Chara found themself able to relax a bit easier once they'd gone a little further, both children agreeing to stop up ahead when they came to a split in the path. Frisk kneeled down next to a tree for a few moments, seeming to look at something, while Chara went on ahead to examine the box nearby.
Frisk rushed over before they could read the sign next to the box, holding up a drawing of a weird... star-like thing. Underneath were the words, "The convenience of that lamp still fills you with Determination!" For whatever reason, they looked pleased, prompting the ghost child to ask, "Why do you keep stopping everywhere? What is that even supposed to be?"
They only shrugged. Chara sighed, turning to read the sign. "This is a box. You can put an item inside or take an item out. The same box will appear later, so don't worry about coming back. Sincerely, a box lover." That didn't seem suspicious at all. Who was taking this box to different places along the way so they could use it?
"Well, I'll go see what's up there," they said, pointing to the path that turned left from where they were originally going. "Store whatever you might need to. Snowdin is up ahead, so if you need to you can buy more stuff from their shop. Just be careful about what you put away." Frisk nodded, going to sit by the box as they pulled their bag off their shoulder. They opened it as Chara walked away, making sure they were far enough away before putting the toy knife in there. They should've just thrown it away, but... just in case?
No. They'd decided not to hurt anybody. They were going to stick by that and get out of here without fighting.
They put the spider donut and butterscotch pie inside, figuring they didn't need so many sweets anyway. Hopefully they'd still be good by the time Frisk retrieved them. Also within the box... a glove? A boxing glove of some sort. Figuring they had no use for it – if anything, they still had a stick! – they closed the box and followed Chara...
Only to run into them as they returned. "There's nothing but a river up there. And the fishing poll of a desperate monster. But hey, I found out I could breathe underwater! ...don't ask why I found that out."
...they continued on their way, heading forward on their original path.
They ran straight back into the skeletons.
"SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE," Papyrus was saying as they approached, giving each other nervous glances as they wondered whether or not to trust Sans. Within just a few seconds they were noticed, the taller skeleton turning in their direction before both brothers began to look back and forth between the human in front of them and the skeleton next to them, eventually... spinning around wildly without pause. When they finally stopped, both turned around to whisper, though they were loud enough the kids could still hear. "SANS! OH MY GOD! IS THAT... A HUMAN!?"
The two of them turned back around and both pairs ended up staring at each other, Sans letting out a long "uhhh..." before breaking it to his brother, "actually, i think that's a rock." Chara, confused, looked around and indeed did see a rock, but didn't expect Papyrus to fall for that.
So they were a bit concerned for the skeleton when they heard his loud "OH."
Sans, remaining casual as Frisk tried not to smirk, asked his brother, "hey, what's that in front of the rock?" Papyrus turned to them once more and again seemed amazed, exclaiming suddenly, "OH MY GOD!"
He turned to whisper to his brother, still uncertain, "IS... IS THAT A HUMAN?" Sans replied with a simple "yes," leading Papyrus to again exclaim, even louder, "OH MY GOD!" Excitedly he carried on this time, unable to form hardly a full sentence, "SANS! I FINALLY DID IT! UNDYNE WILL... I'M GONNA... I'LL BE SO... POPULAR! POPULAR! POPULAR!"
Suddenly he cut himself off, as if realizing his behavior wasn't entirely appropriate for somebody who was supposed to be capturing the human in front of him. He cleared his... throat? Before finally declaring, "HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! THEN... THEN!" He paused a moment, looking off to the side uncertainly, before admitting, "I'M NOT SURE WHAT'S NEXT. IN ANY CASE! CONTINUE... ONLY IF YOU DARE!" With that he once again ran off, laughing, "NYEH HEH HEH HEH!"
Sans looked after him, then looked back to Frisk to say, "well, that went well." Frisk, having by now realized if anything Papyrus was mostly just silly, looked back at the short skeleton, who shrugged as he assured, "don't sweat it, kid. i'll keep an eyesocket out for ya." With that, he winked and walked off, in the right direction this time, leaving Frisk behind.
...leading Chara to say aloud, "Wait, how did he even get here?" But neither of them could really answer that beyond... "Probably magic."
They stopped briefly at Papyrus's sentry station up ahead, running into a monster named Snowdrake when they tried to continue on. After laughing at his jokes, successfully reassuring him he was at least somewhat funny – though Chara, having a bit of a thing against ice-related puns, was obviously trying not to snicker – they carried on to the next sentry station, passing by a sign that said, "Absolutely NO MOVING!"
Having ignored the sign almost completely, knowing that wasn't an option, they ran into... an oddly-dressed dog monster who wasn't very pleased with their moving. Having outright told them he could only see things that moved, Frisk stood still as he searched for them, his shifty eyes uncertain as he tried to find them. His weapons, glowing blue, passed right through the still human's soul as he searched, Chara momentarily panicking as it made contact but breathing a side of relief when they remembered what blue magic could do.
When he was close enough, but still could not see them, Frisk carefully reached out and pet his head. To say he was excited was an understatement. But once that wore off, he seemed a bit fearful that something had pet him without moving, and sank back into his sentry station for some dog treats. "...Snowdin's a bit more lively than it used to be," was all Chara said as they continued along into what used to be the quiet, snowy forest.
They ran into Sans up ahead, who informed them of blue attacks – which was a good little run-through for Frisk, considering Chara forgot to even mention it. Frisk went ahead, sliding on the ice, but before Chara could follow they were stopped by a mumbled, "hey, kid."
Their eyes widened. They turned back to the skeleton who still didn't look in their direction, but said, "yeah, you. anybody else caught on?"
"Ex... cuse me? Caught on to what?" How could he see them? Turning back to Frisk for a moment, they were still continuing on, trying not to slip, giggling about a sign they found in the middle of the ice before heading north to whatever was off the main path.
"you, kid. anybody seen you yet?" He looked away from them, taking a step in the opposite direction. Was he going to leave before he could tell them anything? "besides the obvious. ghosts don't count, kid. no offense."
"There was... one, but it wasn't a monster. I don't know... what it... How can you see me?" Did this mean he'd heard them before when they called out to him? Is that why he replied?
But Sans merely shrugged, walking off in the direction they'd come from, saying, "k. just checking. your friend's coming back this way, kid."
And sure enough, when they turned to look, Frisk was heading back and... stuffing snow in their bag for whatever reason. Wouldn't that ruin it? Or anything inside? But... wait, no, they couldn't think about that now. They turned back to Sans, saying, "But wait, you didn't-" Too late. He was already gone. "...what was that about? If you're going to ignore me, then ignore me completely..."
Frisk questioned what they'd been doing, but Chara sighed, saying, "Wasting my time. I just got... distracted for a minute. Why'd you get that snow?" As they wrote down a reply, talking about a talking snowman up north, Chara glanced back in the direction Sans had disappeared in. They weren't going to bother trying to talk to him, especially while Frisk was around.
Papyrus, up ahead, had a shock maze puzzle that failed horribly. Sans, now there despite having gone the other way yet again, thanked Frisk as his brother seemed to be having fun. He then told them Papyrus's outfit was from a costume party, which seemed a tad ridiculous, but Sans... thought it was cool.
How sweet. Chara narrowed their eyes at him for the whole conversation, however, and when he asked Frisk, "isn't my brother cool?" he looked to the side at them. Chara was tired of these weird people either not acknowledging them directly or just being obnoxious.
Up ahead, Frisk bought some Nice Cream, won a ball game with a blue flag, and had to put up with more of Sans's shenanigans. Chara realized they felt like little more than a tagalong, with Frisk exploring this new world around them and hardly attempting to communicate with Chara at this point. Even as they enjoyed the brothers' shenanigans in the next room, Chara could only observe in silence. It was only when they got to the room with... a microwave, some cold spaghetti, and a note from Papyrus, that they finally stopped to rest and talk a bit more.
"I feel like I knew a skeleton once before," Chara mumbled, trying to think on it. "I can't really remember them, though... so I must've not seen them very often. I really don't recognize most of the monsters here, but I guess... it's been a long time."
Frisk didn't move to write anything, only looking thoughtful as they sat a few feet in front of the table of spaghetti. Chara was wondering whether or not to be concerned when they finally moved to write, asking, "Are you more comfortable in this area?"
Chara nodded. "Yeah, I... can't really use much magic, now that I'm a ghost. But since I'm still really cold, this place still feels homey. It always did when I was alive, too. Me and Asriel... we came here a lot back then." They laughed a bit, though, saying, "Not as much royal guard out and about back then, though. I had a... friend, of sorts, who lived out in the Snowdin forest. He was my guardian for a while, as ordered by King Dad. But I... don't know if he'd be around anymore."
The kids sat in silence for quite a while, Chara suggesting at one point that maybe Papyrus figured his spaghetti plan worked when they didn't continue on. That earned a laugh, but both kids were mostly thinking on things. And then... Chara realized. Maybe now would be a good time to ask...
"...Frisk, are you the same as me?"
A nod, without hesitation, was their response. It honestly threw Chara off, but Frisk wrote to explain, "My Determination is very great, according to the scientists. Because of that, I can hardly use the magic they put in me. I have no side effects either." They were so willing to talk about, but judging by the next words written they probably weren't as traumatized by everything that happened. "When I was really young the project was shut down. The lab is still there, but nobody is allowed to use it anymore." It was... a relief. Chara didn't say anything, though, allowing Frisk time to write more of what they knew.
"I didn't know your name, but I figure you were the first to run away?" They nodded, earning an expression from Frisk that seemed like... pity. "They said you went off to the mountain and never returned. Six other subjects followed you in, either running away or sent to do what we were meant to." The other... children? Their eyes widened. That... they followed their example. But now they were likely... dead. Because of Chara's father. "Eventually, people no longer feared monsters. They hadn't seen them in so long. So they shut it down when I was younger.
"The other children were all older than me. We were left out on the street. Because of what was done to us, nobody wanted us. One of the scientists, a nice old man, took us in. He had always been there to take care of us when none of the others wanted much to do with us besides the experiments. He was our father.
"After he passed away, my siblings began to drift away. Then I felt the tug from the mountain. I came here because I knew I was needed."
They concluded, looking at Chara to see if they had anything to say. The ghost child was stunned, though, not sure how to feel or what to think. Part of them wanted to cry, yet tears would not come. No more would have to suffer as they did. "Why... why do you think you were needed?"
Frisk shrugged and wrote, "Because of you? Because of my soul? Because of somebody deeper in the mountain? I'm not sure. I might never be sure."
After a brief silence, they decided to carry on, leaving behind the sound of a squeaking mouse...
