Chapter 2

"So, mind telling me what's going on?"

Chara and Asriel were leaning against the stone entryway that leads to the now-broken balcony overlooking the ruins of Home. Well, Chara was leaning against it while Asriel made the appearance of doing so, being incorporeal and all. The light-hearted mood between the two had all but disappeared while the goat monster mulled over how to start.

"I'm, um, not physically here with you."

"Yeah, I got that much," Chara had all but snapped, glaring impatiently at their brother. Seeing Asriel's uncomfortable expression, the human quickly looked away and took a deep breath to calm down. "Sorry. I guess what I'm asking is: do you know why you're a ghost while I'm not? Actually, how are we even here? Didn't we die?" Feeling themselves get emotional again, Chara forced themself to take another deep breath. They were never good at facing problems rationally; Asriel was the calm and collected thinker while Chara was a person of action. Their mom always said that if Chara let their instinct and emotions get the better of them, soon enough they'd eventually run into deep trouble.

The deceased human grinned sardonically. I guess mom was right.

"I'm not actually a ghost," Asriel started to explain. "I think I'm more of a projection of my soul?"

"You think?" Chara parroted, finally turning back to their younger brother.

"I'm not exactly sure about the details, but that sounds about right." The goat prince continued. "My memory is a little hazy, but I think this is happening so we can help the other monsters, as well as help ourselves." At Chara's blank look, Asriel sighed. "This is hard to explain. Let me just start at the beginning."

"As we were about to die, I thought that was our end. My magic was depleted beyond recovery and your body was too injured to survive; we both ceased to exist. But the next thing I know, my soul and consciousness are being both awoken and separated. My consciousness -my magic- was put into a buttercup flower!" Startled, Chara was about to comment, but Asriel gave them a look that asked to continue without interruptions. Chara reluctantly acceded. "I couldn't tell you specifically, but I know a long time had passed by, and during it, all I could do was watch this flower come to life with my own magic, but without my memories. Every once in a while, time seemed to almost… reset, but flower-me kept changing up what happened. I think they somehow had control over it. And eventually... they even k-killed other m-monsters over many of these t-time resets."

Asriel's voice cracked, his body shaking with the last sentence while he looked away in shame. Chara wanted to comfort their distraught brother, but being unable to physically hug him, they could only clench their fists in anger at this… flower-Asriel. If they ever found that accursed flower, they'd…

Asriel sniffled, wiping tears from the corners of their eyes with his sleeve. He forced himself to continue – this was important! "My soul was in a limbo for a long time, long enough to watch some more humans fall to the Underground like you once did! But they all perished and the Underground changed. I haven't seen anyone genuinely smile in a really long time, Chara. Everyone seems so hopeless and it's like they forgotten what it means to be happy. After each 'reset,' everyone got more and more negative: some grew more depressed, others angry, some even grew suspicious of other monsters or started blaming themselves!" Asriel turned to look straight at the human, their eyes filled with sorrow. "Even you."

"What?" Chara was dead this whole time. How could they possibly feel anything?

"With every flower-reset, your soul seemed to grow darker and heavier." He explained, "You know how mom taught us that human souls are stronger than monsters'? They can even persevere after the body dies, so the Underground resets were affecting you too." Asriel frowned at the memory. "That's when I made the decision that I had to do something."

"About the flower?"

The goat prince deflated further. "No, I can't do anything against the flower, n-nor the resets. But! We can do something about the monsters and their problems!"

Chara pushed off the stone wall. "We already tried to break the barrier before. We both kind of died in the process, remember?"

"No, not the barrier. Their inner problems!" Asriel was starting to look excited again.

"Do I look like a therapist to you?" Chara deadpanned.

Asriel whined in response, exasperated. "Lemme finish: you know how you told me that human's have a saying about 'fighting your inner demons'? I thought we could do that, but literally!" The monster's face was beaming.

Chara blinked. Never before had they been so confused. "I… don't follow."

"We're going to help monsters in the Underground by having you fight them."

"You want me to hurt monsters?!" Nuh-uh! Absolutely not! Chara would never harm an innocent monster—

"Not actually them, but a part of them? The dark part of them?"

"Are you asking? Because that sounded more like a question than an explanation."

"Argh!" Asriel threw up their arms in frustration.

"And why me?" Chara asked. "Wouldn't it be better to ask someone else? Use a different soul not affected by these resets?"

Asriel's expression grew somber and their voice quieted. "But if I didn't, your soul…" He mumbled the rest, far too quiet for Chara to hear.

Chara walked closer to their brother's ethereal form. "I didn't quite get that. What about my soul?"

Asriel never got the chance to reply as another voice cut in from underneath the archway leading to their location. "Hello? Is someone there? I thought I heard a voice."

They could only watch in stunned silence as a familiar form stepped out from the shadows. The human couldn't believe their eyes and ears. Could it really be…? Was it really…? Chara's voice cracked when they finally spoke. "M-mom?"