Fallen But Not Forgotten

Chapter 2:

Fairytale

The light of the candle danced off me and Asriel's faces as we stood there, gazing at the dancing flame. I had been 3 months since I had come to call the Underground my home, and I finally had someone I could call a friend. As we stood there in our room late that night, I found myself staring at the shadows dancing on the walls and floor. Asriel, however, was fixated on the white and orange glow of the flame, and how it cut through the darkness. "Chara," He mumbled, his eyes still glued to the sight before him. "what's it like on the surface?" His voice was sad, but who could blame him. The same humanity that had let my parents die and had treated me like a slave, had sealed him and his parents in this underground labyrinth. I remembered him telling me of a great war between humans and monsters, about how the the humans had erected a barrier. It was funny really, the same way they locked me in my room every night, humanity had locked them here, denying them the ability to see the light of day. I hated humanity for all it had done, not only to me, but to my friend, and my new found family.

"What do you want to know about?" I asked, consumed in thought about the life I had left behind and the hate I felt for my village.

"What does the sky look like? Is it like how the ceiling looks down here?" I laughed.

"Not exactly, it is far more vast, and at night, millions of stars light the night sky.". I pointed to the flame his eyes focused intently on. "The look like that, but all over the ceiling, and they are a bit smaller than that too."

"I want to see it so bad!" He exclaimed as he stepped closer to the flame, his shadow growing larger on the wall in front of me.

"Careful Asriel. The fire can burn you if you get to close." I said, turning to face him, but I was to late. He had reached out to try to touch the flame, and burnt his finger. Wincing in pain, he held his hand now, his fur singed and black. "You goofball, give it here!" He extended his arm, and I took it, leading him over to the dresser, as I pulled and bandage and some ointment out of the top drawer.

"The closer you get to a light, the greater a shadow becomes..." He muttered under his breath as I was putting the ointment on his finger.

"Where did you hear that?" I laughed as I placed the bandage around his now medicated finger, warping it gently.

"Mom told it to me. She said that I should remember it if I was to ever become king one day."

"Are you afraid of the darkness that comes with that kind of light?" I asked, releasing his hand.

"You know I have always been scared of the dark!" He said, looking down at his now wrapped paw.

" I have always like the dark my self..." I said, staring at the shadows still dancing around us, "It was my only friend for a long time...". At that moment I felt the warmth of his arms around me, as we sat in the dimly lit room.

"You have us now!" Asriel said, soft and kind. "Mom and Dad love you, and we are brothers..." He shifted his hands to my shoulders as I sat in awe of what he was saying to me. "I will always protect you, and I know you will always protect me. So don't feel like you are on your own anymore!" His smile was now drowning in tears, and I felt a few of my own start to form as well.

"Lets do something to show them we care tomorrow then!" I said, laughing through my tears.

"Lets bake a pie like mom makes!" Asriel excitedly stated, his tears now leaving his fur damp. I reached up and poked his snout, making his face crunch into a funny expression.

"Sounds like a plan!" I said, laughing at his goofy face. "We need to get to bed though, Dad would lecture us all day if he caught us up this late!" I said, as I felt Asriel stand up from my bed. His footsteps echoed in the room as I heard him wish me goodnight. I fell asleep shortly after that, and suffered the nightmares of my old life till the morning.

I woke up early that morning to Asriel shaking me, an excited look on his face. "Wake up Chara!" He was jumping up and down with a huge smile on his face. "We need to get to work on the pie for Mom and Dad! They are out on errands for the day so we can use the kitchen!" I stumbled out of bed and changed into my clothes. By the time I had finished pulling my shirt over my head Asriel had already grabbed me by the hand and was leading me out of the door. We scoured the Castle for ingredients, and had almost everything we needed. As Asriel and I tallied up all we had, we where missing one thing. Butter. We felt defeated, but as I glanced out of the kitchen window, I saw yellow buttercups growing in the Castle yard.

"That just might work!" I exclaimed, a happy look shooting across my face. I ran out to the yard, Asriel trailing behind me. I dropped to a knee near the patch of flowers as Asriel stopped, gasping for air behind me.

"What did you see Chara?" He asked, his breath slowly returning to him.

"These flowers are buttercups!" I said, a smile on my face.

"Do you think that they can replace the butter?" Asriel asked, kneeling down beside me.

"Only one way to find out.". I hurriedly picked a hand full of the flowers and ran to the kitchen again, Asriel doing the same. We took our time, following one of Mom's cook books, and after a long and difficult process, we had finished the pie, and it lay steaming on the table in front of us. We waited with great anticipation for our parents to arrive home. Looking back it was a simple and foolish mistake. One that lead me back down the path of darkness I had almost escaped, but that is the thing about darkness, it always stays with you. Not matter how close you get to a light, you will always cast a shadow.

As the door opened to the kitchen, me and Asriel yelled out a resounding "Surprise!" as Mom and Dad walked in. Their faces lit up with pride at the sight of what we had done. The kitchen was a mess, but that didn't matter to them. They where just so happy to see that we had shown such thoughtfulness, so much so that they never checked to see what we had made the pie with. Later that night, Asgore fell deathly sick. He was bedridden, and could hardly move or talk. I would later learn what I had done. I had poisoned my father.

I realized this later that night. I had locked my self away in the Castle library, frantically looking for a diagnosis to my fathers illness, when I came across a book detailing poisonous flowers. On the cover, shining a bright yellow, was the very flowers I had used in the pie. Furious with rage I began to scream out, throwing books all about the library. A whirlwind of rage and regret, I cursed my own existence once more, and finally fell to the round crying. Next to me, covered in dust and lying at my knees, was a ancient looking tome. It was here where the darkness within me took over, and my determination became much more sinister. As I flipped though the pages, a vile darkness seeped from the book, and before I knew what was going on, it struck me, stabbing into me like thorns. It spoke to me, told me of the power a human soul had, of dark and twisted magic, and how to transcend the barrier. I studied the tome all night, reading the book over and over until my mind twisted and warped into something truly evil.

I was filled with a dark glee and laughed hysterically. The power I had craved since my parents died, my true parents, was finally in my grasp. I could finally go back to the village I hated so much, and fulfill my plan to kill those evil people. I could use their wretched souls to gain more power, the power to break the barrier, to free my new family. All I needed was the soul of a monster. But as I read on I realized I would not need just any monsters soul, but a powerful one. I needed the soul of what was know as a Boss Monster. I searched the shelves for some sort of record of where I could find one, and that is when a dark realization swept over me. My hand had found its way to another old book, and inside, I found something that shook me to the core. My new Mother, new Father, and brother, Asriel, where all bearers of the very souls I needed.

Tears fell on the pages of the book in my hands as they shook, and a look of pure madness filled my eyes and face. Asriel. I was going to have to kill him. To get the vengeance I craved so desperately, I would have to sacrifice my only friend. That was when it happened. The dark determination that stained the very essence of my soul, mixed with my hunger for vengeance and blood lust took over my body, leaving me a prisoner to my emotions and desires. It would be a lie to say I had no control, but I found myself unable to stop the demon that was me. But that is not to say I didn't try.

I watched the next couple of months as I bullied and hurt Asriel, all the while brewing the poison that would take his life. I cared not for what would happen to the king, and laughed off any news of his illness, be it good or bad. He was able to recover, but that mattered naught to me now. I was going to achieve my vengeance, no matter the cost. His life was a dust in the wind to me, as was all the people I once called my family. But that was when it happened. The night I was to poison Asriel, I found my self unable to do so. My hands shook with terror, and my eyes filled with tears. What was I doing! I loved him! He was my brother! These thoughts swirled in my mind as I stood there, shaking like a leaf amidst a storm. However my determination would have none of this, and took me over once more, silencing my quiet call for help that had spared my brother.

The darkness in my soul knew now that what was left of me would not allow it to kill the brother I loved so much, and instead lead me down a different path. It spoke to Asriel under the guise of being me, convincing him of a plan to break the barrier. Before I knew it, the poison that was meant from him was coursing through my body, and I laid on what would be my death bed. For months I lingered on, fighting the darkness telling me to let go, feeling it work with the deadly poison to draw the life from me. But I fought on. Until one day, I felt my last breaths slipping away. In my final moments I thought back to the flowers outside my parents home. Not the ones in the Underground, but instead the ones of my family home back in my village. The home that had been burnt down after my parents death. How I longed to see them one last time.

In a moment of weakness, with Asriel by my side, I told him of these flowers, of their beauty, and how I would like to see them again. Little did I know the darkness had planted these thoughts in my mind. It then took control once more, asking him to return my body to the village. As my vision darkened, I could hear laughter. My laughter. The darkness of my soul had won, and now all I could do is sit and watch as it destroyed both me and my friend. But then I saw a light in the darkness. I felt a warmth surround me, as white soul came into my vision. The dark and vile laughter had stopped, and instead I heard somber weeping. It was Asriel's voice. After all I had done he was crying for me. I cried with him, the darkness watching from afar. This would be the last time I would be so close to the light for a long time.

I felt him lift what was once my body, as his own determination took hold. His was pure however, not saturated in darkness as mine now was. I saw though his eyes as he walked thought the Castle. I remember the look of horror on his parent's faces at what had transpired. The sad look in Asgore's eyes still haunts me to this day. It told me that despite all I had done to him, he still loved me like a son. I watched as we exited the Castle and approached the barrier. We passed through with a blinding flash of light, and where greeted by an open blue sky.

Asriel trekked on as I watched from inside his mind. His grip on my now cold body tightened as he could see the village in the distance. The people where all about the square, going about their day. So little had changed since I had ran away. Did I matter that little to them? I felt a hatred build up inside of me. Did I mean so little to these people that they had so quickly forgotten me? Was my life so insignificant to them that me leaving had no effect on them? I wanted to kill them. I needed to kill them! I was going to slaughter them all! I felt the darkness fill and surround me, pulsing through my veins and poisoning my mind. All I could think about was killing them, ending their lives in a rain of blood and horror. The darkness was consuming me, but I didn't mind. I welcomed it in fact, as it would bring me the ability to finally exact the vengeance I had hungered for for so long.

What happened next only fueled that rage inside of me. As Asriel approached them, they started to scream in horror. They ran to their houses and shops, as a few of the men of the village stepped forward, swords and bows adorning their wretched hands. In that moment, I was finally consumed by on only the darkness, but my own emotions. I lashed out, trying to take hold of Asriel's body for my own. I was going to kill them all. Their souls would soon be mine. But I felt a soft and warm hand on my shoulder, as I heard Asriel start to whimper. I was frozen in place, his emotions of love and fear pouring into me. That was when we felt it. A sharp and ripping pain in our chest, followed by another, then another. The villagers, those worms had started to attack us! I jerked forward, ready to rip them apart when I felt two hands wrap around and embrace me. It was Asriel. He was ready to die for these foolish and evil humans.

I fought forward, screaming and crying, begging him to let me kill them. They where about to take my only friend from me, and I wanted to make them pay for all they had done. Images flashed through my mind of my human parents, then of my family in the Underground, and of my kind and patient brother. I would not have all of that end by their hands. But then I felt them. Tears. Not mine, but Asriel's, raining down on me. He was crying, not because of the pain, or how I had treated him. It wasn't because of how Asgore had suffered. It was because of what I had become. In that moment, I screamed grabbing my head and falling to the ground in agony. For a brief moment I saw everything I had done. The pain I had caused everyone. Then my mind fell blank, as my vision faded.

When next I awoke, I was looking up at Asgore's face, tears running down onto Asriel's. He called out his and my name, sobbing and wailing at the sight before him. He had lost not one, but both of his beloved children. In the next moment, I felt Asriel's body start to turn to dust, as my vision faded once more.

It all seemed like a bad dream, like a fairytale with a bad ending. But it wasn't over, because things like this, they never last...