If I close my eyes, I can almost see that first day again, though the details are not always the same. Sometimes I was the one who was more scared, sometimes it seemed like neither of us were; like we knew from the first time we looked into each other's eyes that we would be best friends. But I will always remember the way you acted when we first met; that never changes in my memories. You did not see a monster, you saw a person. And even if we didn't exactly get along swimmingly at first, the way you treated me made me sure you were someone special; made me sure we would be together forever.

In the haze of my memories from countless lifetimes, I can still picture your face in perfect detail. The brown hair that just covered your red eyes, the warm smile that couldn't hide the pain from your face; though no one seemed to see it but me. Sometimes you would blush when you smiled and that's how I knew you really were happy; that you had managed to push the memories of your past life as far back as you could, if only for the moment. I've kept that image fixed in my mind since this all began. I've used it to keep my determination burning in my almost intangible hope of somehow, someday, bringing everything back to the way it was before… Sometimes I wonder if you would be proud of the things I've done. Sometimes I wonder if you'll ever forgive me.

As I think back on those days, I can almost feel… something. I don't know anymore; it's been so long. But that tingle I feel running up and down my "body" whenever I play it out in my head, it's closer than anything else I've experienced since I woke up like this. And so I'll sit in the dark, well away from any interruptions, my eyes closed, and I try to live that life again.

.

.

I wasn't supposed to go into the catacombs. No one was, even back then, and especially not alone. The effort to remove as many of the traps and puzzles from within as possible was well under way at that point, but still everyone would talk about how anything could be anywhere in there. The catacombs had been built during the height of monster paranoia when it came to humans and they hid some clever things indeed back then. I once asked my father why he had decided to put them all there instead of throughout the rest of Home. He told me, "Even if they take everything else from us, they will not disturb our dead. They will have the peace they deserve." I think that's why it was my favorite place. Magic is a strange thing, and I swear that I could feel the warmth and kindness of all the monsters who called the catacombs their home whenever I was there.

It had been a tough decision to remove all of that protection. It had been debated for as long as I could remember, and it had come down to two points: humans had not made their presence known for almost a thousand years, and calling the process of having to go through and navigate all of those traps as part of the tradition of monster funerals seemed a poor excuse in comparison to their original purpose. And so, all efforts were made to make the place safe to navigate, but after almost a year some were beginning to question if they'd ever finish. Even so, I knew a safe way through.

I knew my mother must not of known about my nightly excursions. If she did, I would not have been allowed to sleep without her in the same room. But, somehow, I suspected my dad knew. Nothing could get past him. He was the king, after all. At least he seemed to understand that I needed some space; some time alone to be me and not The Prince.

I ran from the chiseled stone halls and into the smooth stone caves beyond with a smile on my face and a book under my arm. I had taken to reading in the room where the funerals were held. I read aloud for the spirits of the monsters still there. Everyone said that once a monster died, their spirit was gone as well, but I refused to believe it. I barely slowed for the twists and turns of the tunnels, I had memorized the path long ago. I forget what carried my feet so quickly that day, but something surely did. And I did not stop until I had made it to that room where the crack in the ceiling let in the moonlight over ancient columns and gardens; the sky so close I felt like I could reach out and touch it.

But that night, the moonlight shined down on something else. I ran to the circle in the center of the room. The huddled figure was face down in the grass and did not stir. Turing it over, I almost jumped back in shock. It was a human. And it was still alive. I could see the figures chest slowly rise up and down. But it was hurt. Parts of it were discolored a gross purple with yellow around the edges and a red liquid leaked from its head and made wet spots on its torn clothes.

I shook the human to try to get it to wake up, but nothing happened. I tried again, this time saying, "Hey, are you okay?" Finally, I saw their eyes open. At first they were glazed over, not really seeing anything, but then they snapped to focus and the human pushed itself away from me. It scrambled back to one of the half broken columns near the wall where it tried to hide behind it. "It's okay. I won't hurt you." I tried to assure it. But it just continued to hide behind the pillar of stone.

I had no idea what to do in a situation like that. No monster had even seen a human for hundreds of years and there were few besides my parents that had been alive to seem them in the time before they were sealed off from the world. But everyone said they couldn't be trusted, that they would kill you the first chance they had, that you should be afraid of them. But this human seemed far more afraid of me, plus it was hurt.

I walked over to the column and poked my head around it to where the human was hiding. "Howdy." I said trying to sound as cheery as I could. My mom always said, kindness should always be your first plan, for it worked far better than anything else. The human jumped and tried to get to its feet to run away, but it had barely made it a step before collapsing back to the ground with a shriek of pain. I was at its side before I realized it, trying to see if there was something I could do to help. I wasn't good at any sort of magic, least of all healing, but there must have been something I could do. The human fought back every attempt I made to reach for it like a cornered animal. I shouted that I was only trying to help, but that only made it fight me more aggressively. Finally, I gave up. I put my hands to my side and let the human push itself further back from me.

The human's eyes darted everywhere and it began to breathe heavily. Every time its eyes met me I could see the distrust they held. Without moving, I said once more, "I'm not going to hurt you." Its eyes snapped to mine and stayed there. The distrust was now mixed with anger and fear. The human looked ready to bolt in every direction at once. "My name's Asriel. What's yours?" The human said nothing, just continued to stare. "You're hurt." I continued. "I'd like to try to see if I could help. Is that okay?" The human seemed to see itself for the first time. It looked down at the stains on its clothes and ran a hand along its head pulling it away to stare at the red liquid. "You probably fell." I pointed up at the hole in the ceiling. "It must have been scary." I knew I would have been scared had I fallen from that height. I knew I probably wouldn't have lived through it either. The human seemed unfazed by what I said, however, it just continued to stare at me. "Please, I want to help you."

The human struggled to its feet, knees wobbling and teeth clenched. I would have ran over to it if I was not sure that would only made things worse. When it was standing, it locked eyes with me once more, anger and hatred overpowering everything now. It took a step towards me and almost fell again, but it somehow managed to stay upright. It took another step, and then another. All the while that hate burned in those red eyes. I almost thought about running, but I was so scared I couldn't move. The human had almost made it to me. It reached out as if to grab my shirt before its eyes rolled into the back of its head and it collapsed once more.

I waited for it to stir. It did not, and I rushed over to it again. No amount of shaking would wake it up as it did before. The red spots on its clothes looked much larger than they had a moment ago. I had to do something. Should I get help? If I ran home, it may be too late by the time I made it back. I never felt further away from home than at that moment.

Seeing no other option, I wrapped my arms underneath the human and picked it up. God, it was heavy, and I was far from the strongest monster, even those my age. Carefully, I made my way back to the catacombs.

My arms and legs felt weak most of the way back, and I wasn't sure how I kept putting one foot in front of the other. By the time I could see the tree in front of my home, my vision was starting to blur. The human's chest had stopped its slow rise and fall. That could not be a good sign. That red liquid had slowly dripped to the ground as I had walked. I was shouting for my parents before I even made it to the door. They ran outside in their pajamas to see what was wrong. And they were beside me as soon as they saw me. I collapsed to me knees and dropped the human, unable to go any further. They stared at it almost as much as they stared at me. "Please," I wheezed. "Please help them." They looked at each other in shock for only a moment before my dad took the human in his arms and my mother took me in hers. She was saying something to me, but the words were lost as my vision finally faded to black.

.

I woke up not long after in my parent's bed. Mom was asleep on a chair next to me, but she woke as soon as I stirred. She practically jumped out of the chair to check if I was okay. Though once she had her hands on me, she seemed unsure of what she wanted to do or say first, so I spoke up. "I'm sorry I went into the catacombs without asking." Better to get that out of the way as fast as possible.

I expected her to be angry, but she wasn't. At least not then. She just wrapped her arms around me and said, "That is hardly important right now. I am just glad you are all right."

"And the human?" I asked once she had let me go. Better to get that out of the way quickly too.

She stood up and paced back and forth a few times before she answered; a sure sign she was worried, though about who or what in that instance I was never able to figure out. "Your friend is… fine. They are sleeping." I jumped out of the bed only to have my mom catch me before I even hit the ground. "And I do not want you disturbing them."

"Mom." I looked up at her pleadingly. "I want to make sure they're alright. And I wanna be there when they wake up. You didn't see it; they looked so scared and alone. I didn't like it. No one should have to feel like that." I didn't really expect that to work, once my mom made up her mind, trying to break the barrier would have been easier than trying to change it.

Oddly enough, my mother smiled at me and said, "That is my kind, little prince." She set me down on the ground and waved a finger under my nose. "Promise me you will not try to wake them up and that you will let them rest."

"I promise."

The human was asleep in my bed. It was no longer in its red-stained clothes but one of my striped shirts and pants. The weird, purple parts of it were gone too. My mom was the best in the Underground at healing; I knew she could do it. Somehow, even asleep and no longer in pain, the human managed to look like it was afraid. It was huddled in on itself, arms wrapped around its legs tucked close into its chest, eyes practically squeezed shut. I almost reached out to them, but my mom caught me by the shoulder and shook her head. Instead, I sat down on the floor of my room, grabbed some crayons and started to draw while I waited. My mom closed the door softly after a few minutes.

I must have fallen asleep at some point because I awoke to the sound of my parents arguing in the other room. They never argued. I got up and pressed my ear to the door, but I still couldn't make anything out. I opened it as much as I could without the door making noise. "… dangerous!" My dad was shouting. "You remember what the humans did to us."

"But it is a child!" My mom shouted back. "And it has been a very long time since those days. Much could have changed."

"We know nothing at all about this child, my dear."

"And that is exactly my point. You should not be jumping to any conclusions before the child has even had a chance to explain their side of the story. Now, on to more important matters. I cannot believe you let our son…"

I felt horrible at that moment. My parents had never fought before, and they were now because of me. Maybe bringing the human back had been a bad idea after all. But I couldn't just leave them there. Still, the guilt made my chest ache. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. A stir broke me away from the door.

The human was awake and sitting up in my bed, giving me a look not quite as fierce as they had before. In spite of that look, I smiled and wiped my eyes before saying, "Howdy." The human slid itself towards the wall without seeming to realize it, all the while keeping its eyes on me. "It's okay. You're in my room now." The fact did not seem to calm it at all. "You collapsed, so I brought you back to get fixed up. My mom's really good at healing." It reached up and felt its head, seeming surprised when it did not come away red like last time. "Does anything still hurt? I can get her to try again if it does." The human shook its head and I couldn't help but smile. It wasn't much, but it was a response. "Alright then."

I sat back down in the middle of my floor. "Do you know where you are?" No head shakes that time, just more stares. But I went on anyway. "You're in the Underground; the world of monsters. I know that must sound pretty scary, but monsters aren't very bad at all. We're all just a bunch of goofballs, really." I chuckled, but the human still did not react. "You must have fallen down through that hole. How did that happen?" Still nothing. I decided try something else "Are you hungry?"

That got a nod, if after a moment. I stood up fast enough to make the human jump and ran out of the room, slowing when I realized my parents were still sitting at the table in the dining room. They weren't fighting anymore, but they didn't look happy either. They broke their silence as they saw me walk in. "What is it that has you running around the house like that?" My dad asked, trying his best to sound happy.

"I was gonna get some food for the human." I told him.

"It's awake?" He almost jumped out of his chair, but a stern look from my mom sat him back down. "You're mother and I will get it something to eat." He said much more calmly afterwards. "You should get some sleep."

I shook my head. "I think I should bring it. They're very scared." I didn't know how to tell them that I thought they're help would only make the human feel worse, but they seemed to understand. They both nodded their agreement and I was walking back to my room with a slice of one of my mom's famous pies a moment later. It wasn't warm anymore, but it was still really good either way. I'm not sure why, but I thought to knock before going in. It was my room, but I felt intruding would be rude. And when I opened the door, a wall hit me that I did not remember being there ever before.

I was on the ground with the human on top of me. They had my shoulders pinned and that fierceness was certainly back in its eyes now. Strangely enough, I was more worried about the pie being ruined at that moment than anything. I was scared, certainly, but that seemed to be far away then. Before I could react at all, the humans face changed to one of shock and regret and it jumped off of me nearly as fast as it had tackled me. It then ran over to huddle in one of the corners of the room. When the world seemed to move at a normal speed again, I stood up and looked around for the pie. It was half spilled off of the plate near the wall. I gathered up as much of it as I could, wishing I had actually cleaned my room that morning, and walked over to the human.

The human tried to press itself in the corner as much as possible. It had its arms across its face, trying to him from me. I knelt down a few feet from it. "You must really be scared." I said, hoping my voice didn't shake. The human wasn't the only one scared. "I'm sorry I didn't realize that sooner. Here." I slid the plate with the half a slice of pie over to it. "I did the best I could. I'd get another one, but then my parents would know something happened. Don't worry though; I promise I'll sneak you another slice later." The human no longer had its arms coving its face and I winked at it. They seemed confused, though at the time I had no idea why.

Slowly, they reached down and took the plate off the floor. Once it was in its hands, the human ate voraciously and then, just as slowly, put the plate back on the floor. "Do you feel better?" The human nodded. "That's good. You're probably still tired. You can sleep in my bed, if you'd like. I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind if I slept with them tonight." I started to stand up before I heard a voice.

"Chara."

The voice was barely a whisper. It was so quite I wasn't sure I had actually heard it. "What?" I asked.

"Chara." The human said, little louder that time. "My name is Chara."

I smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Chara. I hope we can be best friends."

A knock came to my door, followed by my mom's voice. "Is everything all right? We thought we heard a noise."

"Everything's fine, mom." I yelled without getting up. "Chara was just a little scared. But they're fine now."


What started as just a few bullet points for the sake of world building, seems to have ended up as something all to its own. And I just couldn't help myself.

Something to note: This story is both loosely connect to my other story (Another Undertale), but is also meant to stand on its own as how I feel the events before the game went down. So you don't need to read that in order to read this but, hey, I'd recommend it ;)

That's it, I think. Hope you enjoy.