Hey there, and welcome back to Who Are You, Chara? (I changed the name a little bit because it was pretty much impossible to find this story searching under the old one. Plus I like this one more.)

Before we begin, I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who read the first chapter. It was a blast to write, and I'm glad you guys enjoyed it. Here's to many more.

Disclaimer: I don't own Undertale. Undertale is owned by Toby Fox.

Present

"Thoughts"

Author's Note

"You okay?"

Toriel blinked. She said nothing into the phone, instead keeing it pressed to her ear. But after a moment's silence, she quietly sighed, and closed her eyes.

"No, I can't necessarily say I am."

"Wait, don't tell me. You've seen a ghost."

Toriel rolled her eyes. As much as she appreciated it normally, Sans' humor wasn't quite appropriate now. "Sans, this is serious."

On the other end of the phone line, the skeleton coughed a little. "Okay, okay, no jokes. What's on your mind?"

"Frisk."

"What about them?"

"It's just..." Toriel's voice tapered off for a moment. She looked to her closed bedroom door, and moved the phone away from her ear to listen; she heard nothing from outside, signaling the child hadn't woken up yet. "I just don't know who else to go to with this. I don't even know what to do myself anymore."

"Wait, slow down a second. What's 'this?'"

Toriel sighed. "The past two weeks, Frisk's been having... nightmares. Awful ones. The first few times, they woke up screaming, and they wouldn't stop until I ran in to help... now it's a little better, but they say they still see these creepy eyes in all of them."

"Eyes?" asked Sans. "What eyes? Whose are they?"

"That's the problem, I don't know. They say they see these 'blank eyes,' staring right at them, and it's happened in every dream so far. I told them to start keeping a journal, and they've written about them in every entry."

"Hm... maybe it's someone from their past? Frisk hasn't exactly told us much about their life before they fell in the Underground."

"But they would've told me if they knew who the eyes belonged to!" Toriel said. "They're not keeping secrets from me. I just don't know what's going on... and I don't know how to help them."

Sans' mind ran a mile a minute. Obviously, he had no doubt this was something big on her mind—she wouldn't be calling him at five in the morning if it wasn't—but at the same time, what could she do about it? What could ANY of them do about it? She wasn't even asking him for help, she was just telling him what she already knew.

"Tori, I don't think there's anything you can do for Frisk about this. I'm sorry they have to go through this, but... we have no way of really helping them, aside from consoling them. It's not like we can get in their dreams and see what's up."

Toriel's face fell in a frown.

"Yeah, I know... we'll have to wait it out. I just hope they'll be okay..."

Frisk stared up at the ceiling.

Since watching the VHS tapes more than three hours ago, their mind refused to budge from one topic only: Chara. Whether they wanted it or not, the child seeped their way into their brain, and held on with an iron grip.

But at least now they had a little idea why.

There was no denying it anymore: Frisk was curious. Very much so. The more they thought about it—and they'd given it quite a bit of thought recently—, the more they realized just how little they really knew about Chara. Save for a few details, they were a mystery... and that bothered Frisk a little bit.

While personality was a potentially different matter entirely, Frisk knew with certainly (among the only things they knew about the other child with confidence) that Chara and themself were similar in a few aspects. Both were young children that fell in the Underground. They both met and lived with Toriel. They even looked similar, according to Asriel.

If anything, it was almost like they were the same.

Frisk quietly got out of bed. Sleep wasn't about to come to them, and even if it did, it'd just be another bad dream. But to cover the night's activities, they knew they'd have to make up a dream for the journal; they walked over to the desk and grabbed the pen.

October 15th, 2015 — Another nightmare. I didn't wake up quite as sweaty as last time, but it was still bad. I remember seeing the eyes again, watching my every move. I felt petrified.

Frisk briefly looked over their handiwork. "Not too bad," they thought.

With that done, Frisk set the pen down and turned around. Their alarm clock on the nightstand said 6:29 AM; it was a little unusual for them to be up this early, but it'd happened before. They walked to the bedroom door and opened it.

"Oh!"

Frisk stopped in their tracks. Standing right in front of their door frame, fist raised like she were about to knock was Toriel; she immediately knelt to eye level.

"Frisk, are you okay? How was your dream?"

"It wasn't that bad, really. I just don't remember it too well... but I saw the eyes again."

Toriel sighed. Her face fell crestfallen, and she lowered her head.

"The eyes... Frisk, I need to ask you something. It may be a little personal."

The child shook their head. "It's all right. What is it?"

Toriel paused for a moment. Her mind fumbled to form what she wanted to say in a coherent presentation. "Well... these 'eyes,' you keep seeing. Are you CERTAIN you have no idea where they might be from? Perhaps something from your past?"

"None at all. I've thought about it, but... I don't know."

Frisk was telling the truth. Ever since the eyes started appearing, they HAD given some thought as to who they could belong to. While they preferred to... avoid their life before traveling to Mt. Ebott, there wasn't anyone they could remember looking quite like that, so blank. Emotionless, really.

Toriel nodded, breaking Frisk's thoughts. She rose to her feet once again, and offered her hand to the child. They took it.

"Very well. Come, I'll prepare you your breakfast."

The two began to head for the staircase. In her apparent haste to go downstairs, the last thing that caught Frisk's eye upstairs was the inside of Toriel's room.

Specifically, the bookcase against the wall.

"How is it?"

"Wonderful. Come on, it always is."

Toriel grinned. She reached to her left and ruffled Frisk's hair; they responses with a little smile of their own, and another bite of pie.

"Well, I'm still glad you like it. I must admit I wasn't quite as satisfied with this one as I usually am. I must be losing my touch."

She chuckled as she spoke the last part. Nevertheless, when she finished, her face fell into a little frown. She watched Frisk eat the pie for a moment longer, and then got up from her counter's stool.

"My child, I'm sorry to ask this of you, but there's a little more we need to do with the boxes."

"Oh?"

Toriel nodded. She walked around the counter to the other side, and lowered herself a bit to come eye to eye with her child. "I'm afraid so. I got a call from Undyne last night, and she wants to know where her and Alphys's stuff is; as I'm sure you recall, it was mixed in with all those other boxes. I kindly asked Sans last week to help take them over while I—"

"And he didn't do it. I know," laughed Frisk. "That's Sans for you. He's a lazybones."

Toriel chuckled at the well timed (but admittedly rather easy) pun. "Yes, that he is. In any event, he won't do it for me, so now I have to ask you. I'm sorry to do so, but I have some business to attend to today, and I just don't have the time to do it myself. Would you mind?

"Nope. I'd be glad to."

Toriel smiled.

Frisk eyed the stack of boxes. Alphys's stack, to be precise.

After watching the VHS tapes last night, they'd been careful to reseal and replace the box to its original spot. It took a little doing to get it just right, but it looked indistinguishable from the others. Hopefully she wouldn't realize it'd be opened.

Though Frisk still wanted to know why the tapes were in it at all.

Their thought were interrupted by the door opening. Frisk turned, and their eyes met Toriel in the doorframe.

"I called Alphys and Undyne and told them you're on your way. They'll be expecting you."

Frisk nodded. Toriel whisked around and went back into the house, while the child looked around the garage again; there weren't too many boxes in total, but still too many to carry in one go. Time for the wagon.

Frisk walked to the wall opposite the stacks. Hanging on the wall by a single peg, a rusted American Flyer wagon beckoned; they grabbed it with both hands, and carefully lowered it to the ground. A gift from Papyrus during his last visit, though Frisk had no idea where he'd gotten it. Probably a trash dump... somewhere.

Frisk brought the wagon to the box stacks, the rusted wheels squeaking and groaning in protest. They started loading Alphys's pile first, and they specifically made the box with the tapes the first one put in the wagon. Then they loaded the rest of the packages in one at a time, and they stacked and shuffled them around until the VHS box was completely concealed.

"Perfect."

Once that was done, Frisk put all of Undyne's boxes in the wagon. When the cargo was loaded at last, the miniature stacks rose well above the tiny walls of the wagon, but not quite too high to where they'd fall. Frisk nodded to themself.

"Okay, time to wheel these... next door."

RING!

Frisk took their hand off the doorbell. They had to admit, the chime was a little nice; nothing too brash or obnoxious, but not too quiet, either. Since they'd be using it a lot, it was important to get used to it. Very... calm.

"COMING! GIVE ME A SECOND!"

Frisk took a step back. Whatever Undyne was planning, they just hoped it didn't hurt. So much for calm.

The door was ripped open with power. Frisk didn't even have time to move before they were taken in a headlock.

"Well there they are! My little buddy, how's it going?!"

As she spoke, Undyne started giving Frisk a noogie. They knew she was trying to be gentle. but... ouch.

"Yes, yes, hi! Please put me down..."

"Oh, sure thing!" A grin spread across her face as she fulfilled their request, quite literally dropping Frisk to the floor. The child groaned, their voice muffled from being face down.

"Oog... I didn't mean quite like that."

"Well, too late." Undyne's grin didn't fade an inch as she turned Frisk over, and set them back on their feet. "But really, it's good to see you."

Frisk grinned. "You too. Glad you were finally able to move in here!"

"Heh heh, yeah! Took longer than I would've liked, though. Humans have a dumb way of selling these things." Undyne's eyes trickled past Frisk, and to the red wagon parked next to the porch. "And hey, you brought our stuff! Thanks a million."

"Are they here yet, Undyne?"

Both Frisk and Undyne turned around. Emerging from deeper in the house, Alphys walked into the foyer; as her eyes fell down to the child, she gave them a warm, inviting smile.

"Hello, Frisk. It's nice to see you again."

Frisk's grin grew wider. "Hi, Alphys. Glad you're here."

She nodded at this. "As am I. When we saw we had an opportunity to move so close, we couldn't resist. Isn't that right, Undyne?"

"Yep! After all, where would we be without our favorite pal?"

Undyne ruffled Frisk's hair. They laughed a little and tried to push her hand away.

"Okay, but..." they said as she finally stopped. "It is true, though, I brought all your stuff here. Want me to bring it in?"

"Frisk, you've done plenty for us already. The least we can do is help you move those boxes," said Alphys. She made her way past the two and out the open door, Undyne fast on her heels. Frisk lagged behind a bit, but eventually joined the two.

As Frisk watched Undyne and Alphys collect a handful of the boxes, Frisk swallowed the lump in the throat. Now was the time to settle the mystery of the tapes, once and for all.

"Hey, guys?"

"Yes, Frisk?" asked Alphys.

"What's in all these boxes, anyway? It seems like you already have your stuff in the house."

"Oh, all this?" said Undyne. "Smaller junk from the Underground we wanted to keep. Most of this is from Alphys's lab, isn't that right?" She gently poked Alphys in the side as she spoke the last bit, and the other giggled.

"Hee hee! Yes, it is true, though. I couldn't leave some of this stuff behind—ESPECIALLY not my extensive archive of 'human history.'"

"I understand..." said Frisk. Unfortunately for them, that wasn't quite what they were looking for for an answer; they'd have to try and dig a little deeper. "Anything REALLY interesting you brought, though? There was some cool stuff in your lab, I'm curious."

"That you are," said Alphys. Her voice spoke in a bit of a curious drawl, and she eyed Frisk with a hint of uncertainty. But she quickly shook her head. "But to answer to your question, no, not really. I grabbed some stuff from the lab underground, but nothing too big to put in these boxes. A few video tapes of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie I kept down there, too. The hidden episodes."

Frisk's mouth went dry.

"... Mew Mew Kissy Cutie? Isn't that your favorite anime?"

"Yep! I kept the tapes in a room in the underground lab. They were far too valuable to leave exposed."

Frisk said nothing.

"So then that means... her bringing the tapes with Chara was an accident. She thought she grabbed videos of MMKC..."

Frisk stood still as a statue, frozen in place. Alphys had already walked back inside the house, and Undyne was just about to shut the door before she turned around.

"Kid? Come on in, I'll make you some tea. Extra hot."

Frisk shook their head. Their eyes snapped to Undyne, and her own watched them with curiosity. They nodded.

"Yeah... tea sounds pretty good right about now."

Frisk sat on the front steps of their house. Their hands were folded neatly in their lap, and their eyes fixed to the early evening clouds billowing across the sky. A gentle breeze flew right on by.

All with a smile.

Frisk had to admit, a great burden had been taken off their mind. If Alphys was being truthful about the tapes—and they had no doubt she was—then there wasn't some giant conspiracy, or something outlandish like that. It was an accident the tapes were there. And that was that.

And yet, it was already too late. Their curiosity about Chara wasn't going away any time soon.

Frisk rose to their feet. They swiveled around on the spot and grabbed the handle to the front door; they pushed it open and saw themself inside.

"I'm home!"

Frisk slipped off their shoes and walked into the living room. As they entered the room, Toriel set down her book, stood up from her oversized armchair, and knelt in front of her child to come eye-to-eye.

"Hello, my child. Did you have a nice time?"

"Yep, I sure did. We had tea and watched an awful movie. Funny stuff."

Toriel smiled. "Well, I'm glad to hear it. I'm sure our new living arrangement will be quite fruitful for all of us."

Frisk simply nodded. "Yeah... say, what are we going to have for dinner tonight? Will it take very long?"

"Oh yes, about that..." Toriel stood up and made her way into the kitchen, Frisk close on her heels. "Just a little while ago, Sans called. He said he and Papyrus are going to try that pasta restaurant in town, and they wanted to know if you'd like to come with. His treat."

A grin crept up on Frisk's face. "Yeah, of course! That sounds like fun."

Toriel nodded, a smile adorning her own features. "I'll call him and let him know you're coming; I'm sure he'll be happy to hear. In the meantime, why don't you get ready?"

Frisk nodded. They briskly jogged past Toriel and out of the kitchen, and back into the foyer of the house; the foot of the stairs beckoned, and they hopped up two at a time until they reached the top.

And then they stopped.

At the end of the long upstairs hallway, the door to Toriel's bedroom was still wide open. Positioned just in front of it against the back wall was a bookcase. Frisk had seen it just about every day since Toriel put it there, and this morning was no exception.

They'd never paid any attention to it before. But now... maybe there'd be something about Chara. It couldn't hurt to check.

Frisk strained their ears. From downstairs, they could hear the faint sound of Toriel's voice, talking to Sans over the phone. She'd be busy for a little while, and unlikely to come upstairs. Now was a good opportunity, and one they'd be foolish to pass up.

Frisk tiptoed across the hall. They quietly filed into Toriel's room, and went straight to the bookcase. The furniture itself was short, only a little taller than them, but the biggest books were on the bottom shelf. They dropped to their knees and took one out, on the far left of the case.

Frisk flipped the cover open. A clear plastic sheet served as the first page, and all the others too... a sheet of pictures. It was a photo album.

Page by page, Frisk skimmed their way through the album. While they only caught one or two pictures per page, nothing seemed particularly remarkable; some were black & white, others a grainy color. Some pictures were of nature, others of monsters, and some Frisk didn't even recognize.

But then they reached the last page. And what they saw made them freeze up on the spot.

Embedded in the inside of the back cover was one last picture. It had a sepia filter, making it unique from all the other images. The edges were worn and crumpled, as if it had been many places before.

The image was of a single human child, sitting on a rock. It was a little too faded to see clearly, but from what Frisk could tell, they wore a striped sweater similar to their own. Their face consisted a blank, simple smile, staring right at the camera. And below the image itself, a caption was written in pencil:

Chara.

Frisk gulped.

And that's a wrap. Until next time, of course.

Well... it seems our friend Frisk is inching closer to learning about Chara. But full disclosure: next chapter is when things really start to get going. Stay tuned for more fun times, lol.

Have a nice day.