Chapter 18

Chara sat alone on the front porch. His heart had not stopped racing since sharing his plan with Asriel the day before. All that night, he tossed and turned in bed. Sleep evaded him. Not even during his life on the surface had Chara been so scared.

"Want some company?"

Looking up, Chara saw Renart standing over him. Without waiting for a response, the monster sat next to the human. Renart folded his paws and looked ahead, smiling like there was not a thing wrong in the world.

"You know," Renart began, "you remind me an awful lot of an old friend of mine. He was human, like you. We studied together when we were young and fought together in the war. I know it isn't talked about ever, but some humans did fight for monsters. Actually, they were the ones who came up with the idea to seal us Underground. If not for this plan to imprison us, the humans might have succeeded in genocide, resulting in the extinction of our race.

"But that's beside the point. What I'm trying to say is you and my friend have a lot in common: you both love monsters, you both have pure hearts, and you both carry hope in your eyes. Well, he did until the end. You, however . . . Something is bothering you. I noticed this during dinner last night and brought it to Asgore's attention. He says it may have to do with all the pressure you have been under recently. I think there may be more to it than that. So, Chara, is there anything on your mind? Is there something you need to talk about?"

Chara's chest felt heavy. Right then and there, he wanted to talk about anything and everything. Life on the surface, his biggest secrets, his plan he and Asriel agreed to carry out that very night – he wanted to confess all of it to Renart. But Chara couldn't. Renart would tell Asgore and Toriel, and they would stop him. It was Chara's destiny to save everyone, and he was not going to let even his family keep him from fulfilling his destiny.

After Chara didn't answer, Renart placed his paws behind him and leaned back. As if unphased by Chara's silence, Renart said, "I don't know what's bothering you, but I want you tell that everything is going to be okay. No matter how bad things get, it always works out for the better, even if we don't get to see it. My friend whom I just told you about . . . he was forced into helping create the barrier. Well, I don't know if forced is the right word; nobody physically made him cast the spell, but he truly believed it was the necessary evil to save my life and the lives of everyone I loved. It was a terrible thing that happened, but sealing us here had allowed me to grow old when otherwise I might not have lived another year. Of course, he will never truly know how helping cast the spell had benefited me and the others, but that is how this works sometimes."

Curious, Chara looked at Renart and asked, "Can you really live life never knowing that the bad things that happened ended up being for good?"

Tilting his head, Renart answered, "I mean, I don't know what other choice you have. However, I sometimes like to think that in my next life, I'll get to see it, even if I don't remember who I used to be."

"Your next life?"

"The soul is a very powerful thing, Chara. Both monster and eventually human souls may shatter upon death, but that does not mean we no longer cease to exist. To have death be the end . . . I do not comprehend how anyone could live life without hope that there is more than what this life has to offer. Maybe we're reincarnated, or maybe we move on to an afterlife. Either way, there is a life after this one, or at least that is what I believe without a shadow of a doubt."

Without realizing it, Renart was offering Chara the comfort he desperately needed. For the first time in weeks, Chara took a deep breath and exhaled all his anxieties. It was freest he had felt in a long, long time.

"You are going to do amazing things," Renart then told Chara as he smiled at the human child. "I have full faith that no matter the mistakes you make or the dark paths you may tread, you will do more great things than you could ever begin to imagine."

"Thank you, Mr. Renart," Chara said, fully meaning it. Then, not wanting to keep it to himself any longer, Chara confessed, "Roy did not attack me unprovoked. I . . . I hit him first."

It greatly surprised Chara when Renart casually replied with, "I know."

Eyes widening, Chara exclaimed, "You do?!"

"Roy has a terrible temper and has not been handling his father leaving the family well in the year since it happened, but he is not a liar."

"And you're not mad at me? You don't think I deserve to be punished?"

Renart chuckled. "Roy's giving you a bloody nose was punishment enough. Besides, you didn't hurt him. I don't know if you realize this, but it is incredibly easy for humans to hurt monsters. If you really wanted to do damage to my grandchild, that one punch would have done a lot more than give him a sore cheek."

Furrowing his brows, Chara said, "I don't think I understand."

"The stronger the desire to hurt, the more damage a human can do to a monster," Renart explained. "We monsters are incredibly weak to a human's strength of will. The fact Roy was fine after your attack plenty tells that despite your action, you didn't want to hurt him. What you wanted was to protect Asriel, right? Roy admitted to saying something to provoke you. You had a good motive, but a bad action. You can't hurt us, not without the intention of violence. Does that make any sense?"

Chara nodded. "I think I understand. But why are you telling me this? Are you not afraid I will hurt someone?"

"If you wanted to hurt anyone, you would have done so by now even without the knowledge how easy it would be for you. Besides, you're a good kid. I fully trust you would live your life to protect monsterkind, not hurt us."

"I don't feel like a good kid," Chara muttered.

"Well, it is easy for us to see only our faults," Renart replied. "Just don't let your mistakes hold you back from living your life. You are more than the darkest parts of you."

"Even if I only feel as if there are only dark parts of me?"

"Especially if you feel there are only dark parts of you." Before standing to his feet, Renart ruffled Chara's hair. "Now, I need to see what is taking everyone else so long to get ready. I believe we were supposed to leave by now. Gaster is about punctuality. The last thing we want to do is keep him waiting."

"Mr. Renart?" Chara called just as Renart was about to step inside.

Pausing in the doorway, Renart replied, "Yes, Chara?"

Not being able to fully convey what their conversation meant to him, Chara could only simply say, "Thank you."

Renart smiled. "Any time."

When Chara was once again alone, he pondered what Renart had told him. It made thinking about death easier to process. Even if it was a hard decision, Chara would do so much good for everyone he loved. It made dying a necessary evil for the betterment of all who would reap the benefits. What Renart said about the soul never truly dying was also a comfort to Chara, even if he was unsure if he believed in another life.

Maybe in my next life, Chara thought regardless, things could be better, and I could truly be the person everyone else believes me to be.


After their parents, Gerson, and Renart had wished the children goodbye, Asriel looked to Chara to see if he still wanted to follow through with his plan. To his dismay, Chara was ready and had even promised that everything would be for the better. Pretending the lump in his throat wasn't there, Asriel once again offered to get the buttercups.

"Are you sure we only need seven souls to break the barrier?" Asriel asked, only know realizing that he didn't know where Chara got this information.

"Yes, I'm sure," Chara answered as the first bite of buttercup hovered over his lips.

"Where would I find six more souls?"

"I . . . I do not know. Maybe a hospital? People die there all the time. Maybe some humans will be willing to give up their souls for the sake of freeing monsters."

"Do you really think they would?"

It was a good question, but Chara had no hesitation to say, "If someone like me is willing to be the first to die for monsterkind, I think there are others out there who are willing to lend their souls for the same purpose."

Asriel did not like the idea of Chara dying. There was nothing about any of this Asriel liked. However, he said nothing as he watched Chara begin to eat the buttercups Asriel himself had gathered.


The moment Merla's word about Chara being seriously ill reached Toriel's ears, she packed everything she and her husband brought on their trip that way they were ready to leave as soon as Asgore returned and she told him the news about Chara. They wasted not even a second returning home. When they arrived, Toriel didn't even wait for an update from Merla before seeing Chara for herself.

Chara sweated profusely. They clutched their stomach from an intense pain. Merla had to inform Toriel that Chara had finally stopped vomiting hours ago, but they were unable to eat or drink anything without the vomiting starting all over again.

All this time, Asriel sat in his own bed, eyes locked onto Chara, the tears never seeming to cease streaming from his face.

"Please, my child," Toriel said as she knelt beside Chara's bed and ran her fingers through their hair, "is there anything I can do for you?"

The only thing Chara wanted, which they went their great groaning to speak, was to see the golden flowers from their village. Toriel knew of the ones of which they spoke. These flowers did not grow Underground.

In that moment, all Toriel wanted to do was break the barrier with her bare hands, find Chara's former village, and pick every flower she could carry and then some to bring to her ill child. Yet she could not. There was nothing Toriel could do.

As Chara's condition worsened, it was a great grief to Toriel that she realized there was nothing anyone could do.


Asriel's paws shook. He didn't care if big kids didn't cry; he didn't know how he was supposed to not cry as Chara lay dying. Before their parents returned, Chara offered Asriel words of comfort, but it was hard to find comfort in those words at that moment.

"Why are you crying?" Chara had said, using what he had left of his strength to smile at his brother.

"How can you be smiling at a time like this?" Asriel had asked, whispering. Chara was dying, yet here he was, smiling as if for the first time in his life, everything was right in the world.

"You should be smiling, too," was how Chara answered. "Aren't you excited? Aren't you happy? You're going to be free."

Asriel didn't believe freedom was worth this price. As Asriel watched Chara grow sicker and sicker, he felt worse and worse. This is what Chara wanted, but Asriel was wracked with remorse that he should have talked Chara out of it, should have pleaded there was another way. Yet it was already too late. Chara was dying, and Asriel was the one who gave him the death sentence.

The world fell from beneath Asriel's feet when Chara fell asleep and didn't wake up. Asriel was familiar with the term "fallen down," but he had never seen it before. Although Chara was human and thus did not experience death the way monsters did, Asriel knew that what he was now witnessing was no different.

"Chara . . . Can you hear me?" Toriel pleaded. She had rarely left Chara's side since returning home. "We want you to wake up. . . ."

"Chara!" Asgore shouted, tears running down his cheeks and into his beard. "You have to stay determined! You can't give up! You are the future of humans and monsters. . . ."

While he watched his parents try to wake Chara up, Asriel clutched the video camera in his paws. He didn't even want to play with it. Asriel just needed something to hold onto lest he stand to his feet and start throwing things.

Merla entered the room and softly requested Asgore and Toriel's presence. They refused at first, but Merla urged that this was incredibly important and would not take long. Promising they would be back by Chara's side soon, Asgore and Toriel left.

Slowly standing to his feet, Asriel walked towards Chara's side, set the camera besides Chara, and whispered, "Pssst . . . Chara . . . please. . . . Wake up. I don't like this plan anymore. I . . . I . . ."

Asriel didn't bring himself to finish. There was no use in saying he was sorry. There was no use in telling Chara that they should never have gone through with this plan. Chara was already moments away from death. If Asriel backed out of their plan now, Chara would have died for nothing.

". . . No, I said . . . I said I'd never doubt you. Six, right? We just have to get six. . . . And we'll do it together, right?"

Asriel wasn't sure what he was saying. Of course they weren't doing this together. Chara was giving his life so Asriel could cross the barrier and finish the job. Asriel may have been absorbing Chara's soul, but Asriel knew this was not going to be the same as having Chara by his side.

Seeing that the camera was on, Asriel turned it off. He didn't care what the camera picked up. All he cared about was Chara.

"If you can hear me, Chara," Asriel whispered, "please . . . wake up."


Deep within Chara's soul, he held onto the last sliver of consciousness he had. He wasn't awake, but he was aware. He knew he was dying and that his family wanted him to live, but he knew it would be better for everyone if he died.

Feeling an intense sadness the likes of which he never knew, Chara knew that he didn't want to die. However, he wanted to free everyone. The determination to save the monsters, even those that hated him, outweighed any determination he could have had to live.

Yet as Chara breathed his last, he had only one thought coursing through his whole being.

I don't want to die.


Away from everything and everyone, a monster typed away at his computer. His invention to provide energy to the Underground was coming along extremely well. It was a helpful side project alongside his other work.

Other work that became a priority as his computer flashed red. Curious, the monster logged into the system to see what was happening to cause such an alert. There was a disruption in the timeline.

"Gaster, is everything okay?" asked a lab assistant who worked on a computer a few feet away.

"Everything is perfectly fine," Gaster answered, but he did find this disruption very, very interesting.

What Gaster should have done was bring this to the attention of everyone else, but he decided against it. This was nothing more than a system hiccup, he decided. With a click of a button, Gaster deleted the anomaly from records.

After all, without evidence, nobody was going to know that the day had reset.


Author's Note: Okay, so, here's where the story ventures off into a choose your own adventure situation - If you want the canon ending, disregard the last scene and head over to "Our Story" to see my take on the night Asriel had followed Chara in death; if you want a happy ending, please await the final two chapters in this arc.

Oh, and there is also a third option. I didn't want to make this obvious right away for fear of driving away potential readers, but The Brothers is actually a prequel to my long-running fanfic The Locket. If you were here for a retelling of Chara and Asriel's story, that is perfectly fine! I intentionally wrote this first arc to act as such. You will not hurt my feelings if you choose to pick paths one or two and read nothing else from me. :)

However, if you do choose to follow along for what is to come, then welcome aboard! As of posting this, The Locket is still in-progress, and after completing this arc (The Brothers will ultimately consist of three twenty-chapter arcs), I do not plan to continue The Brothers until finishing The Locket. Since there will be a wait between chapters twenty and twenty one, it will be the perfect time to start The Locket if you have not already. I do ask if you have not read it, please do instead of waiting for this upcoming arcs of The Brothers before moving on to the sequel. Chara and Asriel still meet a tragic end, and I do prefer readers go into The Locket not knowing what happened. It makes those few times in The Locket in which Chara opens up about his past and the vulnerability he shows more precious. Those are hands down my favorite scenes, and I want readers to love them as much as I do.

So, there are three paths before you. Will you leave this story to read the canon-based ending, stay here to read the next two chapters for your happy ending, or will you continue on this alternate universe I have spent years writing? The choice is all yours.

Choose wisely.

And regardless which you pick, thank you so much for reading!

Love you all!

- Raye