Chapter 6

A Dogged Encounter

Chara called out for help.

Her body went limp and she collapsed on the cold ground, making a pathetic 'crunch'. It was good fortune that Asriel noticed this right away. "Chara!" He would call out. It wasn't long after their snowball fight that this had occurred. Had all the excitement made her this exhausted? There was no hesitation for him to turn her on her back, luckily he could see she was still breathing, but she clutched at her chest, she looked to be in an indescribable pain. "What happened?"

Chara winced for a response, occasionally- Asriel could hear a light groan. His hands shook, unclear on how to react. The only thing that came to mind was from before. He inched closer, leading with his head, hoping to hear anything.

"H-h-h-."

Asriel's heart pounded, he could feel it in his ears. Regardless, he tried again.

"H-urts."

"It hurts?" The boy pondered if she had been hit by too many snowballs. But then it occurred to him: the fall. "Wh-where does it hurt?" Chara opened one eye and pointed all across her chest and ribs. His hands still shook but he remembered something his mother taught him. He closed his eyes and clasped his hands together as if he were about to pray.

It wasn't long before a brilliant, yet shy, green light emerged from within him, he held it close in his palms. Chara looked up at this, still grabbing at her chest. In all the pain she had at that moment she could feel something warm coming from Asriel, coming from that light. Something so out of place in such a wintry and dismal area.

Asriel opened his eyes and witnessed his creation. It even shocked him. He wasn't used to using magic -even this type- so the energy made him giggle. So as not to offend Chara he apologized, "S-sorry… I don't use magic a lot. B-but I think this will help you." To concentrate he closed his eyes once more and willed his little, green magic closer and closer to his companion. It took all the effort in his body and in his heart to channel his love and hope to help her.

Chara could only witness the beauty in the green ball which hovered over her. Her breathy smoke mixed in with the green light, and she saw it float onto her chest. Her first reaction was pain but she mistook a giant swelling of warmth for discomfort. Her arm flailed to the side, but she focused, and found something nice. A warm intention. When the light disappeared it seemed to meld within her. When it was completely gone, she laid there, still in pain, although manageable.

"Well, how do you feel?" Asriel smiled sincerely. Chara nodded in the snow and raised a hand, moving her thumb and pointer close to one another, signifying: "A little better".

"Good." The boy decided, "Maybe we should get you to my mom. She's much better at healing magic than I am."

There was no response, only eyes closing, motionless in the snow. Asriel crossed his legs, adamant to stay with her. After a minute her limbs extended outwards, the boy only looked at her with innocent curiosity. She moved her hands and arms side to side and could not hold back a wide smile from cheek to cheek.

Asriel tittered and did exactly as her, his head opposite hers near her feet, slamming his head on the soft snow. He too made a snow angel. Times were undoubtedly happy but new for both of them. When they were satisfied they jumped out and witnessed their heavenly creations. The two were more or less the same height but their angels differed at their heads. Chara's being more bulky, leaving Asriel's angel half a head less wide- most likely due to Chara's unkempt and large hair. She shook her head and shoulders like some wet puppy, doing away with snow stuck on her hair.

Nex to her, the fluffy boy noted Chara was carefully still holding onto her chest with one hand. He would think, She must still be in pain, I have to get her to mom. "The way to the castle is far, but we can always rest in Snowdin Town."

Chara gave a look at these words as if to say, "Hm?" Asriel tried to interpret her thoughts, perhaps she was really saying, "how long?" Or maybe… he would soon be interrupted by a frigid wind sweeping past them. It was at this moment Chara was relieved she was still wearing his sweater, however, even with it she trembled. Even with his fur, fluffy boy shivered. The girl was quick to react, coiling her arm around his and trudging forward- the way Asriel had been leading them.

There wasn't much of a difference in this for Asriel, but he appreciated the gesture nonetheless, holding her arm firmly. Traversing the desolate plains proved challenging without proper clothing. Pure blades of icy wind seemed to cut deep in their skin, even Chara's extremities turned pink from exposure. The more the struggled however, the more it appeared the storm grew. At a point, the two were forced to squint through the blizzard, the king's son feared he might get swept up in the storm.

The girl hoped Asriel knew where they were leading them, the only landmarks she could see in the frozen forest were its deathly trees. They stood menacingly, towering above them, they seemed to twist in unnatural ways against her, towards her, without leaves or any greens. The trees were only black and mangled by some dark force. She could swear she heard them yell at her in all this commotion.

Just when the two thought they could take nothing more, or even step any closer to their destination, Asriel pointed out, he had to yell to be heard, "Look!"

Chara looked up, but there was nothing there. Nothing but the cacophony of the wind, the menacing trees, and the pure white that extended for miles and miles. She looked at him but followed his hand and where it pointed once more. She had to squint and wipe her eyelashes many times. The wind slammed into the mangled trees, breaking off some of their branches and scattering their remains all around.

Something did catch her eye, it was incredibly difficult to spot, it surprised her the boy was able to find it so quickly. The only reason she had found it was because of a momentary glimmer it gave off. Off in the distance- although close enough to them where Chara's heart dropped out of fear when she first spotted it- there was a dog monster with an interesting armor that seemed to blend in with all the snow. It barked and waved its claws in the air.

With this the storm seemed to push the duo back, somehow the wind picked up its speed. Asriel wondered with a yell, "Are they the one doing this?" But this was inconsequential for the girl, this thing was in their way, and they needed to get through. She stepped forward and pointed right at the dog.

Chara said something threatening. The dog cupped a paw around his ear, but he could not hear!

Chara spat, but it hit her in the face! She wiped herself off and flung her arms wildly, obviously frustrated. She resorted to what she had done before. She scooped up some snow below her and packed and shaped it like a ball. With all the fierceness and strength she had she threw the ball at the dog, but it had no effect! The ball simply landed a few feet from her. She stepped closer and repeated the process- each time her snowballs pathetically missed their target.

Asriel watched these hopeless actions, wishing they didn't have to resort to some kind of a fight. Chara's snowballs weren't working like they did before. But he only got increasingly nervous the more Chara got closer to the dog. He looked around for anything that might help them. All he could see was the storm blinding him. What do I do? He would think, beginning to feel an immense pressure that might break him. Like always… I can't do anything. It was always this thought or more like it that preceded before him resorting to crying, and giving up and other situations he recalled.

When he was sure there was nothing he could do, he tumbled on his knees, landing on something hard. "Ow!" Asriel took out whatever was beneath him and rubbed his knee gently. What he was holding was a torn off branch. Upon closer inspection, there seemed to be others like it being buried beneath the snow. He held it in front of him and then looked at Chara, she was so close to the dog now, she could almost touch him.

The girl was exhausted, yet her enemy was only a few feet away. It was apparent she was in no condition to push herself so far, she still clung to her chest painfully with one hand. But she had to move forward, someone was in her way. She scooped up another snowball, but fate would present here with an opening. There was a stone close to her feet. A devilish idea occurred to her and she quickly ducked, making it so the dog would not notice the stone she was so adamantly adding into her new snowball.

There was a noise close to them, sort of like a small thud. The dog perked its ears, intrigued but not satisfied. It continued its wintry magic and kept its watchful gaze on the girl. Yet another thud, again the dog perked up, this time, a stick would land close to him. The dog searched for the other and saw Asriel holding up a branch in his hand waving it from side to side. This made the dog salivate, leaving his tongue out in the open.

"Here, over here!" Asriel called out, still waving another broken branch. He wasn't sure if he had its full attention so he threw this branch as well. This time the dog would try to catch it, but it missed! Slowly it would appear that the blizzard was getting better. The fluffy boy saw he could only find one more branch so he had to make this one count. He walked the same path as Chara and wagged the branch as he did.

The dog let down his guard! All at once the snow ceased to move all around them, it just stood there lifeless and in the air still. "C'mere doggy, c'mere!" Asriel beckoned, victory was assured if he kept this up. The dog was losing his mind, the armor it was in moved towards Asriel but it barked in another direction filled with a tremendous excitement.

Chara threw her snowball.

It went straight and through, this was an opportunity she could not pass, since the storm had calmed. It hit the dog in the back of his head, sending it from out of its armor and onto the cold floor. It wriggled a moment and stood back surprised a moment from the shock. Asriel was distraught. The dog barked a few times before it growled at a celebrating Chara. The boy was relieved the dog was okay, but he looked at his hand that held a branch with much disbelief. "B-but… it was…"

The dog barked again, it barked some more, it barked a spell. The snow that had frozen in midair began to thrust like before. But it was different, the wind was more violent, filled with anger and retribution. Chara noticed this and a motionless Asriel. She leapt to action and rushed to the boy. She questioned his motives with a look.

He looked up at her ignoring the violence around them, "Wha-... why?"

Her face became scrunched, she seemed upset at something, perhaps at him. But there was no time to argue, she pulled him up, taking him by the hand the two ran. They hoped to run from a most intense and frightening calamity behind them.

Luckily for them, the two could at last see friendly lights in the distance.