Three more months slowly passed by. Asriel and Chara never spoke of that day in the ruins where Chara had introduced her plan to Asriel. He guessed that was the end of it, since it never came up. Chara had decided not to force Asriel into the plan by poisoning herself anyway, though she still harbored resentment to the humans. Asriel continued to train Chara, as promised. It was one of the things he had come to enjoy greatly.

He shook himself from his thoughts as his sword clashed against the wooden training blade Chara continued to use. He quickly shuffled back, trying to put some distance between himself and Chara. Tucking an arm behind his back, he quickly ducked around her, the tip of his sword glancing off the wood as he zipped past. He spun around to face her, cracking his neck. He went on the offensive, swinging low, then high. Chara appeared to be struggling to keep up, but she didn't give in.

Suddenly, she twisted the sword upside down in her hand, in a move that Asriel was not expecting. After parrying his blow, she lashed out with a hand, giving his shoulder a firm strike, which knocked him off balance. Another hit from the wooden blade put Asriel on the ground. He grunted sharply as Chara stood over him.
"Looks like I finally beat you."

Asriel smirked knowingly. "So it would seem. You've forgotten something though."

Chara tilted her head. "Oh? And what's that?"

Asriel chuckled. "You forgot to trap my legs." He hooked his right leg around, sweeping Chara's out from beneath her. With a short scream of shock she landed on her back. Asriel was quick to get up, the sword against her neck.

"I still win." He then lifted it away, tucking it in. He wiped some sweat from his forehead as Chara stood up, looking quite irritated.

"You nearly had me for a second there. What on Earth was that move though? I never taught it to you! Did Terrowin teach you something?"

Chara looked away for a moment sheepishly. "No, I've, known it for a while actually."

Asriel was now curious. "Really? Where'd you learn it from?"

Chara sighed. "Up on the surface. I...often got into fights. So, I kind of trained myself, taught myself how to fight to protect myself."

Asriel's smile left his face. "But...if you already knew how to fight and all...why'd you ask me to train you?"

Chara sighed. "Well, couple reasons really. For one thing, I've never really done sword-fighting, so I thought it'd be cool. And...you really seem to like it. Like a lot. You almost look like a different person when you get focused in a fight." She gave a small laugh at the end of the sentence. Asriel didn't break his gaze.

"You know, you don't have to do this just for me you know."

Chara shook her head. "No, it's fine. I like training, really. It's quite a lot of fun actually. You're hard to beat."

Asriel chuckled. "Try fighting against Uncle Terrowin. You'd think all he does is practice he's so good." The two left the training grounds. As they moved to the living room, Asriel saw Terrowin standing in the door. Asriel took in the look on his face and frowned.

"Another one?"

Terrowin nodded. "Indeed. I was just coming to get you. If you're not busy that is."

Asriel shook his head. "No, that's fine. I'll come along."

Chara looked up at Terrowin. "Where're you guys going?"

Asriel explained. "There's been quite a few monsters disappearing all over the Underground. It's not exactly uncommon, you know accidents happen, monsters fall from high heights, that sort of thing. But this is getting really bad, the rate has more than tripled recently. Terrowin and I have been investigating, trying to figure out what's going on."

Chara nearly went pale, but composed herself after a second. "I see. Well, hope you find what you're looking for." Asriel nodded, and left with Terrowin. Normally it would be Toriel that would be leading the investigations. But, with Asriel growing older, Toriel wanted to subtly get him into more duties that a king would do. She figured the investigations would be a good place to start. Asriel had proven to be as useful as could be, asking good questions and, when necessary consoling the worried monsters. Yet despite their investigations, nothing had been found. Monsters seemed to have been going missing left and right, and you could hardly walk fifty steps without seeing a missing sign for one or another.

They made their way towards the the small Snowdin village. Sans and Papyrus had even offered to help out, and said they would look out for anything unusual. So far, they had also found nothing. Terrowin knocked on the door of the home they were looking for. There sounded like there was a slight struggle to get the door open, but eventually it opened up. Asriel straightened himself a little bit more. The Snowdrake looked up at the two of them, and Terrowin spoke.

"Good afternoon. I'm Captain Terrowin of the Royal Guard, with Prince Asriel Dreemurr. We'd like to ask a couple questions about your missing son if that's alright?"

The Snowdrake nodded and he spoke. "Ah, of course. Please, come in Captain, your highness." He nodded at each of them respectfully in turn, before standing aside. Asriel thanked him as they entered. A second Snowdrake was sitting in the living room, looking anxious. She looked up as Terrowin and Asriel sat down close by. Asriel decided to speak first.

"Thank you for taking the time sir, ma'am. So, your son...do you remember where you saw him last?" The mother sighed, looking to the window.

"We last saw him running off into the forest...towards Waterfall I think...we warned him not to go too far."

Terrowin nodded, allowing a moment of silence to pass before he spoke again. "Waterfall has a fair amount of cliffs further in. Your son, does he like to explore?"

The father chuckled, but it was a sad chuckle. "He does. Pretty mischievous when you think about it. He's always stealing my sunglasses, he says they make him look 'cool.'"

Terrowin nodded again. "You said he was heading towards waterfall...do you think he had an...accident?"

The mother shook her head, trying to hold back tears. "I-I...I suppose it's possible...we just miss him so much…"

Asriel tried to sound encouraging. "Don't worry, we're doing everything we can to try and find him." "And the others." He added on in his mind. It was difficult to see the two parents looking so distressed. Terrowin stood up, and Asriel followed.

"Well, thank you for your time. We'll turn our search to Waterfall. Trust us, we'll find him."

The father nodded again. "Thank you...thank you so much…" Asriel and Terrowin left soon after this. Asriel glanced at Terrowin as they walked.

"You asked if their son had an accident, what did you mean by that?"

Terrowin sighed. "There's a lot of cliffs and drops around Waterfall. If he was exploring in an area like that? If we do find him, we might not like in the way we find him in."

Asriel nodded thoughtfully. They continued on in silence towards the marshlands. When nobody was around, Terrowin sighed again.

"I know you're training Chara, Asriel." Asriel stopped at once and stared up at Terrowin, surprised.

"Y...You do? For how long?"

Terrowin shrugged. "Only a month. I saw her practicing on a training dummy late one night, using the exact maneuvers I had taught you."

Asriel began to keep walking again. "No offense Uncle Terrowin, but you weren't exactly in a hurry to train her yourself. Besides, what harm could she do? She's been nothing but friendly since the moment she fell down here."

Terrowin shook his head. "I don't know, I just have a strange feeling about her. Apologies if that is out of line. I'd just feel better if she didn't know our fighting tactics."

Asriel took a deep breath. "It'll be alright. I just...I wish you would just give her a chance. Not all humans are the same you know. If anything she's living proof of that."

Terrowin nodded. "Wise words for someone so young."

Asriel gave a small laugh. "Just repeating what Mo- Queen Toriel told me."

Terrowin smiled warmly. "Well, she's a very wise queen. If only there were more people like her." Asriel continued walking, reflecting on the conversation. It wouldn't make sense why Terrowin had a nagging feeling about her. She had been so nice you could have sworn she was always a loved member of the family.

"Though, come to think of it, Chara has been going out alone a lot more often lately…" Asriel shook his head. It was coming up on a year Chara had been down here, maybe she just needed some space. He continued on, shaking off his pulling thoughts.