They pushed the large door open and walked out into the snow.
Chara was trying not to let what the flower said concern them. Mostly because everything the flower said was concerning, so what made this any different? It was just like the stupid skeleton who was probably watching them even now - aware of their presence, but so rarely acknowledging them it didn't even matter. They let out a sigh, but noticed their breath didn't appear despite the cold.
...huh.
They lifted up a hand, curious, and concentrated a moment. The little bits of falling snow seemed to come to a halt above their hand, floating there, and the longer they concentrated the more the flakes around their body ceased to move. They turned slowly, hand still outstretched, the snow following their hand and swirling together, into a small snowball. When they had turned all the way around, it dropped into their hand.
They smiled for a moment, remembering how much they'd loved to spend time in this place back when they were alive. But that smile faded. They needed to stay focused for now. Distance themself from their emotions. Only then could they bring themself to...
The snowball fell to the ground unceremoniously. They continued walking, to the fence that would keep nobody out.
And Frisk was silent.
But the skeleton, of course, was not.
"Human." His voice didn't surprise them, really, but they still jumped slightly. If he knew they were there, what would he have to say? "Don't you know how to greet an old pal? Turn around and shake my hand." So they did so, and saw something in his expression shift when he noticed their face, but nonetheless the routine went the same. They kept their expression neutral, uncomfortable with how easy it was, as Sans went on, "Heheh… the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It's ALWAYS funny."
But he seemed to quickly realize they weren't responding. They stared at him, Frisk's formerly brown eyes red, and he stared back uncomfortably. After a few moments, he finally said, "…That's, uh, your cue to laugh. Or, uh, to emote at all…? Jeez, kid, you look like you've been put through the ringer. OK, that's fine. Everyone's got their own sense of humor."
They noticed something, when he said that. Some shift they couldn't quite put their finger on. Nonetheless he went on with a wink, "I'm sans. Sans the skeleton. I'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. But… y'know… i don't really care about capturing anybody… Now my brother, papyrus… he's a human-hunting FANATIC! Hey actually, I think that's him over there. I have an idea. Go through this gate thingy."
The same as before, huh? They turned to go move through the gate, wondering why they didn't just kill this guy now. They could only hear his voice, "Yeah, go right through. My brother made the bars too wide to stop anyone." as they moved on. Ugh, they'd have to get more LOVE before they tried to even touch Papyrus, though. He never did anything wrong to them, after all…
That sort of sentiment would get them killed. They needed to stop. And they did stop, walking, hearing Sans say, "Quick, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp." But they couldn't bring themself to play along, they couldn't bring themself to pretend. It would be easier if they didn't even try at all.
So they instead just stared ahead, hands in their pockets, as Sans said, "…Uh, ok, I guess you don't have to."
In came Papyrus. They wondered how this would change things, if they were here before him. "SANS! HAVE YOU FOUND A HUMAN YET!?" he asked, to which Sans uncomfortably looked at them and, with a shrug, just said, "Yeah."
Without any bit of hesitation, Papyrus declared, "REALLY?! WOWEE! GUESS THAT'S SETTLED!" And then, just like that, he walked off.
…well, "That worked out, huh?" Sans asked, voicing their exact thoughts, and though their eyes had widened in brief confusion they now turned their dull expression back on him. The earlier staring contest resumed, and Chara felt like they could see him sweating as he asked, "...are you just gonna stare at me, or…?" And, well, yes. They were trying to get him uncomfortable enough to leave them alone for the time being, perhaps. But instead, he finally just closed his eyes and said, "...well, i'll be straightforward with you. My brother'd really like to see a human…"
He opened one, winking at them in the process, and they could swear they saw a light blue glow in it as he said, " so, y'know, it'd really help me out… If you kept pretending to be one."
Their eyes widened, slightly. They watched as he turned and walked away, and started to make to follow him - but before they even really comprehended it, he disappeared. They hadn't even blinked.
What the hell was that supposed to mean? They were human. Frisk was human. They were...
Ah. Maybe he could tell. Maybe he knew how humans were.
Maybe he could see that they were acting just like the rest.
They closed their eyes, and thought about how many monsters would suffer as they moved forward. They thought about how many were in Snowdin… And they steeled themself.
Determination.
