Connie awoke with a quiet gasp, another nightmare for another night having woke her up. A quick check of the room around her to make sure of the fact nobody was dead. No, it was just her room and a hot bed, with her heart thundering in her ears, bed wet from sweat. Another night in a row with another nightmare, ruining her sleep. Sighing she rubbed the bridge of her nose, knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep anytime soon with the image of a dead Steven in her mind.
Not going to be able to sleep anytime soon. Kicking the covers off of herself she slipped off of her bed, heading towards the bathroom to wash off her face. Gingerly opening the door, so as to not wake up anybody in the house, she paused noticing something in the corner of her eye on the floor. Crouching down to get a better look she rubbed some more sleep out of her eyes before recognizing what it was. The clothes she'd given her guest earlier, neatly folded in a pile beside the door, with the Unfamiliar Familiar book placed on top.
Why was their borrowed clothes beside the door? A silent squeak of the front door, something she barely noticed, made her look down towards the stairs a brief moment in wondering who was opening up the front door. Then she bolted upright and did her best to silently jog down the stairs until she could see the living room. There walking out the open front door was Chara in their original clothes from earlier. Blinking in surprise she bounded down the rest of the stairs and called out, "Chara!"
They whirled around in surprise, eyes wide in shock as she half-jogged, half-walked up to a few feet away from them. They stood still for a few moments, looking rather like a deer caught in the headlights, before blurting out "It's not what it looks like."
Connie looked down at them, caught in the threshold of her door, halfway in and halfway out, with arms crossed and gentle frown. Looking back up and out into the street she asked, "What are you two doing then?"
They smiled nervously and, with a short nervous laugh, answered "Going for a walk?"
She didn't buy that. Looking back in the direction of her room she asked, "Why'd you return my old clothes then?"
"I thought a sweater would be, um, warmer?" They tried again.
She stared at them. "Chara. Come on."
They sighed, nervous smile falling off their lips. They were quiet for a moment, staring at the floor, before confiding "It doesn't feel right."
Frowning she kneeled down so she'd be at eye level with them she was puzzled about that statement. "What's wrong? Not paying us for staying?"
"That's part of it. You are doing so much for us, without getting anything yourselves. Not even letting us repay you." They took a step back and began to pace back and forth on the landing. "And we usually don't stay in one place this long except with Mom, and she could probably fight off the entire Underground if she had to. The few times we stayed somewhere else for a while... it went bad. It feels wrong to be staying with your family, putting them at risk, and not even being able to pay them for it. And you keep being so nice, when you barely even KNOW me, and- and, GAH!" They exclaimed in frustration.
"But you're my friend." Connie said sitting down now to watch their pacing. "We've been over this before."
"That's what I'm talking about! How can you like me!? I'm a murderer, a demon, killed everyone I love several times, and you know it! Yet you keep being nice!?"
Closing her eyes and suppressing the grimace that she would have shown otherwise at that statement and keeping in mind the young kid that she had been having fun with earlier. Then keeping in mind who it appeared to be, Chara specifically by looking at how much more verbal Chara was than Frisk, she said, "Well that's not anything like the friend I was having fun reading with earlier, the same one who leaned on me to get a better look at the pages. Or the one who blushed when I complimented how my old clothes fit them. Or the person crying because Steven got himself hurt saving them. Or even when they learned about the fact they needed a shower and got embarrassed over it. I've met the real you." She said with a sad smile.
Again they blushed, apparently embarrassed at all she was saying, and stammered "I- But- But I-"
"You're my friend that I'm worried about walking out of the house in the middle of the night without saying anything." Connie said gesturing out beyond them.
They looked to the side dejectedly, and mumbled "Because you'd stop me."
"Because there's no reason for you to leave. Where would you even go out there?"
"Wherever. We can take care of ourselves, not endanger anyone."
Again with the endangering others objection. "How are any of us in danger because of you? And sure you can take care of yourself but isn't it easier with us together?"
They sighed in response "I TOLD you that people are always out to kill us. And they don't always mind who is present, especially when they leap to our defense. Like I said, the few times we stayed somewhere for a while, things went bad."
The few times they stayed somewhere things went bad? And those people out to kill them didn't care who was present… That reminded her of a throwaway comment they said before, about Mom being able to take on the whole Underground. She watched them with their frown. "Well this is a new chance isn't it? Something that's never happened before, so you can't say for certain about anything."
Sighing, they walked past her into the house and said "I told you you'd stop me."
"Because that's what a friend would do." She said standing up a few moments after they passed by.
"Right, standing in the way of death trying fruitlessly to stop it and save their friends, rather than getting out of the way and surviving. Like Papyrus." Chara replied dryly as they wandered back to the couch.
Following them onto the couch she sat beside them, not quite sure how to respond to that. Considering everything else she'd said so far it was a bit of a surprise to realize that. So instead she just reached around their neck and pulled them closer for a silent hug. They stiffened in surprise, but after a few moments relaxed and just let themselves be hugged, sporting another faint blush. A few silent and peaceful moments passed before something else came to mind. "You guys having trouble sleeping too?"
They turned their head to the side, so that she couldn't see their face, and responded "We try not to."
She frowned and hugged them a little tighter, two things coming to mind with 'trying not to'. And considering everything else with them she was inclined to think the bad option. "You try not to sleep?"
"Yeah."
That was decidedly not healthy nor good for somebody. "When was the last time you slept?" She asked concerned.
They tilted their head back in thought "Three days? Maybe four."
Surprised she let go of them and leaned back slightly. Three days without sleep and they seemed perfectly fine. "Three whole days and you haven't slept?"
They seemed confused at her surprise. "Yeah?"
She blinked again not sure how they could go three days and seem so unaffected and even unfazed at the thought of that. "It's just… how. You don't even care about not sleeping and most anybody who goes a single day without sleep is tired and lethargic."
They shrugged in response. "I guess we got use to it."
She opened her mouth to say something then closed it with a shake of her head. Rethinking she instead asked, "So what have you been doing for the past nights down here? Just sitting and thinking to yourself?"
"Messing around on our phone, mostly. Last night though we finished Unfamiliar Familiar."
She half-smiled at that. But they'd spent the past two nights up all by themselves? "Do you want to read the next one?"
Chara actually smiled at that, excited to continue reading. "Sure! Lisa still has to catch the One-Eyed Man and get revenge." They exclaimed, throwing two mock punches to punctuate 'revenge'.
She smiled at that. "Okay hang on a second." She said before heading back up to her stairs and silently, but swiftly moving up them and back into her room. Pausing to gather the clothes and book she put them beside her bed and grabbed two more of the books from the Familiar series. Going back down the stairs to the living room she flicked on the lights and flashed a small smile while holding up the two books. "So want to read it the same way we did earlier?"
Chara smiled. "Sure." So she opened up the second in the series and started reading, Chara sitting right next to her to read the book themselves too. For half an hour the house was filled with nothing but Connie's voice as she read, Chara eventually going back to leaning on her again. After a while though her throat felt dry from reading off for so long so she paused in her reading and gave a small smile to Chara. "You need something to drink? Because I do."
They nodded. "Some water would be nice."
"Alright." Getting up she went towards the kitchen, heading over to the cabinet to grab a few glasses for both of them. Then pausing as she came near the cabinet and the trash can beside it, something once again catching her eye. Peering into it she saw a red and black mass, something she distantly realized was a really dirty bandage, the black parts looking crusty and cracked, while the red ones still shining slightly from wet, fresh blood. She gagged at the sight of it, not expecting to see it nor having seen anything as disgusting as it before. Tearing her eyes away from it her mind went to the thought of who it belonged to, then to the first aid kit hanging on the wall in plain view on the wall opposite her.
A moment later she was looking inside of the first aid kit and found something that confirmed her earlier thought. Another small pile of gold from her guest where there used to be bandages. With a sigh she turned back to the living room and walked back, Chara raising a brow at her when she sat back down beside them. An idea of where they were injured came to mind thanks to their preference for long-sleeves, but she still asked, "Chara, why do you need bandages?"
"What do you mean?" They asked, sounding confused.
"Old bandages in the trash, our bandages replaced with your gold pieces." She answered with a sad sad smile. A look of realization flashed across their face, before she turned her head to the side, staring at the wall with a stubborn frown, not saying anything. She silently sighed before asking, "Do you know how to put on bandages Chara?"
After a moment, they responded "You just wrap them around the wound, don't you?"
She shook her head. "There's a lot more to it than just that Chara. I know, my mom had me take some first aid training since she's a doctor herself and wanted to make sure I knew how to handle something like that."
Again they were quiet for a few moments, before sighing. "Promise not to tell anyone?"
She knew it was better to agree then say anything else. "I won't tell."
Turning back towards her, they began rolling up their sleeves to reveal the bandages they took. They had them on both of their lower arms, and they were already a bit red from blood. Her eyes went wide at it, it being yet another thing they seemed to not pay any mind to despite the fact a person should. She was about to ask how long they had it before seeing that stubborn frown on their face and shut her mouth instead. Along with the fact she had a good idea as to who exactly was responsible for the injury. "Let me get the kit."
She got back up to grab the first aid kit, pausing to grab a paper towel roll on the way back. They were still waiting on the couch when she set the kit down beside them and she gingerly took one arm and paused at the bandage. "Tell me if it hurts okay?" They nodded in response and she started unwrapping the bandage, the cuts all along the arm helping to back up her thoughts of earlier regarding who might be responsible for it. Looking at the arm she saw the cuts as shallow, narrow and plenty in number, and for every bleeding cut there were several more scars on the arm somewhere. It was all made worse by the fact their arm was dirty despite their earlier shower. Looking it over she sighed. "I think this would work better in the bathroom."
"Ok." They said simply, standing up and waiting for her to lead the way. A few moments to gather the things and she led the way up to the bathroom, they following after with the bandage half-way off their arm now. Creeping up the stairs silently she ushered them before setting the kit back up.
"Do you want me to teach you how to put bandages on right?" She offered, moving them to sit on the edge of the tub and kneeling down beside nodded in response and she held up their half-unwrapped bandaged arm. "Okay first off you're supposed to have your arm clean before wrapping a bandage around it so we need to clean it." Standing up she wet a towel so she could clean the arm then came back next to them. Slowly and methodically she cleaned all around the cuts, not wanting to hurt them too much. After a while of her doing this, they mumbled something, but she couldn't make out what. Slowing down she looked up at them. "Say again?"
A bit louder, they mumbled "They're old, from before the Underground."
Well at least that meant maybe two days since any cuts had happened. "Better to be old than new." She said resuming the cleaning of their arm. It finally done she reached into the kit for something to clean their cuts with. Holding up a wet wipe she added, "Okay now this will hurt a bit but you need to clean your wounds before putting on a bandage." They nodded and she went to work, half-expecting them to at least wince from it. But no, looking up at them she only saw a passive child learning something new from her. Looking back down she shook her head to herself it being a bit unnerving, taking a few minutes to clean.
"That's not what I meant." She looked back up at them, still with that frown, when they began talking again. "We don't do that anymore, it's from before everything."
A small smile came to her lips at that. "That's even better then. Hopefully means you won't have to put this into practice then." She went back to cleaning out the cuts when they didn't say anything more, then throwing away the wet wipe and grabbing a few fresh bandages. "Second thing is that you wrapped it too tightly around the arm and it wasn't layered properly." Showing them how to do it right she stifled a yawn and resumed wrapping it.
Noticing her stifled yawn, they said "If you're tired, you don't have to keep us company."
She shook her head as she wrapped another layer on. "I'm fine. Just exercising the jaw."
"You are not a good liar." They noted idly.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." She lied again, finishing up that arm's bandage. Then she started unwrapping the other arm.
"Whatever." Chara replied bitterly as she started cleaning off the arm again making her briefly look up. Their frown had deepened hadn't it? A silent sigh over that but she resumed with the bandaging, it taking only a few more minutes before she nearly finished wrapping.
Wrapping the final bit on she asked, "So do you want to finish the book after I put all this up?"
"No." They said, as bitter as before.
Well she did something they didn't like. Done with the bandage she stood back up and started taking care of the left-over garbage from their earlier bandages. "Well you can go back downstairs if you want I just need to take clean up." Chara stood up and walked off, with footsteps a fair bit heavier than they should have been. Yep, they were mad. Over what was a small lie as far as she could tell. A deep breath over the fact they were sometimes hard to handle like this before she started cleaning it all up.
It did give her time to think though. About why something so small to her seemed to upset Chara so much. But considering how much they'd talked and hungt out together, telling her several things that she doubted their family knew, and she had an idea as to why. They were being open about so much and she lied about something after they admitted to the cuts on their arms. That's probably why, she thought to herself as she finished cleaning up.
Grabbing the trash bag to bring it down with her, so her dad wouldn't worry when he woke up she gave the bathroom a final once-over before nodding to herself that it seemed clean. Back down the stairs and she hung the first aid kit back up in the kitchen, then grabbed the garbage out of the kitchen too, heading to the front door and past a still angry Chara. Said anger expressed by them sitting on the edge of the couch with crossed arms and staring at the wall, not moving an inch when she walked past their view. Yeah she should apologize or something if she wanted them to stop being angry.
Carefully opening the door she creeped out to the garbage can out front, having to take a few moments to let her eyes adjust to the darkness of the night and threw away the bandages. She paused at her door thinking over a few ways to phrase an apology for something she would have brushed off herself. Opening up the front door once more she shut it behind her and went back to the couch, sitting down a respectable distance away from Chara. "I'm sorry. For lying I mean, I just thought you've been through enough already and staying up all by yourselfs at night isn't the best way to pass time. Especially with how I barely caught you walking out earlier. So I thought that I could help a bit more by keeping your mind off stuff like that by staying up with you. A few hours of missed sleep isn't that much to help a friend out."
When she finished, they sighed and turned to her, frown still present but noticeably lessened. "I appreciate the sentiment, but I did not like being lied to. It's been… hard, sharing everything I had. And then you refused to even talk about why you are staying up. So I got mad. If you just wanted to not go to bed, you could have said so. I'd be a hypocrite if I said anything against it, since we don't sleep either."
"Sorry… no hard feelings?" She asked.
They sighed and held out their hand. "No hard feelings."
She took the hand and shook it before asking, "Well are you up to continue reading now?"
"Sure." They said, still sounding a bit miffed but not as mad as they were several moments ago. She half-smiled at them before grabbing the book once more and sitting beside them, reading off where she had left it earlier. Chara looked over at the book but didn't scoot over yet, nor did the frown go away from their face. But Chara did relax and sat beside her.
Slowly after an hour Chara's frown relaxed and they went back to leaning against her. So it went on that she told the story to a relaxing Chara and she let a smile creep back onto her face.
