RUINS
Frisk and Chara entered the next room with two ways to go. Left led to what looked like a single room while right seemed to be the way that led onward. Frisk decided to check out the room first. There were water ducts on either side and a pedestal containing a bowl of candy ahead.
Frisk approached it and read a handwritten sign at the bottom. "Take one."
"That's known as Monster Candy. Basically, any food made by a monster, is imbued with some form of healing magic. That candy isn't going to do much, but any food item could prevent you from having to load." Chara explained.
Frisk nodded as he took off his bag and opened one of the smaller flaps. He grabbed one of the candies and threw it in before putting the bag back on.
Inventory:
1 Monster Candy.
"Alright, good to go." Frisk stated.
He left the room and noticed another save point atop some leave. He walked over and touched it before pressing on with Chara. He got to the end of the room when another monster approached him meekly. It looked like a cross between a bug, angel, and solid ghost.
"It's called a Whimsum." Chara provided the name.
Frisk waved as he said. "Hey…"
The Whimsum burst into tears and flew away from Frisk.
"They're very sensitive." Chara explained.
Frisk shrugged and moved onto the next room which contained a floor that looked as if it'd fall given the slightest amount of pressure.
"This one is a tricky puzzle because the whole floor isn't unstable. It's only made to look that way, and there is a path through; however, I want you to step on the path to the left and fall below." Chara stated.
"Why would I do that?" Frisk asked.
"Back when I was alive I'd hide little stashes of money from my allowance in various places. Provided I hid them well enough, there'll be chances for you to acquire Gold. Gold, down here, are coins used to buy things." Chara explained. "Don't worry, you won't hurt yourself by falling and there is a way back up."
Frisk nodded. "Alright."
He stepped on the path to the far left and fell below landing feet first on some leaves.
Chara followed him drifting down to his side. "Down here, you can also see the path by the leaves, but first, stick your hands down directly below you and see if there's a pouch." Frisk did as he was told and pulled out a brown, leather pouch. "That contains 30g."
Frisk looked at the pouch before looking to Chara. "Chara, are you sure you want me to have this?"
Chara sighed and shook her head. "Moron, I'm dead. A dead person has no need for money, so as far as I'm considered, any nest egg I direct you to is yours. After all, you'll need it."
Frisk nodded. "Thank you Chara." He slipped it into his bag as he looked at the leaves memorizing the path. "Alright, let's go."
30g
Inventory:
1 Monster Candy
He walked back up a ladder to the top floor and followed the path to the end with Chara following. When he got to the end, he was confronted by a small, green, and square slime. It moved around before Frisk but did not attack him.
"This is a Modsmal." Chara stated. "It's not going to harm you so long as you don't harm it."
Frisk nodded before walking into the next room. It had three pressure plates on the ground, three rocks, and a spike trap blocking his way forward.
"You probably see what to do here, but you should know that rock on the left is sentient." Chara explained.
Frisk nodded and pushed the first two rocks onto the pressure plates.
He then came to stand before final rock. "Excuse me, would you mind moving down to the pressure plate and staying on it long enough for me to get over the trap. I promise, I won't take too long."
"Well, aren't you a polite one pardner. I certainly do not mind doing you a favor since you asked unlike most." The rock stated before moving onto the plate.
The spikes came down and Frisk ran over before waving at the rock. "Thank you."
He walked into a small room with a mouse hole, cheese on a table, and another save point. He touched the save point. He then heard squeaking coming from the hole, yet no mice emerged. He walked up to the table and noticed the cheese was stuck to it.
"Sorry little guy. Looks like if you want the cheese, you'll have to come and get it yourself." Frisk thought before walking on.
In the next room he saw a ghost lying on the ground. He would have originally said sleeping, but no one repeated 'ZZZZZZ' unless they were faking it.
"Hey Chara, can this ghost see you?" Frisk asked.
"No. I'm a special case. As far as I know." Chara stated. "Also, his name is Napstablook."
Frisk looked at Chara with a raised eye brow but figured he could ask her once they were in a safer location.
He instead crouched next to the ghost. "Excuse me, but I need to get by, and you're blocking the way. While I could walk through you, I'd rather not."
Napstablook got up seeming rather surprised. "Oh, so few people ask be to move. Normally, they'd walk through me. I usually come to the RUINS because there's no one around, but today I met somebody nice."
Frisk cleared his throat. "Yeah, you didn't quite answer my question. Mind moving for me?"
Napstablook suddenly realized what he'd been doing. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was rambling again. I'll get out of your way."
He vanished leaving Frisk and Chara. They continued to the next part of the room. Up seemed to lead on while going straight led into what looked like a bake sale. There didn't seem to be a way forward from there.
He shrugged and walked into the bake sale where he was shocked to see big spiders manning stales. There were four stalls each selling a different item. Cider, bread, cake, or donuts. They all looked amazing. He walked up to the donuts hoping spiders in the Underground didn't bite.
The spider looked at him and spoke with a salesman like attitude. "Welcome to the spider bake sale. Just 7g's for one donut."
That was insane even if this donut looked like it'd be the best Frisk ever had. "I'll give you 10g for 2."
"No can do. Two is set at 14g" the spider stated.
"I'll do 12g." Frisk stated.
"13g. "The spider returned.
Frisk shrugged. "Guess I'm leaving then."
"Alright, I'll take 12g." The spider quickly stated.
Frisk turned back around. "10g."
"11g."
"10g."
"11g."
Frisk pulled out the pouch and counted out 10g exactly. "10g. Take it or leave it."
The spider conceded upon seeing the gold. "Alright, 10g for 2 daunts." Frisk placed the gold on the counter. "I'll wrap them up for long term travel."
Chara stared at Frisk dumbfounded. "How did you do that? Those spiders would never budge once for me or… for me when I tried. I was a pretty important person when I was alive."
"Whenever I didn't want to go home, which was often, I'd wander about the city. Often, I'd find myself at this traders' market. You had farmers selling their produce as well as locals selling practically anything you could imagine.
Anyways, you tend to pick up a few tricks for getting better deals at places like this. One of them is that you go in with no emotion. If the seller can't read you, they can't turn the deal around. Well, as you know, it's easy for me to do so." Frisk explained.
Chara frowned. "Right…"
The spider presented two wrapped, pink frosted donuts. Frisk put them in his bag before leaving the room and walking into the room up. It turned out to be a hallway then bent to the right putting him in a room with a sign next to him, six spots to fall through, and spikes at the end.
Frisk looked at the sign. "There's just one switch."
Chara said, "Don't worry, I'll find the switch. You just eat one of those donuts to keep your strength up."
Chara phased through the nearest cracked ground before Frisk could say anything. He shrugged and grabbed a donut out of his pocket eating it. It was in fact the best donut he'd ever had. The frosting melted in your mouth and the donut part was so soft.
20g
Inventory:
1 Monster Candy
1 Spider Donut
As he ate the donut, Chara moved from place to place.
She then walked up to Frisk. "The switch is in the the top middle. There's also that same ghost from before in the bottom middle, a Vegetoid on the bottom right, and a ribbon to the top left. The others are empty."
"What's a Vegetoid?" Frisk asked. "What's this about a ribbon?"
"A monster carrot that likes to give out vegetables to people. They're also edible themselves." Chara explained. "As for the Ribbon… It's best explained later."
Frisk nodded. "Then I'll just collect it for now."
He moved onto the cracked ground and fell through. There he saw a red ribbon. Frisk crouched by it and realized that it looked like a ribbon he'd seen another humans wear. Though, this one was really faded. He looked up at the hole before taking the ribbon and putting it in his bag.
20g
Inventory:
1 Monster Candy
1 Spider Donut
Faded Ribbon
He climbed up, and without a word to Chara, fell down the far right. He was confronted by a carrot monster that began chucking vegetables at him.
Vegetoid said, "Eat your greens."
Frisk dodged them and managed to grab one.
He munched on it. "Not bad. Got a few more to give?"
Vegetoid smiled and tossed a few more carrots. "You are a good human."
He then burrowed into the ground leaving Frisk alone. He ate the carrots before climbing back and falling down the bottom middle.
"Napstablook, are you okay?" Frisk asked confused as he looked at the ghost.
Napstablook looked at him. "I fell down a hole, and I can't get up."
"Aren't you a ghost?" Frisk asked.
Napstablook stood up and would have blushed if he were capable of that. "That's right…"
He then vanished once more.
"Huh, the underground is filled with strange monster, but they do seem nicer than the humans I know. Though, thinking on it there were some nice people. It's just, I was never around them as much as the bad." Frisk thought before climbing back up.
He then fell down the top right, flipped the switch, and climbed up making the spikes retract into the ground.
It was at this point that Chara spoke up. "So, do you know about the ribbon…"
Frisk looked at his bag before turning to Chara. "We'll talk about it once we alone at Toriel's. I know this may sound odd, but I trust you Chara. You haven't led me astray in the short time we've known each other, so I'll reserve any judgement until we've talked."
Chara nodded. "Alright." They entered the next room which contained a sign, pillars, and already retracted spikes. "This next puzzle is rather tedious, so I'll just help you along. The current set of spikes is down.
Hit the blue switch upon entering the next room, then the red switch, and yellow in the room after. Trust me, if you didn't know what to do, there's a chance you could fall into multiple holes. It'll just be easier to glide through these puzzles."
Frisk nodded and did as Chara said eventually ending up with two ways to go and no clear indication of which led onward. "If you head up, you should reach Toriel's house. Though there may be something to the left."
Frisk decided to check the left first. He found a large, dancing bug on two legs. "Cha Cha Cha." He looked at Frisk and smiled. "In unison now." Frisk shrugged and danced with the bug for a bit. "Yeah! You can really move! Cha Cha Cha!"
He then left the room and Chara said, "That was a Migosp, and as you saw, they really like to dance. As such, they'll enjoy it when others dance with them."
Frisk nodded before noticing a toy knife behind where Migosp had been standing. He walked over and grabbed it.
20g
Inventory:
1 Monster Candy
1 Spider Donut
Faded Ribbon
Toy Knife
He took a few practice swing with it. "Huh, it's very well made for a toy, but not as good as my Kendo Sword. Still, best to save it like the ribbon. I doubt this was a monster's."
He put it in his bag before leaving the room with Chara who he noticed seemed uneasy as they started to walk up towards Toriel's home.
Outside Toriel's Home
Frisk and Chara entered a room with a black tree, which had no leaves, atop more red leaves. The human could see what looked like a home up ahead. Before either could move, Toriel came around the tree and zeroed in on him.
She seemed very worried. "My child, how did you get here? Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine." Frisk replied.
"Hm, still I should not have left you alone for so long. It was truly irresponsible for me to try and surprise you like this." Toriel realized her mistake before sighing. "I suppose I can't hide it any longer. Please, come with me child."
Frisk really wasn't liking the fact that Toriel kept calling her his child. Granted, she was nothing like his parents, but even hearing anything that remotely parentage over him, was a real sore spot. He only put up with it because Toriel was so nice.
He looked at Chara who seemed even more uneasy about everything. It was doubtful she'd be able to answer him if he asked her anything, so he followed after Toriel not really having a better option. He noticed another save point near the doorway, so he touched it before entering.
Toriel's Home
The floors were wood, there was a small shelve with books, and stairs leading to a basement. To the right, there was a hall with various doors and to the left a dining/reading room with a big chair and larger shelve of books.
"Do you smell that?" Toriel asked as Frisk had indeed smelt something wonderful. "Surprise! It is a butterscotch-cinnamon pie. I've made it to celebrate your arrival. I want you to have a nice time living here…"
Frisk tuned Toriel out as his stomach felt like it was twisting itself into knots. It wasn't that what Toriel said sounded bad. It's just, Frisk's previous experiences with his own parents made it sound bad to him.
Toriel noticed his discomfort. "My child, you seem a little pale. Are you sure you are okay?"
Frisk rubbed the back of his head playing it off. "I guess I'm just kind of tired. It's been a long day."
Toriel nodded. "Of course." She turned towards the hallway. "Follow me and I shall lead you to a place where you can rest. The pie can wait until tomorrow."
Chara looked worriedly at Frisk but didn't speak up.
So, Frisk walked down the hall joining Toriel before a door. "This is a room of your own." She placed a hand on the human's head and gently rubbed it. "I ho…"
She didn't get much farther as Frisk stepped away from her. Again, the whole seemingly parental side was just setting the human off.
Toriel decided to leave the human to it. "Is something burning?" she hurried off. "Make yourself at home."
Frisk sighed as he entered the room.
The Room
The room had light red walls, floor, and ceiling, there was a chest of toys at the foot of a bed, a wardrobe, a shelve, and a box that seemed to contain different shoes for both girls and boys. None of that interested Frisk as he just flopped, on his back, onto the bed.
He put his right arm over his eyes and sighed emotionally drained after the day he had. He was surprised with himself for not collapsing sooner under the weight of the day. He soon removed his arm and looked at Chara who was leaning against the wall nearby sadly.
"So, we're in a better place now. Mind telling me what your deal is… and well… everything?" Frisk asked.
Chara sighed and looked at the door. "I suppose the best place would be to start would be at my beginning and work from there. I was 10 when I climbed Mount Ebott and like you, I wanted everything to end. Again, like you, I was saved by a bed of flowers.
That's when I was found by the Monster that would become my brother, Asriel Dreemurr. That goat who saved you and brought you here was my mom Toriel and my father was Asgore. They were the King and Queen of the Underground."
Frisk nodded. "So, you were adopted and became the princess of the Underground."
"Yeah. I brought more hope to the Monsters. Hope which hadn't been seen since Asriel's birth. You must understand that I may have been the first human to fall here, but Monsters have been trapped down here for much longer.
Of course, you know the story, so I won't go over that; however, despite that story, I was accepted down here. I spent 5 wonderful years with my family until I messed up. Until I made a mistake.
For all five years, Asriel and I talked about freeing the monsters, but I had decided that we'd act on it. See, the barrier you've heard about can be broken with 7 human souls, and a human or monster can go through it provided they have the other soul.
So, I ate an abundance of buttercups to poison myself. Only Asriel knew the truth, and he was against it upon seeing the effect the buttercups had on me. The plan was for him to take my soul, go to the surface, get 6 more souls, and break the barrier."
"I take it that's not what happened." Frisk stated.
Chara took a deep breath. "No. Asriel was a true example of what monsters really are. He used his form to carry my body out of the underground, down the mountain, and to the village where I once lived. The people attacked him thinking he killed me.
Now, I was still within in Asriel and wanted to kill them all, but Asriel wouldn't do it no matter how much I tried to get him to. He just took all their attacks before walking back up the mountain and into the barrier."
Chara was starting to tear up. "He collapsed before our parents with my body in hand before turning to dust on grassy earth. My lifeless body hit the ground. Just like that, they'd lost us both."
Chara was now fully with her eyes closed. She tried to use her sleeve to stop the flood. Suddenly, she felt someone wrap their arms around her. She looked up to see Frisk hugging her. That didn't exactly stop the tears, but it did lessen them.
"What are you doing Moron?" Chara asked.
"My big brother often said that sometimes you just need a hug. Considering you haven't been able to touch anyone for… I don't know how long… I thought you could use one. If you don't want it…" Frisk began.
Chara held him tighter. "Don't you dare Moron."
So, they stayed like that for about five minutes until Chara calmed down. She released Frisk, and he returned to the bed.
Chara continued. "Of course, I didn't exactly die. Not really. My soul lingered only able to move a few feet from my body until you came along. I saw and heard enough. Asgore redeclared war on humanity to keep the hope alive.
He started having any human that fell killed and their souls taken. Eventually, mom left him and retreated into the ruins with my body in tow. She buried me under that flower bed. This was after the next human was killed by his hands.
From there, it was a process of waking and going back to sleep as 5 more humans fell and have been killed considering nothing has changed. So, Asgore is just one more soul away from having enough to break the barrier."
"That's why you made me promise not to kill any of the monsters. Really, this all transpired from the first war in which monsters were sealed, bad stuff happened, and the war was set aflame once more." Frisk sighed. "I'm not sure what to think."
This was true. Frisk wasn't sure what to think. It was a lot of information thrown at someone who couldn't really feel normally. He needed time to internalize this information and apparently, he'd have that time since he technically promised not to go killing himself.
In one day, his whole life had been turned upside down. His experience in the underground was bringing his experience above into new light. It brought forth memories of above bringing forth memories of kind people. Then there was Toriel and his parents. Everything was just confusing.
Frisk sighed. "So, these humans… did they have souls like ours? I remember you making a comment that ours were similar. Also, I assume your soul vanished or something; otherwise, Asgore would have enough to break through the barrier."
"Yeah, my soul sort of disappeared once Asriel vanished. No, their souls were different colors. I'm not sure what traits they represented, but ours, red, represents Determination. The power to press on even in the face of the greatest challenges.
Also, there is one more thing I need to tell you. That Flower, Flowey, is actually Asriel." Frisk looked at her surprised. "He was given determination that made him live as a new entity.
He remembers his past but has embraced what he is. Before you came, he had complete control over everything. He could reset the timeline down here at his leisure and used it for his own experiments.
At first, he was trying to fix himself, but as it became apparent he couldn't do that, he used his powers to do everything imaginable. He made friends with everyone, killed everyone, won every game, lost every game, and so on…
It's been so many times now that I've lost count. I guess he got board and eventually let time tick on to the next day. Then you show up usurping his power. Now he's interested in you. The change you can bring and what you will do."
Just when Frisk thought his confusion couldn't get any worse. Honestly, all this information swirling around his mind was giving him a headache. He decided the best course of action was to sleep on it and hope everything, or at least some of it, made sense when he woke up.
He took off his shoes, climbed under the covers, and looked at Chara. "I'm going to go to bed."
Chara looked at him sadly, "I'll be here when you wake up. Can't really go too far from you."
Frisk looked down before looking back at her. "Chara, I just wanted to say that I don't think you're a bad person despite what you seem to think." She looked at him with wide eyes. "You made a huge mistake, but you did it for the right reasons." He nodded. "Good night."
Frisk turned towards the wall and closed his eyes as Chara stared at him. "You know Moron, you're honestly not what I was expecting when I stopped you from trying to kill yourself. I mean that in the best way possible."
She took a deep breath before sitting down to wait the night out. After all, she couldn't sleep but knew Frisk needed it. Especially after the day he had. She had been where Frisk is after all.
Later…
Chara watched on helplessly as Frisk, still asleep, moved to and fro caught in the throngs of a terrible nightmare. Asriel had tried waking Chara when she first started living with them, and it always led to an ear-piercing scream.
Eventually, they figured out it was better to let Chara work through it herself. No, it was better to let Frisk sleep. Even knowing this, it was hard on her. She remembered those dreams so vividly and they were awful.
The fact that Frisk's sleeves rode up a bit revealing the scars underneath didn't help. This made it abundantly clear that Frisk must have suffered more than Chara. At least her parents never gave her scars no mater how terribly they treated her. On top of that, Frisk was unusually quiet.
The door opened drawing Chara's attention as Toriel walked in carrying a slice of pie on a plate. The Monster covered her mouth with her free hand as her eyes went wide with shock. Chara knew her mother recognized this.
Toriel put the pie on the floor before walking over to Frisk and looking at him sadly. Her sadness turned to disgust as she noticed the scars on Frisk's arms. Then it went back to sadness as tears fell. She wondered what parents would ever harm their child in this way.
"Poor child. You have suffered greatly above ground." Toriel sadly stated.
Knowing not to wake the child, she left the room. Chara sighed and turned her attention back to Frisk. Unseen by anyone in the room, there was what appeared to be a skeleton on the wall. He had a crack above his right eye and another below the left.
The right eye glowed orange and the left blue. He had holes in the palms of his hands and seemed almost like a pile of goop from the waist down. With the only distinguishing thing, in terms of clothing, being what appeared to be a white shirt. It was hard to tell.
He could see both Frisk and Chara and had been watching them ever since their meeting. "Princess Chara continues to persist and now another human that shares her pain from long ago has fallen. Though maybe in each other they can find the support to heal.
Either way, I think I will stick will them for now. True, I cannot do much, but there may come a time when I can do something to aid them. I'm sure my boys will be just fine in the meantime. Whenever these two rest, I can check on them."
The skeleton vanished from the wall intent on coming back in a few hours.
JakeGetsFrisky:Great first chapter, can't wait for more of this tsundere Chara. I wonder if you'll keep writing this story after the Underground or if you'll just leave the ending to the reader. Oh well I guess we'll find out eventually
Quillion9000:I see no reason to lie or attempt to mislead here. We all know Frisk will make it out, but that's not the point. it's never the point of anything really. It's always about the journey with most fanfictions and how entertaining the author can make them. So, I will say that I do have intentions of continuing past the Underground. Weather it's in this story or I'm a sequel is still undecided.
