#almost familiar

Frisk regains consciousness shortly after their fall, but nothing feels right for them. Frisk gets themselves off the floor, then notices one thing right off the bat, particularly that they’ve seemed to have grown. Not in any metaphysical way, but that they are physically foot and a half taller. Frisk feels out their body and finds that they are still wearing their striped shirt on top of their shorts without any discomfort, and figures that their clothes magically sized up. Frisk then turns and sees what looks like a red humanoid outline standing in front of them. Frisk slightly jumps just before releasing a pathetic shriek, which ends up catching this strange outline’s attention.

“Huh?” the outline says as they glance at Frisk. “Oh. It’s you.” the outline continues.

Frisk looks at where the outline’s face would be, and notices the outline is becoming less of an outline as Frisk looks more closely at them. Frisk winds up to ask a question, but is quickly interrupted.

“Wait you can see me?!” the outline loudly asks.

“Um… I guess? Who are you?” Frisk softly replies.

“Oh right! I’ve never had the opportunity to introduce myself!” Chara realizes out loud. Chara puts their hand out for Frisk to shake. “I’m Chara! The first human to fall here! It’s nice to finally introduce myself to you!”.

Frisk mentally stumbled for a moment, but then collected them self enough to go for Chara’s outstretched hand. To Frisk’s shock, they were able to shake Chara’s ghost-like hand, and Frisk had a response ready as they pulled their hand away.

“So I’m guessing that little voice in my head for the last two runs was you?” Frisk asked.

“Yes indeed! That was me.” Chara gleefully replied. “So I guess we’re going through the Underground again?” Chara quickly added.

“Er… I guess so.” Frisk answered.

Frisk then turns toward the way to the next room and begins to walk in that direction, as Chara follows close behind them. They both make it into the next room with little issue, but then see Flowey in his usual spot. Flowey looks squarely at Frisk and marvels at their height just before he has a realization.

“Well, that’s certainly a change. I guess being in the void made you hit your growth spurt.” Flowey remarks. “There’s a thousand other things that could have happened in there you know.” he quickly adds.

“Thanks I guess. Can you let me pass now?” Frisk irritably grumbles.

“Oh golly, you think I’m going to let you go off so soon?” Flowey says with a smirk. “I may not be a god but I’m still free to do what I want!” Flowey adds.

Frisk calmly steps toward Flowey, causing Flowey’s expression to morph to one of concern.

“You’ve already wasted enough of my time.” Frisk bellows. Frisk raises their foot and thrusts it into Flowey’s face, then bluntly commands “Leave.”. After a brief silence, Flowey quickly recedes into the ground as Frisk turns to Chara.

“Shall we go on?” Frisk asks.

“Oh sure…” Chara answers. “Wait. Where is Toriel?” Chara quickly adds.

Frisk is about to answer when Toriel walks into view. Toriel scans the room, then fixes her gaze on Frisk as soon as she makes eye contact with them. After a moment of Frisk and Toriel blinking at each other with Chara awkwardly watching, Toriel calmly paces toward Frisk with an odd look on her face.

“Greetings… I’m Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. What brought you here?” Toriel says.

Frisk verbally stumbles for a moment then says “I want to get you all out of here.”.

“Oh really? Do you need help through the ruins then?” Toriel hurriedly responds.

“Um… I’d enjoy that.” Frisk says as Chara waves a hand in front of Toriel’s face.

“Okay then…. What’s your name?” Toriel says, still oblivious to Chara’s current existence.

“I’m Frisk. Nice to meet you.” Frisk says as they put out their hand.

“Huh. That’s a fun name.” Toriel says. “Shall we continue?” Toriel quickly adds.

Frisk nods to Toriel, then begins to walk toward the next room with Toriel following Frisk’s lead. As Toriel and Frisk leave the area, Chara rouses themself from their confusion and follows after them, then immediately notices something off. Chara sees that there is no save point under the tree, resulting in Chara dashing to Frisk in a panicked state.

“Frisk!” Chara exclaims. “There’s no save point! How are we going to progress?!” Chara continues.

Frisk stops walking  and turns toward Chara as they answer “Like anyone else does?”.

“But what if you die or something?! What then?!”.

“We’ll figure something out.”.

“Um… Excuse me, but who are you talking to?” Toriel intrudes.

Frisk verbally hesitates.

Chara puts their hand on their face and shakes their head.

“It’s my imaginary friend!” Frisk blurts out.

Toriel blinks at Frisk for a moment and calmly utters “Whatever you say Frisk. Let’s keep going.”.

After Frisk recovers from being put on the spot, both Frisk and Chara begin following Toriel through the ruins. Toriel, despite Frisk’s status as not looking like a child, continues to solve puzzles like in Frisk’s previous runs, making small talk along the way, with Frisk at most smiling and nodding in response. As a result of Frisk’s newly acquired size, the first Froggit that Frisk encountered didn’t ever bother to come out of hiding. This is when Toriel, Frisk, and Chara all stop at the start of the spike path puzzle. Toriel turns to Frisk and clears her throat.

“Frisk, I’d rather you not get hurt in the following room.” Toriel states. Toriel puts her hand out as she adds “Please hold my hand.”

Frisk silently puts their hand in Toriel’s.

Chara looks around, and realizing they’ll have to go through as well, puts their hand in Frisk’s other hand. Frisk looks back at Chara and smiles, then turns back to Toriel as she begins walking. The three of them walk through the spike path just fine, with Chara being the only one to touch the spikes without lasting consequences due to their ghost-like form. Once on the other side of the spike path, Toriel lets go of Frisk’s hand and turns to face them.

“Excuse me Frisk, I have some errands to attend to. You can either wait here or go through the Ruins yourself. What would you like to do?” Toriel says.

“I will go through the Ruins myself.” Frisk answers.

“Well that was simple. Anyway, I will see you in a moment, Frisk.”

Toriel swiftly steps through the next room as Chara looks up at Frisk. Chara seems ready for a conversation, at least in Frisk’s view, resulting in Frisk shaking their head and walking on. Chara continues to follow Frisk while attempting to make conversation.

“Isn’t it weird that only you can see me?”

No response.

“How are you so chill with what’s happening right now?”

Frisk stops walking, and after a brief pause, Frisk answers “My goal is clear now. I just need to get there.”.

“Got it Frisk. Let’s keep going.” Chara uneasily states.

Chara and Frisk continue to walk through the Ruins with little issue, seeing as the monsters’ resolve to capture the human wavered with Frisk’s new appearance. Chara had attempted to start conversations during the trek, but Frisk held firm with their desire to not speak, and by the time Frisk had convinced the rock to stay on the button, Frisk felt resigned to have to talk with their partner. Frisk clears their throat as they enter the next room.

Frisk turns toward Chara as they say “So you’re a ghost?”. Chara perks up as Frisk adds “You don’t look anything like any other ghosts I’ve seen.”.

Chara nervously adds “Oh um… I have an idea, but… I’m not sure.”.

“Well you got a starting point then.” Frisk adds.

“Uh, hello?”.

Both Chara and Frisk turn toward the source of voice, who turns out to be a familiar ghost. Napstablook had been lying down for about an hour when his zone-out session had been interrupted. Upon realizing that there are two people present, Napstablook gently floats over to both of them and looks squarely at Frisk.

“Who’s your friend, human?” Blooky asks.

Frisk verbally stumbles as they look over at Chara.

“Oh! Uh… I’m no one important….” Chara utters.

“Well you seem to be a lost soul. That’s odd...” Napstablook equivocates.

“O-Oh? Could you tell me more about lost souls?” Chara sheepishly asks.

“Well…” Napstablook says, “Lost souls are usually only heard about in fairy tales, but they are the result of a human persisting long enough to get a ghostly form.”.

“You know that you’re the only one who’s seen them besides me right?” Frisk adds.

“Oh.” Napstablook adds. “Maybe that’s because I’m a ghost?”.

“Could be.” Chara replies.

Frisk clears their throat, causing Napstablook and Chara to turn in their direction, then pipes up with “On a different note, Could we go on? We need to get to Toriel’s home.”.

Napstablook realizes the length of the conversation and says “Oh sure! Sorry for keeping you for a while…” and begins to fade away.

“See ya Blooky!” Chara interjects.

Blooky’s expression snaps to surprise as he stops fading for a moment (seeing as they never asked his name), then promptly blinks out of the corridor. Frisk turns to Chara with a judgy expression on their face, and once Chara hears Frisk’s “Ahem.”, Chara turns in Frisk’s direction and cracks a nervous smile as they form their words.

“Oh well? That’s only one person we’ve weirded out. Could be worse.” Chara explains.

“You’re not wrong.” Frisk says as they put a hand to their face.

“Anyway, let’s keep going.” Chara adds.

Frisk and Chara continue their trek to Toriel’s home, retreading through the froggit room, obtaining the ribbon, getting through the hidden path room, and resolving the switch puzzle. Chara and Frisk then are at the corridor right before toriel’s house when Frisk decides to walk away and get the toy knife. Chara reluctantly follows Frisk as they get the toy knife, due to their compunctions about knives in general. As they walk back to the corridor, they both fail to notice the creeping vines following them. Frisk and Chara have just about got in front of Toriel’s tree when Frisk suddenly falls to the floor. Upon hearing the resulting crash, Chara turns back towards Frisk and quickly notices who’s there. Flowey laughs.

“You idiot! Didja think you got rid of me?! Think again!”, Flowey says, “Now I can more easily get rid of you!”.

Flowey’s vines begin to ensnare Frisk, starting with their ankles, and moving up. Realizing what’s coming, Frisk pulls out the toy knife and tries to cut themself free, but Flowey quickly stops that by essentially using vine whip on Frisk’s left arm, causing Frisk to writhe enough to drop the knife. Chara stiffens with fear, but then notices Toriel as they look through her house’s window. Flowey laughs again.

“Now that you’ve gone and done your little stunt, the option to reset is gone!”, Flowey continues after his laugh, “G-O-N-E! Meaning that if I take your soul, you’re stuck with me, even after I initiate my plan!”. Flowey lifts Frisk, now fully entangled with vines, into the air in front of him as he cackles again and says “And with the grip I have on you, you’re dead meat bud-”

A fireball hits Flowey directly in the eyes. Frisk promptly thumps onto the floor thanks to the flames from Toriel’s fireball burning away Flowey’s vines. Chara would have remarked “It seems to be Toriel’s time to shine” if they hadn’t glued their feet to the floor out of fear. After the first shot, Toriel dashes forward to get a better angle on her next volley, and unknowingly runs straight through Chara’s ghostly form, which makes Chara snap to attention and turn in the direction that Toriel ran in. Toriel quickly readies her second volley, and fires it at the retreating flower. Flowey, for his part, vanishes into the ground as Chara zips over to Frisk and checks their stats. After a moment of silence induced by Toriel making sure that the strange flower was gone, Toriel turns to Frisk, then stops as she notices someone else next to the incapacitated human. Toriel warily steps toward both of them as Chara… Is having some difficulties. For one, Chara’s CHECK ability seems to be mucked up somehow, seeing as they are only seeing a health bar with no raw numbers. On top of that, despite Frisk taking no hits from either party, Frisk is not in perfect health. Chara has a hunch for why, but then snaps back to reality by a familiar sensation.

“My child?” Toriel says with a hand on Chara’s shoulder.

Chara is startled by the sudden words in their direction and jumps back, only to realize that their adoptive mother’s gaze is squarely fixed on their face. Chara is taken aback, seeing as their memories of Toriel’s raw compassion come flooding back into view. Chara then has the thought, This is the first time she’s seen me in 15 years. What am I thinking, I know what she wants. Chara gets back on their feet, and jumps forward with arms outstretched, resulting in a long-overdue familial embrace.

“Mom, I’m sorry I couldn’t talk to you earlier.” Chara says with tears running down their face, “I’m so sorry…”

“There is no reason to be sorry Chara. I may have a lot of questions now, but you can answer them later. Let’s get Frisk to safety.”

“Agreed.”

Chara and Toriel softly put an end to their embrace, resulting in Chara’s attempt to lift Frisk, which then results in Chara levitating off the floor while holding onto Frisk’s hand. Toriel is somewhat unnerved with the way Chara is holding Frisk off the ground.

“I can carry Frisk if needed, Chara. You seem like you are struggling to hold them.” Toriel says in her slightly concerned tone.

“Oh yeah I am…” Chara says with a strained voice, “Please carry them for me.”

Chara safely hands Frisk to Toriel, and Toriel puts Frisk over her shoulder.

“Let’s get going.” Toriel says with her gaze fixed on Chara.

Chara and Toriel go through the front door, in Chara’s case quite literally, and start to get settled in. Toriel moves Frisk into the vacant bedroom as Chara floats down onto a chair at the dining room table. Toriel tucks Frisk into their bed, then comes back out into the dining room, words already prepared.

“Chara, I have several questions I’d like to ask. Would you like to answer them for me?” Toriel asks.

“Sure, we’ve got some time to kill. And a lot of explaining to do.” Chara answers.

“My child, this may be a bit of a heavy talk, so if you get emotional, I won’t blame you.”

“Got it.” Chara replies, “Hit me with your questions.”

“So, Chara, where have you been these past years? Do you know how you came back like this?”

“Well… I’ve been sort of guiding the humans that keep falling down here. Frisk was obviously different, but none of the previous humans could see me like you are right now.”

“Oh goodness…” Toriel utters, “So you were here all along?”

“I guess so.”

“I guess you were here in spirit…” Toriel says, followed by some laughter.

Chara chuckles for a moment before asking “So that’s all you wanted to know? Is there anything else you’ve wondered about?”

“Well…” Toriel unsteadily says, “I have one thing I’d like to know.”. Toriel’s breathing gets funny for a moment. “Do you know what happened to Asriel?”

Chara pauses. They know exactly what has come of him. Chara is tempted to spill the truth, but hesitates. Chara doesn’t want to give away their failed plan. “Erm…” Chara’s hands tremble.

“My child, are you fine?”

“I-I-I’m fine mom. All I know is… I haven’t seen him.”

“Oh Chara… That’s fine. I’ve missed him too.” Toriel verbally stumbles before continuing with “You both were… Best friends. I’ve known what it’s like to lose those you love, but you’ve got to know they would only want the best for you.”

Chara looks away from Toriel for a moment, attempting to hide their face. Chara’s seen what Asriel has become. They don’t want to admit that they’d like to see him restored thanks to what he’s done. And Chara, for all their ability to forgive, can’t shake the doubt from their mind. Asriel has become a soulless husk of what he used to be. And Chara can’t unsee what’s happened.

“Chara!” Toriel says, making Chara snap back to reality. “My child… Let’s get you some rest. You’ve had a long day. Would you be able to stay in bed?”

“I think I can.”

“Okay. I think you know where the bed is from here. I need some rest as well.” Toriel begins to walk toward her room, then says “Good night Chara! See you in the morning!”