Author's Notes:

Well hello there, reader!

First of all, thank you for clicking into this story.

It's my first ever time posting! WOOHOO!

I hope you enjoy this little story I've written. I hope to continue it :)


Don't look down, don't look down…

He looked down.

"DAD!"

Joseph flung his tiny arms around his father's legs.

"Woah there! What is it, bud?" He chuckled and lifted his little boy up.

Joseph gave a little whimper in reply. His dad's grip was strong. Reassuring. Relaxing. Often, Joseph would wonder why it was so relaxing. Then he would always tell himself - "Well, magic! Of course."

He stroked Joseph's soft, caramel-brown hair. "It's okay, little Jo. I've gotcha."

Joseph smiled and settled in his arms.

The rhythmic thumping of his father's footsteps went along on the cold cobblestones below. The rocks of the surrounding mountain ranges seemed blue in the dim light. The sky, in contrast, was a faded yellow from the rising sun. The cool morning frost was visible as snowflakes hanging in the air around them all as they approached the Entrance.

The Entrance to The Underground.

Joseph turned his head to face the massive, gaping hole in the middle of Mt Ebott.

"Why are we closing it?"
"Hm?"
"Why are we closing the hole?"

Joseph's father fell silent.

"Dad?"
"…"

Joseph gave a look of inquiry to his dad.

"…?"
"…the monsters…were deemed to dangerous."
"Who said they were dangerous?"
"The leaders."
"You mean our World Leaders?"
"Yes."

Oh.

"All of them?"
"Yes."
"Wow. They must be really dangerous then."

Joseph's dad fell silent.

"R-right?"
"Let's just perform the spell and go home, okay?"

Joseph looked up and saw his face. For a moment, the guilt and worry was so evident on his face…like he knew he would regret what he was about to do for the rest of his life. But when he realised Joseph was looking, his visage changed almost as instantly as Joseph had noticed it in the first place.

"Okay then."

Joseph smiled up at his dad.

He smiled back, but didn't seem entirely reassured. Joseph knew he was trying to hide it.

Evidently, unsuccessfully.

The other magicians were gathering at the mouth of the gaping fall into oblivion. A few others had brought their children too.

'Maybe we can all hang out while they perform the spell…'

"Hey dad, can I play with the other kids while you do your magic?"

He saw his comrades' children and smiled. "Sure thing, little Jo."

Joseph beamed and then asked to be placed on the ground again.

As carefully as possible, Joseph sprinted to his friend Harold. As he ran, he heard the voices of other magicians exclaiming "Bill!" as his father joined the others growing distant behind him.

"Harold! Hey Harold!"

A boy with sandy hair and freckles spun around next to his mum.

"Joey!"

Joseph ran to him and they gave a big hug.

Harold's mum smiled and, when they asked, she let them go off and play.

"But not too close to the edge, okay?"

"Don't worry mum, we'll stay safe!"

She nodded, a face of freckles to match her son, and turned away to converse with the magicians.

They ran off, pretending to be airplanes.

Just the sight of them, flying off into the distance making their little aeroplane sounds, tiny specks within the vast walls of stone surrounding them, and their cobbled play area surrounded by absolute nothingness – a simple, straight drop down into the Underground – made the whole thing seem so…

Lonely.

Desolate.

But their presence was lively. Fun. Inviting.

What a contrast children were to everything else in the world.

Always full of HOPE.

I have a feeling they'll be the last beacon of hope and happiness that'll be here for a while.

Frisk, one of the magicians, saw the children playing and pondered what it would be like for children years later in the future. What the children might be doing in the 21st century, or the 22nd. What life would be like knowing that under a mountain nearby, there was an entire race living there.

They wished life could be peaceful for them. That they could simply be friends.

However, that was not the case.

Their sibling, Chara, was a few meters away. They stood over the opening, coat fluttering rather majestically in the wind. They were short compared to the average adult, with shoulder length brown hair and skin that was just a little too pale. They held their wand in an elegant right hand and stared into the abyss, pondering something.

Basically, they looked really cool at that moment.

Frisk knew it had been them who started everything. Frisk knew of the rumours of the monsters' possible power over them, how dangerous they could potentially be.

Frisk also knew of Chara's nature. How they enjoyed endings and superiority.

How they enjoyed winning.

Of course, Frisk couldn't say anything. Frisk couldn't tell the authorities that Chara had probably done this on purpose. Frisk couldn't say anything about their suspicions of Chara's want for war. Frisk definitely couldn't let anyone know about the fact they had secretly seen all of Chara's plans hidden in a basement one day.

Frisk kept quiet.

But they had total confidence their descendants would figure it out one day.

One day…

"Hey Frisk!"

Chara's voice pulled Frisk from their thoughts.

Frisk simply smiled and waved.

"More thoughts than words, huh? As usual."

Chara sat down and dangled their legs over the edge.

The Original.

Frisk blinked away the thought and sat down next to Chara.

Chara sighed. "Isn't it satisfying Frisk? Just this…" They gestured vaguely at everything around them. "All our work and effort…it's amounted to this. Isn't it cool?"

Frisk shrugged.

"Aw, c'mon, Frisk…"

Frisk looked into the depths of Mt Ebott, dismissing Chara.

"Hm."

Chara shuffled over closer to Frisk.

Frisk gave an imaginary "humph."

Chara sighed.

"Listen. I'm sorry. I know you didn't want to send them away, but-"

Any trace of Frisk's smile faded and they turned away.

"Frisk, what the World Leaders decided to do in the end wasn't anyone's fault."

Oh no, but the rumours were definitely all you.

Frisk said nothing.

Chara sighed and thought for minute.

"…Well, they can technically still receive letters from us…"

Frisk perked up, realising this. They nodded and smiled determinedly, looking like they'd made up their mind.

When I get home, the first thing I'll do is write a letter to them and drop it down. Hopefully they receive it…

Chara smiled. "Thank goodness there was a way to cheer you up."

"Chara, Frisk!"

They both turned.

"Oh, hello Bill."

Frisk waved to him, smiling again.

"C'mon you two, everyone's getting ready!"
"What, already?" Frisk and Chara whipped around in a panic. "How come there was no-"

"ALL MAGICIANS PLEASE GATHER AT THE OPENING. WE ARE ABOUT TO BEGIN THE SPELL!"
The booming voice of Head Magician Gareth Forvet came echoing around the cavern clearly.

"Well, there's the announcement."

Frisk grabbed both Bill and Chara by the hands and started sprinting towards the other magicians. The two of them laughed. Frisk beamed.

Joseph looked over at the sound of Mr Forvet's voice and saw his dad laughing with Chara and Frisk.

He poked Harold and pointed to them.

"Look Harold! Now they're running too!"

Harold gasped. "Joey! I think they're gonna be at the front!"

Joseph and Harold both started making excited "Ooh!" noises and hopped up and down on the spot.

"LET'S GO WATCH THEM."
"WOOHOO!"

They sprinted off together, giddy with anticipation.

It was rare that anyone ever got to watch the Royal Committee of Magicians perform their magic. Magic was common amongst humans, yes, but these were the elite magicians of their age. Even their children didn't see it much.

Well, not big spells anyway. Levitating teapots and the washing was normal.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mooooooooon!"
"YES IT'S STARTING!"

The two children sat down in a makeshift observation area with other magician's children to watch what was sure to be a spectacular feat of mankind.

Excited chatter surrounded them, and soon enough they were joining in, talking to friends from school and foreigners alike. Relating to life as children of important people, discussing cultural differences – in the most childish way possible.

"My daddy once made a pony!"
"My mom bakes with magic. It always looks soooo cooooooool"
"My mum uses her magic to feed us as well! Only it is simple food because we do not have much, and a lot of her magic goes into helping us survive."
"My parents just use magic like any other normal person, but when they do big spells, it looks AWESOME."

"Frisk and Chara are my…aunty/uncles…? I never know what to call them, but I'm no magician's child. Just a relative and one of the few children in the family."

"WOAH YOU'RE RELATED TO FRISK AND CHARA?"
"What are they like!?"

Harold backed away into Joseph, regretting ever saying anything.

Joseph was giggling.

"Isn't your mum here?"
"Yes, but she's not in the Royal Committee-"
"Is Frisk nice? Do they ever talk?"
"Well-"
"Is Chara mean?"
"No, they're-"
"Have you ever visited their house?"
"Do they have any pets?"

"WOAH OKAY GUYS STOP."

Joseph stood in front of his friend and waved his arms around frantically in an attempt to stop the seemingly unstoppable flow of questions pouring in from everywhere.

They quietened down.

"Harold is related, yes, but he cannot answer questions like that! If you're so curious about all of this, why not just ask the two of them themselves?"

There was a sudden silence.

"…what? What is it?"

A few nervous whispers were thrown around, and the children around them suddenly seemed like a crowd of strangers all around, gossiping. Like an audience of people rising up and bombarding the stars with silent words.

Harold pushed in front. "What is it?"

His tone had gone from overwhelmed to serious. He sensed the new air that had fallen on the group.

"Y-you don't know?"

One girl finally spoke up. She stepped forward. She had thick, wavy brown hair that fell around her shoulders, and a fringe that covered the top half of her eyes. She looked meek.

"Nobody talks to them. Especially not right now. They're intimidating enough as it is, but now there's some sort of tension between the two of them, and everyone's afraid to even go near them."

Joseph turned to look again. Chara and Frisk were getting along just fine. So was his dad.

"I don't see any tension."
"Well, of course not, Bill's there."

Joseph whipped around, wide-eyed. "My dad is what's keeping the peace between them?!"
"Yeah, I guess."
"How did we not know this?!"

Joseph whirled around to Harold and they were both just confused messes at this point.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. BOYS AND GIRLS – PREPARE FOR A SPECTACLE UNWITNESSED BY HUMANS SINCE THE RISE OF OUR TWO RACES."

Everyone looked up.

Magicians were flying in all directions as though in some spectacular dance with wands and magic. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet – bursts of bright colours were twirling and swimming in the air, surrounding everyone. There were squeals of delight from children as balls of light would spin around their heads and then perform tricks in the sky as they watched. The magicians were in an organised mess, wands rounding up their colourful creations.

Both the colours and the people swiftly and gracefully moved into a formation of lines and circles over everyone's heads, and waited for further commands from Head Forvet.

Applause and cheers rang out from the platform below. Children cheered for their parents, and adults whooped wildly for friends and family.

Gareth Forvet chuckled. "Yes, yes, now, settle down folks! Because that," he gestured to the newly formed Committee in the sky, "was just the beginning. Get ready, because this going to be spectacular…"