Ch. 20: A Plan

Several months later, and the pie incident had been practically forgotten. The family celebrated Asriel's 10th birthday and Christmas together with smiles all around. Life had returned to normalcy.

Despite everything though, Asriel noticed something with Chara. Over the months, he noticed they were being more drawn in and introverted. He wished that they would talk to him and whatever was bothering them, but they always refused and said that they were fine.

One day, the two were sitting in the Dump. Asriel had brought the video camera with him and Chara had brought a picnic basket. Toriel had packed them both a lunch and the two set up a picnic in the Dump together.

Chara ate a bite of their lunch as Asriel fiddled with the camera. He held it in one paw and aimed it at his sibling, snickering to himself. "Howdy, Chara!" he exclaimed, pointing the camera at the human. "Smile for the camera!"

Chara looked at him and saw that the lens cap had been left on again. They gave Asriel a big smile and he said, "Ha, this time I got YOU! I left the cap on… ON PURPOSE! Now you're smiling for no reason!"

Asriel started to laugh, and Chara began to laugh with him. They then looked down at the buttercups they were having their picnic on and picked one, twirling it absentmindedly. "Hey Azz, you remember the last time we picked these flowers?" they asked him, staring at the flower.

"What?" Asriel asked, slightly confused before realizing what his sibling was talking about. "Oh, yeah, I remember. When we tried to make butterscotch pie for Dad, right?"

Chara nodded and their smile faded at the memory. Asriel's did as well as he recalled, "The recipe asked for cups of butter...But we accidentally put in buttercups instead."

Chara chuckled a bit at their foolishness and asked, "He didn't take it that well, did he?"

Asriel laughed a bit at this and said, "Yeah! Those flowers got him really sick." The goat monster's face then fell as he said, "I felt so bad. We made Mom really upset. I should have laughed it off, like you did…"

Chara continued to twirl the buttercup in their fingers and said, "Heh, yeah."

Asriel looked at his sibling and asked, "Um, anyway, where are you going with this?"

"Turn off the camera."

Asriel looked at Chara questionably and they repeated in the same blunt tone, "Turn off the camera."

"Huh?" Asriel asked. "Turn off the camera…? Okay."

Asriel pushed the off button on the camera and asked, "Chara, what's going on?"

"I have a plan," the human said. "A plan to free everyone. For monsters to be free."

Asriel caught the strange tone in Chara's voice and asked hesitantly, "What exactly are you planning?"

"Now, you need to promise me that what I say next is going to be kept between us. Mr. King Dad and Mrs. Queen Mom can't know."

"Chara?"

"Promise me."

"I-" Asriel cut himself off, trying to stop the tears from forming in his eyes. "I promise."

"Good. Now, we know that a monster Soul isn't powerful enough to cross the Barrier. Neither is a human Soul. You need both, right?"

"Uh huh…" Asriel said, not liking where the conversation was heading.

"What if you tried to cross the Barrier? You could take my Soul, cross the Barrier, then get six more Souls from the humans. Then, the monsters could be free."

"But Chara, monsters can't absorb the Souls of living humans. You know that. How would I take your Soul?"

"What if I wasn't alive?"

"WHAT?!" Asriel jumped back at Chara's suggestion and looked at them in shock. "Chara, you can't be serious!"

"I am. Asriel, if I die, you could take my Soul and free them all! Everyone could be free, and you would be a hero!"

"But what about you?!"

"What about me?!"

Asriel flinched at Chara's sudden outburst, but the human quickly collected themselves and asked, "What about me? If it means you guys are all happy and free, I'm willing to die for that."

"Chara, this is crazy! How do you even know it's going to work?"

"Mr. King Dad got really sick from those buttercups right? And Mrs. Queen Mom said that buttercups are poisonous. If I ate enough, I could die and you could take my Soul. It'll just look like I got really sick. Mr. King Dad told us that humans can't absorb monster Souls, but monsters can absorb human Souls. But not every monster can handle the power of a human Soul. Only Boss Monsters can. It has to be you Azzy. You have to be the one to do it."

Asriel shifted and bumped the camera, turning the device back on. Neither child noticed this as tears came to Asriel's eyes and he tried to hold them back. "I...I don't like this idea Chara."

"You're crying, aren't you?" Chara asked in a condescending tone.

"Wh..what? N-no, I'm not…" Asriel sniffled and wiped away his tears. "...big kids don't cry."

"Asriel, this is the only way for you guys to be free."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Then why are you so worked up about this? Are you doubting me? Do you think I'd lie to you about this?"

"No! I'd never doubt you, Chara…Never!"

"Monster kind deserves to go free Asriel. You guys don't deserve to be down here. Those humans have to pay for what they did to your kind. They deserve it. And we'd be strong, and brave! We'd be heroes."

"Y...yeah! We'll be strong! We'll free everyone. I'll go get the flowers."

Asriel then stood and bumped the camera again, turning the device off. "We'll free everyone…" he said to himself as he began to pick some buttercups. Chara nodded and put away their picnic before helping him pick some too.

"We'll be strong…"

The two picked buttercups for over an hour until they were sure they had enough. They had even snuck back to the palace and stolen some from Asgore's garden as well. "Think this is enough?" Asriel asked as he looked at their picnic basket. The basket was almost overflowing with yellow flowers that the two children had picked.

"This should be fine," Chara said, placing the basket down.

"So how are we going to do this?"

"I'm going to eat these flowers. Then, I'll get sick. If I eat enough, I'll die. Once I die, my Soul will linger for just a few moments outside my body. You need to take my Soul as soon as you see it and absorb it. If you wait too long, it'll fade away. Once you take my Soul, cross the Barrier and gather six more Souls from the humans."

"What if Mom and Dad catch me? What do I say?"

"I have a solution for that too. When I'm sick, I can tell them that I want to see the Golden Flowers in the human village I came from. They'll know that that's impossible. So, when I die, take my body with you. Take it to my village and lay it down in a bed of flowers. Then, take six Souls from the humans in that village."

Asriel looked at the basket that Chara was carrying, the weight of the flowers weighing him down even though he wasn't the one holding them. "Alright, if you're sure…" he said hesitantly.

Chara nodded and took the first flower out. They crammed the entire thing into their mouth and their face twisted. "Bitter," they said as they chewed and swallowed the flower. They continued to eat more flowers until they were about halfway through the basket.

They began to sway on their feet and feel dizzy as they continued to eat the flowers. "Maybe we should stop Chara," Asriel said as he watched in horror while his sibling consumed more buttercups.

Chara shook their head and mumbled, "I'm fine." They continued to eat, eventually sitting down due to how dizzy they felt. Their eyes had begun to puff up and they wheezed as they struggled to breathe. After the last flower was finished, they looked up Asriel, who had tears in his eyes yet again.

"Finished," they said before collapsing onto the ground.

"Chara!" Asriel exclaimed, rushing to their sibling's side. He began to weep as he screamed out, "MOM! DAD! COME QUICK!"