This game has consumed my entire existence. Please send help.
-The Second Child-
Asriel couldn't help but be impressed. Most kids would have died if they faceplanted at maximum velocity. This girl, however, stood up like nothing was wrong and wiped off the front of his shirt. In fact, she seemed more upset that the ribbon in her hair had come undone than anything else.
"H-howdy!" the monster called to the girl, who jumped back in surprise. Asriel was surprised how much older she looked than Chara. "I-I'm Asriel. Asriel Dreemurr. My parents are the ones in charge of the Underground!"
The girl didn't speak for a moment. When she did, her words were carefully measured, as if she was trying her best not to freak out. "You're a goat."
"W-what?" Asriel asked. Chara had called him that several times before, but he never understood what she meant by it. "No I'm not! I'm a boss monster!"
The girl nodded. "Is that so? Are goats some kind of royalty down here?"
"I-I'm not a goat!" Asriel balled his hands into tiny fists, but felt tears burning at the corners of his eyes. Crud, he couldn't start crying in front of this human! Chara already thought he was a crybaby…
The girl smiled suddenly. "My apologies, Prince Asriel Dreemurr." She bowed low, throwing Asriel off guard. He was used to girls curtseying. Maybe things were different for humans?
"You don't seem surprised by my appearance," the girl spoke. "Perhaps you have seen a human before?"
Asriel nodded eagerly. "Y-yeah! There's Chara, my sister."
"Your sister is a human?"
"Yup!"
"And you're a monster?"
"You've got it!"
The girl nodded. She looked back at the opening she had fallen through. "Maybe that fall did kill me, and this is just my version of the afterlife. That would explain a few things, at least."
Asriel couldn't help but snicker a little. "Well, after a fall like that, there must be a few things that need healing. Come on, I'll bring you to my mom. She's awesome with healing stuff!"
The girl lingered in the bed of flowers, before grabbing hold of Asriel's outstretched paw.
"Alright. By the way, my name is Amy."
The king and queen fell immediately in love with Amy, of course. By the time the day had ended, they had even already started referring to her as their child. Amy looked mildly put off by this, but was happy nonetheless. Chara, however, had a very different outlook on the new girl:
"Listen, we were doing fine down here before you fell down. Don't think you're actually a member of our family."
"Argumentatively, you're not even an actual member of this family. You're simply their adopted child." Amy's matter-of-fact tone did nothing to calm Chara down.
Asriel, sensing danger, had quickly gotten between the two girls, and pulled Chara away to play with him. She shot Amy one final dirty look before marching off behind Asriel.
That night at dinner, Toriel finally got around to her interrogation of her new daughter. "So, Amy, tell me a little about yourself!"
"What exactly is it you're looking to hear?" Amy asked, making Chara scoff.
"What she means is that we know literally nothing about you, but you still act like you're a member of our family," Chara growled.
Asgore made to reprimand Chara, but Amy cut him off. "Don't worry, Mister and Missus Dreemurr. It is perfectly normal for someone Chara's age to act out against anyone they are not acquainted with."
Chara blushed furiously, but Asgore managed to speak before the explosion. "You seem quite knowledgeable about this subject, Amy. Would you care to elaborate?"
Amy smiled. "I am a psychology major at Harvard. I'm only in my sophomore year, but I still consider myself as being rather well-informed about matters of the mind."
Toriel nodded, but her face clearly stated she didn't understand.
"She's a second-year at college," Chara sighed. Toriel nodded, but then perked up.
"B-but that would mean you're-"
"Twenty years old," Amy clarified. "Quite some years above these two," she gestured to Asriel and Chara, who both looked mildly offended, "but still younger than someone like yourself."
Toriel's look immediately showed she wasn't sure if she had been insulted or not. Amy spoke before she could figure it out.
"I was at Mt. Ebott in an attempt to disprove the rumors that there was a hidden community beneath the mountain. However, it seems those rumors were well-founded."
"Well, we're happy that you acknowledge our existence," Asgore laughed.
"I still haven't ruled out brain injury and hallucinations," Amy muttered, making everyone laugh.
"Well, compared to Chara, your injuries are rather trivial. Just a few bruises, and I'm pretty sure your nose is broken, but it's nothing that magic can't solve quickly enough," Toriel chuckled.
Amy sat up. "Magic? Are you implying you can use magic?"
Toriel nodded. "Indeed. Everyone at this table can use magic, even Chara! All it takes is practice, and exposure to others using magic. In fact, I would be unsurprised if you yourself are able to use magic by the time the other five have gathered."
"Five?" Amy said, her expression blank.
Asgore's face, however, clearly showed signs of pain. "You have heard the legend of monsters, I presume?"
Amy shook her head. "Only what I've heard from rumors. Aren't you guys trapped down here by a magical barrier?"
"Yeah," Asriel said. "And the only way out is by the combined strength of seven human souls. We've already got Chara, and with you, that means we still need five more."
Amy frowned. "But I need to leave the Underground as soon as possible. I have a paper due a week from tomorrow!"
Asgore's expression was pained. "I'm afraid that is impossible. If you had a monster's soul, you could cross through the barrier, but it would be left intact. Even then, obtaining a monster's soul would be very difficult for you, if not impossible."
"C-can't I just take the soul of a monster who's died? I mean, they won't be needing it anymore!"
"I'm afraid that wouldn't work," Toriel sighed. "Monster's souls last for only a short time after their bodies turn to dust."
"So then, the only way for me to get a soul…" Amy's eyes widened.
"Is to kill a monster," Asgore confirmed, looking pained. Toriel, however, looked mildly angry about something. Amy wasn't sure, but she thought she saw Toriel glaring at Asgore when he spoke.
Amy's voice was monotonous. "If that's what it takes for me to leave, so be it."
Toriel's scream was cut short by Asgore standing and pulling out his trident.
"I warn you, child," Asgore's voice was like a rolling storm. "Speaking like that could make people get the wrong idea about you."
"What's the wrong idea? That I might be willing to kill to get out of here?" Amy pulled a knife out of her back pocket, and flipped it with surprising skill so it was facing Asgore's face. "Because that idea is very well-founded. I have people I care about, places I still need to see. There are people on the surface who need me. I will not let them down."
Despite everything, Asgore couldn't help but let out a little laugh. "You remind me so much of a monster I was training earlier today. I feel like the two of you would get along."
Amy's expression softened a little, but the knife remained pointed at the king. "I am not here to make friends. No matter how this ends, I will not be spending another day down here, King Asgore. Prepare yourself."
Without another word, Amy charged.
"I-I can't believe you actually attacked Asgore," Asriel said by Amy's bed. Amy tried to glare at him, which was difficult with the brace around her neck.
"I'm more surprised that hit didn't kill you," Chara snickered. "Not such a genius now, are you?"
Amy's eyes narrowed. The fight, if it could even be called that, had lasted barely a minute. Asgore merely needed to swing his trident to send her flying out the nearest window and plummeting to the earth below. She had landed on her face (again), but this time had it much worse off: her neck was, for all intents and purposes, broken. By some miracle, she hadn't died, but was now bedridden for at least the next few months.
"Hey, Az? Why don't you go get Mom, and tell her that Amy may need some more healing?" Chara asked her brother. Asriel nodded and ran out the ward, eager to have such an important job.
"I know why you did it," Chara said once the monster was out of earshot. She pulled out the knife Amy had used, and laid it down on the headboard. "Don't bring a toy to a fight like that again, you got it? Otherwise, your plan just may end up working."
"Was it really that obvious?" Amy chuckled, sending pain shooting through her body.
"Only to me, and only because I considered doing the same thing after I first got here. You were trying to provoke Asgore into taking your SOUL, right? So he could get through the barrier?"
Amy nodded. "These monsters have shown more kindness to me in one day than any human did in twenty years. They don't deserve to be trapped down here. If Asgore could get through, he could take the other five souls he needed."
"Come on, you really think Asgore has it in him to kill anyone? No, your death would have simply depressed him even further. All we can do is wait for the next human to fall down here. Hopefully this next one will prove to be more intelligent than either of us."
"Well, they'll have to put up with a Harvard student."
Chara sighed and shook her head. "Honey, you've got book smarts. I'll give you that much. But when it comes to judging people's character, and trying to think up a real plan? You're as clueless as I am."
"How long had you been down here before I fell down?" Amy asked.
Chara shrugged. "No idea. Maybe a year or two? You lose track of time down here. You can't keep track of the sun to mark night and day, so time just kind of blends together. You'll get used to it down here, trust me. I was just like you when I fell down that damn mountain."
Amy chuckled. "Well, I guess patience really is a virtue." Her aqua-colored soul hummed softly in her chest, content for the first time in quite a long while.
Hey, guys! For those of you reading my Overtale series, this is completely unrelated to that one! So, if you came into this expecting a prologue to Overtale, you're just gonna end up being really, really confused. Other things to note: this story takes place in a modern day AU, and since Chara never went through with her plan with the flowers, Asriel is also not a soulless demon hell-bent on world destruction. Chara, however, is still a bitch.
