Chapter 25
They were in the Ruins but somehow it was surrounded by sunlight so bright the world was white and faded. In front of them was the mound of golden flowers, yellow and green and bright against the white light. Sitting in the middle of all the flowers was a figure in a green shirt with brown hair and dark eyes.
It was Chara, Frisk knew it was Chara. They ran to them and Chara turned to them and smiled.
That smile was so, so happy, Frisk stopped in their tracks, transfixed. They felt like laughing, and like crying. They felt so happy that it hurt.
Chara stumbled forward and hugged them. They were laughing. They felt like sun warmth on Frisk's skin.
"Is this real?" Chara said into their hair.
Neither of them wanted to let go.
"Chara." Frisk said, "Chara."
"Yeah?"
"Chara." They pulled back and studied their face, it was like in the video but different, softer around the edges like it was out of focus and at the same time some things seemed more defined. They were a couple years older than Frisk, and taller, skinny as a rake. They seemed older than their years, though, their face had sadness woven into it.
"Frisk." Chara said, taking Frisk's hands in theirs.
"Is this a dream?" Frisk asked softly.
Chara held onto them tight, "If it is, don't wake up yet, ok?"
Frisk nodded and squeezed Chara's hands.
"I wanted to say this so bad before, I-" Chara said hesitantly, "...Frisk, if its ok, could be your family too? I was a terrible sibling the last time I tried, but I'll do better this time, I promise I will."
"But, you already are, Chara." Frisk said.
Tears dripped down Chara's cheeks but they were laughing and hugged Frisk again. "I'm so glad I got a second chance. I'm so glad I got to be here."
"Me too." Frisk pressed their hands to Chara's back, they seemed as fragile as a mote, as if they might drift away if Frisk let go. They didn't want to let go, ever.
They sat in the flowers, pressed shoulder to shoulder and wove the golden flowers into chains and talked about silly little things. Whenever they looked at each other they couldn't help but smile.
"You have a nice smile." Frisk said.
Chara grinned, "You would say that. Azzy said it was creepy. I would practice smiling in the mirror when no one was home but I don't think it helped."
" 'Cause it didn't need help. Azzy's a butt." Frisk said twining a chain of flowers between their fingers.
"A butt!" Chara laughed.
"It's a nice smile." Frisk insisted.
Chara leaned into their shoulder, "He'd just never seen a human smile before, I think. I don't know. He was sweet but spoiled, selfish sometimes too. Toriel and Asgore were too protective of him, he didn't have any real friends before me."
Frisk asked quietly, "Does it bother you, what he said about you not being a very nice person?"
"...Well, I'd be lying if I said no," Chara took a golden flower and tucked it behind Frisk's ear, "But I wasn't nice, and neither was he, not all the time anyway... It's nice to remember only the good things about someone but that's not how they really are. It's not fair either, to expect someone to be perfect. You taught me that."
"You taught me not to be afraid to speak. Just knowing you were there, made me feel brave." They placed a finished ring of flowers on Chara's head, they seemed to catch the light, brighting Chara's face. When Chara's eyes caught the light just right, they had a slight reddish cast to them. They were very beautiful.
"You taught me how to cry. I had forgotten how it felt to let myself cry." Chara said softly.
Frisk held out their hand, fingers spread wide. Chara smiled and laced their fingers into Frisks and squeezed.
"You taught me I wasn't alone anymore."
"Me too."
Frisk suddenly felt the warm blankets around them and soft pillow on their cheek but at the same time, they were still here in the flowers. The flowers were fading as the feeling of waking up became stronger. Despite their willing it not to be, they knew they were dreaming now.
"So it was a dream."
"No, not yet." Frisk mumbled, trying not to cry.
Chara smiled bravely and wiped Frisk's cheeks, "I'll be there when you wake up."
"but not like this." Frisk sniffed, they pressed their forehead to Chara's. Distantly, they pressed their face deeper into the pillow.
"You're so weird." Chara laughed, "I'm not a skeleton, you know?"
"Shut up." They paped Chara's cheeks.
"Never." Chara smiled and hugged them one last time as consciousness tugged at them to wake, "It happened once, we'll dream together again some day."
Frisk's eyes opened. Their pillow was stained with tears, their eyes were tired. They sat up and rubbed their face. "Were you really there?" they asked sleepily.
Yeah. I was there. They were smiling, Frisk could feel it, and their own mouth curved up in response.
Papyrus was already gone, Frisk wasn't surprised, he didn't tend to sleep long, if at all.
They changed out of their pajamas, and pulled on the big, ratty grey sweater, letting it slip down so it covered their fingers. The house was still quiet. Undyne was sprawled across the couch, her blanket on the floor, her legs hanging over the end. There was an open book on the end of the table, graph paper scattered around it. Frisk tiptoed to the table and picked up a piece of paper, it was covered in little puzzle grids written in blue and red ink, pencil lines covering the surface, testing the puzzles to see if they would work.
Papyrus was in the kitchen, idly flipping through his cookbook.
Frisk tugged on his scarf.
"GOOD MORNING." He knelt down to be face to face with them and brushed their cheek with his thumb, "WERE YOU CRYING?" he asked in concern.
Frisk's face split into a huge grin, they grabbed his hand, "Chara and I shared a dream and they were really there! I could hug them and we made flower crowns and talked and it was the best dream ever!"
"WOWIE!" Papyrus patted their head, "I WISH I COULD'VE BEEN THERE TOO! I GUESS I'LL HAVE TO SETTLE FOR HUGGING YOU BOTH RIGHT HERE!" He picked them up and spun them around, pulling them into a hug.
Frisk giggled and buried their face into his scarf.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR BREAKFAST?" he asked as he sat them down.
"Cereal." Chara said.
Papyrus ventured, "I COULD MAKE PANCAKES?"
"No time. We have to meet with Alphys." They smiled belatedly at his puppy-dog face, "Could you make pancakes tomorrow?"
"OF COURSE!" Papyrus said happily.
"COFFEEEE." Undyne groaned from the living room.
"RIGHT AWAY!" Papyrus hurried to the coffee maker, digging around the cupboards for the coffee.
Frisk grabbed the cereal box from the lower cabinet. The box was blindingly pink. MTT brand Star Squares was emblazoned on the front in shiny gold lettering. The cereal was shaped like little box Mettatons and stars, they were, of course, sparkly. Papyrus gave them a bowl and spoon and brought them the milk when they sat down at the table. The cereal was pretty good, not too sweet, the milk tasted like soy though it had probably been made mostly out of magic and maybe water? Frisk read the container but there was no ingredient list. The back of the cereal box had a puzzle on it that looked like one of Alphys random color square puzzles, Chara traced their way through the puzzle with their finger while they ate. The cereal gradually turned the milk pink and glittery, the cereal was not pink. Frisk fished out a handful of cereal from the box and studied it suspiciously.
It's magic. It's always magic.
Frisk narrowed their eyes, "but I wanna know how it works."
C, Chara said with exaggerated melodrama.
Frisk giggled and then quickly shook their head, "You know what I mean!"
Yeah, that you're a nerd. Come on nerd, we have an appointment to keep.
Chara tossed the handful of cereal in their mouth and closed up the box.
"Leave it." Undyne flumphed into the chair across from them and wrapped their arms around the whole lot and dragged it to their side of the table. Papyrus snatched the dirty bowl away just as Undyne was about to refill it with cereal. She glared up at Papyrus silently. He put a cup of coffee in front of her and went back into the kitchen, returning with a fresh bowl and spoon. She sucked on the coffee peevishly and dumped some cereal and milk into the bowl.
Her expression soured at the first bite, "...GGEHH... TOO SWEET!" she choked the bite down with a pained expression, her throat wobbling from the effort.
Chara snickered.
Undyne turned her glare on them.
Chara's mouth snapped shut and they stepped back. Frisk giggled.
Papyrus set another clean bowl in front of Undyne with a sigh along with a box of some sort of bran, grandad cereal that probably tasted of grit and character. She seemed to find these more to her liking and ate it mechanically and without comment, occasionally nursing the cup of coffee.
"I'LL WALK YOU TO THE FERRY." Papyrus said, walking past them and opening the door.
Frisk briefly debated getting their coat but the sweater would likely be warm enough as long as they didn't do anything silly. They grabbed their stick and slung it over their shoulder in case they ran into any monsters who wanted to spar.
Papyrus closed the door behind them.
Frisk blew out a cloud of cold air and pulled their hands all the way into their sleeves.
Papyrus clapped his hands together then bounced on the toes of his boots like he was psyching himself up. He looked worried though he tried to hide it.
Frisk watched him and asked quietly, "How's Sans?"
Papyrus stopped mid bounce. He looked at them indecisively then sighed and lowered one open hand. Frisk took his open hand and they walked together down the street.
"...HE... SANS DOES THIS THING WHERE HE..." Papyrus circled one finger with his other hand, making a corkscrew with his finger, starting big and going down to a point. "HE GETS WORSE AND WORSE UNTIL HE CRASHES AND THEN..." His brow creased, "IT CAN TAKE WEEKS FOR HIM TO START FEELING BETTER. ...HE WON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT IT. HE ALWAYS PRETENDS TO BE FINE, WELL USUALLY HE DOES..."
Frisk's face crumpled.
It's not your fault Frisk. Sans is just...
"I think I should try and talk with him again." Frisk said.
Frisk...
"IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT." Papyrus assured them, "HE'LL GET BETTER, HE ALWAYS DOES..." His voice dropped so probably only Frisk could hear it, "I THOUGHT HE WAS GETTING BETTER."
"You sound like Chara." Frisk said.
They passed the librarby and walked past the Ice station, the ice cubes splashing into the river with comforting regularity.
"I just want him to know that I won't do anything bad." Frisk said softly, "I'll tell him as may times as it takes, till he believes me. I'm determined." They squeezed Papyrus' hand tight.
"DO YOU HAVE YOUR CELLPHONE?" Papyrus asked before they got on the ferry.
Frisk patted their pocket, "Yep!"
"GOOD!" he said, "CALL ME IF YOU NEED ANYTHING, PUZZLE ASSISTANCE, A DRAMATIC RESCUE, OR YOU ARE JUST REALLY BORED. NO MATTER WHAT, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL COME TO YOUR AID!" He struck a heroic pose and like clockwork, a breeze came up from somewhere to blow his scarf out behind him dramatically.
Frisk assured him that they would and got on the ferry. Along the way the ferry stopped at several places Frisk had never seen and picked up commuters heading to New Home for work.
One of the business people who boarded was a SeaHorse like Aaron but thin and scrappy, wearing a suit top and old fashioned glasses perched atop a long nose. Frisk almost laughed out loud, and just had to talk with them. He turned out to be Nelson, Aaron's big brother, who was entirely disappointed in Aaron's obsession with muscles. Nelson was almost certain his brother should visit a doctor for his strange, compulsive facial tick. Frisk would've asked more but they reached their stop at the base of the elevators and Frisk headed into Alphys lab.
The lab was dark, and strangely silent. Every step they took on the metal floor rang like a bell. A prickle of anxiety crept up their back.
"Alphee?" Frisk called quietly, their own voice echoing faintly back to them.
They rode the conveyer belt to eh back but there was no sign of Alphys. Frisk went to the elevator and took it down to the true lab. The lights were on, plinking gently overhead, but otherwise it was very quiet. They walked back to the rest area, their shoes echoing loudly on the tile floors. Inside, all the amalgamates were sitting around Alphys. She was sitting on one of the beds, her tale curled around her feet, anxiously twisting her hands together.
"Alphee?" Frisk said.
All heads turned towards them, a distinctly unpleasant sensation.
Alphys barely glanced up. She was wearing an old orange dress, faded white in places and covered in little pills. It looked soft though, loose and comfortable.
Frisk sat on the bed next to her.
"I'm just... getting up my n-nerve..." she said quietly.
Frisk nodded and waited quietly, gently stroking Endogeny's head and trying not to the dog's strange goo on themselves.
"They'll be happier, right?" Alphys said quietly, "They'll be with their families..."
"Sn...ow...y..." Mrs. Snowdrake said softly.
Alphys took a deep breath and slid off the bed, "...Ok, let's do this..." She did her best to put on a brave smile, "I'll take you guys home now."
They rode up the elevator, with Endogeny and waited there, as Alphys sent them up. As soon as they stepped out of the lab, Reaper bird bowed gravely to Alphys and walked off on their own, heading towards the core. Alphys only managed a feeble 'wait!' but Reaper bird didn't react and left on their own.
"Do you want me to go after them?" Frisk asked.
Alphys shook her head, "It's ok. T-they can do as they like."
They all crowded onto the ferry. They dropped Lemon Bread off first. Shyren was excited to see them and the two of them hummed and warbled a sweet little song together. Aaron also showed up and a few Moldbyggs, though they simply gurgled and then left without comment.
Alphys shook like a leaf, apologizing and explaining but neither Shyren nor Lemon Bread had a bad word to say about her. They were simply happy to be together.
Alphys and Frisk went back to the ferry and rode up to Snowdin. Alphys was still nervous but seemed thoughtful. The guard dogs were having lunch at Grillby's and were all very excited to see Endogeny. They were already arranging a schedule for Endogeny to stay over at all their houses.
Snowdrake was harder to find, deep in the woods but eventually, after asking the other teens they met, they found him with Cooldrake. As soon as he set eyes on her, Snowdrake ran to Mrs. Snowdrake, wrapping his wings around her. Frisk had never realized how young Snowy was until they saw him hugging his mom, trying not to cry and crying anyway. Snowy reluctantly called his dad and soon they were all together, apologizing to one another and crying and laughing.
Chara stood with Alphys as she explained and apologized but they all forgave her without hesitation.
"B-but why-? I-I..." Alphys muttered miserably.
Mr. Snowdrake was the only one who seemed to hear her and stepped away from his family to Alphys. He patted her arm with his wing, "My dear wife had fallen down, she was done for. I wish I couldah seen her sooner, of course, but she's here now and she's alive. We appriciate what you've done for her, doctah." He walked back to his family now back together, though a great bigger than it had been before.
Chara offered Alphys their hand as they walked back to Snowdin. She took it and leaned against them with a sigh.
"How are you feeling?" Chara asked.
"F-fine." she said, "The worst is that they don't blame me. They sh-should."
Chara sighed, "I know how you feel but forgiveness isn't something you get to deicide if you deserve. You simply have to decide what you're going to do from here on."
They walked in silence.
Alphys lead them back to the ferry, "I'm going to tell Asgore." She said trying to sound firm. "He should know e-everything."
They went with her back to Hotland.
"Do you think I sh-should resign?" she asked as they stepped onto the shore in Hotland, "I should..."
"I don't know..." Chara hesitated. "You're a very good inventor. You've done a lot of good for the Underground."
"HA! Me?! HAHA HA!" Alphys shook her head.
"Who set up the Undernet?" Chara asked.
"I-I just improved it, really..."
Chara sighed, "Who made Mettaton's body?"
Alphys opened her mouth to protest.
Chara barreled ahead, annoyed, "Who first introduced texting to phones? Who set up the camera array across Snowdin to watch for humans? Who made the randomized light puzzle?Who prototyped most of the MTT electronics? Who configured the core's magical electricity so that it could be transmitted wirelessly and used by the whole underground, and not just New Home?"
Alphys was red from nose to tail. "me?" she squeaked.
They crossed their arms over their chest. "See? If you want to resign something, resign from doing things you suck at. If you want to make up for what you did wrong then work to make the Underground a better place, the way only you can!"
She turned her head to the cavern roof crisscrossed with walkways, metal piping and steam vents. Then she looked down at her feet.
"...I can't come with you to see Asgore, he'd kill Frisk for one." They smirked but it quickly faded, "and...I'm not ready yet."
Alphys nodded, "I u-understand... I'll just go and then I'll be back."
"We'll wait in the lab!"
They went inside, the door closing smoothly behind them.
"Alright." Chara rubbed their hands together, "Let's snoop."
"I don't think we should-" Frisk protested.
"Shh." Chara said, "We're on a mission."
Alphys came back in the lab an hour later. Her expression was a little bewildered.
Frisk walked over to her, one arm behind their back.
"He hugged me." She said in disbelief, "I told him everything I did and he cried and hugged me."
Chara snorted, "What a dork." they said affectionately.
Alphys looked at her hands and let out a sigh, "I asked him if I could not be the royal scientist anymore. That I-I wanted to invent things to help people and repair things instead... do you know what he said?" She looked up at them.
"What?" Chara asked grinned in apprehension.
"He said I would be the royal inventor instead and that he was very proud of me!"
Chara laughed.
A crooked smile crept onto Alphys face and she laughed, "H-He's an odd king, huh?"
Chara nodded, a more sinister smile creeping onto their face, "Now, one last thing..." They pulled the polka dot dress from behind their back.
"EEP, I don't, I don't-!" She stumbled backwards, "I can't, I can't! I'm not ready!"
"Aw, come on, Alphy! You know she likes you. You just have to tell her how you feel."
"I-I..."
Chara inched closer, "What if we try some roleplaying first?"
Alphys glanced up, "Roleplaying? I-I mean, I g-guess..."
After a few roleplaying sessions later they arrived at Snowdin.
"W-what should I do?" Alphys asked, not looking particularly more brave.
"You should go to some place romantic, like Waterfall!" Chara said excitedly.
"R-romantic?" Alphys blushed, tugging at her dress.
Chara nodded, "You go wait in front of the first waterfall to Waterfall, and I will get Undyne, ok?"
Alphys gripped her dress tightly in her hands and set her brow in determination, "O-OK! I'M GOING TO DO IT!"
"Yeah!" Chara held up a hand and Alphys gave them an awkward high five. "I'll be right back!"
Chara ran to the house as fast as they could. Undyne turned in shock as the door slammed open.
Papyrus leaned his head out of the kitchen, "DON'T SLAM THE DOOR! GOOD GRIEF!"
"Sorry!" Chara grabbed Undyne's coat and pushed it into her arms, pulling her to her feet, "Come ON! Before Alphys loses her nerve!"
"Alphys?!" Undyne unfroze.
Chara grinned, "We gave her the letter."
"WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR!?" Undyne threw her coat on and dragged them out the door.
"That way." Chara pointed dow the road towards Waterfall.
Undyne hooked her arm around Chara's waist, picking them up and running down the path, through the mist.
"The first waterfall." Chara managed to say through their helpless laughter.
Undyne dropped then in a clump of tall grass before they even reached her, with a brief "Thanks, punk!"
Chara crawled out of the grass and crept along the path towards where they were meeting.
Frisk said, Maybe we shouldn't snoop?
Chara snorted, "No way are we missing the good stuff." They said under their breath.
The waterfall meeting place was a bit of a mistake, the rushing water made it very difficult to hear anything without getting really close. Not that that stopped Chara.
Alphys was in front of the water, her hands linked behind her back shyly, her scales pink. Undyne had her cute shy face on.
They finally, managed to edge along the wall close enough to hear.
"-s-sorry, I lied to y-you, you're just so cool and strong and-" Alphys hesitated, her scales turned even redder, "...I ...I," She clutched the front of her dress tightly, "I REALLY LIKE YOU!" she burst out, then seemed shocked and covered her mouth.
Undyne's face split into a huge grin. Chara and Frisk couldn't remember he ever looking so happy before, this was a much better confession than the last one.
"I don't care about any of that junk!" she snapped, "I like you because you're passionate and intense and always put you all into everything!" She picked Alphy's up in bear hug that made her squeak in surprise.
Frisk held their breath.
Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!
Almost as if she could hear Chara, Undyne's gaze scanned towards where they were. There was no where to hide.
Undyne spotted them and glared bloody murder in their direction, "DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A SHOW TO YOU! HUH, BRATS?!"
Run! Chara shouted through their laughter.
Frisk turned heel and ran back down the path as fast as they could, giggling breathlessly.
(a/n: I have an order of fluff here, hot off the presses, er, stove, grill? Update on wednesday as per usual.
And thanks for reading this chapter, this story; writing is really lonely and it's nice to share and know people care. Maybe I've just been feeling too melancholy this week.)