It was in the cold, in the dark, that the child was blessed with a dream. A nightmare, all her own. Tangled between countless pieces of memory, twisted into something unrecognizable, undiscernible. White noise, as a concept. Inspiring fear, and a compulsion of repulsion despite an inability to discern the meaning. To see through the static.
A place, body parts. Flowing blood, blue eyes. Examinations, a knife lacerating the skin. Twitching muscles, muffled screams, green. Anchored sensations blurred, and lost as soon as they spread. A sight, a sensation, a word.
"Failure." Following another.
Defining characteristics, a faint light. Blurring of blue and red. Bleeding together the pieces. Being pulled away by the dark. A broken hand rising, reaching for it. Their faces, voices, tearing apart, bleeding, breaking. Pleading It doesn't stop, it doesn't end. It will just |RESTART|
Warmth rushed in, and then...
Blankets snug and warm, as well as a dubiously comfortable pillow were what greeted Chara, when she awoke. Heart pounding in her chest, despite the lingering feeling of exhaustion. Flickers of thought, stitching together, giving her some presence, and sense of being awake.
Her hair was messy, matted looking, with strands of black at the edges of one side. These dark streaks moving up her cheek, to her eyes. With one side pressed flat, while the rest was a bit wild.
One eye mostly closed, while the other scanned this peculiar place. A long yawn escaping, despite her attempts to keep it in. She couldn't quite, place where she was, and wasn't quite awake enough for it all to register.
The space she was in, was definitely a house. She appeared to be on a couch, beside a door. With a table shortly ahead of said door, not that it properly registered. Across from her was a television on small entertainment center. With a lone shoe beside it, covered in sticky notes. To her left was a small coffee table, with a large book on it.
To the right of the TV, there was another room. One in which she could vaguely make out a fridge of some kind, suggesting it was a kitchen. Noise could be heard coming from it. Sounds, like cooking coming from it.
She didn't pay much attention. Turning to the left of the TV. There was a staircase, with wobbly looking side-rails. It went up to what seemed to be two other rooms. With stuff on them, she couldn't make out, or read, at this point in time.
Chara thought she could hear someone moving around. Somewhere...but didn't really care right now. She felt awful. Tugging on her hood, she pulled it over her head, groaning.
She felt...like garbage, and not that classy kind of garbage that could be made into other stuff. The term for recycling escaped her. No, she felt like the bad kinda garbage, that couldn't be used for nothin. Little bits of the day before coming back to her, gradually snuffing out the feeling of warmth she'd only barely grasped.
Her attention briefly falling on her reflection across from her. To the dark lines running down her face. Stained black splotches on her jacket, and her sleeve. Her attention then reaching her reflections eyes. Staring into them, deeper, and deeper. The world growing gradually quiet, silencing. Save for the faintest whispers, things she couldn't quite make out.
Her eyes glassing over, before-
A voice greeted her. "Ah, wonderful, you're finally awake, Human."
Snapping to attention, she blinked some, turning to the source of the familiar voice. The tall skeleton, wearing what appeared to be a similar turtleneck to her own. At least in style, and color. It was...understandably larger by comparison.
Papyrus had, above this and his dark pants, an apron with the pirate skull and bones on it. And in contrast to them all, a pair of pink fuzzy slippers to complete the whole ensemble. It was...a look she wasn't completely prepared for, and may have made her chuckle, if she could.
"Papyrus?" She asked, even more confused. "Am...I asleep?"
"While it is perfectly normal for people to dream about me, no you are not." Papyrus said, carrying a plate and a glass with him, handing them to her. "Here, breakfast lasagna, and a glass of malk."
"Malk?" Chara remembered it, promptly after asking.
Malk was a sort of magical milk, synthetically created from a couple ingredient...and magic. It was almost identical to its overworld counterpart in many ways. Though, it did carry a distinct, albeit subtle chalky flavor.
Thankfully, Papyrus didn't respond to the question. Seeming to have set off to do something. Namely, heading over to the small corner coffee table. He lifted it up, and brought it in front of her. Setting it down, while grabbing the book from it. Which was then moved to the larger table, just after the door.
He set it beside a plate, bearing a poorly decorated rock. She was curious, but didn't ask. Her focus turning to the food and drink, placing them onto the table. She drank some of the malk, but not a lot.
Papyrus gave her a glance over. "Are you feeling well?"
"No." She muttered. "Where...am I?" She asked. "Is this...I was probably captured, right?"
He noticed her frown, and considered. "Traditionally, perhaps. But in this instance, no, you are not." He suggested, walking over. "Me and my brother waited for you both to come through the next set of puzzles. However, as you might imagine, that never occurred." He explained. "I sent Sans to investigate, and he found you half frozen over, and unconscious. So, I came, picked you up, and brought you to our home. That you might be warmed up. The cold can be quite dangerous, after all." He hummed. "The couch just seemed the most appropriate place for you to restore your strength, in our house. It is strangely the most comfortable piece of furniture we own."
"Why?" She asked quietly. "Shouldn't...you have let me freeze to death?"
"That sounds like a rather silly suggestion." Papyrus responded, wishing they had a chair. "It wouldn't do to let such a fierce rival merely freeze." He suggested, though she didn't respond to that. "Nor...someone who has been so friendly. Such things should be rewarded, after all."
"It wouldn't have mattered." She replied, sniffling. "Nobody would have cared."
Papyrus examined his temporary ward. Having checked back over his human hand-book, he was now certain this was a larval stage human. A 'child' as they were sometimes called. It made a lot of things make a lot more sense to him. Though, in hindsight, if he'd payed a bit more attention, perhaps he could have figured that out sooner. Lamentations for later.
"Chara, friendship can be difficult sometimes." He said, having regained her attention. "Everynow and then, it doesn't work out the way we hoped it might." She whimpered some. "That doesn't mean it's not worth a shot, yes?"
"But...he didn't come back." Chara said, getting to the core of the issue, hugging herself. "I-I waited...and waited, and-"
"It's possible he got distracted." Papyrus offered. "Knowing Flowey, that's...more than likely in some cases." She didn't seem reassured. "Space is an important thing to give our friends, and to have ourselves at times. We are after all, individual people, striving to our glorious destinies. And while those may entwine with others-" She sniffled some. "being able to be ourselves, is just as important as being apart of our team. Don't you think?"
"I...guess." She muttered. "What if...he doesn't come back?"
"If on the odd chance, he did just leave. Then who cares?" Papyrus remarked.
"Me." She replied sadly.
"Nonsense." The skeleton huffed. "Chara, sometimes the people we try and befriend do things like this." He told her. "Sometimes it just doesn't work out the way we want it to go, even if both parties want it to. Believe it or not-" He sighed. "I've...failed a number of friendships. Had some people who held a genuine disinterest in remaining my companions."
Chara struggled to believe that. "You're...just being nice."
"No, no, it's quite true." He admitted. "Matter of fact, when I was younger, for example, I met Flowey." She tilted her head. "He was one of my first friends, funny enough. Well, me and my brothers friend, but...not the point." He noted. "Together we set about trying to gather new friends. We had this plan, diabolical, if naïve."
"What was the plan?" She asked.
"We were going to make friends with everyone we met. To make everyone happy, smile. To...try and make things better." He tapped at the scar over his eye. "Unfortunately, this is what I got for my trouble. There was a monster who, no matter how many times we befriended him, hung out, or just tried to make him like us...it never seemed to last in any meaningful way. We only thought ourselves to still be friends, because he was being nice. One day he lost his patience, and well, we all injured."
"I'm sorry." She apologized.
"You don't have to apologize, Chara, you're not at fault." Papyrus assured her. "Please don't blame yourself for the actions of others. Sometimes people let you down, and that hurts. You're allowed to feel that hurt, and heal that from injury at your own pace." He said, in the most reassuring voice he could muster. "But, do we give up when that happens?"
Chara wanted to say yes, but replied. "No?"
"No we do not." He smirked. "What do we do instead?"
"We...persevere?" She replied
"I was thinking 'stay determined', but you know what?" He pat his knees, while standing up. "I like your rendition better." He smiled some. "Now, you should finish eating. Sans and I discussed it, and you definitely need some sort of battle armor." She blinked in surprise. "Since your present one has all those ink stains on it."
Chara examined her coat, and such. Indeed, it did appear that there were ink stains all across it. She hadn't realized how bad they were, until she tried to get it out and couldn't. She ran a hand, across her cheek, finding that some had stained those too. But, at least that was easier to clean off.
"Thank you, but-" Chara hesitated some. "you don't have to. That sounds expensive."
"I'll have none of that human." Papyrus cut her off. "This isn't a negotiation. It would hardly be fitting to have you wandering around, so disheveled." He posed some. "You are, after all, one of my fans, are you not?"
Chara misheard him, having been messing with the ink. "W-wait, we're friends?"
"Well, I'm friends with all my fans." Papyrus replied, before noticing her hopeful expression had returned. "However...yes, I would say, we're on the friend side of things, far more than we aren't anyways." She seemed happy. "Now, I'll be back. I'm not wandering out like this." He motioned. "And please finish eating. It's important to the healing process."
"Eating lasagna, and drinking malk?" She asked.
"Well I didn't have any turkey soup, and pixie soda, so this is sort of the most I can do at the moment." Papyrus muttered, before adding. "So yes."
Chara managed to smile. "Okay...I'll, uhm...thank you."
Papyrus went upstairs, while she ate breakfast. Toriel likely wouldn't sign off on this being the healthiest of meals. But Chara hoped an exception would be made. She was sure it would.
Her mind drifting from the dark of the morning. As easily as it came, it was gone. Replaced with the will, to Persevere.