When you've been around for a long time, you get to see how people act under pressure. I mean real pressure, not the kind from jobs, or failing at something, but the kind where you're between a rock and a hard place, or alternatively, a hard place and something sharp, like a knife.

In those last moments when someone thinks they're about to die, something changes. All of a sudden, everything they are, everything they have the potential to be, it hangs there in the space between them and you, and the culmination of everything they're comprised of just sits there, completely fragile and peeled back, like petals of a flower.

The sensible thing to do during this time, of course, is to strike, but some don't go down so easily. It's during this time that they are awakened to the simple throbbing need that exists down deep in every living thing, and that thing is one I like to refer to as "kill, or BE killed."

Now sure, you could turn the other cheek, love thy neighbor, as they say, and maybe I've got it all wrong. I'm fully capable of admitting that I'm wrong. I'd like to, in fact, be proven wrong for once. It'd be a nice change.

All the humans that fall down into this cycle, they all die eventually, and they show their colors alright. Some of them are more patient than others, some more compassionate. All of them are driven by different things. Some of those things are traits I'd almost be envious of, and maybe I could pretend for a minute that I could be those things, but I know at the end of the day that I'm supposed to be dead, and yet I'm still stuck here.

When I say 'here', I of course mean an entirely different 'here' then where YOU are.

If you like a lot of darkness and disorientation, you'd love it where I am, provided you feel that little thing called love.

I don't really know what that is.

I'm told it's got its pros and cons.

A great pro, just to throw out a little example, is that if someone loves you enough, they'll do incredibly crazy things just to prove it to you. Things like helping you kill yourself, and then getting themselves killed too. That sort of casual thing.

The con, of course, is the aforementioned death I brought up. Only this is far worse- I didn't go anywhere after I died. He didn't get much of a happy ending either, but I guess it depends on your perspective. At least he has a body, even if it's not ideal.

I don't really think happy endings exist, and who cares if they did anyway? The book just ends. Then what? You reach for another one, with another perfectly tied up ending? Do you go back to the beginning and read it again? It's always the same. And like I said, if you've been around for a long enough time, like him, like me, you get bored after a while.

And boredom to someone with all this pent up energy and nothing to do with it, is really a punishment in of itself. Death wouldn't have been so bad an alternative, really, at least there's a solid conclusion there. I wouldn't be aware. I would just cease to exist. I wouldn't be all that opposed to it.

But now you've got me all restless. Ever since you fell down, you're like the others, but even so, you're something new, like a new television show after channel flipping for ages.

I see you've found out about that little trick too. You're sure going to be a fun change for him, he's had that power for so long, he doesn't even know what to do with it anymore. What do you do after doing everything? I wouldn't know, since I'm stuck here, doing nothing.

I am curious though, because I've never seen a human given power that didn't want it before. You can do anything and no one will know about it. Except me, of course. And him. It'll be our little secret. I'm pretty good at keeping secrets, because I know a few. Being behind the scenes, you get to see how things in this world tick. It'd be more fun if I could show someone though. Another con of being dead but not.

I can see your hesitation, and all I have to say about that is ; get over it. You're wasting time, everyone's, including mine. I want to see what you can really do. All the waiting and pondering, your consideration really means nothing, because you can just go back and change it if you don't like it.

You're not doing that though, and I'm not sure I understand why.

I'm not sure I like the stories people are telling you about me, either. Some of that is just downright fabricated.

Listen, if you want to know the truth about me, about where I've been, about this whole system you're trapped in now, I can let you in on all of it. Sure I could. If you can find me.

It'll be fun. A new game for you to play, on top of the one you're already playing. I wouldn't mind a stretch either, it gets cramped here, and if I'm going to be completely honest, I might even say I'm a little lonely here in this abyss.

Oh, it just occurred to me, that I maybe forgot to introduce myself. It would help if you knew who you were looking for, huh?

Howdy...
The name's Chara.


My first time posting an Undertale fanfic here. I'm very new to the fandom and trying to be brave enough to post my work publicly. This was an idea I had for a while, I really wanted to write about my personal interpretation of Chara and who they were in relation to everything else at the point in time where Frisk falls into the Underground. Chara has been dormant here for a long time after their death. I like to think they've been existing in a way that's similar to "Ghost Data", there, but it's only residual. I like to think they've been observing things the entire time from this place, and that they have been delving into what they can, learning secrets about the world and its properties, figuring out themselves, but they are unable to act upon anything. As for where that place is and what it has to do with Dr. Gaster, well, you'll just have to find out! I hope you like it, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask, and I'll try to address them.