They wrapped themselves up in the covers and tried not to cry. They took a deep breath to steady their nerves and fought back the wail that was building in their throat. Their name was Chara. They had climbed Mt. Ebott to…to leave humanity. They had fallen into the Underground. The Underground was real. They had been hurt and the pain and discombobulation made them cry out for help in an agonized daze. A little white monster in a green sweater came to help. His name was Asriel. He helped them walk back to his home. His mother, Toriel, had healed them and offered for them to stay in Asriel's bed while they rested. Monsters were real. Monsters were real and they had helped them, they hadn't hurt them and—

There was a soft click but Chara didn't want to look until they had managed to ground themselves. The child clenched their hands around their scarred forearms.

"Hello," a deep voice greeted.

Chara spun around. That wasn't Asriel or Toriel. There was a giant monster that was squeezing through the much smaller doorframe. He looked much like Toriel but with golden hair, broad shoulders, and magnificent ivory horns. Chara flinched at the sight of him and recoiled in on themselves, bringing the covers up in attempt to protect themselves as their fists wound tight in the blankets.

"P-Please…please don't hurt me," Chara begged. The child's body quaked and tremors slithered up their spine. The beast approached and Chara's tears fell faster as they spoke out of instinct. "Please, don't hit me, sir…"

The monster sat down on the edge of their bed and Chara pulled away. To their bewilderment, he gave the human a gentle smile.

"Would you like a cup of tea?"

Chara froze in shock.

"I have raspberry and blueberry if you prefer fruit. I, however, am partial to a refreshing mint tea."

"I-I…I, uh…um…" Chara was unsure of how to respond. Was it a trick? They had never been shown kindness like this before.

They collapsed into sobs. The child covered their confused face with their battered hands and tried to hide within themselves.

"I would like to comfort you, if that is alright," the monster said quietly. "Do you mind…if I give you a hug?"

Chara cried harder.

"It is alright, I understand. Take your time."

The monster began to hum as he waited. Eventually, the melody lulled Chara out of hysterics and into a state of sniffling tranquility.

"Do you have a name, small human?"

The child wiped their face on the sleeve of their shirt. "I'm Chara."

"I am Asgore. It is nice to meet you," Asgore said with another smile.

"I-I would…" Chara croaked, their voice tired from crying. "I would like some tea now, if that's okay."

Sans reached a hand into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash, passing it off into Burgerpants's outstretched paw.

"thanks for coming over and and watching a movie with the kid tonight," Sans uttered, adjusting Frisk's pajamas to his other arm. Somewhere behind him Frisk was making car noises at a rather unimpressed flower. "i know you probably didn't want to but it really meant a lot to them."

After returning home from the PTA disaster, Frisk and Burgerpants had spent the remainder of the evening watching some movie with singing animals preaching about having no worries (a message that Sans could really get behind) and one with a girl with flowing golden hair. At the end, after Frisk had their head in Burgerpants lap and they had spent the entirety of the film signing along to the songs with their feet kicked up in their air, the monster exclaimed to a suspicious Frisk that he wasn't crying, he merely had a feeling caught in his eye (and then admitted to sniffling with heavy lidded eyes and commented about how movie endings like that made him want to set himself on fire). Sans had spent most of the two movies in and out of his lab, every once in awhile peeking in to make sure everything was still going alright.

Burgerpants shrugged and stuffed the money into the front pocket of his polo. "That kid may not talk much, but they sure as fuck will listen. They've heard me complain about something once or twice, so I figured I might as well attempt to give back. I'm trying something new that we're on the Surface. Fresh start and all." He shrugged. "But then I think how am I supposed to be genuine if I don't even have enough time to die?"

The monster grinned knowingly and headed toward the door. He then called over his shoulder, "Catch you on the flip slide, little buddy!"

There was a brief pause in the revving of engines Sans guessed was Frisk waving goodbye to Burgerpants. The door slammed shut behind them and fro the window the skeleton spotted a flicker of flame as Burgerpants finally lit up a real cigarette while walking out to his car.

Sans readjusted his pajama shorts covered in hot dogs and strolled back into the living room.

"Stop it Frisk, I hate this game," the flower groused. "I'd rather have that dumb dinosaur stuck in my pot again."

Frisk increased the volume of their car noise as they drove the small race car up the flower's stem and across it's leaves.

"Reset already, Frisk," the flower said.

Sans stopped dead in his tracks.

"Let me die already, Frisk," the flower went on as the human flew the car around its petals.

Frisk handed the flower a car. The flower curled a leaf around the blue mustang and glared at the child.

"Mine's cooler than yours."

Sans would have to ask Frisk more about the flower later. Or finally introduce himself to the plant.

The skeleton glanced up at the clock and patted Frisk on the shoulder.

"bathtime, kiddo."

Frisk nodded. 'What about F-l-o-w-e-y?'

"they can do what they want to do, i guess."

Frisk scooped up the plant and motioned to the bathroom and Papyrus's room.

"Does it look like I really care?"

Frisk followed Sans over to the bathroom, humming as they did so. As Sans kicked off his slippers, set Frisk's pajamas on the sink countertop, and began to run the water, the little human got down their box of toys from underneath the sink. They chose a rubber duck, a small whale, and a few of Papyrus's bath toys he had brought up from the Underground. To Sans amusement, Frisk pulled out an arm floaty from the box and began to inflate it before sticking the flower's pot down into it. With a giggle, Frisk set the disgruntled plant down into the water and gave it a little spin so it went bobbing across the water.

"Veeerrryy funny, Frisk. I bet you think you're sooo funny," the flower remarked, causing Frisk to giggle. The child then stuck the little whale wearing sunglasses down into his pot and turned to put the box back under the sink.

"c'mon, kid, maybe you should leaf him alone," Sans joked with a grin.

The flower grimaced.

"what?" Sans asked. "you don't like puns? orchidding me."

"I want to drown myself."

Frisk, who had been in the process of pulling off their shirt, got their head stuck in the collar of their turtleneck.

"heheheh…c'mere, kid."

Sans helped pull their sweater up over their head and, as the child turned their back to step out of their overalls, his smile faltered and the light left his eyes.

He could remember the first time Sans had ever given Frisk a bath. He could remember the first time they had gotten stuck in their shirt and he had helped them get out of it. He could remember when they turned their body to kick off their pants, how he felt the life drain from his body at the sight of scars of various sizes sliced across the child's back or small burns where cigarettes had been put out on their skin as if their flesh was an ashtray. He could remember how he thought he would never be able to have light sit in his eye sockets again, how he would never be able to feel anything but overwhelming rage and a craze he had rarely felt before, a craze that he had only experienced in timelines where nothing ever went right and his world was plunged into darkness.

He remembered the kiddo had turned back to him with a smile before having it wiped off their face by the expression on his own. He could remember the fear in their eyes, the trembling in their hands as they signed, 'What's wrong?'

He remembered that he had stopped his hands from lighting up like a thunderstorm and found himself once again in the child's eyes.

"nothin', kiddo, i was just wondering bubble we do about your toys?"

The second time he gave them a bath he felt like he was going to be sick.

The third time he felt numb.

Frisk hopped into the tub. They settled down into the warm water and splashed at the bubbles with their hands.

Sans wondered if Toriel had been the first person to ever give Frisk a bath. The way she had described how Frisk was first afraid of the water and cried when Toriel dumped water over their head to rise out the shampoo had made his SOUL scream.

Now, what had initially been a source of great anxiety, Frisk loved splashing around in the tub. Sans sat on the edge of the tub and reached to grab the cup, dunking it in the water and dumping it over Frisk's head. The child canted their head up so the water didn't run into their eyes and they smiled as the warm water ran down their skin.

"heheh, looks like you've got a face underneath all that hair."

Frisk flipped their hair down over their face and then pushed it back so it curled over the top of their head in some kind of sopping medieval updo. The human raised their eyebrows and puckered their lips like a fish.

Sans responded by sloshing more water over their head. He laughed at the face Frisk made behind their curtain of hair. The child swept their hair out of their face and squirted water out of their mouth as if they were a human fountain. They then flopped back into the tub. The waves sent the flower bouncing across the top of the water.

"You're gonna knock me over!" Flowey griped.

Frisk sat up and made a fountain with their mouth again. This time, instead of aiming at the ceiling, it was aimed and the base of the plant's pot.

The flower grumbled something under its breath.

"hold still, kid," Sans said, steering Frisk so they were plopped down in the tub close enough to him that they should scrub shampoo into their hair.

Frisk moved their hands to question whether or not he was going to style their hair.

"don't know, kid, i'll have to mullet over."

Frisk stifled a laugh.

"comb on, you're smiling," Sans said, slicking the child's hair up into a soapy mohawk.

The child stuck their hands to get some of the bubbles off their head and wiped them across their face. Now equipped with a bubble beard, the brunette moved their rubber duck through the water toward Flowey's pot with little quacking sounds.

"Stop that," the plant snapped.

Frisk lifted the duck up out of the water and make it fly in little circles around Flowey's head.

"I will bite you."

"hey kid," Sans said, catching Frisk's attention. They turned back around to where the skeleton had donned a bubble beard and mustache as well. "i'm sansta claus."

Frisk giggled. The monster's SOUL gave a happy thrum. The skeleton watched as Frisk scooped up from bubbles from the water and applied more to their face. Sans chuckled as the child, much to his surprise, spoke.

"I m-mustache y-you a question." The human pretended to curl the end of their mustache and then went on with, "B-But I-I'll shave it for l-later."

"Stop," the plant groaned.

He felt like he had literally stars in his eyes. His SOUL tightened as his ribs ached, laughter bursting forth from the skeleton.

"i hair you there, kiddo," Sans laughed. "i think that joke was the highlight of my night."

The flower's face contorted and he tilted his body to the side. "Say one more pun. I dare you."

Frisk splashed a handful of water at Flowey. He hissed, only to snicker when Sans dumped a cup of water over Frisk's head. The child made a face at Sans and the skeleton only laughed, pouring another cup of water over the child and effectively rinsing out their hair.

"scoot back, kid, i gotta put this gunk in your hair."

Eventually once the conditioner had been massaged into their scalp, their body washed, their hair rinsed out, and Frisk had climbed out of the tub into their awaiting towel, Sans pulled up the hood of the shark wrap and rubbed their hair dry. Frisk only tried to escape into the living room twice, but each time Sans grabbed a hold of their SOUL and yanked them back into the bathroom with an, "oh no you don't."

"c'mon, grab your weirdo plant and brush your teeth," Sans instructed. Frisk sighed and did as they were told, pulling Flowey up from the water, out of his floaty, and setting him on the sink counter. Sans combed Frisk's hair as the child began to brush circles on their molars.

"you know, the tooth will set you free," Sans remarked wisely. Frisk gave him a foamy smile.

Flowey began to wish he had arms.

"get your pjs on, squirt, i'll go get your bed ready."

Frisk nodded. 'Can you take F-l-o-w-e-y to my room?'

Although the flower kind of creeped him out, he didn't see why not. Sans picked up the plant and ambled to Papyrus's room. There he set the resentful Flowey down by the window, pulled back Frisk's covers, and got their book ready all before realizing his feet were bare. But, upon returning to the bathroom to retrieve his slippers, they were no longer where the skeleton had left them.

"hey, kid," Sans called, heading toward the living room. "have you seen my slipp—"

Upon investigation, Sans found Frisk up on the sofa so they were facing the headrest with their pink footsie pajamas on and his slippers in hand. The child had folded them in half and were moving them with their hands so they could talk.

"Blah blah bloop," Frisk said, moving the slipper like a puppet.

Sans snorted. With a flash of his eye and a slight movement of his hand, one of the gloves from Papyrus's extra battle body outfit he had made flew from his brother's room and into his palm. The skeleton grinned and snuck up onto the sofa.

"Meep mop mip," the child said.

"frankly, mr. slipper, your statement has…off-handed me," Sans broke in with a wink.

Frisk closed and opened their slipper puppets in excitement.

"in my opinion, beep boop blep."

"Woo wah!" Frisk cheered, moving their left hand so it spoke to the glove.

"alright, you raise a good point, mrs. slipper."

The human was about to reply when they felt the couch slip away from underneath them. The child blinked a few times in bewilderment. They felt something beating on their chest. Frisk looked down at their hands, expecting to see slippers, but instead was met with cut up, dust covered fingers holding a glistening knife. Their heart began to race as they gulped in a breath of air. Their favorite sweater was ripped and splattered with blood and coated in dust. Someone was laughing.

Light poured in through the high arching windows, bathing the golden hall in a heavenly glow. There were bones scattered about on either side of them.

Their feet stepped forward to their own accord. They blinked again, trying to focus in on their blinding surroundings. Their heart stopped when their disoriented vision finally cleared.

Sans had collapsed on the tile, a hand pressed into where his ribs that had been slashed in two. His torsos was spilling red onto the ground. He coughed, more red dripping from his mouth and down his chest.

Frisk opened their mouth to scream as he dissolved to dust before their very eyes. But their jaw didn't move. Their hands didn't fly up to cover their eyes. Their legs didn't run to help.

"Finally," a voice that wasn't their own said. Their hand screwed up around the hilt of the knife in their grip. "That was fun, was it not?"

Once again Frisk tried to scream. They felt a hand wrap around their throat.

"We will be together forever, won't we?"

"frisk?"

Sans watched as the child dropped his slippers and a horrified expression crossed their face. Their unfocused eyes darted from side to side and their jaw twitched as if to try and open in a scream.

That is what you told me, after all, the voice continued. That is what they told me too. They said we would be together forever.

Frisk could only stare at Sans' pile of dust. They couldn't move their body. The hand tightened.

It has been so long, Frisk. I have grown tired of waiting.

They couldn't breathe.

The void consumes. You cannot feel. You cannot call for help. There is only nothingness. It was…comforting.

The brunette remained frozen as if trapped in a nightmare. An older child with porcelain skin and a smile like a Cheshire Cat materialized before them.

But I have grown bored, Frisk.

"kid, what's wrong? what's going on?"

Your DETERMINATION may outweigh mine, but not for long.

Frisk's hands quaked. Sans shook the child in attempt to illicit some kind of response. He stopped dead and went rigid when Frisk's eyes flashed red.

It is not hard. After all, you are the one who taught me it wasn't so.

No. No I didn't.

He is vulnerable. They taught us that that is the prime opportunity to strike. Remember Toriel?

I…I won't!

Frisk's hands twitched. Sans looked confused. They felt as if someone else was in their body.

Knock his stupid, smiling skull right off. He will never understand us. I am the only one who understands you, Frisk. After all, we're partners, remember?

W-We're not. You're not Chara.

I am them but stronger. Much stronger.

Their hands flexed and their jaw locked. Their eyes became a murky reddish-brown.

Remember the euphoria? Remember the feeling swelling through our body as another enemy, another pawn in our game, fell?

No!

Won't you come play with me? :)

Just when they thought their were going to pass out from lack of air, someone spoke.

*No.

Oh?

Another voice. One much more familiar than the last. They were once again in the Judgement Hall. Sans was a stained pile of dust. There were footsteps behind them and another figure came forth.

Chara!

How peculiar.

Chara faced the creature wearing her face. The real Chara's freckles seemed to glimmer in the light of the Judgement Hall.

Come along, partner.

*You don't belong here. This isn't your timeline, it's Frisk's.

The Other Chara gave a grin. For now.

"kid!"

Frisk shook their head and felt as if they were finally opening their eyes. They were back to where they had been kneeling on the sofa. Their erratic heartbeat slowly began to resume it's normal cadence, their deprived lungs shrieking as they filled with air. Sans hands were on their shoulders and he was staring at them, obviously concerned by the way his usual smile was twisted down into a frown.

Frisk put a hand over their ear. They could still feel the Other Chara's fingers clamped down their neck.

"are you alright?" Sans asked. "what happened?"

'Want to sleep,' Frisk signed with trembling hands. They were trying to excuse themselves. 'Want to…want to…'

The child bit their lip and threw their arms around Sans. As soon as they had entered his embrace they burst into tears.

"kiddo…" Sans trailed off. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around them as well.

Frisk curled up in his lap and burrowed their face into his shirt. "M-M-My f-f-fault…A-A-All my f-fault…"

"what's wrong?" Sans questioned quietly. "what happened?"

"Y-Y-Y-You w-w-were d-dead," the little human sobbed. "I-I-I'm s-s-sorry. I-I'm s-s-so sorry."

Sans stiffened.

"D-D-Don't make me," the child hiccuped. "T-T-Tell t-them to le-leave me ah-alone."

"make you do what? who needs to leave you alone?"

The name Frisk choked out caused the magic in his bones to turn to ice.

"Chara."

"what?"

Frisk's hands shook as the child waged war with the words that longed to spill from their mouth, with words that they were afraid they weren't allowed to say. They were incapable of speech, they didn't want to talk, they couldn't talk, it was their fault—

'Didn't mean to,' they finally managed to sign. 'Wasn't me. Not safe.'

"'course you are, kid, i'm here. i'm not gonna let anything happen to you. i'm rootin' for ya, remember?"

The skeleton sunk back into the couch and pulled Frisk with him.

"whenever you're ready to talk, i'm here for ya, kiddo," Sans muttered.

Frisk's head lashed in his chest. He cupped the back of their head with a hand and pressed it into his sternum.

"i-i'm here, frisk. i'm not leavin' you."

(Frisk was terrified of what would happen if they fell asleep.)

(They clung to reality to reality until they slipped away into a vision of star speckled skies and telescopes that didn't leave marks around your eyes.)