"Halt, human!"

But the human didn't. They came forward. Very impatient, not to mention rude.

So The Great Papyrus felt it was his task to quickly inform the wayward little soul of their distasteful choices. Especially when it came to completing his puzzles. And not only that, but he knew the human hadn't been playing very nicely with the other monsters, and maybe they were discouraged. However, The Great Papyrus knew better.

"Everyone can be a great person if they try! And me, I hardly have to try at all! Nyeh heh heh!"

Again, the stoic little human moved forward. What impatience! They needed someone to set a good example. He could do that. He would be happy to! He informed them of his helpful intentions and the human seemed interested, sliding forward a little more.

"Are you offering a hug of acceptance? Wowie! My lessons are already working! I, Papyrus, welcome you with open arms!"

WHACK!

Papyrus watched in disbelief as the purple-striped doll in his playmate's hand pulled back after striking his doppelganger of an action figure suddenly. The skeleton monster's gaze shifted from the toy he held to the human child sitting across from him on the blue-and-purple-striped floor of his living space.

The human, dressed in plain green and yellow clothes that seemed just a tad bit over-sized for her small frame, regarded him with large, alert red-brown eyes. Chara faintly tossed her head, flinging back her auburn bangs, and quirked her shoulders casually.

"You lose, Papyrus."

"Well … that's not, um, what I was expecting."

Then, much to his horror, the head of his action figure popped off.

"And now I've lost my head!" the skeleton sputtered and waved his arms in an offended manner. To his annoyance, Chara watched the plastic toy's head roll under the green sofa and laughed. Softly, but still … How could the human find him losing his head to be funny?

Of course it wasn't really Papyrus' actual head, just his toy's, but he took great pride in the little action figure of himself. It was a masterpiece among his abundant collection of monster action figures. He very nearly had collected every type of monster that lived in the Underground. And each and every one that had been introduced in their game had been given a rather abrupt and violent end.

From the sofa, his brother slowly sat up, shirt ruffled and eye sockets drooping from a recent nap. "Something the matter, Pap?"

"Sans, my head rolled under the couch."

The shorter skeleton straightened up even more, blinking. Then a grin spread across his skull. "You don't say?"

"Sans. Don't."

"It's okay, bro. Relax." Sans' grin widened, knowingly. "Don't lose your head."

Papyrus smacked his skull. "Ugh. You're not helping the matter!"

Sans bent over, one eye flashing pale blue, and his brother's plastic head floated out from below the sofa. "What? You're wound up. You two getting along all right?"

Chara, seemingly fearing a negative answer would remove her from the skeleton brothers' home, nodded firmly. "We've just been playing a game with his toys."

Her simple answer boggled Papyrus' mind. He observed the child with a confused frown. They hadn't been planning on a visit from a member of the Underground's royal family, but when Chara showed up in Snowdin, asking to spend the night, they had no reason to turn her away. Far from it, actually. Papyrus adored having house guests, and it would have meant having an extra person to taste test his latest pasta creation.

Sans was the reasonable one who had voiced curiosity over Chara's sudden appearance in Snowdin on her own. "So, where's the young, fluffy prince? You two seem to always be together. Not gettin' along?"

Chara's eyes had merely darted to the side. She refused to answer.

Sans only slightly lifted an eye ridge, but had replied in a warm tone, "Well, you're welcome to hang out, kid, for as long as you want."

Satisfied, the child had then asked Papyrus if they could play. Which led to his action figures being enthusiastically retrieved and dumped on the living room floor. Papyrus loved nothing more than to play with his toys, being a full grown skeleton or not, but things took a confusing turn when Chara's choices in their game became … questionable.

"You completely did it all wrong!" Papyrus accused, nearly pouting now. He pointed at the stack of fallen action figures at her side. "Everyone's fallen down when you could have made friends with them instead."

Chara tilted her head, expression somehow casually blank. "But I wanted to win the game."

"That's not the right way to win any game!"

He snatched up his action figure's head and assumed responsibility to restore toy Papyrus to his full greatness. "It entirely didn't go the way it should have. I thought you were beginning to understand that. I thought I could help you make better choices. And you still attacked without mercy!"

The girl sitting across from him furrowed her brow and became very interested with fingering the fibers of the carpet.

"No to worry, human," Papyrus assured her. He beamed and leaned forward, hands on his knees. "You see I, the Great Papyrus, am not one to judge people by their mistakes. I'm sure you're just new to the way we play games in the Underground. I'm sure you'll do much better the next time!"

Chara's auburn head remained lowered.

Sans had slipped off the sofa and came up beside his brother. Papyrus' height rarely allotted the brothers a moment to be able to share a look at perfect eye level, but with the taller of the two seated on the floor it made things easier. Papyrus raised his eye ridges, stumped at their human friend's behavior. All Sans could do was slip his hands into the pockets of his shorts and offer a shrug.

"Eh, take it from me, kid." Sans' voice prompted Chara to glance up. He continued, "If there's one person down here who'll play with you over and over again, it's this guy." He snaked his arm around Papyrus' neck with a grin.

Papyrus lit up with a cheerful, "Nyeh heh! That's right."

Chara was silent for a few moments before quietly asking, "Can I use the bathroom?"

After escorting the human to the bathroom upstairs, Papyrus came down, head lifting when he noticed the front door was open and heard two sets of voices. He spied Sans standing in the doorway, speaking with none other than the queen herself, Toriel.

Papyrus rushed forward. "YOUR MAJESTY! How good it is to see you!"

Sans jolted a few inches into the air. He looked up at his brother with a nervous grin. "Bro, I think the whole Underground heard you that time."

"Oh my." Toriel lifted a clawed, white hand to her mouth with a tiny laugh. Her purple robes swished faintly as she turned to greet the taller skeleton. Her eyes were warm, but tired. "Hello to you as well, Papyrus."

"Sans, look at yourself!" Papyrus gestured at his brother's choice of outfit, which was a plain T-shirt and shorts, and his usual pink bedroom slippers. "That's hardly a decent outfit for greeting royalty!"

Sans smirked. "Speak for yourself, bro."

To his horror, Papyrus realized he, too, wore absolutely wimpy attire. He hadn't even bothered to change out of his Cool Dude shirt after splattering himself with spaghetti sauce earlier. The skeleton plastered his hands against his face, flushing. "Uhh, I beg you to excuse us, your majesty!"

"You needn't get so excited," the queen stated kindly. "I'm only here for Chara."

"Oh." He deflated. "I thought we were going to enjoy a nice sleepover."

At Toriel's confused look, Sans held up a hand. "I was just about to explain things, Pap. Sounds like Chara ran away."

Toriel winced and slowly clasped her hands in front of herself. "Not … exactly. She's had a bit of a shock, so it's understandable."

" … what happened?"

The queen's eyes clouded. She lowered her head and sighed. "It seems Chara and Asriel mistook buttercups for cups of butter … and accidentally poisoned Asgore."

Poisoned? Papyrus gasped, eye sockets enlarging beyond the point of no return. He tried his best to voice his concern, but only shocked silence escaped him.

Luckily his brother still had his voice, and after a few moments asked lowly, "The king … ?"

"He'll be all right." Toriel nodded firmly.

One of her hands shifted, faintly pulsing with a green, healing glow. "I got to him in time," she murmured, shaking her head. "Our doctors have assured us that Asgore will live, but not without a long recovery."

Wordlessly, Sans and Papyrus looked at each other. Papyrus turned and gazed up the stairs sadly. "Chara ..."

"Is she all right?" Toriel inquired.

"She's fine, Toriel," Sans reassured her. "But, something tells me she's not ready to come home just yet. Wants to stay with us for the night. Pap's gonna make baked spaghetti and everything."

"It's just, I'm not sure if … I mean, she's a sensitive child. Oh, I know she doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve and express herself nearly as much as Asriel does, but Chara does have a darkened past."

Toriel's face set with concern. "A violent one, I'm afraid. We're working on helping her heal, and she trusts us, but I fear the day's accident may have only created more trauma."

Sans took in the confided information with a deep hum. "How's the prince?"

"In tears, but all right. He feels awful."

"Poor little guy."

"I did not wish to leave him." Toriel frowned, glancing out at the calm street of Snowdin as if she could see all the way back to New Home and her family waiting there.

"Chara's welcome here," Sans stated patiently. "Like I said, the kid doesn't really wanna go anywhere else. Just for one night." He shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe she needs some time to process how she feels."

The queen's face fell, but she slowly nodded. "I suppose you could be right … she chose to leave entirely on her own. Without even letting us know. Yet I … I'm worried for Chara."

"She's safe here."

"And we're having tons of fun," Papyrus chimed in, not liking how grim their conversation had become. "I think she likes playing with me."

At that, Toriel's expression dissolved into a gentle smile. "Who wouldn't, Papyrus? I think time with you will be good for her."

Though obviously unsettled by the fact her adopted child wanted some distance, Toriel gave her permission for Chara to stay the night with the skeleton brothers. Sans had to reassure her once more that they could handle a ten year old kid. The queen finally pulled herself away from the cozy Snowdin home, hopeful that some time to herself would be beneficial to Chara.

Papyrus shifted outside the door slightly, his gaze fixed on the queen of the Underground hastening away through the snow. Her usually tall, graceful frame now dipped low, weighed down by exhaustion and worry. He quietly shut the door and turned to Sans.

His brother wore an equally sober look on his skull. "Wow," Sans mumbled. "What a day. Those poor kids."

Chara sat against the bathroom wall, hands folded, knees curled close towards herself. No matter how many times she tried to figure out why she felt upset, the worser she felt. Somehow, and she wasn't sure how it had happened, she had hurt Papyrus. Not physically, but the tall skeleton monster definitely seemed to think she had done something wrong when they played together.

Wrong. How did she always manage to do something wrong all the time?

The little girl uncurled herself and stood to view her reflection in the bathroom mirror. A pale, round faced child with short brown hair looked back at her. Looked at her with her own, bright brown eyes.

Sometimes she wondered if those eyes were the cause of everything going wrong. Up on the surface, a running, ugly story among the other humans labeled Chara as evil, because no one had eyes that looked so bright they were almost red. Her own caregivers, despite being intoxicated beyond comprehension, seemed to always be able to find some reason to punish her; not doing chores fast enough; messing up; being scared of the dark; crying. No matter what the reason was, in their eyes it was always wrong, and they made sure she knew it.

Usually by throwing her out of her own home. She had often ended up sleeping in the bushes under the stars, gazing at the mountain. Because she was wicked. Useless. Because she did something wrong.

Chara flinched.

Today she had done something really wrong, no question there. Father had gotten so terribly sick. Mother had never cried like that before. When Asriel realized Father was dying, he screamed and blubbered as well. But when things settled and Mother took them aside to tell them Father would live after all, what did Chara do? She laughed.

Why couldn't she cry like normal people? Asriel could cry, and cry, and cry, but nobody threatened to beat him for it.

Chara shut her eyes, willing the tears not to fall. No, she would not cry.

Someone's knuckles rapped quickly on the outside of the door. "Human? Are you all right in there?"

Papyrus.

Rapidly, Chara rubbed at her eyes and took a deep breath before stepping out into the hall. She tilted her head back in order to face Papyrus. He was tall, but not as big as Father, so she was used to looking up.

The lanky skeleton leaned over. While his eyes weren't like normal eyes, being empty eye sockets mostly, the child blinked on realizing his eyes were almost scrunched up like Mother's would be when she was worried.

"Are you all right, Chara?"

She nodded silently.

"You're not feeling sick or anything? You were in there for an extra long time!"

"I'm not sick."

"Oh, good! I'm not sure I could ever face the … erm, never mind."

Papyrus straightened upright again and offered his hand, back to smiling happily. How easy it was for him to smile, Chara couldn't help but offer a timid smile of her own. She slipped her hand into his and together they made for the stairs.

The skeleton hummed thoughtfully. "I've been thinking, we've got to set things right. The way we ended the game was absolutely not very fun at all."

Chara tipped her head, mindful of her steps as they went down the stairs. "You think it ended … wrong?"

"Yes, but I think you don't understand the true way to play. Luckily, I, The Great Papyrus, will show you a better way!"

"How?"

"We're going to reset the game."

The second time they gathered all of the action figures, Papyrus' mind was already forming plans for the plot of the story he wished to guide young Chara through. She absently picked up her action figure – a stumpy doll carved out of wood to serve as a traditional human, commonly found in the history areas at the library to teach the younger ones about the race who lived above ground, only Papyrus had taken the liberty to add some festive colors to the human avatar, resulting in it's purple-striped outfit. Chara had been delighted to have an action figure that looked like her, even if it wasn't perfect.

"Am I the bad guy?" she asked.

"Wha -? Bad guy? Heck no!" Papyrus sputtered, pausing as he leaned over, setting up the various monster figurines around the living room floor. "You don't have to be the bad guy, Chara."

She shot him a perplexed frown. "What kind of story doesn't have a bad guy?"

"Er, well …"

Papyrus tapped his foot for a few seconds. He supposed the human had a point. A villainous character of some sort usually gave a story more zest. Much like throwing strong seasonings into spaghetti sauce. But if he told her to play the bad guy, it would defeat the whole purpose of resetting the game to help her see things didn't have to end violently to be a winner.

He suddenly got an idea and asked, "Would you like to make a bad guy for the story?"

When she nodded yes, he produced a piece of paper and some crayons. He stood bye and watched patiently as the human drew a picture of their impromptu 'bad guy.'

Sans walked over as she finished, and peered at the paper on the floor. He arched an eye ridge. "A flower, huh?"

Chara sat up and held out the drawing to Papyrus. "A buttercup," she corrected simply.

Not missing a beat, or Sans' grim frown, Papyrus snatched up the buttercup drawing and declared, "A worthy opponent if I ever laid eyes on one! Very good, Chara. This will be our bad guy."

And so they began playing. Papyrus' vivid imagination and passion for making friends, despite his usually failed attempts in real life, created a story like no other. Chara seemed curious enough to allow him to guide her character, prompting her to make different, sometimes downright silly decisions to win her character new friends. As promised, the flower made its appearance as the bad guy, but not even that stopped Papyrus from directing their game to a happy ending.

Their play moved along smoothly, until their flower villain attacked.

Chara did not seem interested in letting their evil flower be spared for its crimes. Frustration burned in her young face no matter how gently Papyrus tried to coax her to choose mercy.

"I don't want to," the child finally snapped. She tossed her toy aside and sat back with a huff. "Why should I? I don't get it."

"Nyeh?" Papyrus froze. "Human, you don't want to see what happens if you offer a bully mercy?"

The child crossed her arms and kept her gaze downward. "No," she mumbled. "That's not how it goes in real life. Not … Not above ground."

She scowled. "If you do wrong, they yell at you, beat you, or throw you away." Her round face clouded, a glimmer of fear in her eyes. "Nobody ever wants to be nice to someone who's bad, anyway. Not when they're wicked and bad all the time."

"But that's exactly why they need mercy," Papyrus began hopefully, and was interrupted.

Chara jumped up and shrieked, "No they don't! Bad people don't get mercy! They never do!"

Papyrus leaned back a little, suddenly uncertain at the angry, abrupt display of passion. It was one thing to imagine and play out drama or tension for a game, but quite another when dealing with the real thing. He'd had no idea so much violence could radiate from such a little body.

Chara stared back at him briefly before clenching her fists and dropping her head. She choked out, "I don't … deserve mercy." Her shoulders shuddered and she said in a shaky whisper, "The world's rotten."

Silence fell in the little living room. Papyrus turned his head toward his brother on the sofa. Sans wore a grave expression on his skull, but he met Papyrus' eyes with a small nod and an encouraging motion with his hand as if to say, you can do it. Papyrus smiled gently. He could always count on his brother to back him up.

Now, to help the hurting human.

Papyrus wordlessly set aside his action figure and stood up. He walked up to Chara and crouched down low on his knees to face her with a small smile. "But that's not true, Chara!" he enthused, gently lifting her head to look her in the eyes. He beamed.

"Because you're in the world. I … I know you've been hurt, Chara. Whatever happened to you up above ground was wrong, but not you."

The human child's face fell and tears threatened in her bright eyes. "No," Chara shook her head. "No. I hurt … Father ..."

"That was just a really, really bad accident." Sans spoke up from the sofa, his voice soft and certain. "But that don't mean you're a bad person, Chara. Everyone makes mistakes, big or small. You didn't mean it."

"Sans is right." Papyrus nodded. "But mistakes don't have to define you! You can still make a difference. I know you can."

He pulled her close, enveloping the girl in a careful hug. "I believe in you."

For a moment Chara was frozen stiff. Then she whimpered and hid her face against the skeleton. Her sobs came out in small gasps before turning into full blown crying.

Papyrus continued to hug her, gently patting her head with a small, understanding smile. "It's okay to feel sad, too. You cry as much as you'd like, Chara. I'm here."

Sans stepped up beside him and laid a hand on his shoulder, giving Papyrus a proud look. "Yeah," he added. "We both are, kid."

It was the first time Papyrus forgot all about his baked spaghetti, and as result it burned to a crisp.

But it was also the first time Chara truly began to dream there was hope for her future. Because someone believed in her.

Author's Note: This oneshot came to me when I saw a fan picture of Chara and Papyrus playing with toys together. It's slightly AU, as the actual Undertale we all know and love is seen here as a mere pretend game. I love the idea of Chara finding peace and hope, and who better to show her the way than The Great Papyrus?