(( Saul'keth: Ask and you shall receive. (Even though I'm still not to the more interesting bits, hehe.)))
"Warning: Dog Marriage." Frisk honestly looked concerned, as if they didn't understand. Chara, as an aside, whispered, "Yes, you read that correctly."
Up ahead, they ran into Lesser Dog. To calm it down, Frisk pet it. And kept petting it. And kept petting it. "F... Frisk. It's time to stop." But there was no way to stop this madness. Lesser Dog went where no dog had ever gone before.
After expanding the minds of the married dogs – even though Frisk wasn't actually the puppy the dogs thought they were – they proceeded on to an easily solved puzzle. There Frisk admitted to Papyrus that they hadn't eaten his spaghetti, both children feeling like he may be offended... but he thought the human child wanted to share it.
"You know," Chara started as the skeleton ran off, "I wasn't sure what to think of Papyrus at first, but... he's honestly kind of adorable? In a way. Not a weird way." Frisk raised an eyebrow, having obviously not been thinking anything weird, but Chara ignored that to go on, "He's... a cool guy."
Frisk didn't move to reply, only continuing to walk forward in the direction he'd gone while Chara stayed behind a moment. They were hesitant to bring this up, as if everything that had happened with mother... as if that didn't mean anything. But they had to know. "Frisk, you're... not going to hurt him, right? You're not hurting anybody else, but... even if he wants to capture you so badly, you wouldn't..."
The living child had paused, turning to look at Chara for a moment. They only smiled.
How reassuring.
The next puzzle was difficult for a minute or two until they figured out where exactly they needed to enter the frozen skeleton head from. Sans congratulated them upon completion, claiming they didn't even need his help when he wasn't being that helpful to begin with. And after that... well, the next puzzle wasn't much of a puzzle, despite how complicated it seemed. Even in ghost form, though, Chara was getting a bit exhausted from all this messing around.
"We're getting close to Snowdin," Chara assured as they sat amongst the remains of the many snowdogs that had recently been created. They tried to use their ice manipulation to create a new body for a head that had fallen over, but in death it seemed their abilities had weakened considerably. They could barely freeze things they touched or focused on, but beyond that...
They were powerless. To do anything. To free anybody. To stop them from hurting Frisk who only wanted to go home. Or to free the monsters.
Chara didn't actually know what they wanted at this point.
The duo made their way through a puzzle and a few other monsters, Frisk obviously being worn out after fighting a monster covered in gifts and a puppy in a mech. Their ghostly companion was worrying if they'd have the energy to even make it to Snowdin at this rate, especially when they faced... Papyrus's next "puzzle."
The Gauntlet of Deadly Terror.
Despite the ridiculous name, both kids were very clearly a bit frightened. Frisk was too exhausted to take another hit, their Determination barely holding them together. Chara couldn't do much besides offering to freeze the skeleton, which most likely wouldn't work anyway considering his size and all. But the tall skeleton seemed hesitant, his shorter brother prompting him to no avail. And at last, Papyrus figured himself a skeleton with standards. A defeat like this would be too easy. The humans were both beyond relieved. Still, Papyrus seemed as confused as they were that he had taken this course of action, running off with a confused, "NYEH... HEH... HEH?"
Even Sans admitted he didn't know what his brother was going to do next. The kids weren't exactly worried about him, though, since now... they'd reached Snowdin.
Frisk sped up when they reached town, hurrying towards the buildings while Chara looked around the small town that had hardly changed in their absence. At least compared to how they last saw it – when they got here Snowdin was just filling up, people forced out of the Ruins due to overpopulation. Quickly, with a bit of nudging from Chara themself, they expanded to New Home, just inside the barrier. The child had assured them multiple times humans would not enter directly through the barrier, fearful of the monsters within. And it seemed like nothing had gone wrong since their death, even considering their appearance in the human village.
At the time before they died of their "mysterious illness," Snowdin was settling into a quiet, cozy small town where they had spent many hours. Playing in the snow, practicing their powers, reading in the library... At that point, they had finally been accepted more into monster society. They could've been happy.
But...
Frisk appeared before them suddenly, wondering where their mind was wandering off to. "Aha, sorry, I spaced out because... nostalgia, I guess. How are you..." They stared at the other child, who no longer seemed as... desperate to get somewhere safe. They seemed a bit more cheerful, holding up a page with the same weird star drawn on it as before, the words now saying, "The sight of such a friendly town fills you with Determination." Not bothering to ask what the heck they were on about, Chara said, "Yeah, yeah, that's good that you're feeling better. But still, you must be exhausted. Let's go rest in the... 'Snowdinn.'"
Both children giggled a bit, going to enter the building where a bunny lady happily and obliviously checked Frisk into a room. They generally tried to ignore the loud snoring coming from the next room.
"I really think we should talk once you wake up," Chara said, looking oddly serious about it. When Frisk seemed concerned, they assured, "Don't worry, it's just a few technicalities. But you really should rest for now. It's been a long journey just to get here." Despite seeming uncertain, Frisk nodded, snuggling up under the blankets despite the fact they were... generally immune to the cold. It didn't really bother them.
"I'll be in the void while you're asleep," Chara whispered to them as they backed towards the door. "I'll come back every hour or two to make sure you haven't woken up, so don't worry."
Don't worry.
Everything is fine, Frisk.
Soon this will all be behind us...
Shaking hands quickly sign in the darkness, "Who's there?" But nobody came.
What's that? We're friends, aren't we? Ever since you fell down here, I've been by your side, haven't I? Don't you trust me? I know what I'm doing. This is necessary.
Come find me. Help me. Save me. Free me. Frisk.
Frisk.
Frisk?
"Are you okay?"
The red-eyed ghost was staring at them when they woke, sitting up in bed and wondering what they had been dreaming about. Chara seemed concerned, saying, "You kept moving around in your sleep... like you were having a bad dream. I figured I'd wake you up anyway since it's been about seven hours..."
Time had passed so quickly? Frisk yawned, still exhausted beyond belief. Yesterday had been pretty rough though, they figured, considering... well, between a pretty hyper skeleton and everything he put them through, which wasn't actually that bad, mixed with the "hounding" of all the royal guard members... it was a long day, to say the least. Still, Frisk felt a little better than they had before sleeping. There was still the matter of that talk, though.
Once they'd woken up a bit more, Chara opened with, "First of all, that Sans guy? Can totally see me. I don't know why or how or anything, but... he usually ignores me, I dunno. Point is, he can see me. Maybe because he's a skeleton and technically dead? But Papyrus can't and he's also a skeleton, hm..."
That out of the way, after a brief recap of their conversation with him, they went on, "And second, no more secrets. What's with the stars and Determination quotes? You were perfectly fine when you came back yesterday. You were perfectly fine when we met up with Mom the day before. What's the deal?"
After giving them a long opportunity to write out their response, Frisk's initial reply was an, "I dunno." On the next page, though, before Chara could get frustrated with them, they'd added, "Like with the buttons you cannot press, these stars appear for me to interact with. They heal me when I press them."
"Interesting... And I can't see them, apparently." Frisk nodded, having guessed this quite a while back. "This gives us an advantage, though. As long as you keep finding these spots, we don't have to worry as much about you resting up between battles. Now if only I could make them work, maybe they could cure my case of Death? Okay, yeah, not funny."
The two of them exited out into the cold town, same as it was the day before. "So... wanna look around before we move onto Waterfall?" Chara asked, honestly just wanting to spend more time here. Frisk nodded, obviously wanting to see what the Underground had to offer. So with that, they went off...
