The Soul's Awake
An Undertale Short Story
I walked down to the cellar and saw all the coffins. I felt bad for all those kids. Even if they were human, they were still kids. And no kid show be treated with this much disrespect. I knew the king and queen had a hard time with their children, but this was just cruel. I visited the humans because I got bored and I felt like humans were good listeners. As I looked at them I saw a shining light coming from the first one. The one that belonged to the first human. I didn't want to open it because I didn't want to see a dead kid inside but there was a sound coming from it. I just had to open it.
I opened the coffin and saw, to my surprise, no body. I did see something else that intrigued my interest. A soul. A red soul. It was just there. I took a closer look at it and the sounds had stopped. I heard someone coming so I closed the coffin and teleported out. Thank god for magic.
I came back later that night to see if it was still there. I opened the coffin very quietly. It was still there, but it looked different. I noticed it's colour was starting to fade. When I first looked at it, it was a bright red, now it's a dull red. Barely red at all. I stood there.
"What's wrong? Why is it like this? What happened to it?" I thought to myself.
All of a sudden, It started to make sounds. I couldn't make them out but it sounded like...crying?
Crying. If that was what the sound was, I felt sorry. I didn't know why, I just did. As I was listening to the sound, the room started turning white. I didn't understand what was happening. Everything was fading to white. Then, everything was started to return to normal (or as normal as possible), but I'm wasn't in the cellar room anymore.
The new place was a bit hard to see but I could make out a few things. It was very bright white and it had dull grey, floating platforms of every size everywhere. They looked like land with grass.
It was strange. In the distance, I saw a huge tree on the biggest platform. It had flowers on it and it dropped down in a nice way. It was really pretty. Definitely not what I was expecting in a place like that. I saw some petals floating around everywhere. I thought they were supposed to be yellow but they looked as dull as the rest of that place. There were also a few flowers here and there. They looked like the same ones at the king's castle. There were rocks floating around connecting all the platforms together. The place gave me the chills.
I heard the crying. I wanted to follow the sound.
I walked across on the floating rocks. I go across them very carefully as I tried not to fall into the white abyss below me. I got to the platform and I placed my foot down on the grass. It was soft and felt like it was new. The crying became louder. I walked around a bit on the floating piece of land when I saw the tree still in the distance. It sounded as though the noise was coming from it.
I walked towards it. I cross more rocks and more land platforms. I finally got to the one with the tree. It was the biggest land piece there.
As I walked closer the crying became more and more loud until I was standing just a few feet away from it. They crying was like a child's. I slowly walked around to the other side and saw a child, sitting and leaning against the tree, hugging their knees, crying. I was a little shocked when I realized...that was the kid. That was the human child the the king and queen took in years ago. I stood there for a moment and wondered why they were there.
It seemed like they didn't know I was there. I was so afraid to say anything. Yet, somehow, I found the courage to say,
"Um, hey."
They jumped in surprise. They'd scamper away from me. They were scared to see me there. They looked up at me with their bright, vibrant red eyes which made me jump back a little too. I guess we were both scared.
The child look just like they did in the photo. They had short, red-brown hair and their bangs were just above their eyes. They also had pink cheeks. I thought that it was strange but I wasn't questioning it. They were wearing a pale green and pale yellow striped sweater with one stripe across in the middle. Their eyes were red from crying and not the colour of their iris I meant around the eyes. It looked as if they had been crying for a long time.
I tried to come closer but they backed away. They obviously were afraid of me. I backed away and sat down, with my legs out infront of me and my arms behind me supporting my weight on the grass. I didn't look at them though. I looked out into the distance. There really wasn't anything there though. Just white. I closed my eyes and tried to look relaxed.
I opened my eyes a few minutes later and saw at the corner of my eye, that child came closer. My thinking was that they understand that I wasn't going to hurt them. They sat almost next to me. Maybe they were a foot or two away from me. They sat with their knees up and they rested their head on them. It was very quiet until they spoke very softly. I almost didn't hear them.
"How did you get here?"
Was their question. Their voice was light and soft but a little...fluctuating. Probably because of the crying. They still looked scared. They were shivering. Maybe they were just cold? But I didn't feel a breeze. Also if there wasn't a breeze how were all those petals floating around?
"I'm uh, not sure." I wanted to be as truthful as possible.
I wanted them to feel safe around me or as safe as possible. Maybe If I got to know them, they could tell me why they were there.
"Oh." They said back sounding disappointed.
"Do-do you know where here is?" I asked them back.
They were quiet. They must have been thinking of what to say to a stranger who wasn't supposed to be there. They say,
"You're…" They said the last part so quietly I couldn't understand them.
"Um. What did you say kid?" I asked as I looked down at them. They were looking away.
They sighed and said again
"You're in my soul…"
I was surprised to hear that. I mean I didn't really know what I expected the answer to be. I thought about that for a minute. Inside a human soul, their soul. It was dark, and dreary and yet at the same time, bright. Kind of like the outside of the soul. That kid seemed upset. Maybe that was why it looks they way it did. Inside and out. Although, I wasn't sure why they would be upset. It wasn't like they had anything to do with that mess. Right?
I looked back at them and they were still looking away from me.
"So what's your name kid? I can't call you kid forever right?"
They looked back up at me with that sad and shy look as if they didn't think anyone would ask for their name.
"Chara." they replied.
"What's your favourite thing to do Chara?" I asked them.
I needed to break the ice somehow right?
"Um...well I … uh...like to draw…" they'd reply
We had a very long and peaceful conversation. I'd tell them my name and somethings about me and they'd tell me some more things about them. It lasted maybe half an hour. There was no time there so I wasn't really sure. The kid was closer now. They seemed to trust me a little more. I seem to have cheered them up. Even caught them laughing at some of my jokes. The place looked less grey and more colourful the more I talked to them and made them laugh.
"So this tree. What is it?"
"Oh! It's a Golden Shower tree!"
"A Golden Shower huh?" I looked up at it.
"What's it doing in here? I mean the get the flowers but…"
I looked back at them and they were looking away again. I thought I made them upset. I said something wrong. That tree meant something to them and I wanted to know what.
"Chara? Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah. It's just. This tree is...it mean something to me…"
I knew it.
"Really?"
They turned their body around to face the tree. They placed one hand on it and tilted their head down.
"Yeah"
They said nothing else. There was silence between us. I didn't want to say anything.
"When I was on the surface, I didn't have a lot of family. All I had was my mum. She looked after me and made me happy when I was sad. It was just me and her. We had this Golden Shower tree near our house. We went there all the time to have picnics."
I sat in silence. I'd listen to what they had to say fully, before I said anything else.
"One day, she got sick. And she...she…"
They started to cry but they continued.
"So I was all alone. They buried her under that same tree. Since she was gone, I couldn't live. I wanted to be with her. So I remembered a story about how if you climb the mountain, you'll disappear. So I did. I ended up falling into the hole expecting to die but…"
They were in full on tears now and the place went back to grey. The colour of the place was tied with their emotions. Interesting. But I had to comfort them. I took their hand off the tree and moved closer to them. They rested their head on my shoulder. They'd wipe the tears from their eyes and sit up on their own.
"I'm - I'm sorry Sans."
"It's okay. We got that in common."
"What do you mean?" They'd ask so politely.
That kid was so shy when we first met and then we were like best friends.
"My mom died when I was little."
They put their hands over their mouth and make a small gasp.
"It's okay. It happened a long time ago."
They'd take their hands away from their mouth and placed them in their lap. A little while passed and we continued to chat. I'd tell them jokes and they would say some back. The place looked brighter than it ever was. Still it was dark but it was brightening up. The more we talked the more I wondered something. Why did they die? I knew that the prince and them fused but, I never knew why. None of us did. I hated to break the cheeriness but I had to know.
"So Chara, I hate to ask this but…"
They looked up at me unsure about what I was going to ask.
"I was wondering. Why did you...um...you know… " I didn't have to finish my question.
They started to cry again. I made the kid cry. Again. The world was turning dull again. Of course.
"I...I...I'm so sorry!" They put their head into their knees.
I put my hand on their shoulder.
"Hey. Shhh. Shhh. It's okay Chara. Look I'm sorry for asking. Can we forget I asked?"
I hated that. I made them cry. I didn't want them to cry anymore. I needed them to be happy. Not just for me. But for them. I had a feeling that if they were to get anymore sad or depressed, their soul might not last very long. They looked up at me. I got used to their eyes. I wiped their tears.
"Please don't cry okay?"
They nodded in understanding. I couldn't tell them what I thought about the situation. They might've gotten even more upset. I calmed them down by telling some jokes. They seemed to really like my jokes. At least one person did.
"Sans?" They said
They sounded fine now. They still had that soft voice.
"Yea kid?"
"Do you want to know more about this place?"
I wanted to say yes right away but I knew that would be kind of weird.
"Um. Yeah sure."
"Well okay." they took a deep breath and started talking.
"As you know, this is my soul. Well the inside of my soul. And I don't think it's supposed to look like this. All the land is supposed to be together and everything is supposed to bright and colourful. But it's all dull and all the land is falling apart."
I knew something didn't seem right about that place. I just didn't really know what.
"It fell apart I think when I was first conscious here. I'm not really here. Just my ghost or spirit is. It's locked up in here and…."
They stoped talking. They looked sad. I thought they were going to cry again.
"I'm so scared…I don't know how to get out or what to do or-" I hugged them.
They were rampling so I leaned in, put my arms around them and hugged them. I thought they needed one. They hugged back. After a few seconds they pulled away and wiped tears from their eyes again.
"Chara, I'll try to get you out. I promise."
I hated making promises. But that kid was special. They needed to be back in their body again. Even for a short while.
We sat in silence for a long time. They got up and picked some flowers that were growing nearby and held them in their hands like a bouquet. They'd come sit down again and closed their eyes. For the first time, they looked relaxed. The petals of the tree was blowing from behind them and made the scene look even better. I watched as the world around us started to brighten up again. They must have felt happier. I knew I felt better. Making people smile always made me happy. I looked out into the white again. I thought about how I was going to get them out.
As I thought about it, I wasn't even sure how to get out myself. I looked back at them and slowly, everything was starting to fade white again. I was going back. I never said goodbye! It wasn't too long until the white died down and I was sitting back in the basement.
I looked at Chara's soul and it was brighter now. I seemed to have cheered them up. I made a difference. I felt good. But I still had my last words ringing in my head. 'I promise'. I made a promise to that kid but I wasn't sure I could keep it.
And I didn't.