Warning: Undertale references, violence, harmful to minors
Once upon a time, there was a little boy. He was cursed with misfortune. He was very dangerous, and he could not be around young and helpless creatures.
Once upon a time, the Digital Hazard had a name, and it was Chara.
Once upon a time, there was a little boy. He was cursed with misfortune. He was born to a world that wasn't meant for humans and thus had to compensate.
The poor thing did not know any better.
Nothing went well for a little boy cursed with misfortune, for he cursed himself.
Chara took a long breath of air and let out a just as heavy exhale. Then he looked around to see if anyone had heard. When no one did, he sighed again. Then his stomach grumbled. He shushed it and kept his eyes on the stream below. In retrospect, speaking to your stomach was not helpful in the slightest in telling it to do things but it certainly made him feel better. If only it would take away the hunger too.
If he was lucky today, he wouldn't be hungry for the next week. Or he would be dead. It was as simple as that. Just think simply, and let the world go where it lay.
Chara swung his legs back and forth as he watched the fish swim. They were nice and plump and would do him good with the plants he had picked up. All he had to do was simply get there and survive the current. That wouldn't be too hard. Not with his power.
The power that gets you in all this trouble.
He bit his lip and then dropped off into the water with a splash. He almost gave up from the cold alone. But he forced himself to swim, managing to snatch a fish and throw it overhead. He didn't know if it hit the shore or not. He couldn't think about that. He had to think of the fish, the food. The warmth of a crackling fire. He had to focus, had to-
The child of misfortune often was in danger from himself. It was lucky for him that he made a friend.
"Chara, get up! Mom and Dad are gonna tan your butt if you don't!"
The boy sneered at the blanket over his head. "It's kinda hard when you're on top of me, Asriel." Not to mention crushing his still humanoid fragile ribs and spine and being heavier than an Goatmon. They had lived together for two months now and it still didn't seem like the guy was gonna catch on.
At least his brother seemed to get it.
Was this a trait of super powered Digimon children with parents? Somehow he had avoided it. Somehow. If he had parents. Humans had parents more often than Digimon.
His were probably awful if he was stuck with this bunch.
"Why d'ya have to be such a grouch?" whined Asriel, flapping his many wings and floating off the bed. "You sleep too much. Even Mama gets worried about you!"
"Mama is just too kind for her own good," Chara told him flatly, sitting up. "I'm up now anyway so who cares?"
Asriel let out a harrumph, the Lucemon's wings fluttering atop his head much like a normal Digimon's ears. "You should be happy she fished you out of the stream!"
"I am," Chara assured as he slipped on old, worn shoes and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm just not you about it."
Once upon a time, the child's friend had an important destiny. Once, the child was envious.
Well, it wasn't just the once.
There was no way for Chara to describe Asriel other than 'dreamer'. He spent any free time staring up at the sky, making up stories about the clouds, entertaining any passing stranger with tales of other universes, other realities that he was sure were real. One reality was enough for him, thank you very much. It would be nice to be able to dream like him though. Sometimes.
Not when there were reassurances in reality though. He could wait.
Besides, he was staring way too deep into the river. Chara licked his lips, contemplating the fuss his friend would kick up if he had just shoved him in. It wasn't like the angel couldn't swim. But the complaints about a wet toga weren't worth it either. Damn it.
Well, he had thought that but…
Hearing Asriel squawk like a bird of prey was totally worth it. Chara was safe up in the tree anyway. At least until he remembered he could fly and dried off. He wasn't going to wait that long though.
As he prepared to jump to the next one and scamper off towards home, however, a voice startled them both. "Oh my, just where have I ended up today?"
They both paused. The voice was unnaturally loud in the clearing. Did the idiot not know where they were? They paused and Asriel made himself fly. He almost fell at a sudden rush of energy, a rush that gently shook the leaves and made their ears pop. From his tree, Chara looked at Asriel. Should they get his mom? Asriel tensed, intending to fly off and do so. Then out stepped an angel.
That said, he looked nothing like Asriel. He looked like an Angemon, an Angemon with prestige. He looked at them behind a visor with such curiosity in him. Then he watches them, and whatever he sees makes him pause.
Then there's a bright smile. Well hello there kids.
Instantly, Chara hated that smile.
Sometimes, curses go dormant for a while. A person will forget they have suffered such travesty and move on with their lives as if it had never occurred. So is the same with happiness. Once people lose it, lose their blessings, they believe they have never truly been full of joy. Eventually, however, it all comes around, whether we wish it to or not.
Everything comes back to us sooner if we do not handle the world as well. It is that simple and also that complicated, in the end.
Weeks passed.
The stranger, a ClavisAngemon with no name apparently, was taken in with open arms and a pair of warm hearts filled with relief. Like there was a buffer between them now. Asriel's parents seemed softer. It's as though they have found the buffer they have needed. Chara is not naive enough to realize they are imperfect people, and imperfect together, but that they both tend to him equally and look after their sons is enough for him not to mind such things.
Still. He didn't like the ClavisAngemon. He always looked at him funny, with a weird lip curl. Asriel liked him, which was fine, he guessed. Chara was busy hunting or training or studying. As interesting as the newcomer was, he rubbed him the wrong way, like so many Digimon had before. Like he rubbed Digimon the wrong way. He hoped he didn't have to leave. Having a bed was very nice, welcome.
Even if Azrael had given him a dumb name.
"Oh here you are… Chara, was it?"
Sometimes he had dreams. Dreams of another name, a better one. Dreams of some superpowers and some friends and then it all gets washed away. He looks up at the angel-man, realizing that he had been actually looking at him for once.
"Oh, hi," he said, scratching his mess of red hair. "Yeah, I am." Chara looked around. "No Asriel?"
The man laughed. "He got in trouble for not doing his chores, I'm afraid. So it's just you and me."
Chara nodded, trying not to squirm. To tell the truth, he didn't like the sound of that. Being left alone with things bigger than him never ended well. If the man noticed, he didn't say anything about it. He held that strange sword-key still, like it was glued to his hand. He asked if it was.
ClavisAngemon chuckled. "Well, it might as well be. I'm not allowed to lose it. The Goddess bade me to keep it for when I need it, when the world needs it."
"Goddess?" It wasn't like Miss Toriel, who was powerful and warm like a goddess. Supposedly, actual gods were different. They were incredible. But Chara wasn't sure. Toriel and Asgore were incredible. They hadn't killed him yet, hadn't even thought of it as far as he knew.
He nodded and for a moment, Chara thought he could see the man's eyes through his visor. "Yes, a kind and forgiving goddess who gave me a path to redeem myself after a dangerous mistake I made." He laughed. "Of course, I was the one who insisted on that path, but, well, these things happen, you know." Clavis Angemon adjusted his grip on the key. "Would you like to meet her?"
Chara's enthusiasm, which had been slowly peeking out of his eyes, immediately dropped. Too easy, too simple. What did he want? "Meet her?"
ClavisAngemon nodded again. "Yes. You see, I have to head back to my home world, now that I have reoriented myself. And, well..." He scratched his head, a sheepish tug on his lips. "I've somehow managed to have your friend wanting to follow me."
"You what." Chara felt nauseous, like his stomach acid had become boiling water mixed with pineapple. He thought a moment of shoving his fist into the man's nose, shoving his nose so far into his brain that-
He stopped, eyes wide, looking at his hands. For a moment, he saw them covered in red, the color etched into the lines of his palms like angry scars. Then it was gone and ClavisAngemon's voice washed over him once more.
"He seems to want to explore my world, like there's something he wants to see. He's very sick of this place, for all the fun he has in it." The solemnity of the man's voice deflated his anger.
"We're kids," Chara grumbled. "What would he know about being sick of something?" Asriel had a good life, people who loved him. What would he know about sorrowful things? He rubbed at his shoulder.
ClavisAngemon regarded him more, looking as though he could see the marks running all over him. "It's probably because he's young at heart. Younger than you."
Chara laughed. "He is."
"I tried to convince him otherwise. I'd leave now if I could."
"So you want me to come with." It made sense. Azrael never showed interest in any of the schemes Asriel had, except when they got him in trouble too.
"Or hold him back." ClavisAngemon smiled. "I'm not going to force you either way."
But you are going to encourage me one way. Sometimes, Chara wondered about grown Digimon. He really did.
The cursed child was very knowledgeable, but he could not see through time and space. Neither could the official of a god.
Coincidences pile up atop of coincidences. Wheels turn within wheels. No one can know the machinations the universe will go through to do as it likes.
None of them could have known a young girl would be hit by a car when a dimensional gate opened.
The young girl couldn't have known how capable she was.
The cursed child should have known not to get complacent.
When Chara opened his eyes, it was to red. Red as flames, as hair as pain, red blood, Asriel's ruined face, horror-eyes
That man's armor.
Face-solemn.
He had failed.
Couldn't stop Riri, Ozzy had tattled.
Key had been pointed at him.
No. Slow down. Slow down.
Try to remember, remember…
No, he didn't want to. Could not want to.
The key had been pointed. Keyblade had been pointed and had opened and there had been nothing there.
"As I had thought." Grim voice, old voice, that codger angel bastard. Quail-pain, writhing. "I need to take you away from here. You're dangerous."
"He is not!" Asriel protesting was so loud. Why did he always have to be so loud?
"He is." So sad, mocking sad, angry sad, guilt. No he would be guilty. When Chara got his hands on him, he would tear him open like a fish and see his innards-
Calm. Calm. Calm.
Screw calm.
"He is the Hazard. He shouldn't be like this. The poor child shouldn't even have lived this long."
The what?
Had he spoken aloud? He must have, for the man answered.
"A power that shouldn't be in one place. A power, a curse, that implies insanity. A threat."
Curse. He was cursed, he knew that he knew that, why were you saying that, Asriel and his family didn't care, why are you saying that-
Hefted over a shoulder. Rag-dolls don't feel pain, but now he did.
No. No!
Asriel was screaming. He was crying. Stop, stop.
Stop, please…
It did.
Someone else was crying instead. A little girl was crying. He thought he could see her, a ruined socket, a bloody set of ears. Only one hand. Broken and cursed.
Just like him.
He wanted to be closer. Someone else like him. Cursed together. That would be something. After all, he was crying and no one was coming for him. He had cried back then right? At that cruel man, at the angry person. Make him stop.
It hadn't stopped, though. Nothing stopped it.
No one stopped curses.
Well he would change that. After a nap. After a long nap he would make that person pay. He would go home. He would find that stupid dreamer and help this girl and kill that angel and go home.
Sounded like a plan to him.
A/N: Well that's done. This thing took a long time. This is a minor pre-canon story to Opening, which will come more into play later on as I get back into this fic again. Also, Undertale! You did not need knowledge of it to read this fic. It's just an interesting backdrop. Hope you enjoy!
Challenges: Ultimate Sleuth Challenge 0.2 - Write about something unwanted, Prompts in Steps 4.03, Jigsaw Puzzle Challenge 09, gameverse boot camp - prompt 33 creepy, original characters boot camp prompt - lethal, advent calendar 2016 day 23. add to a series, Easter Egg Advent 2016. write about someone almost dying, and Diversity Writing Challenge D47. write in the tragedy genre.