#altered end

The day in Snowdin Town dawns, and like he always has, Papyrus is up at the crack of dawn. Papyrus opens his room’s door and starts into the main part of the house, ready for his meeting with Undyne today, but then suddenly stops halfway down the stairs when he sees someone new.

“Nyeh?!” Papyrus exclaims.

Chara, who has been resting on the floor for the past several hours, stirs at Papyrus’s remark and looks in the direction of the noise. After recognizing Papyrus, Chara lifts off the floor and begins to do their morning stretches. Papyrus, unaware who this person is, silently keeps his eye sockets locked on Chara as he tries to identify this other. After getting done stretching, Chara looks back at Papyrus and notices that he’s looking them in the eyes.

“Um…. You can see me…?” Chara asks with a concerned expression.

“Of course smaller human!” Papyrus exclaims. “But how did you get in my house...?”

Chara stumbles for a moment, but then regains their bearing and says “I’m Frisk’s travel buddy. Sorry for coming in unannounced!”

“Oh. That’s so cool! I have so many questions already!!!”

Frisk stirs awake at Papyrus’s remark, and gets up with morning haze affecting their mind. Papyrus begins asking questions so fast that Chara can barely keep up. Frisk then notices Papyrus looking squarely at Chara, and gets up as the haze begins to ebb from their mind. Papyrus sees Frisk move, then stops his barrage of questions as his attention shifts to the other human in his house.

“Greetings, Frisk! You didn’t tell me you had a travel buddy!” Papyrus says.

Frisk tiredly nods to Papyrus before turning to Chara with a raised eyebrow. Chara sees Frisk’s expression and shrugs with an expression that conveys their mixed feelings. This is about when Sans begins to stir, and upon hearing the racket outside his room, he gets up and walks out his door. Papyrus hears his brother’s door creak, and turns in its direction.

“Sans?! You’re awake when you’re supposed to be?!” Papyrus exclaims.

Sans answers with “Welp, I was just hearing’ some commotion, and-”

Sans sees Chara, and notices that their outline is much more defined than before. Sans looks to Frisk, and Frisk notices his gaze and shrugs, not knowing what to say.

Sans turns back to Chara. “So kiddo, any thoughts about being more visible?”

Chara verbally stumbles. “Uh… My thoughts are a little jumbled right now…”

Frisk blurts out “Well that means anyone can see you now.”

Chara freezes in place. Their thoughts begin to race, with most of them geared toward what Asgore and… Asriel… Will think. Chara snaps back to reality as they realize Frisk’s hand on their shoulder.

“Chara, it’ll be fine. I’m sure Asgore will understand.” Frisk says.

Chara, not wanting to appear even vulnerable, says “Okay then… Got it frisk.”

Papyrus can’t believe this. “Nyeh?! You both have met KING ASGORE?!”

“Eh… Sort of…” Frisk says, verbally attempting to cover their tracks.

“Wowie! I never got to meet him until I started my royal guard training!” The whole room goes quiet. Papyrus, noticing the silence and where he has to be, adds “Speaking of that, I have to go meet up with the captain! See you all later!” then zips out the front door.

A moment after Papyrus’s sudden exit, those remaining in the house all look to each other.

“Frisk, ya know that you’ll have to venture through Waterfall at some point, right?” Sans asks with a curious gaze.

“My plan is to head out soon.” Frisk answers.

Chara drifts over to Frisk and sets a hand on their shoulder. “I’m scared I’ll be recognized, but I know Frisk will help me if I am.” Chara cracks a smile as they add “We’ll do our best!”

“Got it kiddos, I hope ya both make it past Waterfall in one piece. I’ll see ya when I see ya.” Sans answers.

Frisk grabs their bag, then walks over to the skelebros’ front door as Chara drifts over to it. Frisk goes straight out the door, whereas Chara cracks a smile and waves to Sans just before doing the same. Sans, believing he could do some good, decides to go off to Grillby’s to see this week’s talk of the town, warping there in an instant.

Sans finds himself next to the east wall of Grillby’s, and after regaining his sense of direction, he shuffles off to Grillby’s front door. He enters, and notices the barren nature of the place right now, then sees Grillby, who’s cleaning the floor.

Grillby notices Sans. “Welcome, Sans. You are up early. Were you woken up by the disturbance last night?”

“Disturbance? What do ya mean?” Sans says.

“It seemed like a battle of some sort, but it was happening close to Waterfall.”

Sans, confused, asks “Did anyone else hear it?”

Grillby is about to answer when someone comes through the door.

Doggo enters, nearly bumping into Sans. “Grillbs! Ya heard that battle last night?!”

“Indeed I have, Doggo. Did anything come of it?”

“Well, ya see, us guards were about to engage, but no one sounded the alarm! Someone oughta’ have seen that, so why didn’t nobody sound the alarm?! I got barely any sleep ‘cuz of that!”

Sans quickly realizes what battle Doggo is referring to, but isn’t quite sure if he should bring it up.

Doggo sniffs the air. “Hmm? Oh, hello Sans! Didja see any of what happened there?”

Sans nervously shrugs. “Not that I know of.”

“I reckon that the brawl took place near your house based on the volume. I guess you’re just a heavy sleeper…”

“Heh heh, of course…” Sans says as he eyes the door. “Anyways, Gotta go! I got posts to man.”

Grillby waves at Sans as he starts to leave. “Okay Sans. Have a great day!”

Sans fully walks out of Grillby’s, then warps to his first post in Waterfall.

Frisk and Chara have just made it into Waterfall, and they both don’t quite notice Sans appearing in his post as Monster Kid comes from the same direction that they just did.

“Yo yo! You two are kids, right?”

Frisk and Chara look at Monster Kid, Frisk with a raised eyebrow, and Chara with a more neutral expression.

Chara pipes up with “Yeah, how could you tell?”

“Well, you both have striped shirts! All us kids have them!”

Frisk, surprised Monster Kid hasn’t commented on their stature, which Frisk deemed as important to the conversation, just stays quiet as the talk continues.

“Indeed. Are you going to see Undyne?” Chara asks.

Monster Kid’s eyes shine as their mind realizes what this ghost kid has said. “Oh my gosh, are you going off to see her too?! That’s so cool!”

Frisk, annoyed by what they perceive as wasted time, starts to walk off. Chara takes notice, but decides to keep talking with Monster Kid.

“Yeah! I’m…” Chara’s thinking stumbles for a moment. They don’t know what to say now that they will most likely be recognized.

“You’re going to see her wreck some bad guys?” Monster Kid replies.

“I mean… Probably!” Chara replies, relieved Monster Kid hasn’t recognized them.

Frisk then stops just before the start of the boulder waterfall, and looks back at Chara, attempting to urge them onward. Sans, who has been quietly sitting in his post, notices Chara’s gaze drifting to him.

“Huh? What’s up kiddo?” Sans says as he notices Chara’s conflicted expression.

Monster Kid notices Sans’s remark and turns in the skeleton’s direction as Chara answers “Frisk wants me to go on, but Monster Kid wants to keep talking…”

“Huh?” Monster Kid utters, clearly confused. “If you want to keep talking, I can come with ya, can’t I?”

It takes a moment, but Chara’s mind clicks with the idea. “I mean, sure! Come along!”

Monster Kid beams at the invitation. They add an amused vocalization just before saying “Don’t tell my parents!” as they dash past Chara in Frisk’s direction.

Sans watches the start of Monster Kid’s dash before looking back to Chara and saying “Have fun kiddos, I’ll be hangin’ out back.”

Chara smiles, then waves goodbye to Sans as they drift off toward Frisk and Monster Kid. Frisk, having barely heard the conversation, watches Monster Kid’s approach with a raised eyebrow.

Monster Kid excitedly hops in place in front of Frisk as they say “I’m coming with you to see Undyne!” Monster Kid stops as they add “You cool with that?”

Frisk, in their rapidly deteriorating patience, sighs as Chara arrives next to Monster Kid. “Sure. Just don’t cause trouble.”

Chara raises an eyebrow as Frisk turns and begins to wade through the barrage of boulders coming from the constant stream of water. Monster Kid, for their part, smiles and starts doing the same. Chara, ever wary, cautiously follows the two other kids in front of them.

Papyrus wasn’t expecting to show up this quickly to the meeting place. He’s been sitting around for several minutes now, and Undyne isn’t usually late. She must be doing something right now, he thinks, she’ll be here in a moment. From out of the blue, Papyrus hears footsteps, and turns in the direction of the noise. Papyrus sees Frisk, Monster Kid, and Chara approaching from the west and starts to wave to them before coming to a realization. Papyrus quickly comes to a point of What will Undyne think if she sees them?, and then her most likely response clicks in his mind. They’ll be taken away to never be seen again, he concludes. Suddenly, he snaps to attention as Undyne bounds up to the ledge he’s on.

Undyne safely lands, and takes her helmet off. “Hey, skelebro, you all right?” she says in her usual gruff tone.

“Oh!” Papyrus says, surprised. “I-I was waiting for your arrival, Captain.”

“Yeah, I could see that. Sorry about the wait, but I have some info I need to get to you.”

“Oh? What might that be about?” Papyrus warily asks.

“Papyrus, Doctor Alphys’s cameras stopped working for some reason, so as your duty as a sentry dictates, have you seen a human?”

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!”

Frisk is in an odd position at the moment. They had been quietly waiting in the grass, listening in on Papyrus’s talk with Undyne like in the last two runs, but they had to crouch in order to stay hidden, thanks to their new height. Chara had been doing much the same, but thanks to their pseudo-ghostly status, there wasn’t any worry about them making the grass rustle. However, there was a teeny, tiny little problem for both Frisk and Chara. There was a third person in their midst, Monster Kid, and they had taken a singular step, alerting both Undyne and Papyrus to their presence.

Undyne summons her spear, quickly toward the grass, ready to pick out any motion she can find. Papyrus, for his part, continues his silence, not knowing what to say out of fear of interrupting his captain. In the following moment, no one in the grass dares to move, even Chara. After this moment, Undyne dissipates her spear, annoyed at not finding the source of the disturbance.

“Hmmph.” Undyne turns to Papyrus. “Anyways, Papyrus, you wanna do your training for today? You look very uptight, and I think that would let you relax.”

“Y-Yes captain Undyne! That sounds wonderful! Let’s go do that!” Papyrus replies, trying to keep his growing worry under wraps.

“Alrighty, let’s go Paps.”

Undyne takes Papyrus by the elbow and calmly smiles at him. Papyrus returns the smile, then starts trying to walk in the direction of Waterfall’s main town. Undyne notices this, and begins to go in the same direction. As they both leave the premises, Frisk emerges from the grass they were hiding in, looking around for any other possible threats.

Monster Kid then pops out of the grass. “Wow! We got Undyne’s attention! So cool!”

Chara drifts out of the grass after Monster kid, making them the last to leave the hiding place, all while saying nothing.

Monster Kid suddenly stops. “Wait…” Frisk and Chara turn their toward the kid. “We haven’t told each other our names yet. Tell me what you both go by, I think that will make it easier for us later?”

Frisk, unamused with the sudden stop, promptly answers. “I’m Frisk.”

Chara, like before, conversationally stumbles for a moment. But before the pause outstays its welcome, Chara’s words assemble and leave without warning. “I’m Chara…”

Chara’s veneer of a neutral expression crumbles as they realize what slipped out. Their expression takes on a load of worry in the next moment, with Frisk recognizing it right away. But Monster Kid, bereft of perception at the moment, carries on with their response without batting an eye.

“Oh cool! I’m Monster Kid, but you can shorten it to MK!” MK then looks over to Chara, who is just behind them. “Huh?”

Chara notices MK’s gaze. “Oh! Uh… That’s my name. Sorry.”

“That’s fine Chara.” Monster Kid then paces forward a ways before saying “Let’s continue now, yeah?”

Frisk quickly nods, then begins to walk a similar path that MK took to their current position. Chara silently follows shortly after Frisk, and the three of them begin progressing further into Waterfall.

Time passes. The trio of Frisk, Chara, and Monster Kid have made it to the wooden dock that has the ferry boat. Chara immediately drifts over to the wall covered in ancient glyphs, and stops as they look toward Frisk. MK, perplexed by Chara’s path, feels they have to say something.

“Hey, Chara? Why are ya reading those?” Monster Kid asks.

Frisk notices MK’s question, and a meter or so away from the ferry, turns to look at Chara.

Chara, wanting to get their thoughts out, says “I thought you both would like to read them.” They quickly add “Shouldn’t we take a moment to recharge? We’ve been going at full speed since we left the grass.”

Frisk, annoyed at the suggestion but not wanting to completely ignore the request, says “Fair enough Chara. I’ll read them…” as they start walking toward the leftmost part of the glyph wall.

“Um, I guess I will too! This IS the furthest I’ve gotten into Waterfall…” MK adds as they walk to the same place Frisk was heading.

The two of them begin to read, but with Frisk looking down at the ancient text, due to their height once again. MK gets through the reading much faster than Frisk for that fact that MK is a fast reader by heart, unlike Frisk who struggled with that part. MK gets to the second rightmost glyph, then shocked by its message, looks toward the rightmost glyph with a concerned gaze. Frisk, confused by MK’s expression, steps forward and reads the same two glyphs.

MK speaks first. “Wow, those last two are unnerving…” Monster Kid then turns to Frisk. “What do you think, Frisk?”

Frisk responds “I think I’ve heard stories about this before…”

MK, who had momentarily looked away, has their gaze snap back to Frisk. “Oh really? Where?”

Chara puts on a concerned expression just before turning to Frisk.

Frisk quietly exhales and says “It’s… Been a while. I wouldn’t know.”

Chara breathes a sigh of relief just before Monster Kid gets their response out.

“Alright. Shouldn’t we continue then?” MK asks.

“That sounds like a great option. We may have to share the ferry, Monster Kid.” Frisk says as they look over to the ferry boat.

Monster Kid turns in the same direction, and the instant after seeing the ferry’s size, they say “Uh huh… Let’s hope we have enough space!”

Frisk and MK begin walking toward the ferry boat with Chara drifting behind them. Chara gets close enough to Frisk in order to set their hand on their companion’s shoulder. As Chara’s gaze turns eastward, Monster Kid steps onto the ferry first, followed by Frisk. As soon as Frisk’s other foot steps onto the ferry, the ferry moves toward its destination to the other boardwalk. Unlike Frisk’s previous times here, Chara’s moderate red glow illuminates a near perfect circle reflecting off the water around the ferry, resulting in a better lit, albeit quiet moment of standing on the ferry. The ferry then makes it to its destination, resulting in Frisk and MK stepping off of it almost in perfect sync. Chara, for their part, nervously glances around as their grip on Frisk’s shoulder tightens. Frisk and Monster Kid continue forward for several steps before noticing an eerie glow from beyond the boardwalk.

MK stops as they look in the direction of the light.

Frisk stops as they notice the lack of Kid’s footsteps, then gets an unamused look on their face as they realize what’s coming. Chara notices Frisk’s morphed expression fairly quickly as a glowing blue spear appears next to the first light, illuminating the surroundings enough to an armored figure holding the spear. Frisk wordlessly starts walking forward, away from Monster Kid. Just after Frisk starts walking, Chara has a sudden realization. Chara lets go of Frisk’s shoulder and quickly goes back toward MK’s position.

Panic grips Chara’s voice. “MK! We’ve got to go!”

Monster Kid, hot off of recognizing Undyne, says “Why’s that? Undyne’s here!”

“You don’t understand! We’ve got to-”

Chara sees Undyne take a running leap off of the place she was standing. Undyne lands on the dock with a resounding thud, then looks squarely at Chara. Confusion, concern, and panic rattle through Chara’s being, who is unsure of what is coming. Undyne doesn’t lose eye contact with Chara as she steps toward the ghostly child. Once she feels she is close enough, Undyne stops, then looks down at Chara. Monster Kid’s gaze jumps between Chara and Undyne as they speak.

“So YOU’RE the one who caused this whole mess, right?” Undyne says with a gruff tone.

Chara is in disbelief. “Wait, what did I do?”

“You’re the one who junked up the cameras!” Undyne yells.

Chara’s tone nearly matches Undyne’s as they say “How would YOU know that?!”

Undyne scoffs. “Tch. Whatever human.” Undyne’s trademark smile returns as she adds “Anyway, face my wrath! My king needs your soul!” and readies her spear(s).

Time slows for Chara as they feel their being morph. MK, Chara, and Frisk all hear that distinct ping as Chara’s soul becomes green. Chara bumbles for a moment as the spear appears in their dominant left hand, and Chara looks back to Undyne as she seems to crack a large smile under her helmet. It’s Chara’s turn.

Chara regains their bearing and stands in a guarding position, with an albeit not completely settled expression.

As soon as Chara takes their turn, Undyne begins her barrage of spears. Chaotically aligned and coming in all directions, Undyne’s rain of spears is intense enough that Chara practically has to dodge roll in places to avoid damage. But then Undyne notices something odd, particularly that she’s not hearing the human take damage. As the hypothetical dust from her attack clears, Chara seems unscathed as they both meet each other’s gaze.

Chara is using their free hand to examine themself for injuries, and when their search comes up empty, Chara can not believe that they are unscathed.

Undyne is fuming, and doesn’t even notice Monster Kid lying on the floor as she pipes up. “What the heck?! How are you completely unharmed?! That can’t be right!”

Chara, after thinking about it for a moment, replies “You know, I kind of have to agree with you. There is no way I’m that good at dodging…”, and lays eyes on a deathly quiet Monster Kid.

Undyne, who is surprised at this human’s reply, loosens her grip on Chara’s soul as she says “Err, okay then human…” then sees Chara moving toward someone she didn’t notice until that moment.

Chara is hovering over Monster Kid as Undyne sees they’ve moved, and Chara attempts to check the monster child. The phrase that best describes Monster Kid in this moment is that they are laying on the floor with their head turned away from where Undyne’s volley landed, and shaking like a leaf with every breath.

Chara gently puts a hand on MK’s shoulder. “Are you alright MK?” Chara can tell they are rocked to their very core.

Monster Kid cobbles their words together while they are still on the floor. “I-I’m… In awe? But also really scared…”

“I mean, I’m not hurt at all, so-”

Undyne interrupts with “You’re just a ghost?!” as soon as she realizes her target’s feet are off the floor. Undyne angrily groans and continues with “How dare you waste my time like this!!!” and lunges for Chara with her spear drawn.

Everything goes in slow motion as Chara sees Undyne’s path toward them. Undyne’s grip on their soul was loosening even more, Chara could feel it, but Undyne was approaching too fast to get either Monster Kid or themself out of the way. Chara decides to chance their safety over MK’s, and with feet on the boardwalk, Chara stands up ready to take a hit but without guarding themself. Monster Kid sees this, and braces for the worst. The impact comes barely a second later, but curiously, Chara feels nothing except for the breeze made by Undyne’s dash. Chara and MK hear a large collision and the clattering of armor come from behind them, and just a moment later, Chara’s being flips back to being red with a distinct ping. Monster Kid and Chara turn in the direction of the noise, only to see Frisk running toward both of them and a downed Undyne on the floor.

Frisk swiftly picks up Monster Kid, and turns to Chara as they say “We need to run, now!”

“What did you do?” Chara asks.

“No time to explain! Just MOVE!”

Frisk begins dashing westward with MK in under their arm. Chara, feeling like they don’t have any other viable options, decides to do the same. Undyne is barely off the floor by the time she notices that one, her target on the run, two, an actual human tripped her, and three, the human is holding a young monster. She is quite livid at this trio of insults. Undyne stands and unleashes a battle cry as she prepares a new volley of spears. Frisk looks back for a moment, and recognizing the amount of spears, uses their other hand to grab Chara by the wrist as they kick up their pace. By the time the spears start their attack run, the trio is onto the more maze-like part of the docks. Frisk looks back again, and ducks just in time to avoid the spears. After the spears all fly past, Frisk gets back up and continues running.

By the time the trio gets to the end of the boardwalk, Frisk has let go of Chara’s wrist, freeing them from their grip. Chara examines their wrist as Undyne finally makes it to them. Undyne is alight with pure, unfiltered rage at these humans’ insults. She tromps toward her targets, then resummons her spear.

“You bastard humans! Why are you not taking any damage?!” Undyne says as she steps toward the trio.

Chara attempts to answer, but then is silenced by Frisk’s voice.

“Leave us alone! We’re just trying to get from point A to point B!” Frisk loudly says.

“Then why do you have a kid with you!?” Undyne bellows.

MK quickly pipes up. “That’s c-cuz I wanted to come with them! I just-”

“Enough! Let the kid go, and I’ll make this easy!” Undyne says.

Frisk, more than a bit skeptical, slowly repositions Monster Kid from under their arm as they wind up for their next motion.

As Frisk repositions themself while moving, Chara feels it’s their space to talk. “What do you mean, ‘make it easy’?”

Undyne’s attention shifts to Chara. “I’m going to let the king do his duties himself. You should know that getting you two there is MY job right?”

Chara is ready to elaborate. “Fair, but-”

Sans, Chara, and Frisk appear on the other side of Sans’s shortcut to Snowdin Town’s welcome sign. Chara looks around and gets a feeling of warmth just like any other time they’ve been there, then notices that Frisk and Sans are walking further into town and starting a conversation.

“Sans! I thought you were going to Judgement hall!” Frisk barks.

“Well we DID say that we were gonna visit Pap right?” Sans replies.

“We? What do you mean ‘we’?! You did all the talking!”

“Ehh, fair enough. But I know I don’t wanna disappoint him.”

By this moment, the townsfolk have noticed Sans talking to a complete stranger as if they were close friends, and begin to watch as the skeleton and human continue on. Chara has been keeping up with the duo without being noticed, as per usual for them at this point.

“Dangit Sans! That would have been so simple! Why can’t you make things easier for me?!” Frisk exclaims.

“Woah kiddo, calm down. Didn’t I just do that for you? Besides, it’s a short walk from here to Waterfall once we’re done having dinner.” Sans reasons.

Chara bluntly butts into the conversation with “Frisk, you know he just helped us all the way past the mostly bare parts of this zone.”. Frisk and Sans both focus their attention on Chara as they continue with “All you have to do is have enough patience to spend dinner with these two. That’s certainly simpler than doing battle with all of this zone’s monsters and working at those puzzles, right?”

Frisk groans. “Sure, sure, you’re right. I’ve sat through worse, and my goal can wait for now.”

Sans sighs in relief, thankful that he didn’t have to use anything more than words for this situation. By the next moment, they get to the skeleton brothers’ house, and Sans opens the door and steps aside for Frisk and Chara to come in. Frisk walks in like anyone else would, whereas Chara phases through the wall to the left of the door instead. Papyrus is almost done cooking his spaghetti when he hears the door close.

“Oh? Sans, that was fast! How did you do that?!” Papyrus asks.

“I keep tellin’ ya bro, I got shortcuts.” Sans answers.

“Oh. Alrighty.” Papyrus plainly says, then turns back to his spaghetti, turns off the oven burner, picks up the pot, and dumps it in the colander. He turns in Frisk’s direction as he says “My spaghetti is almost done, human!” then pauses. “Eh? There’s a hand on your shoulder Human. Is that normal?”

Frisk checks both of their shoulders, and sees Chara’s hand on their right shoulder, then looks at Chara, confused. Chara returns the look, then lifts their hand off of Frisk’s shoulder. Frisk then turns to Papyrus, words at the ready.

“No no, it’s totally normal.” Frisk says with sarcasm. “But uh, Papyrus, could you call me Frisk?”

“Huh? You knew my name? Is that another one of your powers?”

Frisk blankly stares at Papyrus for a moment.

“Erm, I can call you Frisk if you want me to! So I, the great Papyrus, shall do so!”

“Thank you Papyrus.”

“Anyways, I’m gonna go up to my room.” Sans says. He then looks to Chara and gestures for them to follow him. Chara catches on, and begins to drift in the direction of Sans’s room. Sans then begins to walk upstairs as he adds “See you two in a bit!”

Chara makes it to Sans’s room first, but then politely waits for Sans to open his room’s door before phasing through the wall anyway. Sans is startled by Chara’s seemingly sudden appearance in his room.

“Wha- huh?!”

“Oh!” Chara exclaims, “Sorry about that, I’m still getting used to the phasing through walls thing…”

Sans uses his magic to shut the door, then turns back to Chara. “So, I have several questions, if I may ask ‘em.”

“Oh sure! Ask away!”

“First off, what’s your name? It’s rather impolite to not properly introduce yourself, right?”

“Oh yeah, I’m not sure what people think of me nowadays, but I’m Chara Dreemurr.” Chara looks away as they add “I didn’t think you would have been able to hide your shock earlier if I said it.”

Sans pauses for a moment, then regains his bearing and says “Welp, you were right about that part. But anyways, do ya know how you became a lost soul?”

“I've been one for a while, but without being visible… I think me messing with Flowey’s menus made me visible to Frisk when we started back at the ruins.”

“Oh, so that flower has those too?”

“Had. Frisk seems like they don’t have any menus right now either, hence why they aren’t doing that hitting-an-invisible-and-floating-button thing when they are about to do something.”

“Huh. Anything else going differently?”

“Well, my check ability isn’t working right. I can only see the health bar and not any definite numbers for stats and stuff like that.”

“That’s odd. Anyways, what are Frisk’s thoughts on this? Do ya know?”

“Frisk has said they know what their goal is, and that they’d rather not dawdle.”

“That explains their temper from earlier.” Sans then pauses for a moment, then adds “Welp, that was the last of my questions. Have any questions for me kiddo?”

“Not any I can think of.” Chara then has a sudden realization. “Oh! Sans, can you come along with Frisk and I? You’d be really helpful!”

“Err, for what exactly? I may have my shortcuts, but I’m not sure if anything else would be too helpful.”

“Okay then. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

“Got it Chara. Should we go check on Paps and Frisk?”

“Oh yeah we should.”

Sans reopens his room’s door, and both he and Chara come out to see what’s happening with Frisk and Papyrus. Once Sans and Chara go down the stairs, and notice an empty plate on the table, as well as an absence of Frisk and Papyrus.

“Where did they go?” Chara asks.

Sans looks back upstairs, then turns back to Chara as he says “I think we walked past ‘em. Seems like they’re havin’ some platonic bonding time.”

“Oh fun. I’ll… Let them do that.”

Some time later, and in a different place in Snowdin, Flowey is getting annoyed. He’s set his trap in the stretch between Snowdin and Waterfall, and has been waiting there for almost the entire day. Flowey thought that Frisk would be coming by to advance to Waterfall, but they haven’t come by yet, and it’s now late at night. As a result of his impatience, Flowey thinks maybe if he catches Frisk while they are unprepared, he can snag their soul, and initiate his plan. Due to the current time and the fact that Frisk hasn’t shown up, Flowey gets an inkling of where that idiot might be. Flowey thinks that he might as well try to ambush Frisk, seeing as Frisk is most likely asleep. So Flowey begins to disassemble his trap and move toward Snowdin, all while looking for Frisk.

Back in the Skeleton’s house, Frisk is asleep on the couch due to the fact that there are no other beds in the skeletons’ possession. On the other hand, Chara has been unable to sleep thanks to seemingly no reason at all. They’ve been attempting to sleep on the floor just in front of the TV, about two tiles away from where Frisk is sleeping. Chara then notices an odd shape beyond their feet, and after a moment of Chara’s eyes adjusting to the darkness, Chara makes out the shape of Flowey just ahead of the front door. In a moment of panic, Chara unknowingly warps themself to Sans’s room just before panickedly (and mostly incoherently) yelling something to the effect of “FLOWEY’S HERE AND FRISK IS IN DANGER” Sans perks awake, and instinctively teleports himself just outside his door, instantly noticing the lot of vines in the house. Flowey is at the foot of the couch as he devilishly smiles to himself.

“Well well well…” Flowey softly says as his vines snake around Frisk, “Looks like you’re-”

Sans is quick on the draw with his blasters. Flowey instantly recognizes the sound of them, and disengages his vines before they can take any damage. In the same moment, Frisk hears the blasters go off and is unfamiliar with the sound, which makes Frisk snap into panic mode. Frisk gets up, bounds off the couch in the direction of the door (and in the process stepping on Flowey), and zips out the door after opening it. Chara floats back into the main room of the house as Flowey recovers from the blunt force of Frisk’s foot, then realizes where his prize went. Flowey quickly disappears into the floor as Sans and Chara share an OH CRAP moment.

Unlike their previous times through here, Frisk is running. From what? Flowey. He’s managed to get behind Frisk and has started after them with his vines engaged and pointed at Frisk. Thankfully for Frisk, they’ve pulled out the toy knife and are advancing faster than Flowey is. Flowey’s inability to catch Frisk for the time being is making his anger build, and he has decided that he absolutely can not, and should not let this idiot human get away. As Frisk continues to run, they can hear vines snaking on both sides of themself, but Frisk has learned from their previous encounter with flowey. Frisk quickly glances to their right and sees a vine coming for the arm, to which Frisk whirls and scores a hit, slicing the vine the moment before it would have gotten hold of them. Another vine attempts to trip Frisk by the ankle, but Frisk sees it  coming and hops over it, so far taking no damage. By this moment, Frisk is almost to Waterfall with Flowey a couple strides behind them, and Flowey is at his limit. He summons a mess of pellets then initiates their attack run, and they streak like bullets before they all land around Frisk, completely missing them. As Flowey fumes with anger and comes to a stop, a line of Sans’s blasters quickly vaporizes Flowey’s base of vines, and Flowey’s now missing base makes him tumble in the air just before he cartoonishly hits the ground with a resounding thump. Frisk witnesses this and is frozen with awe, whereas Sans sees Flowey hit the floor, and summons a bone cage around the flower as he summons a blaster and lines it up with the cage’s one exit. Unprepared for the sudden followup attack, Flowey takes a blaster beam to the face, and surprisingly lives with a small percent of health remaining. As Flowey regains his senses, time slows to a crawl, and in this moment, Flowey only has one thing on this mind: staying alive. He had come to the realization that if he dies here, there’s no coming back thanks to the reset button’s  nonexistence in this run. Against his desire to start his plan, Flowey disappears into the ground to flee from this battle and recover. Now that the flower is gone, the tension of the battle ebbs from the area, which leads Chara and Sans to look to Frisk, who is standing just beyond where the snow ends in this tract of land. Sans sighs in relief, then begins to walk toward Frisk. Chara begins to drift in the same direction shortly after Sans, but is going slightly faster. Frisk, relieved and with a tired gaze, just watches their approach. Chara gets to Frisk first on account of their faster approach.

“What the heck were you thinking, Frisk?!” Chara loudly asks.

“Well… I thought running would have worked?” Frisk admits.

Chara looks squarely at Frisk and says “You know what Flowey wants to do with your soul by now, right?”

“Yeah yeah, I do. I just thought…”

“Woah hey kiddos.” Sans says as he gets next to both Frisk and Chara. “No one got hurt. Everything’s chill. Can’t ya both be happy you survived tonight?”

Chara and Frisk exchange looks for a moment. On one hand, Chara realizes their mistake of scolding Frisk, whereas Frisk notes that they could have fallen at the hands (and or vines) of that psychotic flower.

“I’m sorry Frisk. I’m relieved we both got through tonight…” Chara admits.

Frisk nods in response.

“Anyways, you two look like you need some sleep.” Sans says, then quickly adds “Want a shortcut back to my place?”

Frisk tiredly nods in Sans’s direction, as does Chara.

“Welp, time to go back then. Come on kiddos.”

The next day dawns, Toriel gets up and walks down the hall to where Chara and Frisk bunkered down for the night. She firmly -but not loudly- knocks on the door, which rouses Chara from their sleep, but fails to phase Frisk. Chara levitates off the bed, and absently floats over to the door and phases through it enough to have their head come out the other side. Toriel, who is just a couple of steps outside the door, sees Chara and has her heart jump in response.

“Oh!” Toriel interjects, “It seems you are up my child. How was your rest?”

Chara yawns before saying “It was really nice. That was the first time I’ve fully slept in a while.”

Toriel steps out of Chara’s way and Chara floats into the space where Toriel was just in a moment ago. Toriel looks back at the bedroom door.

“Chara, is Frisk awake?” Toriel asks.

“I’m not sure.” Chara admits.

“Well, that leaves more time to make pie for you both!”

“Oh pie?! That sounds amazing!”

“Let’s get that started then! You know where to go.”

Toriel and Chara walk off to the kitchen and begin to prepare the pie’s ingredients. An hour or so later, the smell of butterscotch pie drifts through the house, and makes it to the kid’s bedroom. Frisk detects the presence of pie, and snaps awake to the scent, instantly getting up and leaving the bedroom. Toriel and Chara are sitting at the dining table, both of them with a slice of pie. Chara hears footsteps and turns in their direction, leading them to see Frisk as they slow to a more average pace. Toriel then also looks in Frisk’s direction with her words ready.

“Good morning Frisk!” Toriel says, “What got you up so fast?”

“I smelled pie.” Frisk answers.

Chara proclaims “Of course it was the pie.” shortly before snickering to themselves.

Frisk gives Chara an annoyed look as Toriel recollects her thoughts.

“Excuse me Frisk, do you plan on going to Asgore?” Toriel asks.

“Yes.”

“Oh. Is Chara coming with you..?” Toriel asks.

“I mean, that’s Chara’s choice.” Frisk admits.

Both Frisk and Toriel turn to Chara as they are struggling to eat the pie. After a moment of watching Chara put their pie slice into their mouth repeatedly (due to them not being able to taste it), Frisk loudly clears their throat, making Chara snap to attention.

“Huh?” Chara says as they move the pie away from their face, “Oh yeah, I do plan on going with them.”

“Don’t you want to make up for lost time?” Toriel asks.

“Well, they are a ghost, so it’s not like they can permanently leave you again.” Frisk points out.

Chara finally gives up on eating the pie as they say “They’ve got a point.” and sets the pie slice back down on the plate.

Toriel collects her thoughts as Chara slides their untouched slice of pie over to Frisk. Frisk notices the gesture and begins to dig in as Toriel begins to speak.

“Chara, I know you will guide them just fine, but… Make sure nothing bad happens to them, all right?”

Frisk finishes the pie slice as Toriel gets done speaking. Silence ensues. Frisk looks at both Chara and Toriel as the silence begins to outstay its welcome.

“Mom, we’ll be fine. Frisk is an adult, they know what they are doing. So I can bet to you that they won’t fail like I did.” Chara says.

Toriel reads Chara’s expression and says “Chara… You’ve failed no one.”

Unintentionally, Toriel’s words rock Chara to their core. They’ve kept their feeling of letting the whole Underground down to themselves, and their memory of that feeling bubbles back into Chara’s mind with Toriel’s most recent utterance. Frisk notices the growing tension on Chara’s face and opts to break the conversational stalemate.

“Err… Shouldn’t we be heading to Snowdin now, Chara?” Frisk asks.

“Yeah. Let’s do that.” Chara answers.

Toriel suddenly remembers something. “Oh!” she exclaims. Toriel then gets up and politely excuses herself from the table with “One moment. I almost forgot something.”

Chara and Frisk silently watch Toriel as she walks to the other side of the house. A bout of quiet ensues. Both Chara and Frisk have a lot to ask each other, but Frisk is unsure if Chara wants to discuss anything in their current emotional state, whereas Chara doesn’t want Toriel to listen in on their questions. Their timidity wins in this moment, seeing as they don’t utter another word until Toriel walks back into the dining room with a worn, slightly full bag in both hands.

“Frisk, I want you to have this!” Toriel says as she gently moves it closer to Frisk.

Frisk picks the bag up by the handle and begins to examine it as Toriel clears her throat.

“Think of it as a personal care package from me. Right after I got both of you to bed, I realized that you had lost your…” Toriel pauses as she realizes Chara’s aversion to knives. She recollects herself and continues with “...Weapon… In the skirmish with that flower yesterday. I collected it and put in my old handbag alongside some other things I think you’d find useful on your way to Asgore.”

“Thanks Toriel!” Frisk answers as they set the handbag on their left thigh.

“Would you two like to be led out of the ruins?” Toriel asks.

“Mom, I can lead Frisk out. Say your goodbyes here, please.” Chara requests.

“Okay then. I hope you both do some good on your way to Asgore.” Toriel turns to Chara and gently hugs them while they are midair. “Chara, I wish you the best of luck. I love you, child.”

Chara softly accepts the hug, then floats away and waves back at her as Frisk walks past them both. Toriel waves back as Chara turns to follow Frisk. A smile touches Chara’s face as they put a hand on Frisk’s shoulder to more easily keep up with them. They then descend down the stairs, and begin working their way down the hall. Despite both Frisk and Chara wishing to converse, they manage to keep their mouths shut until the light of the snow forest is upon them. As Frisk experiences the cold, light, and pine scent of this zone once again, Chara turns to Frisk with their words prepared.

“So Toriel and Napstablook didn’t remember you… Any thoughts, Frisk?”

Frisk begins to walk forward as they answer with “Chara, I’ve already dealt with them not remembering me before. It’s fine. But then there’s-”

Chara drifts forward to keep up with Frisk. “Sans? The short skeleton?”

“Yes, him. He’s… Interesting to say the least.”

Frisk walks over the twig on the path just fine as Chara replies “Agreed. I don’t even think you’ve seen his magic before.”

“Besides his shortcuts.”

“Oh yeah. He does that.”

A loud snap from behind echoes through the forest. Chara turns around whereas Frisk sighs and keeps walking.

“Wait…” Chara says as they look back to Frisk. “Why didn’t you look back?”

Frisk stops walking and sighs again. “Sans does this every time Chara. I just want to keep walking.”

“Not even to get a glimpse of him?”

“I’m over that. I just want to keep going.”

“Sounds like you're practicing a speedrun at this rate…”

“This is not a speedrun. I’m. Just. Impatient.”

Chara’s expression snaps to one of concern. “Okay then Frisk. Let’s keep going.”

Chara drifts back to Frisk’s side as Frisk starts walking again. They manage to stay silent up to the spot just before Papyrus’s gate, which is when both of them hear a familiar voice from behind.

“Human. Don’t you know how to greet a new pal?”

Frisk quickly turns around with their hand outstretched. Chara turns and looks first at Frisk’s face, then Sans’s. Sans’s face remains obscured by what Chara knows as illusion magic, but then notices something that’s laugh worthy to them. They manage to resist for a moment, but then their dam breaks, making Chara bust up laughing.

“Er… Kid?” Sans says, face no longer obscured by his illusion, “Have you… Grown a bit since I last saw you?”

Frisk looks down and notices that Sans is not in the place they thought he would be. Frisk awkwardly pulls their hand away as Chara attempts to stop laughing. Which is when Sans notices some disembodied laughter to his right alongside a floating, humanoid, and slightly transparent red outline.

“Uh… Kid, who’s your friend here?” Sans asks as he attempts to check the outline.

“Oh them?” Frisk says, then looks to Chara, seeing as Frisk is not sure if they want their name to be said.

Chara stops laughing and drifts over to Sans, only to then put their hand in Sans’s, in that moment forgetting what Sans has in that hand. After all three of them go silent as the whoopie cushion sounds, Chara is the first to speak.

“Greetings! I’ve been Frisk’s travel buddy for their past two… Now three runs! It’s nice to see you again?”

“Oh. Nice to meet you…” Sans says, embarrassed.

“Sans, did you… Notice anything different when the world unscrewed itself..?” Frisk asks.

“Well, I usually start the run asleep, but instead of a stress dream, I watched a yellow rectangle shatter… ‘Couple of them actually.” Sans replies.

“Interesting…” Chara responds.

Sans notices something behind Frisk, then looks back at Frisk and Chara. “Hey uh… Can ya both turn around?”

Frisk and Chara look at each other, then turn as Sans had asked. They both instantly notice a dumbfounded Papyrus in the courtyard, with his jaw wide open to the point that Frisk wonders why it hadn’t hit the floor at this point. Frisk turns back to Sans with a stern glare, to which Sans silently shrugs. Frisk, Chara, and Sans snap to attention as Papyrus begins to speak.

“Are… Are you a human?” Papyrus asks with his eye sockets fixed on Frisk.

Frisk is at a loss for words. Sans steps around Frisk and thus gets within view of his brother (since Frisk’s new height had obscured Pap’s view). Papyrus’s eyes widen again as he begins to speak.

“Sans isn’t slacking off for once? How could this be?!”

“Yeah bro, this is a human. I’m not used to ‘em being this tall…” Sans answers.

“Wait… They aren’t?! This is a once in a lifetime event for both of us!” Papyrus exclaims.

“Hey bro, could you go back home for now? The human and I will catch up with you in a bit. Prepare some spaghetti while you’re at it. The human would like that.”

“Oh really?!” Paps says with stars in his eyes, “Yes, I shall brother. See you soon~!”

Papyrus quickly turns around and cartoonishly dashes away from Sans’s sentry station. Once Papyrus is out of view, Frisk sighs and then fixes their gaze on Sans.

“Sans, was that needed?” Frisk asks, clearly annoyed.

“Welp, he was gonna find out sometime.” Sans reasons. “He’s always on time, regardless of what’s happenin’.”

Chara floats past the gate that both Sans and Frisk are standing in. “You’re not wrong Sans. Should we keep going?”

Frisk noticeably sighs and says “Sure, let’s go.”, and takes a couple steps away from Sans.

Sans quickly turns toward Frisk “Wait a sec kiddo, I have a shortcut there. I’m assumin’ you don’t wanna walk past things you’ve already done again, right?”

Frisk raises an eyebrow. “Huh. I guess so. Can you take Chara along too?”

“Oh yeah, I can. Just follow me, and we’ll be there.” Sans answers.

Chara floats over to Frisk’s side as Sans walks to a place ahead of Frisk. Sans then turns back toward Frisk and Chara and extends his hand toward Frisk. Frisk puts their hand in Sans’s, to which Sans smiles and begins to walk while keeping pace with Frisk. Unbeknown to Frisk, Chara, and Sans, someone had been watching them. As they disappear from his view, Flowey cackles to himself.

“Oh goodness! What IDIOTS they are! Of course you're going exactly where I want you to! All is going well for my perfect plan…”