I continued staring at where they were. It was just... too much. I couldn't understand why they latched on to me; I wasn't something special, or some powerful being. I was just a boy. A boy who was terrified. What did they want with me? Well, those questions were never answered as Frisk stopping in her tracks yanked me back to reality. I must have stopped walking when I began thinking because I had made no distance from the dump. "You okay Jack?" she asked, confirming my suspicions.

I slowly looked over at her only to see her worried face. My ears began ringing as I shook my head. "Yeah." I stood there for a few more seconds before following after Papyrus who hadn't stopped strolling along. I tugged Frisk along with me, almost forgetting that our hands were smushed together. "Just-" What happened with Chara and Grace flashed through my head; I had to use a better excuse. "I, umm..." Nothing came to mind as Frisk gained a progressively more suspicious face.

Chara walked up next to me, her arms crossed. "Look, Jack. I don't even know what you're hiding; you've made sure of that." Her eyes glanced to the floor. "But, just remember this." She walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder, a deep breath escaping her. "You can't hide your demons forever, especially with the ones you're close to," she said as she looked to the side. "Believe me, I tried."

Her sudden shift from vulgar to more of a somber attitude kinda surprised me, but I didn't have long to think about it. I knew she was right. One way or another, Frisk would find out about it. Hell, she already knew some of it. But, I wasn't in the right state of mind then, and neither was her; after all, she was still getting over the fact that I didn't die. Maybe… maybe another day, I quietly thought. She shook her head before stepping away. Realizing that Frisk was still expecting me to finish my sentence, I frantically looked around for something to change the conversation, and when I saw that red scarf, I knew exactly what. I ran up to Papyrus, still holding Frisk's hand. "Hey, Papyrus!" The skeleton looked back at me but never stopped in his tracks. "Where'd you even go earlier?" I'm surprised I didn't ask that sooner.

The skeleton briefly froze mid-step, most likely pondering what to say, then quickly returned to walking along. "WELL JACK, IT'S SIMPLE!" I could see his overdramatic expression from a mile away. "I RAN TO UNDYNE AS FAST AS I COULD, ALMOST LATE TO OUR MEETING, AND GAVE HER MY FULL REPORT ON HOW THE POPULAR, BRAVE PAPYRUS BEFRIENDED THE LONELY HUMANS." A cringe crept up on his face. "SHE WAS... NOT HAPPY, TO PUT IT LIGHTLY, THAT I FAILED TO CAPTURE YOU. SO, IN ORDER TO CALM HER DOWN, I TOLD HER YOU TWO WERE IN THE PLACE NO ONE IN WATERFALL WOULD EVER DREAM OF VISITING! YET ANOTHER STROKE OF GENIUS FROM THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"

Frisk squinted at the skeleton, fully immersed in the new conversation. Thank god it worked. "Where did you end up sending her? She found us basically a few seconds after we left Sans."

Papyrus rubbed his chin for a moment, then his finger suddenly shot up. "WHY, THE CORRIDOR WITH THE DEADLY WATERFALLS, OF COURSE! EVERYONE KNOWS HOW DANGEROUS THAT ROOM IS!"

She nodded her head as she looked to the floor. "That explains why she found us." She seemed less surprised than I was, almost like she was expecting it. A yawn began to come out of her before she tried to wave it away. "You know where the nearest hotel is, Papyrus?"

He almost jumped up as she finished. "YES, ACTUALLY! VERY CLOSE TO HERE. A SMALL TOWN CALLED AMSEY, JUST DOWN THE ROAD FROM TEMMIE VILLAGE!"

Now that was a name I had never heard of before. "Temmie village?" Well, also Amsey, but Temmie Villiage sounded far more interesting.

Frisk looked like she was about to explain when Papyrus continued. "OH YES, HOW COULD I FORGET? THE TWO OF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHERE ANYTHING IS!" He did a little cough into his hand. "TEMMIE VILLAGE IS A VILLAGE THAT JUST... POPPED INTO EXISTENCE ONE DAY. THE CREATURES THAT LIVE THERE HAVE AN ABSTRACT VIEW ON THEIR PAST. THEY ARE... VERY STRANGE." There was a moment of silence. "SOMETIMES, IF YOU STAND NEXT TO THEM LONG ENOUGH, THEIR FACES WILL BEGIN TO HOVER OFF THEIR BODIES." He gained a far bigger grin than he already had. "BUT THEY SIMPLY ADORE MY SPAGHETTI, SO THEIR SMALL ANNOYANCES DO NOT PHASE ME."

When Frisk saw that he was done talking, she raised an eyebrow. "What about this Amsey? I've never seen it on any map before."

I quickly remembered what she meant when she said "map." So she's never seen it in any other reset before? I thought to Chara.

She nodded. "Yep. Out of all the years I lived here, I don't even know what it is." It didn't help that I had no idea just how long "all the years" was, but I shrugged it off

"AMSEY IS..." The skeleton's voice trailed off before he rubbed his chin. "STRANGE," he said with a "hmmm" tone. "I DO NOT REMEMBER WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE." His finger shot up once again. "NO MATTER! AS LONG AS I KNOW WHERE IT IS, WE WILL BE FINE!"

I nodded my head. "Alright then." I faced Frisk. "How long until we get to Temmie Village?"

Her eyes tried to look inside her skull as she did the math. "Not long. Maybe…" she looked at the ceiling for a few seconds before continuing. "30 minutes, I think?"

I felt my increasingly fatigued muscles ache as my eyes began getting heavy again. "As long as a bed has my name on it there, I'll walk a little longer."

And so, we walked. We passed by Gerson's shop before going down the path I hadn't been yet. We walked into a room that was suspiciously similar to the one where Undyne attacked us, albeit the streams were far slower. Thankfully, there was no strong fish lady to throw me over the edge. It resembled a hall and was incredibly long, most likely taking up the entirety of our walk. Unlike the other room though, panels of text sat on the right, and the only, wall. From what little I could make out, the language was one I could not understand. It almost looked like hieroglyphics. Thankfully though, Chara could understand it just fine. The fact that she knew the language gave me enough evidence that she had lived down there for a while. She quickly read the text while I intently listened. Something about a war between monsters and humans. I don't know, it was confusing. I seemed to be missing a big part of the story. It repeated much of what Sans told me about, requiring seven human souls to break "The Barrier." As we reached the end of the corridor, Chara read the last line, leaving me with a pit in my stomach and a strong frown. "We will remain trapped down here forever."

Pushing the feelings away, Papyrus had brought us to a room where the walls and floors weren't visible, the only thing in sight being a dark mushroom a few feet in front of us. The skeleton looked confused, but when Frisk went up and patted the mushroom, he seemed to realize what he should do. The moment she did that, blue-ish grass lit up beneath us, almost like it was a light switch. The mushroom lit up as well, revealing its blue spots. Grass just vaguely carved out a path, it only lit up two though. One led to the right, while the other would've brought us back to where we came from. Instead of walking on either, Papyrus took a sharp left before stomping out. Magically, he did not run into a solid wall of stone and continued marching along. Frisk looked unphased as she went over and grabbed my hand before following after him. When Papyrus took another sharp left, Frisk finally began to look shocked, far more than I was. She dragged her hands across the almost invisible walls, mouth wide open while we followed him. From then on, we just walked in a solid straight line.

After give or take five minutes and a few yawns, Papyrus had stopped in his tracks. "WELCOME TO AMSEY!" he shouted as he presented… a city?

Rivers of that blue liquid surrounded it, the talking flowers sprouting out of the floor repeating some kind of Jazz, I think. Sky scrappers shot to the ceiling of the cave, almost as tall as the ones on the surface, their interiors glowing blue. Smaller buildings with neon-like signs sat next to them. Roads were leading across all of what I could see, big snails with saddles on top of them acting like cars. There were blue, glowing, fire-like bugs were stuck in bottles, hanging off of metal poles; I assumed they were meant to be street lights. Monsters of varying sizes strolled down the sidewalks, most appearing to have some form of scales on their body. To top it all off, the city far outstretched my field of view and left me almost speechless. Frisk looked about the same and she faced the skeleton, jaw even wider than before. "You said this was a small town… not a metropolis!"

He turned to face her. "THIS IS TINY COMPARED TO THE CAPITAL, HUMAN. ALMOST LIKE A SPECK OF DUST!" He turned back to the city, his hands not quite sure what to do. "OF COURSE I'D CALL THIS CITY A SMALL TOWN IN COMPARISON TO IT!

She sighed. "How were we supposed to-" She suddenly stopped herself before shaking her head. "Nevermind," she said as she took a few steps forward, glancing around.

I looked up at the skeleton as Frisk dragged me along with her. "So, where's this hotel at?"

His scarf flapped through the wind as he gained his heroic pose "I…" He slumped down. "DO NOT HAVE THE SLIGHTEST IDEA." A few moments passed before he jumped back up to a normal, non-heroic pose. "BUT, WITH BRIGHT SIGNS LIKE THIS-" He pointed at a medium-sized sign that had been next to us. It read "Welcome to Amsey!" in blue and green letters. "IT SHOULD NOT BE HARD TO FIND IT!"

Frisk nodded her head before walking over to a sidewalk, gesturing Papyrus to follow. "Well then, let's get looking." She waved yet another yawn away. "I really miss sleep right about now."

Monsters looked at us weirdly as we passed by, a far stranger expression on their face than the oblivious ones in Snowdin. It wasn't full-on panic, but was certainly something close. Most of them had casual clothing on, like the stuff you'd see on the surface. Shirts, jeans, sneakers, sometimes hats, all the normal stuff. It reassured me a little that I was in a somewhat safe place. We passed a few noticeable buildings along the way, each with its own sign. One simply read "Bar" with a little beer mug next to it, another read "Mall" with no illustration (it was a very big building), and the last said "Weapons" with a sword-like object in its window. My tired reflection stared me in the eyes as we walked by it; I couldn't express how happy I was that I would be sleeping very soon. Thankfully, Papyrus ended up being right. It was not difficult to find the hotel. The height of it alone caused it to stick out, nearly being as tall as some of the skyscrapers, or cavescrapers, I guess. The big "Rockyview Hotel" sign with a big arrow pointing right at the door was the real kicker though.

I walked up to it, put in awe by its height. "Finally," I let out with a gush of wind. I could practically hear myself snoring away under bedsheets already.

Because we were still holding hands, I had dragged Frisk along with me. "Huh. Guess we made it," she said as she looked up at it, bending her head all the way back. I jumped, not realizing she had come with me; really had to get used to the hand-holding thing if I wanted it to stay. When a few seconds passed and no one had fell, Frisk turned around to face Papyrus. "Well, thank you Papyrus!" She smiled. "I don't think we would've made it this far without you."

The skeleton somehow gained a flustered red color around his cheeks; I didn't bother to ask. "WHY, IT WAS MY PLEASURE HUMAN!"

I squinted at the front door as I thought over something. A question I had to ask. I turned around. "Where are you going to sleep, or, even go?" I would have been fine with Papyrus staying with us if he had nowhere else, but I wanted to avoid it at all costs. I would not be able to sleep with him around

He stayed silent for a moment. "MY BROTHER HAS A SENTRY STATION HERE AS WELL. IT HAS FOR MORE HOUSE-LIKE QUALITIES THAN THE OTHERS, SO I WILL STAY THERE UNTIL MORNING."

"Do you know where it is?" I had to make sure he wouldn't wander the streets, completely lost. He gave me a thumbs up in response. "Okay then." I nodded as I finished. "See you tomorrow, Papyrus," I said with a wave.

Frisk waved at him as well as he walked off, blending into the crowd not too long after. After waiting a minute to make sure he had truly left, I faced Frisk. "So, do you have any gold?" I brought out my bag of coins and dumped its contents in my hand. "Cause I only got four."

Frisk's eyes widened with a smile. "Only four? What the hell did you spend it on?"

"That nice cream from earlier. " I looked to the floor. "Probably should have only bought one."

Her smile wavered slightly, but it was barely noticeable. "I mean, I'm glad you did." She pat her belly. "And so is this guy."

A chuckle escaped me. "You thought I meant I'd buy one for myself?" I waved at the air in front of her almost like I was pushing the thought away. "No! I'd buy you one. You deserved it after trying as hard as you did."

Her eyebrows rose, head tilting slightly. It only lasted a few moments though before she quickly looked to the floor. "Oh." I would've thought though that made her sad, but the smile across her face told me otherwise. Her cheeks had also gained the slightest tint of red. Must've flustered her

We stayed silent for a moment, Frisk playing with her feet. Eventually, she shook her head. "Anyway, yeah, I have plenty." She pulled out her bag; it seemed to be almost overflowing. "I'm pretty confident it won't cost more than 500 gold."

"Should I even ask where you got that from?" She shook her head with a little smirk. "Well then-" I let go of her hand and gestured to the door, bowing in the process. "Lead the way, Miss Fancypants."

Her smirk grew to a smile as she gained a sassy pose, walking to the door and swaying her hips in a heavily exaggerated way. "With pleasure," she said in an equally sassy voice before disappearing inside the building. As I felt progressively more stares from the monsters walking by, I decided it was best to do the same.

Frisk must've been quick because she was already in front of the receptionist; they resembled a lizard, but were purple with long hair covering their eyes, and had a far more human face, only the tail signifying the reptile in them. They even lacked the majority of the scales. The room was huge, the ceiling being at least 14 ft. Fluorescent-like lights hung above, filling my surroundings with an unnaturally bright white and my ears with a constant, gentle hum. The walls were white, making them seem almost blinding in the light, and the floor was a greyish marble. Red couches sat on the left and right, almost in pristine condition. A red carpet of sorts led to two elevators on either side of the room, both in the same place. To top it all off, the receptionist sat behind a wooden counter with a marble top. A door was behind them, but that seemed to be it.

Far more exhausted than I thought possible, I went over and sunk into one of the couches. They were all empty, so that was a plus. I felt bad as I realized my dirty clothes would probably stain the couch, but it was already too late. Chara, who had mostly stayed behind me during the walk, suddenly appeared next to me on the couch when I blinked. I would've jumped but I was so close to passing out that I barely even noticed. She groaned as she stretched. "I'm finally about to get some real sleep." She rested on the arm of the couch as if it made a difference for her. "Took you two long enough to decide to rest."

My eyes were barely open. "I couldn't agree more." Too tired to think in my head, I simply whispered to her so that I wouldn't seem crazy.

Her eyes grew a little wide. "You really are beat, huh?" I couldn't do more than slightly nod my head. She chuckled. "Well, before you go to whatever sick dreams you have…" she turned to Frisk as she frowned a little. " You should probably tell her about me."

I threw my hand in her general direction. "If you want it to happen so badly, you do it."

She shook her head. "You're the only one that can see me, remember?"

I slowly turned to her, my face in a "You stupid?" type of expression. "Did you forget that you could come back to life with the snap of a finger?"

She squinted at me for a few seconds, then the realization washed over her. "Shit, you're right." Her eyes went down to the floor. "I did forget about that…" She stayed silent for a moment, scratching her chin as she did. "But… that wouldn't work."

My eyebrows went up a little. "Why not?"

She shook her head. "If I remember correctly, my body when I bring it back is incredibly unstable. It can only take a few scratches before it turns to dust." She squinted at the floor, rubbing her forehead. "I think at least? I might be remembering something else."

I looked to the side. "Okaaaay…" I waited for her to say more, but when she didn't I felt no choice but to speak up. "What does that have to do with you coming back and telling her you exist? You shouldn't be hurt from doing that, unless you stub your toe on a rock or something."

At this point, she was full-on crushing her head from how tight she was grabbing it. "I-I think I read somewhere that a… strong emotional state causes the same effect. It's so fuzzy that it's hard to tell."

I could feel the general feeling of panic come from her. I sighed as I sat up. "Okay Chara, what's going on?"

She continued to look at the floor, but I could feel her attention on me. "I c-can't remember anything! It all feels so fuzzy."

"What are you trying to remember?"

She finally looked up at me, staring at me for a good long while. Eventually, a sigh escaped her. "You'd have to know my past to understand it, and I don't really trust you enough to..." She trailed off, looking to the side. "That would just be stupid. I'm going to have to deal with you either way, so I'd just be delaying the inevitable."

I was entirely confused, but I didn't get long to process anything before she took a deep breath. "When I was a child, no older than six, I climbed the mountain we're under. Unlike you, it wasn't for a good reason. My family-" She stopped herself. "My biological-" Her hands went up as she made air quotes. "'parents,' were… abusive, to cut it short." She shook her head with a frown. "They had tortured me since I was a goddamn infant, the sick bastards," she mostly mumbled. Her arms rested over each other as she looked to the floor. "I hope they're burning in hell."

She didn't say anything after that for a while. It got to the point where I was about to comfort her before she started speaking. "That's not the important part though." I swear her eyes looked a little watery. "No point crying over spilled milk." She took a big sigh, then continued. "I'll be blunt with you, Jack. I jumped down the mountain hoping it would kill me. My parents had convinced me life wasn't worth living. Somehow though, I survived. After I cried for a little bit, this… little goat boy stumbled upon me. He seemed a little scared at first, but quickly came to me once he saw my tears. He introduced himself, saying his name was Asriel. I told him my name and he offered to bring me to his parents. Being scared and feeling helpless, I accepted, and that's when my new life began. The king and queen, Toriel and Asgore, adopted me into their family and treated me like I was their own child. They showered me with love I hadn't experienced before." She smiled. "I just wish it had lasted longer."

"It stayed like that for ten years before… well, you already know Toriel isn't with Asgore anymore and that I'm dead. I think you can put the pieces together." She faced me. "Somewhere along, I met the royal scientist at the time. Doctor W.D Gaster."

I was a little take aback. "Gaster was a scientist?" I honestly had no idea. The only real thing I knew about him was that he wanted me dead.

She nodded. "Yep. I'm one of the only ones that remember that. Anyway, Gaster had two children with him. I'd like to say it was Sans and Papyrus because not only did they look like them, but acted the same as well. Those two are only thirty at the most though, Papyrus probably being 20…" she gulped. "And this happened hundreds of years ago." She looked to the floor. "Monsters age differently than humans, I already knew this. Their aging slows down when trapped in areas without sunlight, returning to what humans consider normal when rexposed to it. But they can't live for hundreds of years at a time. Not normal ones, at least" She eventually shook her head. "Anyway, Gaster's experiments intrigued my young mind. So much so that I asked if he could train me on science. He laughed at first because I was no more than eight, but when he saw the determination on my face, he gave in. So, for the rest of my time alive, I studied how souls worked or what determination was capable of. I was actually able to create an artificial soul designed for monsters who had died. As long as you had their dust, they could be brought back." She looked to the side. "I was only ever able to create two though before I… well, I think you can guess."

Shock might have been the only word I could use to describe what I was feeling. "Wow…" My voice trailed off. "That explains a lot actually." I was always somewhat curious where she got all her info from, but now that she told me she was basically a scientist, it made a lot more things clear. I focused back on the conversation. "Well, thanks for telling me that and all, but what does that have to do with you not remembering anything?"

She sighed. "My studies with Gaster… it's almost like someone reached into my brain and yanked them out, and it's only happening now."

I was about to ask another question, but when I heard a disgruntled sigh from Frisk, I faced towards her. She still stood in front of the receptionist, arms crossed. "But we're only staying for a few hours at the most! Can't you cut down the price a little?"

The receptionist looked to the floor, slumping down with their hand on their face. "Look lady, I've told you ten times now that it's 700G for one night in the room you're requesting. That's not gonna change no matter how many times you say it's for a few hours." Listening to their voice told me it was a girl. Might have even been our age, or somewhere close to it. She rested her arms on the counter, leaning into it. "So either: you leave the hotel, or you request a different room. No ifs or buts."

I glanced over at Chara. "We'll talk later, I'm pretty sure she needs my help." She nodded before vanishing in the blink of an eye. With a small groan, I stood up and approached the two.

I could see the frustration on Frisk's face. "But we really need those two beds. Is there any other room that has that and is cheaper?"

The girl shook her head as I reached them. "What's going on?" I asked, the girl seeming surprised to see me. Her hair did block most of her vision though, so she probably didn't see me coming.

Frisk glanced over at me. "It costs more than 500," she said with furrowed eyebrows.

A sigh escaped me; why did everything have to be so damn complicated? "Okay." I faced the girl. "I heard you say that she was requesting an expensive room. So, if you have different rooms for different prices, what's the cheapest you got?"

She looked relieved. "Finally, something I can answer." She paused for a few seconds, rubbing her head. "Yes, we have different rooms. The cheapest is a one-bedroom suite, coming with a bathroom, living room, and kitchen."

"What's the price?"

She dug into her pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper. It was heavily wrinkled, but still readable. After squinting at it for a few moments, she looked back to me. "350G."

I was surprised Frisk hadn't just bought that. "Well then, we'll get-"

Halfway through my sentence, Frisk put her index finger in front of my mouth, forcing me to stop. My eyes looked to her; that frustration from before had transformed into anger. "How many beds does it have?" she asked while still staring at me.

"One queen-sized bed."

Frisk crossed her arms like it was some big revelation, waiting for me to do the same. The surprise on her face when she realized I was just confused... well, surprised me. "Okay? It comes with a living room, I'll just sleep on the couch."

Her eye's widened, the anger turning to defeat. Slowly, she looked to the floor. "But..." Her voice trailed off, never returning.

When some time had passed and her eyes still hadn't moved, I decided I'd just buy it. I, as gently as I could, took her gold out of her hand and plopped it on the counter. "We'll take it."

The girl picked up the bag and began stifling through the coins. Just under her breath I heard a little "Thank god," from her. They must have been negotiating the price the entire time I talked to Chara. Eventually, after a somewhat tense silence sat in the air for quite some time, she eventually dropped the coin bag back on the counter, almost entirely empty. She bent over and grabbed something on the counter before sliding it next to the coins; it was a keycard of sorts"Your room is 208."

I smiled at them in an attempt to show my gratification, taking the bag back as I did. "Thanks..." I squinted at their chest, trying to find a name tag. It didn't take long for me to find one, but the spelling somewhat confused me. "...Suzy?" Probably the weirdest way I've seen that name spelled. When a few moments passed and they hadn't corrected me, I took Frisk's hand, who was still looking to the floor, and dragged them to the elevator. It was already on the bottom floor, so there was no awkward period of waiting. We both stepped into it and, just before it would've shut, I stuck my head out slightly. "Have a good night!" And with that, we were on our way to the top.

A/N

Hello! Welcome to the end of chapter 19! Man, chapter 19... I still remember struggling to write the first chapter, completely unsure of how this fic would turn out. Well, from where I'm standing, it looks pretty good. Anyway, I hope you like my little headcanon of Chara there. I honestly think it makes reasonable sense that she would've interacted with the good doctor during the time she was alive. That would explain why she can go from talking as formally as a world leader, to returning to what you'd expect a child to sound like. I don't see a lot of people have my take on things, so hopefully you at least find it interesting. Sorry for the late update; turns out making a game takes a lot of time. Next chapter will be about... well, I'm not sure yet. I have most of the story planned out, but I'm torn between two ideas for the next one. Well, either way, it'll probably come out on a Sunday two weeks from now, like normal. So, see you then!