad on both ends. Sometimes, an hour or so after dinner, the family would have tea together. And I was always invited (But it was okay if I didn’t go, and stayed in our room instead). My brother and I would have herbal teas, I liked the floral ones. I remember mostly listening, to the warm happy conversation of a family (My family, I’d only just barely been able to accept that). Listening to the low, comforting sounds of talking back and forth between our parents, my brother’s bright, excited additions to the conversation, it’s a memory that is unspeakably precious to me now. I would occasionally be asked to join in with my thoughts on something, or how I’ve been doing, but never pressured to talk more than I wanted. Everything was always gentle encouragement but never forcing me into anything I wasn’t comfortable with yet (The kindness was overwhelming, I’ll never be able to pay it back in full).

I remember Asriel nudging me under the table, passing me a folded-up note while our parents were talking. A promise in his handwriting to show me a new secret hide-away, along with a little doodle of us. 

We smiled at each other then, and I can feel myself smiling now, my emotions soaking over to Frisk’s body across the soul that we share.

“It must be a good memory,” Frisk thinks to me.

“Mhm, it is,” is all I respond.

I blink the tears out of Frisk’s eyes, coming back to the present. I look around the empty kitchen and feel us in an empty house. The reality is still there, my family is scattered; my brother and I died, and mom and dad at complete opposite ends of The Underground. And it’s my fault.

I look at the teacup in your hands and think about if we were to drop it how it would shatter. I think about how once we reset it would be back together, back on the shelf. I think about Flowey.

I don’t think about the warm mental waves of comfort that you’re sending me, or how you’ve lowered your trembling body to the ground in a crouch and are rocking us back and forth soothingly. I don’t think about how I failed to make my thoughts as private as I would have liked.

“Hey, Chara, it’s not your fault, okay? You’ll be okay, we’ll get your family together again properly, I promise. I’m not going to stop trying. It’ll be okay…” I listen to you go on with your reassurances. I’m appreciative for it. It takes a minute but I manage to even out our breathing which I hadn’t noticed had become slightly frantic. “…Your family loves you, they would never blame you for anything.”

I gaze out the kitchen doorway at the family dining table, focussing on the details of what I can see. I take the biggest inhale and let out the biggest sigh possible, and send you a mental thumbs-up. I take all my feelings of guilt and failure, and I take all my feelings of belonging and love from my memory, and I try to hold them between your hands in this teacup.

After insisting repeatedly that I’m okay enough for us to get up, you do get us up, and return the teacup back to the shelf we found it on.

“Alright Frisk, you lead the way. Let’s get to seeing Asgore soon though, I still feel like I’m suffocating a little bit from all of this memory and feelings and junk.” (And the empty house and the quiet and how I’m not going to cry more I just need to get moving). “It’ll be nice to see him again, even if he’s… going to try to kill us— oh geez we’re on a rollercoaster until the end huh.”

You grab the key from the kitchen and add it to your keychain, and then set off in a little jog out through the dining and living room to the hallway. “Not true! We’ll have a nice event with Alphys and Undyne set up! Courtesy of Papyrus and his Flowery Friend.” You do a little smile at me. I do a little mental eye-roll at you, but smile too.

“Thanks for your help Frisk, you’re a real life saver.”

“Hehe, shucks Chara, anytime.” You add the hallway key to your keychain as well. You linger outside the door to me and Asriel’s bedroom, as if asking if I’m ready. I signal an affirmative and you open the door.

Two neatly wrapped presents, as always. “Thank you Flowey,” I say in a slightly teasing but affectionate tone. You sit down cross-legged to open up the two gifts. My heart-shaped locket and rusty knife, best comfort items I could ask for.

…

Before you can get up off the floor, I speak up and think at you “You know Frisk. You’re putting a lot of burden on yourself for me. This… mission that you’ve taken upon yourself for me and my brother’s sake. I’m grateful, very much so. But I want to make sure you know you can rely on me too, you can ask for help, I’m here if you need to talk about anything… I feel like it’s been a few resets since we’ve visited the quiche room—” 

“Ha—! Chara, you’re hilarious. You know I’m always okay!”

“That’s… not true.” I’m a bit surprised at your sudden reaction.

Perhaps realizing that that sounded slightly forced you wiggle awkwardly in place and try again. “Well, I may have climbed a mountain that it’s said people disappear on, that’s true. But! I’ve made so many friends, and I have a new family now! It’s all so bright and colourful, and I’m so happy to have ended up here. This journey together through The Underground, meeting everyone… There were tough parts, but finding out how kind monsters can are…! And then the catharsis at the end, I couldn’t ask for more.”

“Okay, but… This has all happened, according to both of us and what we can remember, uncountable times since the first. How is it going enjoying being with your new family when we keep leaving everything and going back to the start?”

“I—,” You sound taken aback, “there was a time I stayed with them on the surface for a while!!!”

“And then you came to me begging for me to reset again, because you couldn’t bear not having gotten the perfectest, best, most happy ending! Because you need to be the best, most perfect kid possible, and you need to be everyone’s hero!!!” … I stop, realized that was maybe a bit harsh. And that I might have accidentally said all that out loud with your mouth.

I slump and let go of your body. “I’m sorry, Frisk. I’m going to say it outright, which is hard for me; but you really do remind me of myself, and not in a good way. I don’t want you destroying yourself over trying to save everyone. I can’t make you stop, and I’m not going to abandon you, we’re partners in this; but I just want you to know that it’s okay to ask for help. Will you remember that? Please?”

“…Yeah, I’ll do my best.”

Shoot. You sound kind of broken-hearted. 

“I’m really sorry Frisk. I’m just. Scared for you. But I shouldn’t say things like that. It’s not your fault. I love you, Frisk, you’re the best sibling I could ask for. Or, well, tied for first place. I hope you understand.”

You giggle a little bit. “You too Chara. I never thought I would have a family like you, and Asriel, and Toriel and Asgore… I love you too. And I guess you’re right. Maybe I do have problems.” You’ve leaned back from your cross-legged position and are now lying on the floor. “And you’re the last person I should be hiding from. We share a soul. So it’s kinda silly.”

“It’s not silly, but… I see what you mean.” We smile at each other again.

You tilt your head back, peering under my bed. “Hey Chara! You want anything from under here? Oh—, woah… I never realized how cluttered it is under here…”

“No, thank you, Frisk. I’m good,” I laugh. And I do feel good for now actually. “I can collect my things once I have my body back. And it’s cluttered because eventually I was no longer hiding under there all the time.” I chuckle a little and you beam an absolutely radiant and sappy smile at me.

Even if you’re hell-bent on repeating my past mistakes, I’ll be right there with you the whole way.

After your lovely commentary on how I keep my side of the room, we’re ready to get up and continue on our way. We a brief look around in Asgore’s room, head back out to the middle of the house, and then turn to make our way down the stairs. Just as you’re about to step down, we both notice something yellow out of the corner of your eye. You turn your head, and there’s Flowey, in the front doorway of the house. He looks at us, and we look at him, and then he burrows away into the ground.

***

Streaks and splashes of colour and light fill the world around you. Like a thousand prisms broke open and spilled their rainbows. Stars rain down like the sky was falling. The world is ending. Again.

We hug Asriel tightly.

***

“Frisk… Don’t you have anything better to do?”

Asriel twists around a little to look at you from where he’s kneeling in front of the golden flowers, having sat down when he thought you were leaving. His small look of surprise changes to a pinched brow as you sit down beside him. You cross your legs and start running your fingers over the flowers, both of you bathed in golden light from the late afternoon sun.

Asriel settles back into his previous position, resting his paws on the soil on either side of his knees, looking down at the flowers, up at the hole in the ceiling, and then sideways at you. He gives a little sigh.

“I guess you can stay here a little longer, just… not too long, okay?”

You nod a little at him. A minute or two passes.

“You know Frisk, I don’t know everything that’s going on with you… The Barrier has broken and monsters can go free, but it’s okay if you still have your own problems.” He shuffles nervously. “I hope you know it’s okay to ask for help out there; you have a new family who really loves you! Of course you could tell me about anything, but… it’s just that I’m going to be a flower again soon… But you should tell Toriel, Asgore, or even Papyrus if there’s something on your mind!”

“I will”, you sign, and smile.

When you get up to go, I manage to quietly mumble out “See you later, Asriel.”

***

“ …

I’m sorry.

You’ve probably heard this a hundred times already, haven’t you…?

…

Well, that’s all—”

“Wait”

“Wait? You want me to wait?”

“I have— I have heard it. A hundred times before.”

“Hah, and what, you want to gloat about it…?”

“No, you’re right. It’s been too many. I want to ask for help. I couldn’t ask for help when I was still alive, but I’m doing it now. And I know you want us to let Frisk go, but Frisk is too, we’re asking for help.”

“… You and me both,” Flowey smiles ruefully, “what do you want me to do about it though?”

“Nothing right now, I just. Thought you should know. Keep the family in the loop whenever we can and all. We’ll talk after the reset, okay? Try not to attack us right away.” I smile back.

“Haha, well, no promises. I don’t know what you two are up to yet, and I can’t say I’m pleased it’s taken this many resets, but. I guess I’ll look forward to being filled in, in the past.” He scoffs a little. “See you soon, Chara.”

I take a ghostly breath, clench my fists, and fall back.

***

You open your eyes and see the morning light filtering down from the hole above us, filling the cavern around us, and dancing on the golden flowers cradling your body. Motes of dust drift through the air.

You sit up and rub your eyes, looking around. Flowers, crumbling pillars, and an entranceway before us.

Just beyond that entranceway, Flowey is straining to hear what’s going on in the room he just ran away from when a human fell into it. Farther than that, a grey door stands stark against a rocky wall of Waterfall. A clam monster is waiting to gossip about her neighbour’s daughter. The Underground is still full of mysteries to discover, people to meet, and things to do. I know we’ll find a way forward, together.

[blanken-tale]

Chapter One: Remembering

Sooo this is my first chapter of Anom's back story and I want to put it here for you all to read. ENJOY! I am sorry if the fight scenes are short!

[IN THIS VERSION THE CHARA NAMED ANOM AND THE FRISK NAMED ALY GO BY HE/THEY. BOTH ARE MALES, THIS IS MY INTERPRETATION OF THESE TWO AND GOES BY THE SEMI CANON. DO NOT FIGHT ME ABOUT THIS]

…

My world was… gone. How to explain it… it's filled with dust head to toe, the only ones left from it? Me and Frisk. The 8th fallen human and the 1st fallen which on its own is ironic knowing I’m gonna be stuck with them forever. But even if our timeline or world is gone I’ve met people through the broken timelines to make up for it. Therapy Frisk who is fused with SwapShift Frisk or Snore was it? And Potara Chara. Sometimes called Po-Chara. Another Asriel or as I call him, Azzy and more Sans, my dislike for him is still there because he’s so annoying. These people are like my family.

Right now I’m sitting in my workshop looking at the core schematics. Why? I had this theory that a reset button from Therapy Frisk brought back my timeline and reset it bringing it back and we can all go pacifist… I haven’t told them as I know they would get mad and want to [SAVE] me again. Didn't want to worry about them again even after the stuff with Gaster, so I’m just sitting here still figuring stuff out, eyes wandered towards the reset button in the soul jar chained up by DETERMINATION, I hated that button with all my being seeing that… we-wanted to stab it or break it in some aspect, knowing that Frisk can just throw this world into a loop nonstop. I hated that. 

Eyes glaring at it, A sigh was let out sigh as A voice called from below and rolled the blueprint up and shoved it into the drawer then locked it, walking towards the door on the floor as well, this room is in the attic, the Skele-bros let me set this up above my room. Opening the door and entering my room, Therapy Frisk wanted me to share a room with my Frisk and denied I did and left my room leaning over the railing to see everyone down there. 

* “Anom!”. Therapy yelled, well her actual name is Frisk. I just call her ‘Therapy’ or ‘Giggle Freak’ as a nickname. Why? She likes helping people in the form of therapy and she always giggles when having fun.. I rolled my eyes.

“I was busy,”. I replied sternly. 

* “Were you ever busy?”. My Frisk, or Aly emerged from his room. Everyone else calls him that. Anom and Aly make ‘Anomaly’, that was Maf’s explanation. I flipped them off in annoyance, my middle in their face then I jumped off the railing, my back facing the direction and landed on the couch. It was always fun to do that. Mettaton’s show was on as always with boring stuff and always found it boring because he’d either do talk shows or the news. Whatever news there was… Hearing his voice did annoy me but seeing him on the screen… was just a stupid reminder. One that I always hate. Glaring at the screen just watching his robot body spin around just doing the usual antics, trying to show the world what he can do and the entertainment monsterkind can provide. I’ll give credit though, it’s better than what the human world provides and at the same time it's nice to see him collaborate with the human world to bring some comfortability so he’s not doing a monster only show.

My eyes darted from the screen filled with small anger and avoiding, trying to ignore the noise and his stupid voice and the show theme song trying to block out. I didn’t want to see his face, hear his voice… my hands clenched tightly. Nails digging into my palm to the point I couldn’t stand it and got up to leave, walked towards the front door.

“Hey Anom! Where are you going?”. Po-Chara asked.

“To run an errand,”. I replied and left the house slamming the door and feeling the snow crush beneath my feet. I did kinda feel bad for slamming the door like that, Po-Chara isn’t being an ass towards me, I’m just pissed at myself right now and I lied, there was no errand to do at all. J ust needed to get away from everyone. 

“Hey Anom!”. A voice ranged out from behind. I turned around and it was… Po-Chara.

“What is it?”. I asked. 

“Are… you ok?”. She asked. I was silent for a moment.

“Yea, why wouldn’t I be?”. I spoke, trying to laugh it off. Seems that didn’t sit well with her. Of course she’d be suspicious of it.

“You seem… a little… off or upset. Sorry for asking”. She asked, concern on her face. 

“I’ll be fine alright… I’m just going to do some errands and then go on a walk for some mind clearing”. I lied again, hoping she’d just take it and leave. But still it didn’t sit with her, she gave me that  sibling worried expression. Of course. I know she means well but right now I don’t want to talk and at the same time I don’t want to hurt her feelings, adding that she is that determined to help her family. 

The silence was thick and awkward, just staring. I want her to leave so I can do my own stuff. Eventually she got the hint and hung her head down slightly. Now I feel sorta bad… 

 “Chara… it’s I’m not mad at you or anything alright so don’t feel guilty”. I spoke. 

“If you’re sure…”. She spoke then gave me a smile trying to cheer herself up, then walked back home disappearing into Sans and Papyrus’s old house. Me on the other hand kept moving and entered the Papyrus fight area. Great fucking memories huh. Looked down to see Papyrus’s head laying on the snowy ground, speaking but no sound came out. Up to my imagination. Probably saying: “Anyone can be a good person if they try!”. Laughed it off in my head sarcastically. Possibly sadistic. Am I though? How did I end up like this… how…? 

Arrived at the Waterfall, and walked past Sans’s hotdog stand, always empty. Past the high grass where Undyne always stood peering down looking for Frisk or any humans that walked past and of course take their souls. the lilypad bridge and into the echo flower field, hearing  the words being repeated non-stop. This spot always gives me some clarity but at the same time it was hell. Why? Nonstop hearing mine and Asriel’s old conversations which made me wanna rip my hair off or crack my neck, letting death welcome me. There’s many things I want to hear or see but the echo flowers aren’t one of them. Sure they are beautiful but they are more beautiful when a peep doesn’t come from them. 

 what I wanted to go to more was the statue. Why? I guess I just needed a quiet spot to clear my hand and… at the same time wanted to listen to… a familiar song. I’m that fucked huh 

Stopped at the statue standing in front of it, the water still raining from above and the umbrella was in hand. Took a deep breath and my hands slightly shook as I reached inside, feeling the box, cold and metallic. As my hand moved around I felt the crank and rewinded it, I heard it start… his them along with the rain hitting the umbrella. Another deep breath was taken and I sat down next to it and laid my head on it, feeling the hard rocky surface. My eyes staring down as guilt washed over me. I’m really sorry… Azzy. Wish I could go back and stop my stupid idea from happening or maybe ask mom for help when we made the pie… and when dad got sick… wished it didn’t inspire me to… eat the buttercups. Fuck. It’s a shame those flowers are beautiful but deadly. Heh… it was hell during those times, constantly puking and pan filling 

Stopped myself as the feelings started to wash over me, the memories flashing past like photos speeding past. Even… our death… then memories of Toriel started to flood too… her sitting at my bed as I lay there in pain and Asgore saying the words: “Stay Determined Chara”. He always says that Maybe it was best to… sleep it off and that’s what I decided to do. closing my eyes… letting everything fade back and trying to ignore the memories filling my mind. Hearing the music box beside me, I didn’t want to drown it out at all. . .

. . .

[SAVEPOINT-FLOWER BED TIME-O0:00 AU-UNDERFELL]

[. . .]

[SAVEPOINT-LOADED]

...

* Hey, Chara wake up 

* Charaaaa* . . .

* Chara?. . . * CHARA! WAKE UP!

...

I let out a huge gasp as my eyes shot awake feeling the sunlight hit my face and my headshot with the pain, a groan emitting from my mouth. Last thing I remembered was ripping Frisk’s soul out and someone pulling me into the void and hearing Asriel’s voice... Sitting up I looked around to see the all too familiar flower bed beneath me and the pillars, great I’m back here again and groaned mentally. Got up and wiped the dust off me and walked through the hallway with that familiar door and saw the small green grass patch that always has a light shining on it, and the all too familiar flower, lookin at him though… he looks beat up, scratches and ripped petals shaking in fear and his face black with a frown I emerged from the doorway and suddenly something wizzes by my face nearly grazing my cheek. What the fuck! My eyes widen in shock, still haven’t gotten used to that even if I watched Frisk interact with the talking weed twice and get surrounded by the [FRIENDLINESS PELLETS] plus mom coming in to save them.

Finally when we both made eye contact and he finally got a good look at my face it was like he saw a ghost, his flower body started shaking slightly, his expression filled with shock.

* “C-Chara?!” He shouted out.

“One and only”. I replied and carefully walked towards the shaking flower, every step slow.

* “Y-you can’t be real! You died!... unless it’s an illusion and you’re not Chara!”. His scared tone got offensive as 5 friendliness pellets appeared behind him, I put my hands up in defense. 

“Woah woah! Azzy!... calm down it's me Chara!”. I shouted out as an attempt to defuse this potential fight. 

* “How do I know this isn’t a trick and you’re a human pretending to be them!”. He shouted out and honestly that was the stupidest thing he could’ve ever mustered out but at the same time… don’t blame him. I would think that too if there was a new goat monster and he wore the same stuff as him. I’d lose it and that fast. 

“Asriel. How would a human know about a child that died 100+ years ago and what they look like?”. I asked, pinching the bridge of my nose. It seems the gears were finally turning in that plant brain of his.

* “I-it’s really you!”. He exclaimed not wanting to let this slip by. 

“One and only,”. I repeated. 

* “How are you alive?!”. He asked but there was a small smile on face or a relieved face. 

“Complicated… but how are you alive?”. I asked, not that I don’t want to answer, I just can’t find a way to answer him.

* “I don’t know, I just woke up as a flower”. He explained. Wait… does he not remember what happened before in the last reset? Where… he got killed and why does he look beat up? The gears started turning in my head, then a voice was heard coming from ahead

* “Hello? Is anyone there?” the voice asked.

Flowey in an instant used his vines, grabbed me and threw me into the shadows and made the ‘shush’ motion and burrowed before I could say anything. A tall goat woman emerged, her eyes yellow and twitchy with heavy eye bags that were red… took a while to register that… it was mom… her normal purple robe black and torn and she’s wearing sweatpants? Had a maniac look in her eyes mixed with a tired look… and also paranoid. Her eyes scanned the room before taking a deep breath. I wanted to run to her and hug her tightly but something was telling me not to move like she was gonna do something or kill me… or worse but was just something off about her that didn't sit right with me. But she wouldn’t kill me right? I’m her first human child. Has she snapped that much because of… me? I stared at her yellow eyes analyzing every corner, her hands slightly shaking and muttering to herself. It was hard to make out what the fuck she was saying but it’s probably something about the Ruins or dad. She never liked dad ever since I… but she’s not a saint at all. I loved my parents… and when I found out they split up… it broke me. They promised each other no matter what they’d stay together and here they are. Mom in the Ruins and dad at New home. Both alone in their own way.

After there was no response from me or Asriel for the past few minutes, she turned around and entered the room. Flowey sprouted up from the ground and I stepped out of the shadow and looked at him with a “What the fuck” look. He responded with an awkward smile and I returned that shitty smile with an unamused face and my arms crossed, my eyes glaring at me

“Asriel, what the fuck was that?”. I asked. 

* “As you can tell… mom hasn’t been the same since you died”. He spoke. 

“It looks like she hasn’t slept,”. I commented. 

* “Y-Yea…”. He said. * “All the monsters here… are scared of her… hah…”. 

“What do you mean?”. I asked.

* “It's hard to explain… just know you should be weary and not let your emotions of reuniting cloud your judgement”. He said and that is the most reasonable thing he’s said. 

“Asriel, did she do something wrong? I asked. He said nothing. “Did our mom do something wrong?”. Pushing him more on this, but he was reluctant and at this point I just let out a sigh. He’ll tell me when he wants or feels ready to.

“Cmon, we’re leaving”. I ripped him from the ground and his vines subconsciously wrapped around my arm, my hands reached down and grabbed a handful of dirt and rubbed it all over my face so Mom wouldn’t have a heart attack. If I ever ran into her, I kinda don’t want to deal with it. I left the grass patch and into the entrance of the [RUINS] which look… different. Instead of a purple color it's maroon color with cracks and a cobwebs plus the feeling of emptiness, seeing the leaves on the floor and the [SAVEPOINT] floating above it, a shame I can’t access it but wouldn’t hurt to try so my hand moved towards it and when I made hand contact the save menu popped up.

* [THE SHADOW OF THE RUINS LOOMS ABOVE, FILLING YOU WITH DETERMINATION.] 

That part I read to myself because I am my own narrator and I remembered I used to read to Frisk a lot during our time down here. Fun memories huh? Even remembered the first time it popped up. I just knew I had to read it out loud,

[RUINS ENTRANCE LV-?? TIME-2:54] 

[SAVE]  [RETURN]

I looked at it, guess I can’t save and I assume it just autosaves as it goes and I don't know what level I’m at but then again all the [DETERMINATION] Frisk gained and it automatically went to me and I have their soul so maybe I could…

[MENU] -> [STATS]

“CHARA”

LV - ?? HP - 99/99

ATK- 38  EXP: 9999

DEF- 4   NEXT: N/A

WEAPONS: NONE

ARMOR: NONE

GOLD: 0  KILLS:0

Yep, still Frisk’s stats but under my name… wonder if I can set it all to 0 so I don’t gotta deal with Sans, kinda like a clean slate and wouldn’t hurt to attempt that, my eyes scanned through the menu and feeling like Azzy is reading with me, he always wanted to help others so it didn’t hurt I guess but it was like he wanted to keep it discreet and failing at the same time. Then my eyes found the [TRANSFER] button but it was to transfer all my data and [DETERMINATION] to another user with the same soul so I just sighed in frustration.

Issue: there is no [SAVE] button, the [PROGRESS] I had so far even though it was small couldn’t well… be logged in for a [SAVEFILE] and it didn’t [HEAL] me at all though I don’t have any wounds to heal. So… this is it. Unable to use this but to only check on the stats Frisk had. Laughable. I’m handicapped in this situation but could he [SAVE], [RESET] and [LOAD]?  

And I’m screwed if Sans sees past me and decides to [FIGHT], cause “I have high EXP and LV” plus I have no dust on me. Make a passing comment about it or throw verbal punches at me. Maybe eating the flowers isn't so bad… I closed the [MENU] and walked up the stairs to the dark maroon colored ruins and entered, to the first puzzle, the one mom showed Frisk. I kinda remembered the way and stepped on the path Toriel always showed and then hit the switch on the wall which the path opened.

 Entering this room, it was the switch puzzle mom also told Frisk to do while she watched and gave some input. Basically being a helicopter mom. I don’t blame her though… I did the first puzzle, flipped the switch and the spikes sunk into the ground, did the other one with the answer clearly being the 1st puzzle and the spikes on this one sunk into the ground also. This did bring back memories… I hated it but I kept pushing through, first two switch puzzles completed and then walked into the training dummy room. Mom always wanted Frisk to talk to it, ya know make some silly conversation and show [MERCY]. I’m sure she’d talk to it a lot as… she was lonely… sometimes I wondered what it was like for her, spending everyday alone, talking to the same monsters, doing the same things over and over like baking, reading, snail hunting and talking to Sans. Did she like it? Did she hate it? Did she like… tending to my grave…? 

I looked at the dummy, it looked to be damaged, loose stitching, and loose stuffing. Even missing an eye. I approach it and the world turns black with the damaged dummy standing in front of me with the chat. 

* [YOU ENCOUNTERED THE DUMMY]

I was in a fight… the usual [FIGHT, [ACT], [ITEMS and [MERCY] buttons were in front of me. Like I was… Frisk’s place… Great. I remember to play [MERCY] you have to talk to the dummy. When Frisk punched or attacked it, it basically fell apart. How strong was that kid jesus.  

[ACT] -> [TALK]

“Sup Dummy!”. I spoke, trying to make conversation. There was no response.

[MERCY] -> [SPARE]

I got 0 [EXP] and 0 gold… broke bitch, but it’s whatever. I just hope his super sensitive cousin doesn’t get butthurt and attacks me. Looked towards the entrance to the next room and… mom was standing there softly smiling at me. 

* “Very good, my child”. She said, Thanks… mom. I softly smiled back. Left the room and entered the next one and then.

A froggit approached me. I looked at it, which was obviously the poor thing was scared shitless. And it looked red, why the fuck as it red? Asriel was ready to attack it to scare it away. Slowly walked over to it and started giving it a slight pat on the head, all fear it had melted away and it stopped being red. Weird… I gave it a small smile and it ran off. Didn’t get any gold. Fucking sucks! Normally mom would give it a glare and it ran off.

The spike puzzle room appeared. I had the path mom alway took memorized I think. It was just 4 x 14 rows. I was about to take a step forward when I saw mom again… she grabbed my hand and started leading the way. Even though it was an illusion, it felt real. I was silent looking up at her and holding back tears, but… it’s not really mom. Fuck that hurt like hell. When we reached the end we entered the long hallway.It was stupid, she made us run through it because she wanted to test our independence. I don’t think she’s ok or all there. 

* “I am sorry for this my child, but I must go do something”. She spoke and then started to run off. As usual, I ran after her, just trying to catch up after her. Asriel was probably looking at me confused the whole entire time. Didn’t care. Just continue until you reach the pillar and she’s normally… there… she wasn’t there. Fuck me and my hopes. I let out a heavy sigh.

Entering into the next room with a Froggit and a [SAVEPOINT]. Great. I was hesitant to try to see if I can [SAVE] with this one. Looking at the Froggit, this was probably the one preaching [MERCY] which yea all monsters deserve that. Weird thing though, before I died I could never understand Froggits. Mom tried teaching me monster language and Froggit language because well they just say “Ribbit” like normal frogs. Then after I died and Frisk sorta revived me instantly I could understand them and translate for him. And now since the [DETERMINATION] gathered fully revived me, I can still understand froggits. 

My favorite part was the candy! Monster candy to be exact. Why is it my favorite part? Cause I get to bully Frisk about it and go “You made a mistake dumbass!”. Hey when you’re a ghost bound to a child gotta make the best of it. Somewhat. I just ran into the monster candy room and looked at the bowl. I'm sure mom always refills the candy, so I grabbed 2 pieces and left the rest for the other monsters or humans if they ever fall down. Left the room, the Froggit was still there and of course my good old friend [SAVEPOINT]. I Just walked past the room and 

At this point what bothered me was how different the ruins looked, the monsters were scared, hiding in corners or shadows of the ruins and their eyes staring at me in fear despite the color change and the emptiness filling the area at every turn. What did mom do to these guys? Just scared shitless, did she hurt them? Why though… She's the kindest monster ever! Despite her mind not all there she’d always teach mercy no matter what. Believing that [ACT]ing is the way. So… what’s the difference here? From the first time I saw her, just manic. Not even a sane brain cell in that head and it was weird I can tell from her eyes. Asriel looked at me and could tell something was off but he didn’t want to press it further. That look in her eyes was… so many questions filled my head. Was that even my mom? 

Then there were the small cracks, this was a nice puzzle and supposed to fall on purpose and that is what I did, and the hole in the ground where I fell just grew back? With magic? There were leaves but not the red color I’m used to. Just the usual fall leaf colors. then walked through the other doorway. Next was the rock puzzle, a small and simple one to be honest. All you had to do was push it onto the switch and the spikes blocking the way. I pushed it and there was a click! noise signalling the spikes gone. And…

I walked into my favorite puzzle! The cracks that also have an underground path every time you fall, I hate it. You’re basically a blind bat walking through and then you fall and then you walk back up. And it repeats and repeats and I am gonna lose it, I looked at Asriel to see if he had any answers or at least a cheat way around it. His response was a flower shrug with his leaves. I rolled my eyes in response and I'm gonna hate this so much. Walked towards the left side and took one step, but it didn't give out so I’m fine. Then I had an as I walked forward, So I gave Asriel a look again.

“Hey Azzy, wanna take a quick peek under the floor and give me the direction of the path with your vines?”. I asked. 

* “Hmm I don’t know, Chara”. He started. * “W-what if I lead you in the wrong direction?”. That is true but that’s a risk I’m willing to take so I gave him a nod and his flower head extended from my arm then pushed his head through the weak cracks of the ground, then one of the vines started making a path, showing where to walk. I followed it, my hand touching the cold wall as I turned, and then sprinted to the entrance even though it was a short distance. Asriel’s extended neck retracted back and he looked at me with annoyance, basically telling me “I am never doing this again”. On our way we went. Another rock puzzle, I remembered one of them gave Frisk an attitude but after he talked to them they just let him push them. So let’s go to rock Number One! Walked over and pushed it to which there was no response and. It hit the switch. Click! Walked over to Number Two, did the same and like Number One there was no response. Last but not least Number Three and when I was about to push it to the switch. 

* “Hey! Don’t you know it’s fucking rude to push?!”. The third rock shouted and even cussed at me. That’s new. 

“Uh… Sorry there, I’m just trying to leave this place and stuff”. I spoke, trying to brush it off.]

* “I don’t give a shit!”. They shouted again. I glared at it and stomped my foot on the rock.

“Listen here. I don’t give a shit if it’s fucking rude or not I am leaving do you don’t got to deal with my ass”. My eyes glaring at the rock, I could even feel it get somewhat scared but I didn’t care. Just kicked and watched it slide across the ground hitting the switch. Click! The spikes blocking the way were gone. Asriel looked at me in concern, I just took a deep breath and continued on the way. Ahead was another [SAVEPOINT] with the table that had cheese on in and on the left side there was a mouse hole. The mouse that will never fucking come, it’s probably dead but I ain’t telling Mom, Asriel or even Frisk that. My hand moved to touch it but I stopped. Do I even want to? I don’t care. Pressed the glowing stare. 

* [WAITING FOR THE MOUSE TO GET THE CHEESE FILLS YOU WITH DETERMINATION.] 

[RUINS ENTRANCE LV-?? TIME-2:54] 

[SAVE]  [RETURN]

Still can’t [SAVE], I am really handicapped in [SAVEFILE]. I let out a heavy sigh and Asriel just gave me a sympathetic look for support, I just gave him a small smile as thanks. He was always there for me huh, I kept moving forward just wondering what’s next for me as I arrived to see… Napstablook laying on the red leaves, of course. He looked dirty, all scratched  up. I didn’t want to wake him up but it was the obvious choice so I did. Walked over to him slowly and attempted to push him out of the way cause let’s be honest, he’s blocking away. The moment I attempted, he floated up, his face pissed and kinda looking like those scary ghosts for halloween decorations. 

* “Hey! What's the deal?! Can’t a ghost sleep peacefully?”. He asked angrily. 

“Sorry there ghost pal, I was wondering if we can get by you?”. I asked, being polite I can be. 

* “Chara… do you think [TALKING] will work? In this world it's KILL OR BE KILLED”. Asriel whispered. I rolled my eyes. I’m not going through another genocide run… not again.  

* You want to get past me?! As if I let you!”. Then the world turned black, white lines appeared shaping a box then the words:

[AN ANGRY NAPSTABLOOK BLOCKS THE WAY!]

Fucking end me. I looked up at Napstablook, he was Red, literally red. What the fuck? Why was this ghost with low self esteem fucking red. I mean I don’t hate the guy, I just wonder.

* “Inconsiderate people ruin a good sleep!”. He shouted then his usual attacks appeared. Tears started falling from the sky, I basically ran around trying to dodge all of them but then got hit with some taking 12 DMG which wasn’t fun, then it was my turn and I pressed [ACT] -> [CHEER] trying to brighten his mood. 

* You think that’s all it takes?”. He shouted back, then his tear attack happened but chased after me as I dodged. Asriel was holding on to my arm for dear life and I took 20 DMG, this was not looking up for me and I just wanted to hit [FLEE] so badly but couldn’t, as I kept running around and then it was my turn again. I pressed [CHEER] again and that grumpy face started to lighten up. On the somewhat good side, he wasn’t red anymore which saved some part of my sanity.

* “Do you think… I’m cool?”. He asked and I nodded. Then his usual IM NOT FEELING UP TO IT attack happened and I rolled my eyes. I never hated Blooky and I never cared for him either, it was 50/50, I just found him amusing in some aspects and slightly annoying. But like I said, I never hated him. I pressed [CHEER] then [MERCY] -> [SPARE].

[YOU SPARED NAPSTABLOOK! GAINED O EXP] 

Then the world turned normal and he was floating in front of me. His face cheered up and that ghost top hat appeared making him look dapper, but then he took one good look at me. 

* “I always come here to get away from the crazy people and the royal guard”. He spoke, then he looked at me a little closer, like he was analyzing my facial features closely. I didn’t know how to react. * “Hey… you’re Chara Dreemurr, how are you alive? The king poisoned you y'know”. My eyes widened at this revelation and I was confused. Dad. . . poisoned me. . . but I chose to poison myself for my stupid plan! This was all confusing. Why would my own dad poison me?

“I-I’m flattered you know about me but… how did you know? I mean I chose to eat the flowers”. I asked. 

* “Crazy goat woman told me as she vented,”. He bluntly told me. Mom… I hope she doesn’t recognize me… He disappeared and I said goodbye to him and we looked at the small room ahead of me which was the spider bakery or whatever it was called though it’d be good to buy some just for my sake in case I fight… Muffet. She isn’t easy to sway with a conversation like all the other monsters, it’s like she needs money in order to convince her. A pain in the ass I know. Entered into the room and there were 2 cobwebs, small and big. If I remember clearly the small one was 7G and the big one was 18G, though I don’t remember what else sold besides spider donuts and which one sold them… My memory. I just stared at them and looked at the sign. Asriel rolled his eyes and I scoffed. 

“What?”. I asked. 

* “Just pick a donut, Chara”. He said starting to get annoyed. I walked over to the small cobweb and a spider crawled and was holding a piece of paper, I grabbed it and opened it.

* [LEAVE 7G FOR A SPIDER DONUT] 

[2/8]

I paid for like 5 which is what I could get sadly. Broke bitch. Encountering all these monsters and not getting enough gold sucks. Left the spider bakery and went into the next room and was greeted by the sign telling me about the bakery plus the three Froggits. And then up ahead was another cracked floor puzzle with spikes blocking the way. End me. But there’s something I need to get, I walked to the bottom left crack and purposely fell onto the leaves and there was a faded red ribbon. I took it and held it in my hand. 

* [+5 DF]

* [A FADED RED RIBBON. IF YOU WEAR IT MONSTERS WOULD BE LESS LIKELY TO ATTACK BECAUSE OF HOW CUTE IT MAKES YOU LOOK.] 

Rolled my eyes. Asriel nudged me to wear it and I just tied it around my left arm. Stupid brother. Walked out the door  and fell into the top middle crack, flicking the switch. Click! Was heard from above. The last one left was the pillars… great, Just keep moving and you’ll see… mom. I don’t know what to do when I see her, do I hug her tightly? Pretend I'm not Chara Dreemurr, the first human child of Toriel and Asgore Dreemrr and brother of Asriel Dreemurr. I leaned against the wall. Fuck.I know the moment she sees or finds out I am her 1st child she’ll be happy but she’ll worry and be full on helicopter mom or she’d have a panic attack. And then add what Asriel said earlier of “being weary around her” like what did she do to scare everyone? I slouched slowly against the wall. 

* “What’s wrong, Chara?”. He asked.

“I don’t know what to say or do… when I see her”. I spoke. “Do I be me? Someone else?”. He was silent for a moment, thinking of an answer. 

* “Why not both… if ya don’t feel ready to tell her “Hey it’s me, Chara!” then don’t tell her”. He said and honestly that made a little more sense… who’d know a soulless flower who’s also my brother and a… reminder could think of that. 

“And what about her actions?”. I asked. He was silent again, hesitant. This is the second time I asked and still nothing. Sighed in frustration and left the room and into the pillar puzzle, the first one was done by who I presume is mom as her way of being kind. Entering puzzle one, the stone plaque on the wall which by the way I’ve been ignoring the entire time cause I know these puzzles. Mom taught them to me and Asriel. Even watched frisk go through it 2 times. Not to mention I made mental notes, well not on this puzzle. Hard to remember. But anyways the stone plaque on the wall has been faded or destroyed. I guess this mom is sick in the head? I don’t know, so time for the process of elimination. Walked to pillar A, flicked the blue switch which was sneaking for the first try, the spike blocking away sunk into the ground and I moved on to the next room, walked over to the first pillar where the blue switch was and hit it. Nothing happened. Walked to the other one with the yellow-ish green-ish switch and hit it. Nothing happened. Last but not least the red switch, and something happened! I progressed into the next room. Again it was the blue switch first. And again nothing happened. Hit the green switch and for the 3rd time the spikes sunk into the ground. Finally I’m done with these stupid puzzles! 

Walking into the hall, on my left was mom’s home and ahead was the toy knife I think and the view of the rest of the ruins. Didn’t want to go there… I am not killing everyone for a sick reason, this time I’m not doing a [GENOCIDE] run. Took the left. The small hallway leading to mom’s home. That small home that is just a walk away and the kind goat woman who spends days on end making pies and reading books. Entering outside of home, there was the same black tree with the leaves surrounding it bringing the familiarity of home. I remembered me and Asriel running around and the small activities we both did around the home.

There were me and Asriel running around the tree, playing our form of tag. Giggling and laughing. I was calling him goofy names and stuff, he’d just got mad, but not in an offended way. Just in a “I don’t really mean it” mad. I just made sure to keep distance so I can win or for mom to call us over for pie. I love her pie, but after a while we just stopped running and just leaned against the tree just to catch our breath but our eyes wandered to the entrance, our need for exploring the ruins no matter how small it was. We always like to run around.

* “Ya know Chara, dad says that when The Capital and New Home is finished. The play area is gonna be twice as huge!”. He said excitedly.

“Oh really? Kind Dad said that. Are you sure he’s just saying that so we don’t run into Snowdin Town before it’s finished”. I joked. Asriel rolled his eyes and smacked me across the head. “Hey!”. 

* “Mom was right! You really are a troublemaker”. He smirked. 

“Oh yea?”. I gently shoved him and got up to start running. “Humans are always the fastest runners!”. Asriel got up and started chasing after me.

* “If that’s true then why do you humans always get caught!”. He joked. We ran for a few minutes, we both heard mom’s voice calling us but we were having so much fun no matter how many times she repeated it and is slowly getting frustrated with us. As we got carried away, I bumped into someone, we looked up to see… mom… it’s really her! As our eyes made contact all I could see was the shocked and confused expression filling her eyes. Probably on how the fuck I made my way here without even interacting or running into her at all. It was just silence on both our ends, I was holding back every emotion I had, trying so hard not to bawl my eyes out because how much I miss her, she’s my mom after all and it’s been fucking years after all. I wanted to hug her so tightly, read books, bake pie and all of that stuff… 

On her end I assume, like said earlier. Probably confused as fuck and but there’s that mother feeling she’s probably getting. Asriel on the other hand, has his face in my sweater trying to seem like he’s part of the stripe design on my sweater. I just rolled my eyes. Fucking coward. A vine squeezed my arm tighter like he was telling me something, took me a while but then it hit me. That look in her eyes like she wanted to keep me here and never let me out of her sight. If I was… she’d like to do something to me… if I stepped out of line. Now I know what Asriel meant…

* “G-Greetings, my child…”. She started. * “How did you manage to get through the entirety o-of the Ruins and n-not get injured? And your face is dirty…”.  she reached out to clean my face and I stopped her but wait… I’m not injured? But I took damage from Napstablook and only healed once by eating a monster candy prior to fighting them and I can’t use [SAVEPOINTS] to heal my wounds. I was confused.

“I… guess I’m a really good dodger huh, and it’s fine ma’am”. I joked as a way to laugh it off.

* “I see… Well, I am Toriel. Caretaker of the Ruins. What is your name, my child?”. She asked. Took a deep breath.

“My name is… Rei”. I spoke. Thought of it on the spot and guess it makes sense. Asriel. But the letters are rearranged. I’m really talking to mom… harsh part? She doesn’t even know that I’m her human child and let’s also add the factor that I’m carrying Asriel Dreemurr. That look in her eyes increased more, analyzing my actions. I stepped back slightly, it was uncomfortable and unsettling… I didn’t know what to do or act around her. Silence just filled the tension between us.

* “Well… let’s go, my child. I have some pie or some kind of food for you humans t-to consume… I guess”. She spoke unsure on what to say or what to do and tried to break the tension. This was abrupt. * “And a room for you to rest in”. She gently grabbed my hand and walked me inside the home, opened the doors and we were inside. The house was still the same and still small as always, the small quiet home of the ruins and home of The Dreemurrs. Wasn’t much but it made it home. This brought back memories… fuck. There was the illusion of me and Asriel running through the house, racing each other for the first slice of pie knowing that mom has extra in the fridge but… we just wanted to secure the first slice.

* “I won’t let you beat me chara!”. Asriel shouted. “Oh yea?”. I asked and pinched his goat ears, he let out a whine as a response and mom walked out of the living room and looked at me, having that serious mom look and glare accompanied. 

* “Chara, release your brother’s ears this instant or do you want to be grounded?”. She asks. I groaned and as a retaliation I flicked his ears. Mom rolled her eyes and pointed me to my room. Hung my head low and walked to the room.

* “This room is meant for you my child, I hope you will enjoy it, sleep well”. She spoke. * “Now I must go to the kitchen to check on the food”. She ruffled my head and left me alone staring at the door. That door which leads into my old room I shared with Asriel… Flowey removed his head from my sleeve and looked at me. I sighed and grabbed the knob, turning it. Hearing the click! opening the red familiar room filled with stuff toys, shoes, closet, the lamp, that empty photo frame and all of the other toys me and Azzy had. 

Entering inside, I sat on the bed feeling the comfort and familiarity. I mean this whole room is familiar. Laid back and a heavy sigh was let out. Those times mom walked in to check on me and Asriel, giving us little kisses on the head, I knew she always felt bad for grounding me or my brother. Putting butterscotch pie on the table or floor when one of us slept in. Mom never wanted to wake us up unless it was to ask if we wanted to join her or dad’s errands. But I was kinda exhausted from wandering through the whole ruins and let out a yawn. Took off my shoes, unzipped my sweater and carefully threw it on the floor cause my dead brother who’s a flower is hugging the sleeve like he’s gonna die. Walked over to the lamp turning it off, walked back to the bed and nearly tripped over a toy. Cursed at myself. Laid down and pulled the covers over entering dreamland.

. . .

* Finally!

* I was so tired of being a flower!

* Howdy! 

* Chara, you there? 

* It’s me, your best friend! 

 ASRIEL DREEMURR

My eyes shot open to see Frisk standing in front of Asriel now in his god form, the black void lit up with rainbow colors fading into each other and the white lines forming a box. The words:

[It's the end]

[ACT -> [HOPE]. The damage was reduced as Frisk held on, fire balls started raining down and they dodged trying to avoid damage but that's inevitable because this is Frisk we are talking about and they take 5 DMG as some of the fireballs hit them,

[ACT] -> [HOPE]. They held onto it again and the damage was reduced, the fireballs started raining down again but that was cut short and the text:

[“THE TRUE FINAL BATTLE” WAS FINALLY BEGINNING]

 I wasn’t worried about… I looked at my own brother in front of me. Frisk continued to hold hope as stars started crashing down onto us, they leaped out of the way to avoid the smaller stars, then a huge star slowly crashed down.

[ASRIEL CHARGES “SHOCKER BREAKER”]

Frisk continued to hold on hope

* You know…

* I don’t care about this world anymore

Then these small red boxes appeared and Frisk was standing on them. 

“Watch out!”. I exclaimed and these lighting bolts started hitting the boxes and they took 15 DMG. It was a back and forth dodge as it was fast so they couldn’t just wait around. 

[ASRIEL CALLS ON “CHAOS SABER”]

Frisk still held on hope and the battle continued. Asriel calling on his attack and the 8th fallen human holding on hope after each attack and watching it decrease the damage, their HP dropping slowly after each turn and then they died… but it refused and there was that stupid look again, like they were fueled with [DETERMINATION]... I don’t know how they always do it, turn after turn dying and coming back. Determined and here I am standing here worried and slightly happy to see my brother… 

He got frustrated with us for still persisting and not going down without a fight so he used all his might to summon this goat like blaster and started sucking everything in, Frisk struggling to move and avoid the diamond objects, but they were determined to continue as their HP drops to 1. Then a flash of light and Asriel is still shocked to see them standing and that shock turns into frustration when the whole world becomes black and glitched, “Fraction of my real power” echoes throughout. Through the void he reappeared but... he looked different, big rainbow wings fading into each other and his body looked mechanical somewhat, his legs were gone, arms and head floating and in his chest was this circle thing with a heart. I looked at Frisk and they were unable to move, that determined facade crumbled and they were filled with fear or they were yelling at their body to move but couldn’t. They died, struggling but they managed to dodge and they died and came back due to being slow, they kept struggling and struggling, dying and dying, coming back. Asriel getting Frustrated. The words:

[NOTHING HAPPENED]

Repeated nonstop. I looked the goat god in the eyes, There was nothing I could do but there was an option… to save. Frisk looked at me and read my mind and throughout the struggle the [SAVE] button appeared replacing [ACT], I put my hand on their shoulder giving them the support and with the [DETERMINATION] they had… we pressed it, they pressed it, and went down the list, mom and dad, Undyne and Alphys, Sans and Papyrus, seeing their face’s light up… I couldn’t help but smile, they were getting their happy ending. Ya know Azzy… we did do it... make the monsters happy, but you deserve the happy ending too. My left hand on Frisk’s right shoulder and my right hand hovering over their hand we both pressed the save button, both of us determined to save everyone including him. 

* “Why are you doing this… j-just let me win!”. He screamed, launching a rainbow beam at us and our HP went down and everything went white.

. . .

My eyes shot open, feeling tears streaming down both sides of my cheek, and the darkness greeting me. Fuck. I was still in this room as I sat up wiping the tears from my face, my remaining emotions still boiling. Shit. That dream always makes me emotional… Can you blame me?... he was my brother… and seeing the damage I did to him. I looked down and spotted a plate of pie, it looked to be made out of meat?... That's odd. Eyes looked at Asriel clinging to my sweater asleep, I frowned slightly, was he… ever fine with what I did? Did he ever move on… or still clinging… Curled up a little, eyes staring down in my dark room with the dark red sheets. Emotions started boiling inside and fighting the urge to cry quietly. Don’t want to worry Asriel, Mom would care? I mean she heard me cry before in the middle of the night when I was thinking about… the surface… but would she care now?...  Just struggling in silence. 

Just took a deep breath and looked back at Asriel, oughta find you a pot. Walked over to him and gave him a small tap, him stirring awake, his scared face looking up at me but calmed down a little and just looked around to take in surroundings. 

* “Chara?”. He asked.

“We are leaving,”. I said sternly and looked around the room to find an old shoe so that means I needed to grab some dirt I put on my sweater, put that and the pie in my [ITEMS] and then leave with the boot in hand. Decided to explore the house, just being kinda snoopy and getting a feel for this place. See what mom is really like now and after… all of that… how Asriel died cause of me. Leaving the room, standing in the all too familiar hallway where me and Asriel ran back and forth being kids. Messing around and having fun and screaming. Sometimes even in the middle of the night. Mom yelled at us and made us go to bed. 

Walking right towards the hallway standing in front of her room, my hands shaking slightly, hesitant to open it. Memories slowly flooding back, I quickly grabbed the doorknob, turning and slightly opening the door. Greeted with the familiar blue bedroom but it was a dark red and slightly messy. The sock drawer sticking out with socks hanging out or on the floor, the trash can filled with snails and crumpled paper balls over filling it, the sheets on the bed are not clean. What happened to her?... Did my death affect her that much?... Her messy room, the wilted flowers at the top of the shelf. Asriel’s vines tighten around my arm as a form of comfort, silently saying “It wasn’t your fault”. But it was. I took a deep breath trying to compose myself, looking at the desk, her book of jokes were laying on it with a few jokes circled, reading the joke to myself. She always loved them huh.

Leaving the room and back towards the hallway, making my way past the door that says “Under construction”... it always bugs me due to it being a huge reminder. Then the iconic mirror looked at it. 

“It’s me!”. I said, giving a cheeky smile and laughing a little. Azzy rolled his eyes, hey it’s the most I can do in this odd situation. 

* “You’re still the same kind person huh?”. He asked and I looked at him confused. I wasn’t the best person at all, I got him killed, split up our parents, left scars on everyone. I, Chara Dreemurr, the 1st Fallen human and adoptive child of Asgore and Toriel Dreemurr broke a kingdom. My hand moved to my arm holding on to it, shit… why does this hurt.

“If only that was true,”. I joked. Then started walking the opposite way, past the staircase that led into the basement and entered into the living room where mom is, she is currently sitting reading a book, always the bookworm. I carefully walked up to her and she looked up from her book to look at me. I stared for a moment, just seeing the state she's in… it was always hard to talk to mom back then but I have to do this no matter how painful it is.

“Hey Ms. Toriel”. I awkwardly spoke.

* “Greetings my child, do you need something?”. She asked. Staring at her I took a deep breath, feeling awkward. 

“Uh… I’m starving… got any breakfast?”. I spoke, her face lit up.

* “Why yes I do, my child. Let me go get it”. She got up from the chair and walked to the kitchen, remembering Frisk exploring the house when he found fur in the drain, I guess she sheds? Don’t know. It was just always there, didn’t really mind. Though I had a feeling that if I entered that kitchen right now… I’d see something fucked up. But… I want chocolate so that’s what I did. I saw mom cutting a piece of whatever she made and felt sorta scared, like her eyes glaring at me or watching every move I make. Just made my way to the fridge, my hands grabbing the handle, shaking slightly and opening it. I felt my stomach drop when I saw the fridge… it… was a dead… froggit corpse on a plate. What the fuck?! What the fuck mom?!... I wanted to puke as it was slowly dusting away as each part was grabbed for whatever ingredient mom was making… I didn’t even want to look around for the chocolate as I slammed the fridge closed. 

* “Is everything alright, my child?”. She asked. I stood in fear, eyes staring at her. Worst part: she had that caring mom face with a smile plastered on, a sadistic mom smile. Those yellow eyes didn’t help, distant and yet psychotic. Asriel on the other end was shaking against my arm in fear. As a response I gave an awkward smile and backed away from the kitchen and sat at the big table, I felt uncomfortable. Getting fed a dead froggit instead of… pie. Guess that’s what she means by “some kind of food” and the timing was perfect, mom was walking towards me holding a plate of… cooked Froggit. She sat it in front of me, smelled like shit and looked at the steam rising from the cut in the body and saw the cooked organs. I gagged mentally. When it comes to mom, you can’t judge her cooking, she’d glare at you to hell or passively aggressively set the stove on fire. I was staring at it, unsure to see if it was edible. Flowey had the same expression as me but more disgusted in anything and I just looked at him like: “Do you wanna eat this?”. His response? A vine emerged and wacked me over the head. Silently winced as a response.  

* “Do you not like it?”. She asked, the tone was sorta creepy and I just wanted to sink into my chair. 

“I uh, like it! Can I take it with me to my room?”. That has to work, it worked before. She glared at me analyzing my every move, then that smile, that warm motherly smile. 

* “Sure go ahead, My child. Just do not make a mess in there… I just managed to get the energy to clean”. She spoke. I grabbed the plate and added it to my [ITEMS] and was about to leave when I stood in the doorway of the living room, looking down at the staircase leading into the basement. The fight with mom… the question of am I strong enough to enter into Snowdin. Turned around to see mom sitting at the chair and there was me and Asriel sitting by the fire listening to her read or scheming away to terrorize our parents. Kid things. Took a deep breath and walked towards her slowly walking towards her and staring at her, trying to gauge her expression. 

“Hey… Ms. Toriel,”. I spoke

* “Yes, my child? Is there something wrong?”. She asked, her calm facial expression is gonna gut me when she’s disappointed or scared.

“I want to leave” I uttered out, her calm expression changed, she was scared and wanted to change the subject or just change the conversation to the book she’s reading. Her yellow eyes quickly darted to the page she was just on. 

* “Uh… why not we both read an excerpt from this book”. And she started. 

“I want to leave the ruins,”. I sternly said. 

* “W-why do you want to leave my child? You have all you need here”. She spoke, her voice filling with concern, my face winced with regret, I hated this part, I took another deep breath trying to gain confidence. 

[YOU ARE FILLED… WITH CONFIDENCE]

For a moment though… I saw… memories flashing through her eyes, the deaths of the past children and everything… making her emotional. Fear filled her as she got up quickly, the book falling from her lap, like she wasn’t thinking straight. Was she even at all?... but just for that small moment it was like I saw my mom’s shell break and she wasn’t that crazy woman who killed monsters… she was… my mom, the kind lonely goat woman. trying her hardest to move on from me, Asriel and the 6 fallen humans, can’t fully sympathize with her though… Dad isn’t here.   

* “Forgive me my child, there is something I have to do… Please do not follow me”. Then she started walking towards the staircase and that led into the basement, without a second thought I ran after her and hopped down the railing and into the red dimly hallway. 

[YOU ARE FILLED WITH… DETERMINATION]

I ran, like I was reaching out, she stood ahead, couldn’t see her face but you could tell she was serious. Who knows what Frisk felt during this but I was determined. 

* “My child… please go back up. I must do this”. She spoke then continued through the hallway but I wasn’t deterred and continued to chase after her. Asriel was worried but all that was there to think of was getting to her or at least try to reason. Can she be reasoned? Running through the dark maroon hallway replacing the purple color I managed to catch up to her. 

* “So… you want to know how to… leave the Ruins… am I right?”. She paused. “At the end of this hall lies a one way exit of the Ruins and by my hands. I will destroy it now. Preventing the exit of any more humans that fall down here. Now please… my child… go upstairs so I may do this”. She started walking ahead, speed walking really fast which I always found weird. But if she does this… she’s dooming me down here… and any other human that falls down. I can’t let that fate befall me and any others. Chased after her again, trying to catch up again and Asriel holding on to my arm for dear life, the hallway was long as fuck and hated chasing after him. For the second time I caught up to her.

* “Every human that I have come across… always and I mean always. Over and over.. I’ve seen the same fate that befalls them”. She spoke again. “They come, they leave, and… they die. You must understand that if you choose to leave… they… Asgore will kill you. Understand this is my way of protecting you… until… my new ingredients are ready”. Walked a little then she stopped. “Please do not stop me”. She continues speed walking. I Turned the corner and ran into a big space and there mom was standing there guarding the door, her face looking conflicted and scared.

* “If you leave, like every child you fall into the hands of those outside the Ruins, so prove to me that you can take care of yourself or die by my hands". she sternly said. I gave her a stern look. The world faded to black, the white lines forming a box, Toriel standing in front of me, her hands to her side, Azzy was shaking, hiding his flower face in my shoulder. I had to do this. I stood tall and faced her as the usual options popped up, stared at them… couldn’t kill her…

[TORIEL BLOCKS THE WAY]

1 [ACT] -> [TALK]

“Toriel! Please… I don’t-”. She cut me off as she threw fireballs at me which caught me by surprise and my reaction time was late so I took 15 DMG, pain filling me for the first time, mentally cursing myself. Asriel’s eyes widened and he wanted to give me the healing friendliness pellets but I shook my head no, stood straight and looked her dead in the eyes and she didn’t say anything.I guess we’re gonna try the frisk route.

2 [MERCY] -> [SPARE]

She didn’t say anything and the 2nd wave of fireball attacks commenced, raining down above me, I dodged to the best of my ability, Asriel tried helping me as best as he could without mom seeing him or noticing, getting hit with the flames hurt like hell! But I’m not stopping. Not one bit. I’m determined as hell.

[TORIEL BLOCKS THE WAY]

3 [MERCY] -> [SPARE]

She said nothing again and sent fireballs my way again but this time they seemed slower but not that slow as they continue to keep coming at this point overwhelming and hard to focus but I gotta stay determined like Frisk. I closed my eyes and opened them to see an illusion of Frisk fighting mom for the first time… sparing her and staying, you guessed it. Determined. Even though I hate them, I can learn a thing or two from them. 

4 [MERCY] -> [SPARE]

* “... why… why won’t you fight!”. She asked, and more fireballs came my way and it seems like the speed is catching up. I used my arms to block the incoming flames and of course 20 DMG taken, my HP went down from 99 to 64. If I’m not too careful I can die… and I don’t know if that can trigger a reset. 

[ITEMS] -> [MONSTER CANDY]

She attacked again, her hand sweeping with fireballs coming in 6 rows.

5 [YOUR HP IS HEALED 10%]

* “Why are you doing this! Fight back”. She yelled. I am not going down like this! You hear me mom!. Her furry hand moved across fire sweeping the battle field, I leaped to the side dodging avoiding the upcoming flames, Asriel freaked when one of his petals caught on fire, I laughed a little but stopped as a flame flew by my face, scaring me but it grazing my cheek. Fuck. I took 20 DMG, leaving my HP at 54 and still questioning how a walking mute Toys R us mascot defeated my mom but whatever. I looked at her then at my options in front of me. 

[FIGHT] [ACT] [ITEMS] [MERCY]

And it was obvious which one I was going for because it’s been the same button I pressed 3 times and at this point the fight has to be over already… Looked up at her and my eyes widened, greeted with the sight of Toriel in the middle of dusting… a slash across her body, my hands froze just staring and unable to move. Why this now?... why. All this has been just a memory lane and I want no. Need this fight to be over. I took a deep breath to just get that image off my mind and pressed the button. 

6 [MERCY] -> [SPARE]

* “What are you doing? What do you hope to gain from this?”. She asked. Then huge flames appeared in waves, growing in size as they got closer and closer. I stood still but carefully adjusted my stance or posture as it just went past me and Asriel. I remember how much DMG Frisk took when they accidentally ran into it, poor kid. Well actually I don’t feel bad, in hindsight it was actually funny looking back at it

7 [MERCY] -> [SPARE]

* “Either attack or run, do whatever but make a choice! This won’t fare on what’s beyond the ruins and will get you killed”. She was right but also wrong, using mercy has created friendships, even if not everyone came back. Fireballs rain down from the sky again, but a bit more slower and at the same time keeping the same pace somehow, I moved to the side as an attempt to dodge, the flames shooting past my head either grazing my hair or face, and hoping it didn’t take a huge chunk of hair because the after battle I will start bawling. 

8 [MERCY] -> [SPARE]

* “What is it you are trying to prove?! You will die out there if you don’t fight back! Please my child!”. She pleaded, I looked at her hands… they were shaking… her eyes were just filled with fear, she was scared. I know she didn’t want me to run out and die out there but I’m gonna prove to her I can take care of myself!. Another fireball sweep but due to her shaking hands the aim was off and I couldn’t even leap to the side as they mostly went left and right of me. FUCK. Mentally cursing myself when a big flame appeared in my direction, I immediately fell to the floor, feeling the flame hover over my head. That scared me… I got up.

9 [MERCY] -> [SPARE]

* “Stop it! Don’t look at me like that…”. She spoke. Her attacks are getting way slower and start to avoid me… of course. Her fear… always scared. I didn’t dodge this time, just stood there staring her in the face, being determined I can be. I wasn’t gonna let her die. 

10 [MERCY] -> [SPARE]

* “Stop it!... Stop it please! I know you want to go home but please just go upstairs. I know we don't have much here but please… I will protect you”. She begged, flames rained and again they avoided me. The realization was slowly setting 

11 [MERCY] -> [SPARE]

* “You aren’t gonna give up?...”. She let out a sad chuckle “I can’t save a single child”. Her yellow eyes stare at me, like… she saw something or someone. But hurt flashed in her eyes. Not sure and probably won’t know. Just gotta stand my ground ya know. 

12 [MERCY] -> [SPARE]

She stopped attacking, her arms sticking out and hands with fireballs extinguished. She looked at me as realization settled in. Mom had a solemn expression on her face and her eyes fighting back tears, holding back everything. She gave in, what very little fight she had just diminished, inhaled and then exhaled. That semi-manic look faded away, revealing that mother look and I guess the walls finally broke.

* “I understand… Here is not a place for someone as a human, the RUINS do get quite small and you cannot grow up in a place like this… you’d be quite unhappy”. She took a deep breath. * “My expectations… My loneliness… my fear…, for you my child I will set them aside”. The black world we were both in faded away bringing the room of the basement. I just stayed silent, the damage of the battle wracking through my entire body, But it didn’t feel like hell. My HP is probably at at 

* “I fully understand now if you want to leave the RUINS and will not stop you… however when you leave… do not come back”. She spoke. I looked at her as she brought me into a hug, a tight hug, using her magic to heal the wounds. Fuck… I felt everything boil up like it was the first time in forever my mom hugged me and I started crying, tears streaming down my dirt face, smudging it away? I hugged her back tightly,missing this. She let out a soft chuckle in response and wrapped her arms tightly, just giving me that mother comfort. I sniffled and tried to sob softly. It failed.

* “Why are you crying, my child? We only met hours ago”. She spoke in an amused but caring way, her finger wiping the tears away along with dirt revealing part of my face that of course will be familiar to her. Let’s face it well… I have pink cheeks or maybe a natural blush. Don’t know the terms but they are faint…  

“I-I’m just… worried if you’ll still be here when or if I’ll see you again”. I spoke in between sobs and hugged her tightly, I don’t want to let her go at all… She laughed a little

* “My little goat, we will meet again”. My eyes widened in shock and she gave me a “mother knows” look. I just laughed in tears. I… haven’t been called that in like… years… or at all… my eyes just stared at that caring motherly expression plastered,her furry hand cupping my cheek and wiping the falling tears away, at the same time drying my stained cheek. * “I don’t know how you came back… but I fear that if you explain here you’re wasting time. When we see each other again, there will be a lot you will catch me up on”. She ruffled my head and chuckled softly.

“Alright mom,”. I spoke. She handed me a phone.

* “To call me when you’re in trouble or need help… with puzzles. Remember to be good, and goodbye, my child”. She smiled softly then returned home but not before turning to me one last time, I turned back to see that smile and watch my mother disappear. I smiled softly to myself… I won’t miss her at the same time… I won’t forget this. And how much I took this for granted… Turned back to face the door. God today was a whirlwind. Asriel looked at me to see if I was ok, I just gave him a reassuring nod, now it was time to proceeded through the door pushing it open, walking into the hallway and greeted by the dirt path, but not before digging some dirt out and putting it into the shoe then continued past that and greeted by the door leading into the next area.

“Are… you ready Asriel?”. I asked.

* “I gotta be, for my sibling!”. He said trying to be enthusiastic about it. I rolled my eyes. [YOU ARE FILLED… WITH DETERMINATION]

Me and Asriel proceeded through and we were greeted by a blinding white light…

_____________________

I still hope you all enjoy this chapter!

[utnewfoundfamily]

Is this version of Asriel into video games like his Deltarune counterpart seems to be? And, now that he's got his SOUL back, has he tried his hand (or I guess paw) at romance? Or is he aroace like some people in our universe speculate?

Of course he’s into video games! It’s a great past time, but he does have other priorities to focus on. So gaming is at a minimum for Asriel, sadly. And on that note of his SOUL, the romance scene has never crossed his mind. I don’t think it’s for any other reason other than it’s just not what he wants or seeks. Rather than that, I think what he seeks is relationships that are more on the platonic side.

For example, the relationship Asriel has with Frisk. This one being built both before and after he had his own SOUL. Here’s the fun part though. There’s a type of action that takes place with SOULs and that’s called a “SOUL Dance.” Where two or more SOULs will dance and swirl together in harmony. Mind you, this is an action that is natural and not forced upon. The main component of this starts off by having a soul, obviously, yet the other is by having a strong bond with another person or persons that are mutual to one another. All bonds can be an array of things so not one person is excluded.

To monsters it’s a common thing, but to see it with a human is very fascinating. And colorful! The sensation is like being given a warm blanket or feeling a warming loving embrace. And the looks are what I’ve described previously. SOULs swirling & dancing around in harmony. Asriel has experienced this and it’s the best. Cause even if Frisk or any other person he’s danced with are gone, the feelings are still strong as if they were here with them. Here’s an example of how it looks like for Frisk an Azzy!:

Admittedly, his bond is a lot stronger with Frisk’s cause they did give a piece of themselves to him. So he may or may not be emotional about it. It’s a good emotional though. Does involve a little tears, but to feel is good. Makes you alive. And what is said here for Asriel could be repeated with Chara and Aster. What with sharing a piece of their SOUL and whatnot!

[the-white-soul]

*Flowey mumbles as well before taking a bite of his chocolate with a small smile. It feels weird saying his name.* For Asriel.

*Still, he can’t help but be glad this Chara was able to appreciate a friend, even if their Asriel is gone now.* Do you think we’re best friends in every universe? I think so. At least for a little bit.

*Flowey, noticing Noelle kiss Kris, is reminded how this may be some people’s last days. He gazes at Frisk and smiles mischievously before grabbing, pulling them in, and kissing them… Aaaand stealing the chocolate from their mouth. Of course. He giggles as he pulls away.*

Hmmm… I don’t think I’ll ever want to eat regular chocolate again~ Oh, don’t pout too much. *Flowey breaks off a larger piece from one of his 3 chocolate bars and hands the piece to Frisk to make up for it.* Here.

Okie dokes! Enough stalling. Let’s kill the bastard chief.

(Frisk) "Yes, let's kill this guy!"

(Chara) "Better start now."

(Frisk) "Right, *whispers to Flowey* btw I loved that. Thank you. I hope we can stick together."

(Chara) "We need to bring you to somewhere no monster has been for a while yet still has a lot of emotional weight to the monsters. The top of MT Ebott shall do the trick!"

*Frisk and Flowey walk out and start going to the underground*

(Chara) "I hope this works."

(Kara) "We can hope forever but until we do something that hope is meaningless. So let's get going!"

(Noelle) "*Brought the thorn ring just in case* So, should I use the thorn ring only when I need to?"

(Kara) "Hmm, I'm not sure. Can you handle the pain for one day?"

(Noelle) "Yes. I promise you it'll be fine."

(Chara) "I'll be honest here, I don't want to see any kissing or anything at all during the battle until I know we've either won or are close to death."

(Noelle) "What if we lose?"

(Chara) "Then we died."

(Noelle) "What if they..."

(Chara) "Just don't do anything gross until I tell you to, capishe? Jesus, it's one fucking day. And if I see either of you talking about how much you love each other, I will describe in great detail the ways Jack loved me as well. I bet it wouldn't even matter if the public knew anyway. They'd love him anyways."

(Noelle) "Ok, I promise we won't."

(Chara) "Great. Then on cue, we'll grab our weapons and charge the base with everything we have."

*Meanwhile*

(Jack) "Shoot any monster you can please."

(Sergent) "Umm, sir, can you give our crew an inspirational speech."

(Jack) "Great idea! Men and women stand tall! *All the guards look at him* Thank you very much for being nice enough to be part of this. Now, you must kill those ravenous beasts! Chop their head off! Make them suffer for all they've done. For we as humans will prevail! *Everyone cheers then he whispers to himself* What a bunch of sheep."

[amethystoceandespiser]

*When Papyrus brings Frisk to his house and begins cooking pasta for Frisk (his skills have improved, thanks to Toriel)...

(Sans sits next to Frisk.)

Sans: Pal, you're lucky that Papyrus found you first, because if I found you first... You'd be dead where you stand.

(Frisk instantly runs to Papyrus.)

Papyrus: SANS!

Sans: I was joking!

Papyrus: I don't care! You shouldn't say such a cruel thing to an innocent child… even if it was a ‘joke’.

(Papyrus then brings Frisk to the kitchen, to comfort them and so they could help him make the dessert.)

(Papyrus lets Frisk sleep in his race-car bed (he’d sleep in a sleeping bag, next to Frisk), then Papyrus asks Sans to meet him in the shed, for a serious grown-up talk.)

Papyrus: Sans, I KNOW that your cruel joke wasn’t actually a joke. I might be childish sometimes, but I'm not stupid. I'm disappointed in you, brother.

Sans: ...The Kingdom needs one final soul and I would’ve made the human's death as quick as possible.

(This angers and horrifies Papyrus.)

Papyrus: Even if it would give everyone freedom, it isn’t fair that the Kingdom wants to kill and harvest the soul of an innocent child, simply because Frisk is a different species!... You know, the barrier needs human souls in order to break, but it doesn't say that the human souls have to be dead! We can easily make Frisk's soul appear, without hurting him!

Sans: Bro... Remember that humanity is the reason that we're sealed our Kingdom inside this mountain... and the reason why King Asgore's son is dead.

Papyrus: Yes, but my friend Tori told me that the first war started because a monster absorbed a human’s soul and humanity was afraid… If humanity was truly evil, the human kingdom would’ve destroyed us all, instead letting us all live down here... Sure, we're trapped, but we're still alive!

Papyrus: And that human village only destroyed Asriel, because they believed that Asriel had killed Chara… all of humanity’s actions against monsters were self-defensive… it doesn’t make their extreme actions right or okay, but I get why they did what they did!

(Papyrus got louder!)

Papyrus: EVEN IF THE HUMANS THAT SEALED US AWAY AND THE HUMANS THAT KILLED ASRIEL WERE EVIL, THAT DOESN’T MEAN ALL HUMANS ARE EVIL! WHY SHOULD HUMANITY GO EXTINCT OVER WHAT A FEW GROUPS OF THEM HAVE DONE? DOESN’T THAT MAKE US JUST AS TERRIBLE AS THE ONES THAT HURT US?… Our species is supposed to be made of love, compassion and hope… And creating another war doesn’t sound very loving and compassionate, brother…”

Sans: ... I honestly don’t want another war with humanity either bro, but the war is King Asgore’s decision… And sometimes in war, you have to pick sides… And I choose the side of my own species.

Papyrus: Wait a minute, the new war technically won't happen until the barrier is broken... And the barrier needs seven human souls, but it doesn’t need them to be dead souls... If I can convince Asgore to stop the war and to stop killing humans... Then I can use Frisk’s still living soul to break the barrier and free everyone!

Sans: Papyrus, that plan won't work... call Undyne to ‘take care’ of Frisk instead... Because I’m gonna be completely honest with you… If you try to do this plan and keep protecting Frisk, the Kingdom will see you as a traitor and a criminal… Everyone will become your enemy and I won’t be able to help you.”

Papyrus: IT’S NOT LIKE YOU EVER HELPED ME BEFORE, SANS!… Brother, please understand… I promised Tori, my best friend from the Ruins Door, that I will watch over and protect Frisk no matter what… She really cares about Frisk, and I don’t want to let her or Frisk down… BESIDES, FRISK AND HUMANITY DESERVES TO BE HAPPY, ALIVE AND FREE JUST AS MUCH AS WE DO!

(Papyrus is about to leave the shed.)

Papyrus: OH, AND SANS? ONE LAST THING… If you tell Undyne and the Royal Guard about Frisk, or become the reason that Frisk dies… I will never forgive you.

(Papyrus slams the shed’s door on a shocked Sans, and Papyrus proceeds to silently watch Frisk sleep in his race-car bed, before entering his sleeping bag.)

(Sans honestly doesn’t know what to do…)

Sans: ... Who is Tori?🚪

Holy... shit... this is some really good drama

[randomsloredrops]

Random's Lore Drops - King Fluffybuns

I wanted to put goat dad and the mountain king both as the title. Unfortunately i felt like that'd be stupid. so instead, we got his nickname. Source? Gerson. Thanks gerson. Also gerson gave us this photo.

thanks a lot gerson. anyways, time to talk about goat dad a bit. or the mountain king. or king fluffy buns. or asgore dreemurr. or-

So, here we are. I finally got to work on this on June 18, compared to when I said I would on June 7th. I'm a lazy bastard, aren't I? Well, that, and I'm a cunt, but eh, it's in my nature. King Asgore. Asgore Dreemurr. This is the ruler of all of Monster-kind, and the one to declare war on any humans who fell down. King Asgore is, I'm not sure if he's misinterpreted, or if people like him. I fail to see many Asgore haters, but I personally like him. It's just that he doesn't get a lot of screen-time. Now, King Asgore is, as stated, the King. He is also the ex-husband of Toriel Dreemurr before she left him. He is a Boss Monster, as expected from a king, and he goat. (but not goated with the sauce) King Asgore is an avid tea enjoyer, a gardener, and obviously likes his wife, as well as her pies. Most definitely misses Toriel too (if it wasn't obvious at all). There's also a bunch of quotes I never even knew about from Undertale (according to the wiki) from Asgore himself, such as "I just want to see my wife. I just want to see my child." Anyways, back on topic, let's talk about why he declared war. His children. Now, if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm talking about the day that the first fallen human and Asriel Dreemurr died. On that day, Asgore declared war on all humans, seeing as his son, Asriel, had died right after the fallen human, by the hands of the humans on the Surface. (Honestly, a better excuse than most characters). Now, all I really have is random-ass info here. First, his own feelings about HIS declaration of war. Asgore himself... does not want to harm any more people than he must (according to himself). To him, the reason why he fights you despite not wanting to, is because it is HIS duty to his people. He keeps his promise to get seven SOULs to make sure his people have hope again after all of it was drained from the death of Asriel and the First Fallen (i will not refer to them as Chara yet). There's also a moment that I assume is overlooked based on the conditions. If you defeat him once, and give Flowey the treatment he deserves (or some second weird condition i dont know about), he will start off with him saying that he will treat the human well, and care for them, before stopping himself. He then states that, for the sake of what Asriel would've wanted, Asgore OFFS himself to give YOU, a human child, his SOUL. While grim, he genuinely would care more to see YOU, a human, escape via his SOUL, and would end his own life, than to kill another human. (at least, according to the wiki that is) fucking WILD tbh. oh yeah, pacifist. During pacifist, after Toriel whoops his ass, Asgore (unlike his deltarune counterpart), realizes that he is technically to blame (when his idea was MUCH better than Toriel's, and would at least give him more of a fighting chance against modern human tech), and simply asks Toriel if they could go back to something as simple as friends. and then gets shot tf down (damn his love life and friend life's worse than mine, because i don't get rejected since i have none). Asgore is also the one to help Undyne be a part of the Royal Guard, simply because one day, she ran up to him and challenged him. After that, he decided to teach Undyne to fight, as long as she managed to hit him once (he was constantly dodging, indicating his ability to dodge, even against somebody as inexperienced as a child (WHICH ALSO INCLUDES FRISK, A HUMAN CHILD. OUR EXPERIENCES OF FIGHTING DONT FUCKING INCORPORATE TO THEM)), and she managed to do it... Eventually. Asgore and Undyne are also pretty close, seeing as she knows his favorite type of tea (probably makes sense), and that he gets marshmallows stuck in his beard when he drinks hot chocolate. tbh imma be real, if there's such thing as asgore hate i dont get it. he seems like a good father, he's a nice guy, he taught undyne, and he's a family man.

[random-autie-fangirl]

😶 A random headcanon!

About our dear Chara?

Oh hi! Hi hi hi hi

Thank you so much for asking something, let's see if I can finish it before the day is out, huh? (this took a week, I am so sorry)

*Tries to find something that wouldn't be covered by the other questions*

Okay so...

😶A random headcanon about Chara

Chara is a bit of a technophobe. Not so much for big analogue machines with wires and gears found in Gaster's lab but the common amenities of the household...phones, computers, consoles... what are these things? How do they work? What in the angel's name is even the appeal?

They're like someone's 80 year old grandma trying and failing to understand these horrid newfangled human devices...

You leave them alone in a room with a laptop for less than a minute and they will download a deadly virus just trying to log on...

Asriel's doing something on the computer and Chara is leaning over his shoulder, completely dumbfounded, trying to understand (you can imagine little question marks floating above their head here...)

Chara's reaction to any sort of memes or social media or internet lingo never failed to amuse Asriel

Especially when Asriel shows them this meme and Chara makes the exact same face and Azzy cannot stop laughing

Let's just say that Chara Dreemurr has many skills (I sometimes joke that they have the exact skillset that would make them a wicked cultured anime villain, (as they should be)) but understanding the internet is certainly not one of them.

Makes sense, though, that they wouldn't really get modern amenities. Back on the surface, their parents house had nothing newer than a gramophone, and they never left the house or interacted meaningfully with anyone else (humans are all evil, manipulative creatures, they say...while working on a sample size of about two)

And more than that, they've certainly never interacted with anyone their age which is what leads them to going in to monster school with an attitude of "teenagers are probably interested in the same things as me, like rules and authority!"

Ahem, back on track...

Post-pacifist, Frisk and Asriel use Chara's lack of knowledge with anything internet to tease them relentlessly...

Frisk becomes a deez nuts joke dispenser for like two weeks after learning this, Flowey tries to convince Chara that kys stands for keep yourself safe and that you should totally use it in casual conversation and Frisk tries to rickroll Chara only for it to go completely over their head and they somehow take it as an actual love confession and "Oh! This is incredibly sweet dear and I certainly cannot blame you for your feelings but is this really how...(they did not like the song)" And Frisk is just like 'it was supposed to be a meme...!? But..." (uses the opportunity to start flirting). Also if there's a certain new joke or trick going around, you can gaurantee that Chara is the only one in the friend group that hasn't heard of it which makes them always the prime target.

Frisk or Asriel find videos like "try and say Coca-Cola without your lips touching" or "how the hell you spell Chauffeur?" (which is particularly funny as Frisk would definitely call them fancy pants) to try on Chara and then they both burst out laughing at the fact that Chara even fell for the trap and actually forgetting to give the punchline.

Now, you might be wondering is it really that funny? Is the fact that your sibling or friend still calls emojis electric stickers at like 18 (5 years since they came back to life) really worth breaking your ribs (or petals) laughing over? but they're both annoying little gits and honestly...neither of them like Chara very much (not to start with anyway)

It's basically like "Typo in the group chat! Get their ass" but like...almost all the time

It's times like this that Chara wonders if this timeline is actually their personal hell for their crimes of emotional manipulation and attempted murder

apparently, the angel gives their most socially embarassing moments to their most dependent on positive affection soldiers (oh Chara buddy i'm so sorry)

[worstutcanonthingpoll]

We finally have our bracket !!

Rounds 1 & 2 will be under the cut, open for more !

There is a mention of abuse in one of the entries , beware.

Round One (1)

Glyde V.S Pyrope's Orange Attacks

Glyde: Impossible to spawn and even harder to fight,

Pyrope's Orange Attacks: Submitter , in their words , has a tiny ass laptop and rarely succeeds in moving when hitting them.

Genocide Grind V.S RUINs Encounter Rate

Genocide Grind: Takes days (exaggerating) to do.

RUINs Encounter Rate: You can't walk five steps without getting attacked.

Lesser Dog Slander V.S Sliding Ice Puzzle

Lesser Dog Slander: "The Red Bird NPC in Grillby's comments on the disappearance of the Dogs, even if Lesser Dog is still alive. Interestingly, Lesser Dog is never mentioned by the other guard dogs. Killing it provokes no reaction from the other dogs at Grillby's. In turn, if Lesser Dog is the only guard dog left, how it acts at Grillby's does not change."

Sliding Ice Puzzle: Tiny snow hat is rewarding, not worth the effort of doing that puzzle several times if you mess up.

Cap'n (SCC) V.S Your Choices Don't Matter

Cap'n (SCC): They thought he was creepy to the girls. I'm gonna be honest, do not vote Cap'n. I want him to lose this, he's a good character. My man was trying too hard to seem straight, let him be.

Your Choices Don't Matter: Vote this! It's very limiting in contrast to Undertale's "your every choice matters" bit.

Mean Chara V.S Cop Undyne

Mean Chara: The triggering topic I was talking about. This had second most submissions next to Cop Undyne, it's the theory that Chara was abusive towards Asriel when they were alive.

Cop Undyne: ACAB.

Not Enough Amalgamates V.S True Lab's Green Key Scene.

Not Enough Amalgamates: They're cool, someone wanted more of them.

True Lab's Green Key Scene: A nine year old somewhere was scarred by it, it is kinda creepy though.

No Running Ability V.S Ambiguous Skeleton Ages

No Running Ability: Frisk walks so slowly, why?

Ambiguous Skeleton Ages: Sans is older, Papyrus is younger, we know that. But how old? Is Papyrus 19, or is he 32?

Megalovania (UT Version) V.S Homestuck References

Megalovania (UT Version): Submitter thinks it's the worst version of Megalovania.

Homestuck References: The one in MTT Resort specifically, quoting the submission; "Get jade harley outta there !!! Not her natural habitat.........".

Round Two (2)

"I Already Befriended Your Mom Last Night." V.S "I Befriended Him Too."

"I Already Befriended Your Mom Last Night": Weird to make your mom jokes to kids you just met, submitter says (valid, honestly).

"I Befriended Him Too.": Sans fucked both Kris' parents, oh no. Was added by the group to even the numbers out.

Aaron Being Creepy To Frisk V.S Date Stuff

Aaron Being Creepy To Frisk: Submitter says that everyone else can recognise Frisk as a child, so why is Aaron flirting with them?

Date Stuff: Kinda weird to invite a kid to so many dates, sometimes just to threaten their life.

Lightners & Darkners Connotations V.S Frisk's Asian Stereotypes Connotations

Lightners & Darkners Connotations: "Darkners' purpose is to to serve Lightners" has some unfortunate connotations when you think about it.

Frisk's Asian Stereotypes Connotations: Frisk has yellow skin and narrow eyes, not the best design choices in hindsight.

Flowey's Characterization V.S Mew Mew's Fight Being Switch Exclusive

Flowey's Characterization: Submitter thinks he's heavily (presumably overly) villainized considering he's a child in a self-made genocidal loop.

Mew Mew's Fight Being Switch Exclusive: Give us our transfemme catgirl fight everywhere else >:( (Added by the group to even the numbers out).

Asgore 'Willingly' Murders Six Kids V.S Papyrus Death

Asgore 'Willingly' Murders Six Kids: Honestly they wrote a whole essay that I can't bother to paste here. In summary, what Toriel said in the stuff pre-Asriel's fight.

Papyrus Death: Why does he still believe in us? Why does he still have faith? Why does he think we can be a better person, if we just tried?

Alphys Enjoys Mew Mew 2 In Deltarune V.S Sans Emits Slime

Alphys Enjoys Mew Mew 2 In Deltarune: What the hell is this imposter.

Sans Emits Slime: "THESE SNAILS ARE JUST LIKE MY BROTHER. ROUND, SLOW... AND CONSTANTLY EMITTING SLIME???"

Lemon Bread (Shyra) Disguises As A Save Point V.S Asgore Dies In All Neutral Endings

Lemon Bread (Shyra) Disguises As A Save Point: Submitter was pissed off on their first playthrough.

Asgore Dies In All Neutral Endings: His whole speech about being a family, his actions in a repeat neutral. It's heartbreaking, hard to not mourn for what we could've had.

Kralsei's Weird Incest Undertones V.S Toby Never Explicitly States Nonbinary-ness Of Characters

Kralsei's Weird Incest Undertones: Obviously, kralsei isn't canon but it is implied that Ralsei has a crush on Kris or the player. He is very similar to Asriel, making it honestly weird.

Toby Never Explicitly States Nonbinary-ness Of Characters: He re-published his whole book because he accidentally misgendered his characters, goes out of his way to correct people, and to use the right pronouns. So why not just say it's canon when it so clearly is?

[golden-explosions-main]

[ * They actually seem to take notice. They try to transcribe the conversation. ] "...Very very happy... enjoy the sunlight... be best friends forever still... face all your fears. Kenopsia." [ * In a very mummering tone as they seem to just rush through it while going back to their lamenting. ] [ * They turn the camera around to see the nothingness. No light. No dark. ]

Frisk: "That's so touching... they care about us more than I thought they did...,"

Without being asked, Asriel writes it down.

Frisk: "Wait... what does 'kenopsia' mean?"

Chara: "It's what you would call an abandoned place that's usually known for being active and full of people and it invokes eerieness, loneliness, and profound sadness,"

Asriel: "Basically it's the feeling that creepy liminal spaces give you, but more depressing,"

Frisk: "Oh.....so....River Person is feeling that?"

Asriel: "I'm not surprised, did you see how the world looked? Our home, reduced to nothing but vast white nothingness,"

At that, Frisk looks devastated, they tremble and new tears fall from their eyes.

Asriel: "Oh no, I'm sure they're fine! If they know the Doctor, I bet there's a chance that you'll see them again, because look, you saw young me disappear but I'm here right now,"

Chara: "He has a point, he IS here,"

Frisk sniffles again and wipes their eyes.

Frisk: "I guess you're right...that makes me feel a little better,"