Chapter 12

"Where is that lazy sibling of yours?" Ms. Ivey asked as Asriel walked into the room in which he and Chara did their schooling. It had not been redecorated since Asriel was five. Wallpaper of the ABC's still wrapped around the room, and pictures displaying typical classroom rules – no talking while the teacher is talking, sit in your seat, be a gold star student – were posted next to the chalkboard.

The childish décor never bothered Asriel before. However, it did now. Sick to his stomach, Asriel felt overstimulated by the bright and happy room with the yellow walls as his less than bright and happy tutor stood at the front.

Forcing himself to still speak respectfully, Asriel told her, "Chara will not be coming today."

"And why ever not?"

"Chara is not feeling well. They can't even drag themself out of bed."

"Hmph!" Ms. Ivey crossed her arms. "Sounds like laziness to me."

"Chara is not lazy!" Asriel said, raising his voice slightly but still much higher than he previously would have dared raise to an adult.

"Don't use that tone of voice with me, young man!" Ms. Ivey rebuked. "I gave your sibling a reasonable amount of homework last week, and they failed to complete even half of it. You really expect me to believe that they are not lazy when they couldn't even finish their work?"

Asriel grit his teeth, not knowing how to put to words what was really going on with Chara. The raincloud had come back days after Chara accidentally cut himself with the garden shears, and it was the strongest Asriel had ever seen it. Normally Chara would at least drag himself out of bed for things such as family meals – which Chara picked at more than ate – and going to class, but this time, Chara barely seemed capable of even that much. If Asgore and Toriel weren't so busy preparing for the upcoming festival, Asriel would have voiced his concern to his parents. He barely saw them these days, leaving Merla in charge of the children, and Merla cared less for Chara than Ms. Ivey did.

"I see you do not have an argument for me," Ms. Ivey said after moments passed without Asriel saying another word. "In any case, I will be speaking with your mother about Chara as soon as she is available. Until then, if your sibling thinks they are too good to come to class, then I will talk to Merla about suspending them until they are willing to complete their homework and also the make-up work."

Paws shaking, Asriel curled his fingers into fists at his sides. He couldn't bear to hear Chara being spoken about in such a way, not when the things said were not even close to the truth. Asriel felt powerless to do anything about it.

"As for you, young prince," Ms. Ivey then said, turning to the board to begin writing on it, "I do not want to see you following in that human's footsteps. You are such a talented student with a bright future ahead of you. It would be a shame for you to not reach your potential all because of that human you call your sibling."

What Ms. Ivey said struck Asriel, but not in the way she intended. Asriel was the prince. He was royalty while Ms. Ivey was not. While he may have been subject to her teaching, Ms. Ivey was subject to his family's rule. If Asriel didn't want to hear the way she talked about his brother, then Asriel did not have to stay to hear it. Perhaps he was not so powerless.

"Where are you going, Asriel?!" Ms. Ivey demanded just as Asriel was walking out of the classroom.

"Back to bed," Asriel replied, feeling the most powerful he had ever before felt in his life. "I'm not feeling too well. I'll be back tomorrow to pick up my assignments."


"Asriel, you can't just walk out of from your tutor," Merla told Asriel as he dug through one of the many boxes his parents kept in storage.

After leaving the classroom, Asriel ventured to the room between his and Chara's room and their parents'. Within it were boxes of old items and clothes and any other such things that had no current place in the rest of the house but his parents did not want to throw away. The children did not venture into this room often, but after his encounter with Ms. Ivey, Asriel decided this was the place to go.

"Your parents hired her to teach you, Asriel, so you need to respect her," Merla continued to say. "I know you're upset with her, but that doesn't give you the right to walk out like that. She's only trying to do what's best for you kids."

"If that was true," Asriel said, eyes locked on the contents in the cardboard box instead of his caretaker, "she would understand that Chara isn't lazy. She would know that something is wrong and try to help them."

"What do you mean there's something wrong with Chara? And why are you digging around this old room? The only toys in here are the ones from when you were a baby." Under her breath, Merla muttered, "Toriel is such a hoarder."

"I'm not looking for toys."

"Then what are you looking for?"

"I'll know it when I see it." Asriel discarded the box he looked through and grabbed another. I just want to find something that will cheer Chara up, but what will work?

Merla gave up after about ten minutes. Seeing she couldn't talk sense into Asriel, she ventured off to do something else. That was fine for Asriel since it gave him the ability to search in peace.

"Hey, I forgot about this!" Asriel exclaimed to himself after he found something he hadn't seen since he was much younger tucked away in an old shoe box. Asriel wasn't sure if it would cheer Chara up, but it was worth trying.


After hours spent in bed, Chara was finally able to force himself to crawl out from under the covers. He considered eating something, but the thought of food sickened him. With nothing else to do, Chara trudged to the garden. He felt better there than anywhere else in the castle. At least in the garden he could see the sun shining through the holes in the mountains and listen to the birds signing. Here, he could pretend that everything was all right.

"Chara, there you are!" Asriel exclaimed. Chara turned around to see his brother walking in. There was something in his paws. "Look what I found!"

Inspecting it from a distance, Chara guessed, "A video camera?"

"Yep! Good guess!" Asriel smiled as he looked it over. "Mom used to use this all the time, but she hasn't touched it since I was little. I found it in the storage room. It was covered in dust! I thought maybe we could use it since Mom and Dad put it away."

Chara didn't have a response. He really didn't want anything to do with the camera. However, if it made Asriel happy, then Chara was willing to force himself to do whatever it was Asriel wanted.

"I think this is the power button . . ." Asriel talked to himself as he pushed the side of the camera. When a light turned on, Asriel grinned, pointed the camera at Chara, and said, "Okay, Chara, are you ready? Do your creepy face!"

Chara smiled. It wasn't one of the small smiles he usually offered, but one of his big smiles that he gave whenever he wanted to appear happy. Of course, he didn't have the model down, so he typically looked more scary when smiling so widely than happy.

"AHHHHH! Hee hee hee!" Asriel screamed than laughed as he always did whenever Chara did his "creepy face." Asriel then frowned as he looked at the back of the camera then turned it so he could look at the front. "Oh! Wait! I had the lens cap on. . . ."

Hearing this, Chara's forced big smile fell into the natural small one as he watched Asriel try with little success to force the camera lens off. Intentionally sounding instigating, Chara said softly as for the camera to not pick up on his speaking, "Too bad, Asriel. You totally missed it."

"What?! You're not gonna do it again…?" Asriel frowned and looked at Chara, then he jumped when he saw Chara doing his creepy face again. Recovering, Asriel said, "Come on, quit tricking me! Haha!"

After Asriel turned off the camera, Chara spoke at normal volume again, "So, why do you have that?"

"I was looking for something to cheer you up, and I found this." Sounding sheepish, Asriel added, "But I think this is more fun for me than it is for you."

"I do not know, I think it is great you found something that you can have fun with." Chara leaned back so that he was lying on the garden floor.

"I just want you to be happy again." Asriel approached Chara and sat next to him. "I don't like seeing you sad like this."

All Chara could do was shrug.

For a few minutes, all was silent save for the birds singing. Then Asriel said, "You were really happy back when you were making that sweater for Dad. Do you think if maybe you did something else for him, that will cheer you up?"

Contemplating it, Chara replied, "I do not know, but it is worth trying. However, I will not be able to knit another sweater. After Merla saw King Dad wearing it and figured out where I had gotten the yarn, she keeps her room locked whenever she's not in it. I have tried apologizing and offered to repay her, but . . ."

"Well, we can find something else to do." Thinking for a moment, Asriel suggested, "Dad really likes Mom's butterscotch pie! Since he and Mom are so busy preparing for the festival and won't be back for a couple more days, do you think we can learn to make a pie by the time they get back?"

Chara thought about it for a moment before saying, "I do not see why not."

"Great!" Asriel jumped to his feet. "I'll see if I can find the recipe. This will be a pie worth remembering, don't you think so, Chara?"

With a small laugh, Chara said, "I think King Dad is never going to forget this."