Chapter 7

For nearly two days Frisk and Papyrus traveled without Sans. Having nobody else to talk to, Papyrus engaged in conversation with Frisk. Not being able to interact with anyone save Frisk, Chara was forced to watch Frisk and Papyrus converse as if they were old friends.

It quickly grew tiresome.

While Frisk got to actively engage with her guide, Chara was forced to follow his companion and not communicate with her in any way. Frisk had even stopped staying up late to speak to Chara, and he cursed himself for discouraging her from doing so. Perhaps they were not truly friends, but he still took value in the conversations they did have. Frisk genuinely cared about Chara, or at least he couldn't imagine that she didn't when Frisk tried to comfort him in the past. Frisk had even shared the truth of why she ran into the forest, and like the fool Chara was, his response was to dismiss the friendship Frisk thought they had.

Now here Chara was, forced to watch a world with which he could not interact and the only person with whom he could communicate paying him no mind. It was a miserable existence. Lonely, even.

"We will be coming up to a town soon," Papyrus then said, dragging Chara out of his depressing thoughts and back to the world around him.

"Will Sans meet us there?" Frisk asked, her gaze locked dead ahead.

Papyrus shook his head and answered, "I cannot imagine that he would, not with Snowdin Town being the first place either of us would be recognized."

"Oh." Frisk sounded disappointed. She was probably still worried about the other monster, and Chara was sure she still blamed herself for Sans's being separated from her and Papyrus.

"But nobody in town will recognize you." As if this realization was of great importance, Papyrus stopped walking and stuck his fist into his pants pocket and began to search. Frisk, too, stopped and stared at Papyrus. When he found what he was looking for, Papyrus pulled out a key and handed it to Frisk.

"There is a two-story home at the end of town," Papyrus told Frisk. "This key will unlock the door. Once you have gone inside, I will need you to search for any additional supplies you can find."

"Supplies?"

"Nothing crazy. Matches, canned food, maybe check my bookshelf for more puzzles – I have nothing to hide, and Sans isn't here to argue about your digging through his belongings, so any room you can walk into is yours to explore."

Frisk looked down at the key and back up at Papyrus. "Are you sure it's safe for me to walk into town on my own and go straight to your house?"

"You might get a couple people greeting you and asking you where you're from, but I doubt much more than that would happen." Papyrus hummed. "Yes, you should be fine. Just make sure nobody sees you entering my house. It would look bad enough if anyone saw you trying to get inside, and it would raise a lot of questions if anyone saw that you also had a key."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"It's better for you to walk into Snowdin Town than it is for me to try doing all this myself. However, if you do not feel comfortable going by yourself-"

"No, I think I'll be okay." Frisk pocketed the key. "So, the house on the end with the two floors?"

"Yes, there will also be two mailboxes outside. Each will have either my or Sans's name. You shouldn't be able to miss it."

"What if someone else has taken over the house while you and Sans have been on the run?"

"I hope not – we just paid the mortgage off!"

When they were at the end of the road and the town was within sight, Frisk handed Papyrus the pack Toriel had given her. Papyrus advised Frisk to say that she was traveling and was merely going through as he handed her back the pack. "The town is small enough that everyone will immediately know that you are not from around, so it would be better to be honest about you traveling from the Ruined Woods," he advised.

"But wouldn't it be suspicious for a child to be going through Snowdin Lane by herself?" Frisk asked.

"You are not that much shorter than Sans. Claim that you are an adult who's small for her age. After all, didn't you say that being thirteen makes you an adult?"

Frisk didn't respond, so Chara was sure that she was at a loss for words. For someone who wanted to be taken seriously, Frisk clearly wasn't ready to let go of hand holding just yet. This was going to be the truest test of her independence.

"Are you having second thoughts?" Papyrus asked when Frisk hesitated. "You really do not have to do this if you do not want to."

"No," Frisk answered, "I'll go. I want to go."

"Very well. If I do not see you back here by sundown, I will believe something has happened to you."

"I will be back here before then." Frisk let out a deep breath. "Well, here I go."

"Be careful, and make sure nobody sees you enter the house," Papyrus advised. Then he did something strange: he pat Frisk on the head. It was an almost tender touch, like an older brother to a younger sister.

Chara may not have been able to see Frisk's expression, but he knew she was surprised. She did not say anything, however. With another promise to be back before sundown, Frisk turned around and walked towards the town.

"Frisk, are you okay?" Chara asked after they were a few yards away from Papyrus but still not within town limits.

"I guess I'm a little surprised," Frisk answered. "Papyrus was so genuinely concerned for my safety. Did it not cross his mind that if I were caught, I could turn him in if it meant saving myself?"

"I suppose that depends on for what he is on the run." Chara saw the town in the distance and said, "This place looks much smaller than the village in Ruined Woods."

"Papyrus said that it's small enough that anyone should be able to tell that I'm an outsider." Frisk hummed before saying, "I really hope nobody asks me where I'm from. I'm not good at lying, and I'm afraid someone will know I'm being dishonest."

"I know a trick for that," Chara replied. "Act confident, like you know what you are doing."

"But I don't know what I'm doing."

"Yes, but nobody else needs to know that. Listen, Frisk, if you wander around like a lost puppy, you are going to signal to everyone that you might need help. Worse yet, you may give someone reason to be suspicious of you. However, if you act confident in yourself and your actions, even if you do not really know what you are doing, nobody will know the difference. It really is all in a matter of how you carry yourself."

Frisk was silent for a moment before saying, "You know an awful lot for someone who doesn't remember anything."

"Thanks, I guess."

"No, I mean it. You know a good deal about Ebott Forest, and your advice makes a lot of sense when you explain it that way."

"Yes, but I did not remember why the people here wear masks."

"Just because you don't remember everything doesn't mean the things you do remember are not useful. You may be some hidden expert for all we know."

Chara felt something, but he couldn't describe it. He couldn't feel the harsh wintry air against what would be cheeks or the snow beneath the feet he didn't have. Even emotions were difficult to describe as he lacked a body with which to feel said emotions. However, being with Frisk made him feel something in his sea of nothingness. Maybe this was what it was like to have someone who cared for you, and Chara kept responding by pushing her away again.

"Hidden expert or not, I do not remember the things that matter. Now, we are getting close to the town. Acting confident may help to keep strangers from talking to you and asking if you need help, but talking to me is going to gain all sorts of the wrong attention.

Frisk didn't reply, but she sighed. Chara felt bad for speaking to her so harshly, but it was better this way, or so he told himself. If personal feelings started getting involved and they really did see each other as friends, it could make it for difficult for them to each get what they wanted out of this contractual relationship.

Stepping into town, Frisk tried to put Chara's advice into action. She threw her shoulders back and carried her head high. Papyrus said that his home was at the end of the town, so all Frisk had to do was walk in a straight line until she came to the house with two mailboxes.

Yet Frisk did not make it far in before her beeline towards the end of the town stopped. She was looking around the village, taking in all the sights and sounds. Chara didn't know for certain, but he was mostly sure that Frisk was sightseeing willingly and did not already forget where Papyrus told her to go.

"What are you doing?" Chara asked just to make sure.

"Looking around," Frisk quietly answered, confirming his suspicions. "This place looks like it's decorated for Christmas."

Chara also began to look around, and true to Frisk's words, the place did appear to be preparing for the holiday. Colored lights streamed the roofs of buildings, there was a reef on every door, and snowmen dotted the town as if defending the homes of their builders with their lives. There was even a large, decorated conifer in the middle of the town.

Seeming to be enamored by the tree, Frisk walked towards it. She whispered her awe at the large tree covered in lights and ribbons. Her mask reflected off the ornaments. The expression of her mask may have been that or boredom, but Chara knew that this girl was anything but. It was as if Frisk had just witnessed the most magnificent thing in the entire world.

"Isn't this the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?" she asked so quietly Chara almost did not hear her.

Barely thinking about it, Chara answered, "Second most."

"Second? What's the first?"

"I do not remember, but I know this is not it."

Frisk muttered something incomprehensible under her breath. Chara decided against asking her to repeat herself. For a moment, the two stood in silence as Frisk admired the tree.

When Frisk was satisfied, she turned around to walk away. Only she wasn't paying attention. Before even Chara could realize it, Frisk turned around and walked straight into someone else.

"Yo, watch it!" shouted a kid about Frisk's age.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Frisk quickly apologized. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

The new arrival snorted. "Obviously."

Looking at the kid, Chara could not tell if this was a boy or a girl. The mask was that of a lizard monster with a round face and spikes on the top of the head. This kid's hair was a shade of gold that was almost orange, and the kid wore black pants and a poncho so big it swallowed up the kid's arms.

After looking at Frisk for more than a few seconds, the kid exclaimed, "Hey, you're a kid, too!"

Well, there goes Papyrus's plan of Frisk telling everyone that she's a small adult, Chara thought.

Before Frisk could respond, the kid continued, "I have never seen you at school, and I know everyone at school, so you have to be new to town. Name's Mon."

"I'm Frisk," said girl introduced herself as she accepted Mon's outstretched hand.

Jerking Frisk's arm up and down, Mon said, "Yo, sorry about earlier. You were admiring the tree, right? A lot of city slickers spend a good minute looking at that tree when they first show up. I thought you might have been one of them."

"How do you know that I'm not a city slicker?" Frisk asked, sounding almost amused.

"You aren't wearing a puffer coat three times your size," Mon answered with a snort. "Those people can't seem to handle a little cold. However, you're not overly dressed, so where you come from has to be somewhat cool."

"I'm from the Ruined Woods," Frisk said, surprising Chara with the ease in which she told the lie. It appeared as if Frisk was taking Chara's advice to heart. There was a cool confidence to this human, as if she had done this before.

"Nice!" Mon exclaimed. "I always wanted to see it, but the people there are not too fond of outsiders. I think if they could close off their portion of the forest to the rest of us, they would. Tell me, is it really as colorful there as people say it is?"

Frisk nodded. "There are a lot of red, orange, and yellow leaves, both on the trees and on the ground. The world is full of those burnt colors. It's a real contrast to the never-ending white of Snowdin Lane."

"Sweet! Hey, I have an idea: Why don't I show you around Snowdin Town, and in exchange, you show me around Ruined Woods."

The ease of confidence Frisk had displayed faltered. "Well, I don't know. . . ."

"C'mon, do a girl a favor," Mon insisted. "You don't have to show me Ruined Woods today. Sometime in the future works too, you know."

Chara could see in the way Frisk swayed from foot to foot that she was not comfortable with the idea of another agreement, especially since Frisk had no plans to return to the Ruined Woods. It would be rather difficult, after all, to fulfill this promise unless she went back to the place she intended to leave forever.

While Frisk hesitated to reply, Mon rushed to Frisk's side and linked arms with her. "Ah, you'll come around! I'll just go ahead and start giving you the tour now. There's plenty to cover, so I shall show you the way!"

Fumbling over her words, Frisk tried and failed to give a reply. It looked as if whether she liked it or not, this kid was going to be her companion as she journeyed through the town. This was going to make going to Papyrus's house without witnesses extremely difficult, especially since Frisk was supposed to be back by sundown.

"Don't worry," Mon said as she dragged Frisk back to the town entrance, "I promise to show you everything there is to be seen in Snowdin Town!"

Her words sounding forced, Frisk replied, "I can't wait to see everything."

Chara couldn't tell whether he should laugh at Frisk's misfortune or fume with her frustration.