Chara Featherstone and the Engine of Renown!
By Nicolle
Disclaimer: Undertale belongs to Toby Fox. The original Underswap belongs to Morty. This story is copyrighted to me.
Author's Note: This novel is the product of the November National Novel Writing challenge. I didn't make it. :( I got to 47,000 on Nov. 30th. I'm still pretty proud of that though! I am in the process of editing the chapters into something I am comfortable posting and I hope you all enjoy reading it. Now onto the story!
Chapter 1
Charlotte Amelia Featherstone's hand flew up to her head, covering her eyes against the glare as the airship Dalion rushed by overhead. Despite its immense size and blocky design, it maneuvered around the steel and glass high rises of New Home with ease. The ship truly resembled a rectangular block of amber stained windows, brown painted metal, and brass gears. Gathering up her green skirts, she quickly ran down the brick laid street for the airport.
The airport terminal rose up out of the ground ahead of her, a building split into two pieces, one that sat on the ground and one that floated in the air. The ground terminal was a long and tall building made up of steel and stained glass walls, with an interior designed for comfort and relaxation. The first floor handled all matters of transportation: tickets, itineraries, and luggage. The other three floors were filled with shops, restaurants, lounges, and even a spa.
Passengers were ferried from the ground to the second part of the building in the air on a series of enclosed, floating platforms that rose and fell as needed. The platforms themselves were like glass gondolas outfitted in brass so that they shined even when the weather turned cloudy. Once raised up, the platforms attached to the second part of the terminal, a building that floated effortlessly in the air. Rather than a building of glass, this one was a one floor building of stone and steel, with long tubes snaked out from it to attach to incoming vessels.
Ten ships were arranged around it at current, ranging in size from the small private airship of the Dreemurr family to the intimidatingly large Dalion. Charlotte waited among the throng of people on the ground, some of whom waited for friends to disembark, while others had come to gawk at the Dalion. It was as amazing to look at as it was hideous.
And not a single one of her pleas with Dr. Undyne on the design had dissuaded the merwoman from realizing her grotesque dream. A few bystanders pointed up at the ship, talking loudly about this or that function of which they had no real idea. Charlotte didn't correct them. She looked too young with her pale skin and large, chocolate eyes, and too delicate with her small frame and delicate face to be taken for an engineer. Making assertions would only have others laughing at her. If Dr. Undyne hadn't also been the Royal Scientist, people wouldn't have taken the merwoman seriously either. Her appointment had come on the heels of her advancements in robotics, making machines so uncanny in form and easily inhabitable for the ghosts who lingered behind after their bodies had long gone.
Several platforms rose and fell to take the passengers of the Dalion to the terminal on the ground and Charlotte had to lock her knees to keep from bouncing impatiently. After a good hour, Dr. Undyne came out on the arm of the goat pooka, King Asgore Dreemurr, his wife Queen Toriel just behind with her son, Prince Asriel, on one arm, and their adopted, human son, Prince Frederick, on the other. Surrounded by journalists, photographers, and guards, and now with the crowd pressing in, Charlotte groaned. As the engineer who'd created the engine strong enough to keep the Dalion aloft, she was supposed to be introduced, but with the crowd, she'd never get through.
Standing still, the crowd flowed around her, moving with the royals and away from the terminal. Once only those who had other business with the terminal remained, she began the long walk back to the laboratory. Michaelis Karlson, a young lizard man in an orange suit to match his orange scales, ran up to her, tipping his orange top hat.
"Good afternoon, Chara! I've been sent to fetch you!"
"To where, MK?"
"To the palace!"
Charlotte cocked an eyebrow at him. "Why?"
MK rolled his eyes. "You know the doctor. She'd forget her own head if it wasn't screwed on." He stood up straight, and counted off on his curved fingers. "She forgot to get you a ticket for the Dalion's maiden voyage. She forgot that you weren't actually with her on several occasions during the flight." He paused for a moment. "She literally asked you to explain something to His Majesty a total of four times." He stood up straight again, holding up his six fingers and two thumbs, wiggling them at her. "Look, I've run out of fingers and I've only just started!"
He spun so that he stood next to her and hook his arm in hers. "Come along! Prince Asriel is especially interested in meeting you!"
Charlotte double stepped to keep up with MK's long legs. "Why?"
He gave her an apologetic look. "It seems the good doctor mentioned that you were from the 'surface.'
Charlotte groaned. She'd learned very quickly not to talk about her past. The one that was up beyond what appeared to be the sky. No one believed her. No one down here seemed to know that they lived inside a much larger planet.
She'd been living a relatively normal life on the surface of the world, in a house in the town of Mt. Shasta. Her parents, both doctors, and both too busy with their careers to notice that her grades had been slipping, often left her alone and without the semblance of supervision. Because of that, a bully and her little gang of friends had found an easy mark in Charlotte. She'd dreaded school, but had dreaded her parents' potential wrath if she attempted to pull their attention away from work. A school field trip to Lake Shasta Caverns ended suddenly when the bully shoved her over the edge of a railing and sent her falling into darkness.
She remembered hitting water and then nothing until she woke up in a small hut. She'd washed up from the river near a little village, and the villagers, not knowing what to do with the dumpy looking girl in a stained, striped sweater, speaking an unintelligible language, had called for help in the form of Dr. Undyne Cordata and Papyrus Featherstone. She'd been fearful of both of them, especially the giant skeleton man's suspicious gaze. But he spoke English, even while denying that the surface world she'd come from existed.
Charlotte slipped his arm and held out both arms to keep MK back. "No. No. No. I'm tired of people treating me like a sideshow curiosity. Tell them I am very ill and cannot attend."
"A LIE?! From my own sweet sister no less?!"
Chara turned to find Sans Featherstone, a tall, and somehow rotund, skeletal man in the purple, ceremonial dress of the royal guard which included shining armor, gaping at her in shock.
"Come on, Sans! Undyne always does this to me! She just blabs and I look like an idiot at best, or a liar at worst. I do not need to be embarrassed today, least of all in front of my boss' boss!"
Before she had a chance to attempt escape, Sans put an arm around her waist and steered her to a waiting, horse drawn carriage with the royal insignia emblazoned across the door. Gulping a deep breath, she carefully climbed inside. She sighed with relief when she saw the interior was empty. Sans climbed in behind her with MK and they were whisked off to the palace.
Getting to the palace wasn't that hard. It took up a quarter of the city. Originally, it was the lodge that the Dreemurr chieftains of old kept for their clan. As the clan grew, so did the lodge. Stone replaced wood, intricate carving replaced bare rock, and on it went until a massive palace that could house half of the people in the city around it comfortably appeared. So getting to the palace was easy. Getting to the front was a bit more challenging. The entire thing was so big it abutted a cliff against an ocean on one side and on the other it looked down a rock face to the city below. While those who lived in the palace knew of multiple ways in and out of the structure, the public used the Tower Gate, a high tower reaching to the clouds that guarded a large bridge to the palace doors.
The carriage went through the Tower Gate without stopping and over the bridge into the palace courtyard, coming to a stop at the massive, stone doors that made up the entrance. Sans jumped down from the carriage first and offered Charlotte his hand. She took it as she stepped down.
"I need to make sure I look proper."
"HAVE NO FEAR, CHARA! We will be pausing for instruction from Lady Sarah Portia Austin. You'll be able to make any adjustments then."
Sans escorted her through those heavy doors and into a grand stairwell. Leading her to the right, they entered a sunlight filled, office suite of pale carpeting, dark blue painted walls, and white painted furniture. Lady Sarah, a short and plump, older woman wearing a lovely blue frock, waited for them in front of her white desk with a smile.
"Oh you are a pretty one! I have been assured you know your courtesies."
"Yes, My Lady."
Lady Sarah looked over Charlotte's green dress, smoothing it out so the drawn up folds on the skirt laid properly. "I do love this new style. Very formal while being less voluminous." She looked up at Charlotte. "You were to have already met with Them correct?"
Charlotte sighed. "I was supposed to be on the maiden voyage of the Dalion, but… a situation came up that required me to stay behind."
"Oh you do know your courtesies. That was the most polite way I've ever heard someone say they were a victim of Dr. Undyne's forgetfulness." She positioned Charlotte in front of a mirror, and stepped up on a stool to gently comb loose hair back into the bun on Charlotte's head. "When you meet the King or Queen, refer to them as Your Majesty first and then as Sire or Madam afterwards. For the Princes, Your Highness to start and Sir afterward, though Asriel tends to be very informal and may ask you to call him by name, which is perfectly fine."
Charlotte checked herself in the mirror to be sure her corset was straight and the laces tight, admiring the hourglass silhouette for a moment. She'd baulked at the garment at first, but now felt naked without one. It was the same with her morning exercise. Upon meeting Sans, he had not been happy that she resembled a potato more than a girl. And the potato who'd once drowned her depression in waves of chocolate, was dragged from bed early each morning for exercise before her lessons with Papyrus, and then later, her apprenticeship with Undyne. Napstablook and Mettaton had both been completely aghast at her lack of manners and proper dress. And no amount of arguing would save her from hours spent learning etiquette.
A year later, she looked as she did now: a proper, educated, young lady. The dumpy, bullied, little girl had disappeared. Even her name, Jane Smith, had been lost. Papyrus and Sans had taken her as their younger sister, giving her a new name to go with her new life. It was the one change she'd minded the least. She liked being Charlotte, or more commonly, Chara. It felt more dignified and certainly more interesting than just plain Jane.
Having Lady Sarah's final approval, Sans escorted Charlotte back to the grand stairwell and up the stairs to answer her sovereign's summons. At the top of the white, marble stairs, was a painting of the current royal family: Asgore, Toriel, Asriel, Frederick, and Asgore's Queen Mother, Amarna, her hand resting on her adopted grandson's shoulder. The Dreemurrs were whited furred, yellow eyed, goat pooka with the exception of Frederick, who was a tall, brown haired, green eyed human. King Asgore was a large and kindly goat man with a thick yellow beard and mane. He was the brains behind the throne, the political know how. Queen Toriel was a goat woman almost as tall as her husband and the martial might of the throne. Her stern appearance made for a terrifying woman. Prince Asriel was as tall as his father but thin and ultra fit in the human sense. His smile was easy and unguarded, his long, white hair always loose around his shoulders. The queen mother, Amarna, was a wrinkly old goat pooka with a happy smile.
Turning to the right, Sans held the door for her and she stepped onto the outdoor colonnade that faced the ocean. A few short steps had them at the room. Sans gave her a big smile before knocking on the door.
The Queen's voice boomed through the stone door. "Enter."
Sans opened the door revealing a room that was the very essence of coastal living with a dark blue carpet, white furniture, and sea shells decorating the room. The King, in formal purple robes, and Queen, in a purple gown with white details, sat together at a small table having tea and scones. Undyne was nowhere to be seen.
"MAY I PRESENT TO YOUR MAJESTIES! CHARLOTTE AMELIA FEATHERSTONE! An engineer in the employ of Dr. Undyne, and my dear younger sister."
Charlotte stepped inside the door and curtsied. "Your Majesties. I am honored to be in your presence."
Asgore motioned for her to join them at the table, standing to pull out a chair for her. "Welcome! Please join us for tea."
"Thank you, Sire." Charlotte carefully sat in the offered chair as the king slid it under her.
Toriel poured a cup of tea and set it in front of Charlotte without looking at her. "We are very sorry that you were not available during the maiden voyage of the Dalion. Your presence was deeply missed."
"I apologize for my absence. I'm sure that-"
"Why?"
Chara stiffened at the Queen's bark. The goat woman was looking at her now, her yellow eyes less than happy.
"I beg your pardon, Madam. A situation came up that required me to stay behind-"
"No. I want to know why are you apologizing. I was under the impression that your absence was the result of Dr. Undyne's forgetfulness. Are you saying it is your fault that you were not on the ship?"
Chara pursed her lips for a moment. Placing the blame at Undyne's feet would make her and the doctor look bad. Taking the blame might mean a swift discharge from her employment and it would be impossible to find another job as an engineer. Anyone willing to take a female engineer would not take one discharged from royal employ. There was no easy way out of this one.
She took a deep breath. "I should have reminded Dr. Undyne more often in advance of the ticket sales to be sure of purchase amounts." She looked at her hands resting in her lap and waited.
The silence dragged on and when Charlotte snuck a glance, she found Asgore glaring at Toriel viciously while the the queen appeared utterly taken aback.
The door to the room burst open, banging against the wall. Prince Asriel, tall, long haired, and overly attractive in his white button down, black slacks and purple vest, strode in with a happy smile and excited eyes. "You're finally here!" He reached down, taking Charlotte's hand in his, and lifting her up and out of the chair with a spin. Catching her against chest, he laid a quick kiss to the knuckles of her hand. "Howdy, I'm Asriel, and you just have to meet my brother."
He looked over at his parents. "I can't believe you! Just hogging her all to yourselves!" He looked back down at Charlotte. "Come along!" He carried her out the door, spinning one finger in the air to magic the door, and slam it shut behind him. Setting her down in the colonnade, he let out a sigh. "Just in time, huh?"
Asriel smiled again. "I'm sorry about that. My mother was not happy in the least that Dr. Undyne forgot her chief engineer, especially since the doctor is terrible about explaining anything that doesn't have to do with automatons." He hooked his arm in hers. "This way please. I want you to meet my brother."
"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but why?"
He stopped. "You're from the surface, aren't you?"
Charlotte groaned. "Listen. I don't know what Dr. Undyne told you but-"
"Frederick is from Sacramento, California."
She stared up at him, slack jawed for a moment. "That's impossible…"
Asriel shook his head, causing his long hair to swing around him. "He fell on Mt. Shasta. Same as you. The difference between your fall and his, is that my family was on vacation at the time. I saw him floating down the river and pulled him out." He gave her a sidelong glance. "I do hope though, that the circumstances of your fall were less… intentional for you."
He whisked her down the long colonnade, taking a left through a door that led to another long hall. They stopped at the second door on the right, which was already open. The room inside had the same coastal flair as the one she'd first seen, but instead of a sitting room, this appeared to be the kind of kitchen you might find in one of the nicer condos in New Home. Sky blue appliances rested between white cabinets and a granite topped island served as both a food prep area and a bar.
Prince Frederick Laurentius Dreemurr stood behind the island, knife in hand, an apron protecting his white button down and pinstriped brown pants, a pile of chopped vegetables on the cutting board he stood over. He was watching Nacarat, a fae of flame in a faceless, horned mask, with some amusement, the hand holding the knife propping up his chin. Nacarat was a positively tiny fae, standing only four inches tall. She flitted this way and that on the countertop in the middle of a dance, her red, bat-like wings drooping over her shoulders like a cape. Twirling around, she bounced on her toes, and her wings lifted to reveal a pretty, little, red dress, its skirt twirling around her ankles. She lifted one leg high, spinning on one foot expertly.
As the fae's head came around, she saw Charlotte and Asriel in the doorway and gasped. Her rotation faltered and she fell backward. Frederick reached over with his free hand and caught Nacarat before she hit the hard granite counter. Glancing up at Charlotte and his brother, he stood properly.
Asriel gestured to Charlotte with something of a false bow. "Here she is! The girl from the surface!"
Frederick raised an eyebrow even as he helped Nacarat gain her feet. "Hardly. She looks like she was born and raised in New Home if not some other city in Agartha."
Charlotte stepped toward him, leaning forward in both eagerness and trepidation. "Are you really from Sacramento?"
He blinked, mouth hanging open slightly. "You speak English."
She nodded quickly. "I'm from the town of Mt. Shasta. It's that little tourist trap at the base of the mountain. How long ago did you fall?"
He set down the knife in his hand and came around the bar. "Ten years ago. You?"
"Five."
Nacarat flew up to Asriel, sitting on his shoulder. She lifted the horned, faceless red mask she wore, revealing a childish, elfin countenance, and pointed ears. "What are they saying, Azzy?"
Asriel shrugged, but carefully so as not to dislodge the fae. "Beats me. It's the language of wherever they come from."
Frederick grew silent. He turned away to lift the cutting board, dumping the vegetables in a pot on the sky blue stove, and switching back to the language of Agartha. "We're having beef and vegetable stew for dinner. You're welcome to sup with us."
The goat pooka elbowed Charlotte. "Have a seat. My brother's a marginally decent cook."
Frederick gave his brother a sharp glare as Charlotte sat down at the bar.
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Asriel smiled widely. "Just call him, Fritz. Everyone else does."
"Frisk it is then."
"Fritz," Frederick growled only to glare at Asriel's laugh.
The goat pooka would not be denied. "Oh, I like that one much better. Frisk for sure!"
Frederick snorted, putting his nose up. "Fine. I suppose Chara can call me whatever she likes."
"Chara?!" Charlotte blinked, and looked from him to Asriel, who was failing to hide his smile, and back. "How dare you be so informal! We've only just met!"
Frederick turned, leaning on the bar to prop his head up on his hand, a lazy smile on his lips. "You're an American. Formality is for your elders, not for your peers, Chara."
Chara scowled at him. "You better be a good cook, Frisk Dreemurr."
"The best."
Nacarat lifted Asriel's long ear to whisper in it. "He likes her!"
"I think so too." He held up a hand and she jumped onto it. "Be a dear and let Dad know where we are?"
"Certainly!" Nacarat jumped from his hand, wings spreading out and flew from the room. Spinning in the air happily, she sped out to the colonnade and down to the king's suite. Knocking with all her might only let out the softest of raps and she sighed heavily, shoulders drooping. The door opened and King Asgore smiled to see the creature.
He lifted one long ear, wagging it at her. "I heard you, Little One. How may I be of assistance?"
Nacarat curtsied, a neat trick seeing as she did it while flying. "Prince Asriel asked me to let you know that he has taken Miss Featherstone to Prince Frederick's apartment. They are going to have dinner together."
"Excellent!" He held out his hand and Nacarat alighted on his palm.
"I don't see how," Toriel growled. She took a long sip of her wine before setting it down and crossing her arms over her chest, fuming from her seat on the couch next to Papyrus, a tall, thin, skeletal homunculus. For his part, Papyrus looked relaxed, if a little bored, his boney thumbs hooked in the pockets of his orange vest.
Asgore turned with his hands on his hips. "You had that poor girl scared half to death! She was being perfectly courteous, and you couldn't muster even a little civility." The goat king inhaled noisily. "It is long past time that Frederick was married. I held off on it this long only because he was blatantly uninterested in any woman put before him. Now we have a young lady who may very well catch his eye."
"We don't know that," she grumbled sullenly.
"He's feeding her," Nacarat pointed out. "He doesn't let just anyone eat his cooking."
Toriel frowned in annoyance at the fairy. "Stop helping." She turned her head to put both of her glowing yellow eyes on Papyrus. "Are you sure she's from the surface?"
"Charlotte speaks English, which is a language you only get from surface dwellers. No one in Agartha speaks it, that's for sure."
Her frown remained, but she looked away toward a painting on the wall of Asriel and Frederick standing together. "The only reason I believe that there is a surface world is that I've met enough people with the same stories about it."
"You're a poor liar, Tori." Papyrus picked up his beer stein and swished the amber liquid inside around a little. "You've not let your son near any of them."
The Queen rounded on him. "What are you implying?"
Papyrus' brow bone raised. "That you fear losing him to the ghost of a memory of his former life." The skeleton shook his skull. "Relax, Toriel. He's not going to disappear on you. He loves this life and has made quite a name for himself as a historian and folklorist of Agartha. He'll not leave this place any faster than my sister would run for an exit and she hasn't been here as long."
The queen wrung her hands nervously. "Still… this meeting might stir them both to leave. I want a wife for my son, but does she have to be someone who would remind him of the past?"
Papyrus took a swig of her beer. "Frederick was attempting to escape that past in a permanent way when you found him. And if I remember correctly, he was the one who refused to give his birth name and forced you to give him a new one."
Asgore nodded. "That he did." He regarded his skeletal friend thoughtfully. "You took Charlotte's name from her, did you not?"
Papyrus nodded. "She deserved better than the drivel her parents laid on her." He snorted, annoyed suddenly before shaking it off. He sighed. "Chara talks about the surface, but not her own life there. She avoids the subject vehemently. The half drowned girl we found in Faduwan Village is gone. Only my sister remains." He finished the beer in his stein and set it on the side table next to him.
Toriel took a deep breath and let it out loudly. "Fine then! We'll just make the arrangements and call it done!"
Papyrus shook his skull. "I wouldn't if I were you. They're from a part of the surface that values personal liberty and a loving partnership starts before the wedding rather than developing after it. Let them get acquainted, let them have time to talk, share, and have fun together."
He tapped one boney finger against the side of his skull. "Frederick's been wanting to visit the mountain villages in Syll. And Chara hides it well, but she was very disappointed to have not been on the Dalion's maiden voyage. The Dalion is scheduled to fly to Amron next, two months from now. That's just south of Syll. I'll arrange for the two of them to be on the Dalion for that flight. Asriel will be sure to fill that time with lots of 'chance' meetings."
Toriel, still holding out, snorted. "I doubt the girl can afford a ticket that would put her anywhere near the upper level suites."
"Yes. Yes. We all know how poorly the Crown pays its employees," Papyrus drolled. "Especially the ones who create mechanical marvels for Them. But that's a discussion for another time." He eyed Toriel. "The fact of the matter is this: my sister and your son make for a good match. You do not need the eventual scandal Frederick's long refusal to marry has brewed, and my sister deserves a husband who will not think her insane should she speak with him about her past."
Papyrus stood, smoothing out his long pants, and turned to his friend. "With your permission, my King, I will see to the arrangements today."
Asgore nodded. "Of course."
Papyrus bowed low at the waist and took a step forward, disappearing into thin air as he did so.
Toriel stood, but the anger in her washed away. "I don't want my child to disappear, Gorey. I don't think I could handle it. Not again."
Asgore sighed. "Frederick already knows of at least two entrances into Agartha that are both safe passages to the surface and he has avoided studying both of them for love of you." He set Nacarat down on the table and put his arms around his wife. "You've wished on many occasions that he would be home more often than he was away. A wife and children will give him cause to be home more often than not." He smiled. "And it would be nice to have a few grandchildren underfoot."
Toriel pursed her lips. "My boy is a contrary one. If he gets a whiff of a plot, this will be for naught."
Asgore shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not." He leaned down to rub his nose against hers.
Toriel looked up at him, troubled. "Do we really pay our employees so poorly?"
Asgore hummed thoughtfully. "Not in general, but there are a few who deserve far more than We pay." He looked to Nacarat. "Let Asriel know that such a correction needs to be made."