Chapter 14: Unnecessary tension

"People seem to like the combat section." Chara's observation was nearly drowned out by a scream from a tribute who chugged an empty crossbow at a dummy in frustration.

Frisk just hummed in agreement.

"I mean, it makes sense in the long run." The arena would definitely favor those who could defend themselves in the first few seconds; Chara had no doubt about it. "Still, don't you think it looks kind of…" Pathetic, stupid, weak, all of those described the scene in front of them. Another tribute tried to conjure his power by vigorously screaming out words. Nothing happened. "…sad." It was not that Chara felt unhappy about their fellow tribute's lack of experience. Quite the opposite. It was a nice change of pace to for once be one of the most experienced magic users in the room. Yet, observing the impressive diorama of frustration, confusion and excitement from the edge of the training area, the child couldn't help to think back to their own first experience with magic.

Their eyes had been wide, tentatively observing Toriel's paws gliding over the burned flesh around Chara's neck as green fire sprouted from them. They had jerked back into their chair at first, but Toriel had just smiled that calming smile of hers, fangs poking out from the edges of her snout. "Do not worry, my child. Everything will be alright. You'll be feeling well in no time." The fire, as vicious as it had looked, was gentle and soothing, curling around their wounds like a warm embrace. Chara had never felt that much love just through a touch. It stunned them into stillness.

Asriel had always been good at picking up other's emotions. So it came as no surprise when he smiled at Chara after dinner, as the latter tentatively observed Toriel snuffing out the stove's fire with a gentle flick of her paw. "Mom's magic is awesome, isn't it?"

The human child had given a soft nod, stealing a glance at the beaming, small monster besides them. Asriel had smiled shyly. "You know, I've never met any human before, but mom's been teaching me how to do really cool stuff with my magic. So if you want to learn, I'm sure she'll be able to show you how to do it too." The goat boy's eyes had brightened as an idea came to his mind. "Oh, last week, we've done some really awesome magic, not reading books and stuff like that. Look, I can do this now!" The small monster had stretched out his paws, fluffy face contorting in concentration.

Chara had shuffled in their chair awkwardly, as nothing happened after a few seconds. But suddenly, there it was. A small spout of fire, barely above the size of a candle's flame, sprung to life in the hands of the monster child. Chara had sprung back in surprise. Their chair was nearly knocked over and a tiny hand found comfort in clawing at the dinner table besides them.

Asgore chuckled softly form the other side of the table, an empty plate in hand. "Now now, son. Do not overdo it. I am afraid that our little human friend here is not quite used to monster magic."

Asriel startled at that, looking up from his focused frown to find the slightly panicked but curious eyes of the human in front of them. "O-oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." The small flame vanished from his hands as his concentration vanished.

Chara stared for a moment at the space where the fire had been. Then, their small voice broke the tense silence. "How did you do that?"

Asriel's face turned into a radiant beam again, diving enthusiastically into a long, not so scientifically accurate speech about magic and all of the cool things you could do with it.

Chara was rudely awakened from the memory as a high-pitched scream echoed through the hall, followed by a muffled thud as a body collided with a cushioned surface. Apparently, one of the male tributes had tested whether he could fly or not. From a very high obstacle. And he could not. A trainer was quick to help the guy untangle himself from the cushioned area below. He looked a bit drowsy, but unharmed. Too bad.

"Don't get me wrong," Chara murmured towards Frisk, "my first few tries weren't graceful either. But at least there were only mom and Azzie to watch." Another tribute at the top of the obstacle seemed surprisingly tempted to try the flying part as well, shuffling around while anxiously glancing at the space below.

From their sitting point, the high up obstacles were easy to observe, with long ladders and nets meant for climbing reaching up towards some parts of the rafters. The survival section was fairly scarce of any tributes, as most were too eager to explore the potential magic abilities that their bodies were now allowed to use. The only problem with magic was that it was mostly instinctual. So finding ones magical abilities was like searching for a needle in a haystack, without knowing what the needle looked like or if it was even there.

"It took me forever to find out how to use my magic. Mom was a great teacher, but training with Azzie can be pretty frustrating." Chara smiled softly at the memory. Asriel had always been a natural when it comes to magic. The child looked towards the ceiling wistfully. He'd become a great king one day.

Their gaze fell onto Frisk. The other child had their knees pulled up towards their chest, arms lazily slung around them. They were both worn out by their first few hours of practice.

"Did mom ever get to teach you magic?" Chara asked, as the thought suddenly occurred. It was usually one of the first lessons mom included for her surrogate children. But Frisk hadn't really been around that long before their name was drawn and this whole nightmare started. Come to think of it, they'd probably set a record there.

Frisk shook their head, but shrugged. "She did not get to it. But I don't mind. I don't think it would have worked with me anyways. Not with my kind of power."

Chara mulled over that a bit, nodding. "Probably not."

They watched on a bit longer as some tributes struggled to connect with their powers. Others confidently swung their weapons at dummies or trainers. A few just sat at the side, observing or talking. Chara's muscles gave off a dull ache and their stomach growled in a low rumble.

"The cafeteria seems open" Frisk commented.

Chara glanced over towards the large arch that connected the training area to the dining hall. The tantalizing smell of freshly cooked food wafted out of it. "It seems so."

"I'm hungry."

Chara's belly growled in agreement. "Me too."

Yet, something was holding them back. Where the training area was wide and spacious, the dining hall seemed to sport benches and tables that were long and close to each other; at least from what Chara could tell from afar. In the wide space outside, it was easy to avoid the other tributes mingling about. In there was a different story.

"We should probably go eat something." Frisk commented, neutral as ever. "Before it fills up too much."

Chara hummed in agreement. That seemed reasonable. But their limbs felt like lead. Frisk wore a determined frown though. Chara huffed. Why was this so hard for them? A small tinge of fear fluttered in their chest as they gazed at the arch, but a flare of magic squashed it. Their eyes flashed a vivid red. This was ridiculous. They would not be defeated by their own cowardice.

Before their brain had enough time to panic, Chara stretched out an arm to stabilize themselves and stand up. They gifted Frisk an annoyed glance. "So what are you waiting for?" Their limbs trembled in preparation. "Let's go grab some food."

"I don't think I'm good at fighting with a knife." Frisk confessed a few minutes later over a plate of goopy, mashed potatoes.

Chara shuffled around their food a bit, before shoving a fork of it into their mouth. There had also been some deceptively tasty looking spaghetti, but the child wasn't going to touch that. "No kidding, I stabbed myself in the leg because of you."

Frisk shuffled a bit in their seat. "I wanted to throw a knife at the dummy. It missed. I wanted to correct my aim, but the knife was hard to get. So I reset."

"And I was just about to stab a dummy." Chara grumbled. "Right before you rewound to a moment were my knife still faced down."

The quiet child frowned. "I reset after that too. Do you still have the wound?"

Chara rubbed the upper part of their leg. "No." But the child's mind still burned with the vivid memory of a searing pain. "Just don't reset when I'm in the middle of training. It's annoying."

Chara took a moment to chew, before swallowing and shrugging. "Maybe you just need some practice. It took me forever back in the Underground to get the forms to even remotely fit together."

Frisk shook their head, curly hair bobbing a bit with the movement. "I don't see the target. When I react it's too late."

Chara twirled their fork thoughtfully. "You can always go back and try again." But Frisk made a face at that. Chara couldn't blame them. Failing at close range meant getting stabbed or punched or worse. It wasn't really the kind of thing that you wanted to do in a trial and error cycle. Chara shrugged. "Fair enough. Maybe try something else then. But it's your loss. Knifes are the best."

Frisk opened their mouth to retort, head swaying to the side a little. "I-"

"Hi there! You're the ones from 12, right?"

Chara jumped a bit in their seat at the far too close voice next to their ear. Standing next to them, a wall of golden hair framed a bright, round face that seemed to be only a few years older than Chara's and Frisk's. Chara felt a vague sense of familiarity nib at the edge of their thoughts.

The first fallen child from 12 moved back a bit on the metal bench they were sitting on, rubbing their ear in irritation. "Yes, we are. And you are?"

The girl with the golden hair seemed to see that as an invitation and plopped down besides Chara, much to their dismay. "I'm Star. From district 1. We met yesterday in the elevator, remember?"

Chara ground their teeth. Oh, yeah. That was where they had seen each other before. Great. "I do recall" the child answered in the politest voice they could manage. Sans' face floated through their mind. Play nice. Their survival depended on it. Still, this was far from easy. So they tried to channel their inner Toriel, all nice and polite even towards the ones she disliked.

Thankfully, the other child seemed to remain oblivious to Chara's dislike as she babbled on. "Great, so I saw you earlier and that dance-y thing you did with the knife just looked really awesome. Your district has monsters, right? Does everyone learn to fight like that there? Is it like a monster thing?"

Chara picked at their food, more than a bit freaked out by the other child's rambling. Was this a strategy to confuse them? To intimidate them? If so, it worked. "A human taught me. And no, there aren't many that fight with knifes." The girl had clearly not been looking when Frisk got pummeled by an inanimate dummy about an hour ago. No one would ask that question after seeing that poor attempt at an offense.

A few seconds ticked by as Chara gave their food as much attention as they could muster. The clacking of cutlery colliding with plates filled the dining hall. A soft smell of cooked vegetables and meat wafted by in a strange mix that made Chara's already full belly ache. Maybe, if they ignored the other tribute long enough, she would just get bored and leave them be.

Alas, that was not the case. The girl who had introduced herself as Star leaned a bit forward on the bench, towards the two children sitting in silence. "Sooo, I've been kinda curious, you know? District 1 is really awesome and all but there aren't really many interesting abilities around. And no monsters. They just tell you those stories in history class about how monsters hide under beds and do all kinds of preeetty messed up things." Star raised a hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear that flopped back into her face right afterwards. "But then I got to watch those old videos from the last few hunger games, 'cause my mentor said we totally should, and the monsters there seemed pretty ok to me. So what are they like in real life? Do monsters really steal human children?"

Chara choked on their food a bit, letting the tiniest glare break through their mask. "What? No, of course they don't!"

"Oh, so how did you two end up in the underground?"

"We fell."

"You just fell into a monster society? By accident?"

"Yes."

"So it is possible to get through that barrier, isn't it? For us humans, I mean? Or, well, non-monsters. Technically, I'm mewman, you know. My family kind of came from another dimension but Britannia pretty much destroyed our dimensional scissors that we used to get here. And every other tool for interdimensional travel around Panem, pretty much. So we're kind of stranded here with some of our people. It's such a crazy story. Anyways, is that barrier a one way thing or does it work like a net, only for monsters-"

Chara slammed down their cutlery, finally fed up with the girl's rambling. The sharp sound seemed to do the trick as the older girl blinked, stopping mid-sentence to look at Chara's stony face. The child from 12 firmly clasped their table's edge, knuckles turning white. "Thank you for your interest, but let's quit the games. What is it you really want to know?"

The girl from district 1 let out an unsure laughter. "What do you mean? I just told you."

It was one thing lying to Chara. They could tolerate that, appreciate a good lie even. But trying the same cheap trick twice? Chara's fingers curled up against the cold metal. That was another thing.

The small child smiled sweetly. "No, you just told me that you were interested in monsters. You, a career from district 1. That strikes me as a bit odd, don't you think so too?"

Star frowned. "I'm not a career. I'm supposes to be a princess so I train-"

Chara's smile grew a fraction. "That's not. The. Point."

Star let out a frustrated growl. "What's up with you? I was just trying to be nice."

The child from 12 sent her a glare. "Then how about being honest next time? We're not here to play games."

"We kind of are," Frisk injected, but Chara pointedly ignored them.

"We're here to fight for our districts. So either name your query, career, or leave us alone."

Star made an unhappy face, but stood up, to Chara's satisfaction. "Fine. Whatever, be like that." She awkwardly lifted her legs over the bench. "I just wanted to know more about monsters. You know, my mom always told me those horrible stories about how cruel monsters were before Britannia took over. Stories about eating babies and scaring little children." She squared her shoulders, golden hair falling in a long curtain behind her. "Maybe she was right. Maybe you're just like them." And with that she strode off, flopping down next to a few other tributes at another table.

Chara glared at her back, as they stomped the small twinge of guilt in their mind.

"You could have been nicer," Frisk commented from across the table.

Chara turned around to face them. "She was just playing games to get whatever she wanted. It's best to let her get as little information as possible. Our lives will depend on it in a few days." It was a bitter truth.

"But now she thinks all monsters are bad."

Chara pressed their lips together at the new flare of guilt. "So what? We'll win the hunger games for our district, remember? So she won't even live that long. It doesn't matter if she thinks monsters are good or bad."

Frisk didn't answer that. They only continued to slowly shovel food into their mouth. Chara did the same, all the while trying to forget about the encounter. It didn't matter. One girl's opinion didn't matter. Even though it was wrong. An image of Asriel, mom and dad flashed before Chara's mind's eye. Humans tended to get it all wrong. Monsters weren't bad, far from it. Monsters didn't fight wars among themselves. Monsters didn't trap other beings inside of magical barriers. Monsters weren't the ones to invent the hunger games. All of those were humans. Always humans. If anyone was truly bad, it was humanity. And Chara would never forgive them for what they did. For what they were capable of. For what Chara was capable of. No, monsters weren't bad. And it didn't matter that the world thought so. It didn't.

"We are very disappointed in you." Chara looked at their escort indignantly, before turning to Sans.

The skeleton shrugged from his point on the couch. "she's kinda got a point, you know? no need to antagonize your antagonists just yet."

Chara couldn't believe this. "You're not my parents! I don't care if you're disappointed." Though, they shrunk back a bit in their chair as Linda loomed over them. "Besides, I'm going to fight against that girl in a few days anyways. Why should I be nice?"

Their escort pinched the bridge of her nose. "Because it is common curtesy."

"precisely 'cause you fight those tributes in a few days, buddy. if you go skull to skull with kids far above your power level, you'll want to have allies."

Chara was swiftly regretting telling their mentor and escort about their lunch encounter. The bright lights overhead illuminated their big apartment. With the sun already down, the glass wall reflected the light like a mirror. Linda had been the first one to fawn over them as they came in. Sans seemed to prefer the comfort of the couch, which did not stop him from commenting on the situation.

The first fallen child moved over to the dinner table, where Frisk had already claimed a chair. "Frisk and I will be fighting together." It wasn't an argument Chara liked to bring up, but these were desperate times. "We know each other's power and abilities. We'll be fine on our own."

Sans shook his head, a hint of disappointment in his voice. "kid, trust me when i say that even the most powerful ability will not help against a good strategy. tori would fry me if she knew i was telling you this, but eh, you're old enough to hear it. there's far worse fates than death, so don't be a lazybone about it. be smart. get people to not attack you at first sight. that's all you need to do."

Their escort nodded enthusiastically. "That's right. People like fight scenes, but drama is way more entertaining. You'll get more sponsors that way." She smiled happily. "And more sponsors mean better chances."

Chara sneered but held back a retort. More like more screen time and money for that old witch of an escort. But arguing now wasn't worth the effort.

Sans winked at them. "so, watcha say about putting some backbone into making pals tomorrow?"

The angry child huffed, looking from their mentor to their escort and to their fellow tribute. Frisk just gave a small shrug. Chara led out a heated breath of air. "Fine. Whatever. I'll try making some friends tomorrow." How hard could it be?

-o-

-o-

I'm not dead, wohoo! After the last few weeks, that feels like a far too great accomplishment. The effort was worth it, though I didn't end up accomplishing everything that I set out to. But settling for plan B is still great. That's why emergency plans exist.

With my real life hopefully becoming a bit calmer again, things should return to normal now. That means the usual rough schedul of an update every two weeks.

Thank you to everyone who's sticking around and welcome to anyone who's new to the story! As always, reviews bring a smile to my face so don't shy away from leaving a few words down below~