Chara stepped back outside with Frisk right behind her. Feeling the cold air hit her face was refreshing after sitting so close to the bar's flaming owner.

After taking a moment to stretch, Frisk turned to look at Chara. "So, are you ready to go?" She said with a warm smile.

Chara looked into Frisk's closed eyes and considered if she should tell her about what Sans had actually "apologized" for. But looking at her smiling face, she decided not to, though as for why not, she couldn't say. Instead, Chara simply nodded and began to trek toward Waterfall with Frisk beside her.

As they passed by Papyrus and Sans' house, they saw Papyrus standing in front of it, next to their mailboxes. Frisk waved cheerfully at Papyrus, who waved back equally as cheerful. The air around them began to get warmer as they neared the edge of Snowdin.

As the snow on the ground began to get thinner Frisk cleared her throat, grabbing Chara's attention. She glanced over at Frisk with a questioning look while they both continued walking.

"Chara, do you know why your LOVE keeps going down?" Frisk asked.

Chara almost stopped in her tracks at the unexpected question. Thinking about it, she couldn't come up with an answer. "How should I know; does it really matter?" she replied.

"You're not even a little bit curious?"

Chara gave an annoyed sigh. "Honestly, not really." Frisk's smile faltered slightly. Seeing Frisk's cheery mood dwindling, Chara decided to humor her. "Maybe it's just declining on its own. After all, I haven't done anything to increase it since we woke up in the Ruins."

Frisk's face brightened back up again. "I thought that too, but it seems to be too random, and I don't think LOVE simply goes away on its own."

"Well maybe the royal scientist can figure it out, in addition to how we've gotten older."

Frisk's smile widened a little more. "That's a great idea Chara! Good thinking."

Chara internally rolled her eyes but felt what seemed like a tiny amount of joy at being praised.

They had since passed Sans' sentry station and needed to cross the top of a waterfall. Rocks were falling from the top of the waterfall on the left, forcing them to avoid being pushed over the edge of the waterfall on the right. Halfway across, Frisk suddenly turned left and walked through the waterfall. Puzzled, Chara waited for her while easily dodging the rocks coming her way.

When Frisk emerged from behind the waterfall, her headband was gone, and she was now wearing an old pink tutu.

"Why are you wearing that?" Chara asked as she dodged another falling rock.

"Why not? It's a protective piece of armor." Frisk replied as she rejoined Chara.

Chara shook her head and waded over to the other side of the stream with Frisk following close behind. As they continued on, the path became covered in a large patch of tall grass. Halfway through the grass Frisk suddenly put her arm up in front of Chara. She looked over at Frisk, about to ask why she stopped and saw Frisk was staring up at the top of the cliff to their left through the grass. Following her gaze, Chara could just make out the helmet and pauldrons of an armored figure with their back to them.

Before Chara could say anything, she saw Papyrus' head walk up to the armored knight.

"H...HI, UNDYNE! I'M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT..." Papyrus said somewhat nervously. "UHHH... REGARDING THAT HUMAN AND UNKNOWN MONSTER I CALLED YOU ABOUT EARLIER..."

Undyne turned towards Papyrus, but if she said anything, Chara couldn't hear it.

"HUH? DID I FIGHT THEME?" Papyrus replied. "Y-YES! OF COURSE I DID! I FOUGHT THEM VALIANTLY!"

Another pause in the conversation between the two.

"WHAT? DID I CAPTURE THEM...? W-W-WELL..." Papyrus stuttered. "NO. I TRIED VERY HARD, UNDYNE, BUT IN THE END... I FAILED."

Chara watched them intently and tried to hear what Undyne was saying.

"W-WHAT? YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE THE HUMAN'S SOUL YOURSELF, AND CAPTURE THE YOUNG MONSTER? BUT UNDYNE, YOU DON'T H-HAVE TO HURT THEM! YOU SEE... YOU SEE..."

There was another long pause as Undyne spoke, unheard by Chara and Frisk.

"...I UNDERSTAND. I'LL HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN." And with that, Papyrus marched back toward Snowdin.

Thinking it was over, Chara took a step forward, but Frisk quickly grabbed her arm. However, both of their movements made the grass rustle, alerting Undyne. Chara and Frisk froze as Undyne stepped to the edge of the cliff she was standing on and summoned a glowing magic spear in her left hand. Looking down, Undyne scanned the grass they were hiding in. After a few moments Undyne banished her spear, and took a few steps backward, disappearing from view.

Chara and Frisk waited a few more seconds to make sure Undyne was gone before leaving their hiding place. Chara heard more rustling behind her, turning around she watched the small yellow monster kid that they had passed at the last save point leave the tall grass as well.

"Yo... did you see the way she was staring at you guys?" he said, barely holding in his excitement. "That... was AWESOME! I'm SOOOO jealous! What'd you do to get her attention? Ha Ha."

"We didn't do anything." Chara responded flatly.

"C'mon! Let's go watch her beat up some bad guys!" Monster kid took off running but tripped and fell on his face just a few feet ahead of them. He almost immediately got back up and continued sprinting ahead of them.

"Well, he's got dedication, I'll give him that." Chara said as she walked over to the nearby save point.

"You could say he's 'determined.'" Frisk said with a wide grin while placing her hand next to Chara's on the save point.

Chara glared in annoyance at Frisk before flicking one of her ears.

"Ow... Chara that wasn't nice." Frisk pouted while holding a hand to her ear.

"Don't do that again. Dealing with that trashbag's puns is already bad enough."

Frisk frowned at the mention of Sans. "I'm sorry about Sans. He's not usually like that, he's normally much more laid back and he's never been mean or rude before."

"It's fine Frisk, he can say whatever he wants, it doesn't matter to me."

They finished saving and began following Monster kid deeper into Waterfall. After making a bridge over a stream with Bridge Seeds and sparing an Aaron monster, they set to work making another bridge.

As they worked on the bridge, Chara was lost in thought. Why does Frisk care about me so much? She's been going out of her way to defend me, and she killed everyone in the Underground to bring me back to life. She had said that I deserved to be brought back after I had tried to save the monsters from the Underground, but that can't be the only reason, could it?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of Frisk's phone. Chara got closer to Frisk so she could hear who it was. Frisk answered the phone with a cheerful hello.

"HELLO! THIS IS PAPYRUS!" the receiver replied.

Chara groaned internally but said nothing as she didn't want to upset Frisk.

"Papyrus, how did you get this number?" Frisk said after a short giggle.

"HOW DID I GET THIS NUMBER? IT WAS EASY! I JUST DIALED EVERY NUMBER SEQUENTIALLY UNTIL I GOT YOURS! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!"

Chara silently shook her head at the ridiculous thought of Papyrus going through so many numbers just to reach them.

"SO... WHAT ARE YOU TWO WEARING? I'M... ASKING FOR A FRIEND. SHE THOUGHT SHE SAW YOU WEARING A DUSTY TUTU AND YOUR MONSTER FRIEND WEARING A GOLDEN LOCKET. IS THAT TRUE? ARE YOU WEARING A DUSTY TUTU AND A GOLDEN LOCKET?"

Frisk replied with an immediate yes. Chara knew the friend he was talking about was Undyne, but she figured it didn't matter what they did or said, as both her and Frisk were an odd pair that were hard to miss. She knew it wouldn't take Undyne long to find them again.

After all, she IS the heroine that never gives up. Chara thought.

"SO YOU ARE WEARING A DUSTY TUTU AND YOUR FRIEND IS WEARING A GOLDEN LOCKET. GOT IT! WINK WINK!" For some reason Papyrus said wink out loud. "HAVE A NICE DAY!" He then immediately hung up.

"Is he always like this?" Chara asked Frisk.

Frisk giggled as she put the phone back into her pocket. "Yes, he's so sweet and caring, isn't it nice?"

Chara was reminded that Asriel was the same before they had tried to destroy the barrier. He too had been kind and had always put others before himself. Chara suddenly wished he was here with them.

*Your LOVE descreased!

Chara quickly closed the dialogue box and followed Frisk, who had already moved on without her, into the Wishing Room.

The Wishing Room was cool and dark, just how she remembered it. With the whispering Echo Flowers and the glittering stones in the ceiling, it was quite peaceful. Looking around, Chara spotted Frisk standing in front of an Echo Flower with her back turned toward her. As Chara got closer, she noticed that Frisk wasn't just standing in front of the flower, but she seemed to be bending over it and she could just make out Frisk whispering to it.

"Frisk, come on, let's get going." Chara said startling Frisk, who squeaked like a mouse.

Frisk turned and trotted over to Chara. "Sorry, I didn't hear you come in."

"Were you making a wish?" Chara asked, an eyebrow raised.

"N-no, I was just listening to it is all." Frisk stammered. "Come on, the monsters aren't going to free themselves." Frisk ran ahead toward the the Wishing Room's exit.

Chara rolled her eyes and made to follow but stopped next to the whispering flower Frisk had been standing next to. She hesitated for a few moments, before sighing and taking a step closer so she could hear what it was saying in Frisk's voice.

"I wish for Chara to be-" it ended abruptly with Frisk's squeak of surprise.

Damn it, what was she going to say? Chara thought as she stared at the glowing flower. And why the hell was it about me?

The flower held no answers for her as it continued to repeat Frisk's interrupted wish. Sighing again, this time with somewhat frustration, Chara took a final glance around the room before following Frisk through the hidden door she had opened when she ran off.

*Finally reading Chapter 13 fills you with Determination!*