Chapter 6
Brotherly Love
It didn't take too long for Asgore and Toriel to arrive. It was pretty tough explaining everything that happened when they walked in and saw a lot of stuff knocked over and Papyrus, Sans and Frisk all just sat there somberly. Papyrus didn't brag or talk on and on like normal, and Sans was without any bad puns and lazy views of life.
It didn't take long for Asgore and Toriel to figure out that Chara had come to that house in search for Frisk. Asgore was really disturbed when they found out that the culprit for what happened was Chara. When he had Frisk escape Toriel's house and head to Sans and Papyrus's house, he was hoping that that would buy her some time. But somehow, Chara was able to find out where Frisk was, and very quickly too. It hadn't even been three hours, and they had already got hit twice by Chara.
The house itself was a complete mess. There are holes in the wall and in the floor from where Sans had used his attacks, and there were a great number of things toppled over and even broken from the strong winds that Windeol had created while protecting Chara. The only thing that really stood straight in the house at the moment was a couple couches and chairs, which they had only recently got back up so that they would be able to sit down when the others got there.
Asgore was in the kitchen, making tea for everybody while Toriel was there, with Frisk sitting by her on the couch as she was being comforted by her adopted mother. Sans and Papyrus just sat there quietly and somberly. Sans felt like such an idiot. He felt like he had the perfect moment to finish off Chara then and there, and end the issue in there one fight... but Chara was able to get that notebook and escape... all because Sans had thought he had won then and there.
"Well... to the very least, he wasn't able to touch my cooking ingredients. Even the strongest of villains can't destroy the cooking of I, Master Chef Papyrus!" he said, in an attempt to lighten up the mood of everybody there. "Nyeh heh heh heh... heh... eh..." He gave a sigh and shook his head as he just looked down. Even Papyrus's cheerful mood was gone at the moment.
Asgore came back with the tea and a few cups for everybody to pour it in. "...I'm sorry... it's my fault." Asgore said as he poured the tea and sat down by Toriel and Frisk. "...I thought that if I got Frisk out of Toriel's house and moved her to a place she would be safe quickly, I thought that Chara wouldn't be able to find her for quite some time... I wasn't counting on him being here before we arrived."
"...He's gone crazy." Toriel said with a shake of her head. "...Chara has always been a peculiar one, but never could I have imagined him going this far..."
There was another silence in the room. It almost felt as if even when he wasn't there anymore, Chara still continued to mock them. He had done so much damage to them, and even though he was initially dealt great damage, he was able to leave relatively unscathed. He was virtually unstoppable at this point.
"...What are we waiting for?" Frisk asked as she looked around. She knew that they had to come up with some kind of a plan to put a stop to this whole ordeal, so she wasn't sure why they weren't coming up with one now.
"We're still waiting for Undyne and Alphys." Sans said with a sigh. "They told me they would try to be here as fast as they could, but they never gave me an exact time." There was some more silence as they waited.
"...I should have finished him..." Sans said with a sigh as he looked down and clutched his head with his hands in frustration. "I'm such an idiot... I had the perfect opportunity to get rid of him... and I messed it up... I let him go..."
"...You were able to keep my child safe from harm... you protected her from Chara without a single thought of your own safety." Toriel said as she smiled at Sans. "I don't think I could have asked you to do anything more for us..."
Sans gave a sigh and looked over at the door as he heard a knock. "I-is anybody i-in there?" came the familiar nervous stutter from outside the door.
"Door's open, Alphys." Papyrus said as he looked at the door. Seemed like the two were finally here.
The door opened and Alphys and Undyne were both at the door. Both of them were quiet as they looked at what a mess the house was. "...O-oh... uh... is... this a bad time?" Alphys questioned.
"It couldn't be a better time, actually." Frisk said as she looked up. "...We need to talk with you guys..."
"Damn, it's such a mess in here." Undyne said as she walked over and sat down. "And I thought I could make a real mess in the house."
The two sat down and Asgore handed them their cups of tea. "You two didn't have too many difficulties getting here, I hope?"
"W-well... not technically..." Alphys said. "Uh... Undyne got into a fight with someone on the way here though..."
"Hey, it's not my fault that little punk bumped into me." Undyne said. "If he had watched where he was going, I wouldn't have had any problems."
"W-well I'm j-just saying... it was just an accident, I'm sure." Alphys said as she took a little sip of her tea.
"Ahem... if I may..." Asgore said as he looked around as everybody is here. "...We're all here because... well... we have an incredibly difficult situation in our hands now..."
Papyrus gave a nod. He looked over at Alphys and Undyne and said, "The reason that our house is such a mess now is because we were just recently attacked... and we almost got killed."
"What?!" Undyne shouted as she almost slammed the cup of tea to the floor. "Who attacked you?! I swear, when I get my hands on them, I'm gonna-"
"Calm down, Undyne." Sans said as he took a sip of the tea and looked to the ground. "...The one who attacked us... I don't know very much about him... all I know is that he's some boy named Chara... he claims himself to be a demon of some sorts... and he's hunting Frisk."
"H-hunting Frisk?" Alphys questioned. "Wh-why w-would he be after Frisk?"
"...He claims that he and I made some sort of deal some time ago." Frisk said with a sigh. "...I have no recollection of such a thing being true... but he seems very persistent in it... he claims I owe him my soul..."
Papyrus nodded and pointed at the upstairs. "I ran up to get that dog that's been stealing all my bones, and I saw him standing there... he came down here for Frisk, and Sans fought him... it was amazing... I'd never seen Sans pull something like that fight off... he literally had that guy at his mercy... but then..."
"But then I got too confident." Sans said, his head still being clutched in his hands. "I took my eyes off of him because I thought there was nothing more he could do... but while my back was turned, he got to that notebook and summoned something that took me down... gah... if only I hadn't looked away... I could have finished him off then and there! I was so close to the chance of finishing him off... but then..."
"You can't be to blame for what happened, Sans... if anyone deserves the blame for this, it's me..." Asgore sighed as he looked down and took a sip of his tea. "...I feel like I could have raised him better... if only I had been there for him more in his life, then perhaps..."
"Asgore... we both did everything we could." Toriel said. "We loved and raised him as best as we could... we did everything, but it just wasn't enough..."
"You loved him and raised him?" Sans questioned as he let go of his head and looked at them. "What are you talking about?... You... you personally know who this guy is?"
Asgore and Toriel both looked at each other and gave a sigh. They both looked down in remembrance of the events that transpired to them meeting Chara. "...It all started... one normal day in the Underground..."
It was a beautiful day, just as they always were to the young Asriel Dreemur. He smiled and hummed happily as he walked around. He was walking to the spot with the golden flowers to go pick some for his mother and father, the king and queen of the Underground.
He was a sweet, young monster who loved seeing his friends and family happy. He was somewhat shy and often found it a little difficult to make new friends, but whatever friends he did have always thought of him as one of the most good-hearted monsters the Underground had ever seen.
He was walking to the spot as he saw the beautiful golden flowers. He smiled happily as he went over and began to pick some of them. He was humming a little song as he was plucking up the best of the flowers that he could find. "Hmmmm... I think Mommy and Daddy would really like this one." he said as he took another flower that he had his eyes on.
He continued to pluck the flowers, stopping only when he heard something close by. It sounded like a little pained groan, coming from somewhere in the flower field. "...Hello?" Asriel called out, hearing the groans.
The response Asriel got was just more painful groans. Sounded like somebody was in great pain. "Hello?... Is someone there?"
Only more groaning was heard, as if whatever was making the noise was too weak to give him any other response. Asriel came to investigate. He was getting closer to a shining white light from the sky, the hole in the mountain that led to the Underground, where the monsters are trapped. As he approached, something began to become more visible. It seemed to be somebody laying down.
Upon closer inspection, the body that laid there was quietly laying in a puddle of red liquid, which Asriel knew to be blood. The person that laid there was injured. "Oh my gosh." Asriel said as he immediately ran to the person.
Asriel got the person flipped around to laying on his back. He slowly opened his eyes, and his entire body went cold with a shudder as he laid eyes on Asriel.
"Hi there." Asriel said with a friendly smile. Hearing the friendliness in his voice and seeing the smile on his face, the boy slowly eased up a bit. "What's your name?"
"Ge... get... away... from..." the other person said as he was trying to get away from Asriel, but he couldn't. His arm was in too much pain, and he had really hurt both of his legs.
"Hey. Don't move too much." Asriel said as he took his hand to stop him from moving. The boy flinched, as if expecting to receive some kind of pain from the creature, but eventually looked back to Asriel as he felt just the gentle hand touching his.
"Hey there." Asriel said again with that friendly smile. "What's your name? My name's Asriel."
"...A... Asriel..." the boy mumbled as he gave a sigh. "My... my name... is... Ch... Chara..."
"Chara?... That's a funny name." Asriel said with a little innocent giggle and looked at Chara. "It's nice to meet you, Chara... I don't think I've ever seen a monster that looks like you... what kind of monster are you?"
"M... monster... I..." Chara looked up at the hole he came down from. He stared up at the light that came down from it for a few moments in thought. Monster... perhaps human kind was just a bunch of monsters... to the very least, it was a perfect description of what the people he knew were like...
He looked back at Asriel and gave a sigh and gave his answer. "...Human." he replied.
Asriel gave a little tilt of his head. "Human?" he questioned. He had never really paid much heed to the stories that his father had told him of the battle between the monsters and the humans. He had thought that all of them were just fairy tails, and there were no such thing as humans.
"...Human!" Asriel said with a little giggle. "I didn't think there were such things as humans. It's really nice to actually meet one."
"Yes... and it was... absolutely charming to... meet... whatever you are..." Chara said as he just looked up at the sunlight that came down from the hole again. "...Now, Asriel... if you could please... do me a favor and leave me at peace here?"
"But... you're hurt." Asriel said as he sat down by Chara. The boy just stared at the young prince, completely baffled by what he was doing. "...I can't leave you here on your own."
Chara gave a little sigh and looked back up at the hole. "Asriel?" called a woman's voice. "Asriel, where are you?"
"I'm right here, Mommy!" Asriel called happily as he got up and began to walk towards the woman that was making the calling. She looked pretty much the same as Asriel.
"Asriel, where have you been? I told you not to wander out of the house without us knowing." the woman said.
"But Mommy, I wanted to go and pick some flowers for you and Daddy, and I found a-"
"No buts, son... you could have been seriously hurt, or worse. Now come on, let's get you back home."
"But Mommy, look!" Asriel said as he walked over to where Chara was laying. "I found a human."
Chara remained quiet as he looked and saw Asriel's mother stand and looking at him. He started to become a little fearful. "Oh my." the woman said as she knelt down a little bit to get a closer look on him. "...A real human child... what's your name?"
Chara just stared at her, his eyes wide and his breathing a little funny as he became afraid of what the woman might do to him. "His name is Chara, Mommy." Asriel said. "I found him laying on the ground like this."
The woman gave a nod. "Well, Chara... my name is Toriel..." the mother said and gently reached to help Chara up. Chara flinched and looked away from her, fearing what she would do.
Toriel simply helped him up and began to walk him to her house, Asriel following happily behind them. "You need not be afraid of us, Chara." Toriel said on the way to their house. "We will cause no harm to you."
Toriel and Asriel had helped Chara and healed him, and he stayed there quietly, waiting to find out what was going to happen to him. Meanwhile, Asriel sat there with him, happily talking with Chara as if they had known each other for a very long time. Chara was reluctant at first to reply, but eventually began talking with Asriel, and he was really starting to warm up to him.
After about an hour or so, the door opened, and in came another monster that looked like Toriel and Asriel in some ways. This was proven as Asriel jumped down and began to run to the door. "Daddy!" he called happily as he ran to his father and hugged him.
The person laughed and hugged Asriel close. "Hey there, son." he said. "Glad to see you again."
The monster smiled as he looked at Chara. "Howdy there. And who might you..." He paused and his smile faded as he began to slowly realize that Chara wasn't a monster. "...You... you're no monster."
Toriel came out of the kitchen and went to the man. "Asgore, this is Chara." she said "Asriel and I found him laying silently down by the patch of flowers, and we decided to bring him back and help him."
"...Yes..." Chara said as he was getting real reluctant now that Asgore was there. "...And... I thank you for your help... but... I... better get going... don't want to disturb you guys anymore..."
"Go?" Asgore questioned as he looked outside and looked back at Chara. "...Where do you think you have to go, Chara?"
"I... I don't know... I... guess I should... try to get back to my house..."
"But what about the barrier?" Asgore walked over and sat by Chara. "I'm assuming that you must have accidentally fallen down here... there's only one way that anybody could get in or out of there... and it is blocked off by a powerful barrier... it's a barrier that allows anybody to get into the Underground... but it prevents anybody from getting out."
"...Oh... I... wasn't aware of that." Chara looked down with a sigh.
"...Child... if you have no place to go... you're welcome to stay here, if you wish." Toriel said as she walked over to him. "I promise you, my husband, my son and I will take care of you for as long as you need."
Asgore nodded. "You're welcome to stay here for as long as you should so desire."
Asriel smiled and went up to Chara. "Yeah! We'll make you feel nice and welcome here." he said with that friendly smile.
Chara remained quiet, and seeing that he had no other choice, gave a nod and a smile.
"...I knew the name Chara sounded familiar somehow." Sans said and looked at them. "...That human child that you raised... he was the one that brought hope to the Underground.
Asgore nodded with a sigh. "Yes... Chara was the one we raised that we were hoping to bring hope to the Underground... we finally felt like through Chara, we could have some sort of peace with the humans..."
"...And how was he when you were raising him?" Undyne questioned. "Was he anything like he is now?"
Toriel gave a sigh. "...He started out being very kind to everyone and everything down in the Underground... though as time went on... he began to get a bit more distant from Asgore and I." she said. "...He was becoming more withdrawn from all of the Underground..."
Asgore went on, "He had seemed to be growing slightly more bitter as the days went on... except to our son, Asriel... he and Chara were the best of friends... they were almost inseparable, those two... he seemed to be the only one that Chara could completely trust."
"A-Asgore... if you r-raised him... y-you might be able to... give us a lead on wh-where he is." Alphys said.
Undyne nodded. "Alphys is right. If you raised that little brat, you might be able to give us a clue as to where he is... what did Chara like?"
Asgore looked up in thought while he scratched his beard. "Hmmm... well... he really loved chocolate." he said.
"...Well... what options does that give us?" Papyrus questioned.
"...Nothing. That detail doesn't help... what else did he like?" Sans asked.
Asgore gave a hum and looked up again. "...Oh! Flowers. He liked golden flowers just as much as Asriel did." he said. "I... don't know if that provides any more help."
"It might... is there any chance that he could have gone to somewhere that had those golden flowers?" Frisk questioned.
"...Well... there are plenty of them near Mount Ebott." Asgore said. "...Is there a chance that Chara is staying there?"
"...There's only one way to find out." Undyne said as she stood up and got her spear out. "Come on... let's go find us this little brat and teach him a lesson. Nobody hurts any of my friends and gets away with it." Everybody got up and began heading out to Mount Ebott.
Chara was leaning against the door of the building he and Asriel were staying in. He had been there for about an hour now, hesitating to even go inside. He felt so humiliated. He was supposed to be this heartless, soulless creature that would kill anyone and anything that got in his way, but he proved not too long ago that that wasn't what he was. He still had a conscious, and it had just prevented him from doing what he had to.
Not only had he been bested by a few monsters, not just once with Asgore, his adoptive father, but twice with that lazy Sans. He was supposed to be the most powerful being to live... but he just wasn't. He had used too much power with his first action that he ever took when he came back.
That action was to revive Asriel and bring him back in his full body with his soul... and he did so... using much of the power that he could have used to get started with his destruction that he had planned...
It was also Asriel that seemed to have awakened Chara's, what they would call it, 'heart'. He was the one that was seemingly getting Chara to show these emotions that he was trying to bury for so long. Regret... Sorrow... Love...
It was all because of Asriel that Chara wasn't a complete demon, and Chara knew that well. Chara wanted to feel ultimate power and destroy all those who stood in his way, and in order to do that, he knew that Asriel had to go. He had to get rid of Asriel... but how could he possibly get rid of the brother that he had used so much of his power to revive and bring back?
"...I can't." Chara said with a shake of his head as he opened the door and went in. He couldn't possibly hurt Asriel, he loved him too much. Asriel was the only good thing in Chara's life... the only person he truly, truly cared about.
He went into the building and walked slowly up to the room that he and Asriel were staying in. He walked in and was about to enter the room, but saw Asriel looking at something in his hand. He put it in his pocket, and Chara noticed the thing having a heart shape to it.
A heart shape... and it looked to have a yellow color to it... it couldn't be... could it have been one of the Human Souls? Did Asriel somehow have one and was hiding it from him?
"...What is that?" Chara said as he looked at Asriel. Asriel gave a gasp as he heard Chara's voice, which only fed Chara's suspicion even farther. "...What is that in your pocket?" Chara said firmly as he walked over to Asriel.
"O-oh. It's nothing." Asriel said.
"...Show it to me." Chara said. To that, Asriel remained quiet for a couple of seconds. "...Show it to me now!"
"..." Asriel suddenly gained a little nervous chuckle and said, "Alright... here. Check this out."
Chara looked down at Asriel's had as he took it out of his pocket and held out the heart shaped object that he had put in his pocket. It was a little locket, and when Asriel opened it, it had the words 'Best Friends Forever' in it. "This look familiar?" Asriel asked with a giggle.
"...My Locket." Chara said as Asriel gave him the locket. Chara held the locket in his hand and gently touched it with his finger. It was the locket that Asriel had gotten him for the first birthday he had ever celebrated with him and their parents. They both had a matching pair of those lockets to show that they were best friends.
"...I had been searching for this locket for so long... I didn't think I would ever see it again..." He glanced over at Asriel and asked, "...Where did you find this, brother?"
Asriel gave a sheepish chuckle and looked down. "...Well... uh... when we were... in your room one time... I... put the locket in my pocket for some reason... and... I forgot it was in there... I... had it for the whole time..."
Chara looked at Asriel for a couple minutes before giving an amused chuckle. That locket had been in his brother's pocket the whole time, and he hadn't been bothered to look there. "...Stealing my locket from me, eh brother?" Chara asked with a joking smirk on his face.
"Steal from you?" Asriel asked and began to laugh a little bit. He knew that Chara was just joking around when he said that. "No. No. Not at all stealing. I was just... uh... holding on to it for when I saw you again... even though I thought that wouldn't happen, and I... forgot I had it."
Chara laughed along with Asriel to this. They both laughed for a little bit before stopping. Chara had a genuine smile on his face. Asriel was allowing him to feel happiness as he got the locket back on him. "Thanks, Asriel." he said with that smile and hugged Asriel.
The two brothers hugged each other close. Asriel knew that he could help Chara let go and become happy. No matter what anybody else could say about Chara, Asriel was never going to give up on him. He genuinely believed that Chara could be a good person if could just see that mankind wasn't the bunch of monsters he saw them as.
"...Listen... Chara... I know that I may be repeating myself... but-"
Asriel was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Hold that thought, Asriel." Chara said as he went over to the door and opened it. At the door, he was greeted by a creature that looked exactly like Windeol, only instead of the things he wore being teal, they were a purple color. Its eyes were red instead of yellow, and the staff that it had had a purple cloud of darkness at the end of it instead of wind.
"Ah. Darkeol. I knew that you would arrive faster than the others that you lead." Chara said. "...You bring good news, I take it?"
Darkeol held its staff up, and from the top of the staff, a yellow heart shaped soul slowly went out, making Asriel gasp as he saw Chara take it in his hands. "...The Soul of Justice." Chara said with a smile. "...One of six... perhaps I should have just sent you and the others out to find the souls much sooner than I did." he said with a chuckle. "If I had known you'd be able to find them so quickly, I wouldn't have had to go to the house of those boneheads in the first place."
"...There is something you should know." Darkeol said, his voice being very calm, pretty much emotionless. "I have sent the other five to search for the remaining Human Souls... I hope that with me finding the first, they'll be able to find the other five fairly quickly... however, I should also inform you that we may not have much time... according to Illusionare, Frisk and her friends will be searching for you... they're going to Mount Ebott as we speak."
"Mount Ebott?... They think I'm over there?" Chara questioned. "Hmmm... peculiar how they could come to such a conclusion... what gives them any thought that I would be there?"
"I don't know... all I know is that that's the first place that they are looking... if they're allowed to search for you while we go and collect the other Human Souls, I'm sure we could find them all and still have time before they find you here."
"...I appreciate the thought, Darkeol... but I'm afraid I'm not very patient." Chara said as he took the Soul of Justice inside him, it making his way and joining his own soul. "Ahhh... now that feels great." he said as he began to walk.
"Ch-Chara!" Asriel called after him. "Where are you going?"
"...I'm going to Mount Ebott." Chara said. "After my first two failures today... I'm willing to try and make another attempt at them... and I'll succeed this time."
"But you just got back... Chara, you can't seriously go out there now?" Asriel said. "I won't let you harm them."
Chara gave a shake of his head. He began walking towards the door, but Asriel ran to the doorway and blocked him from getting out. "Chara! I won't let you go and try to hurt them!"
"Asriel... get out of the way." Chara said. "I am doing what I must. Now move aside."
"No! I won't!" Asriel said as he continued to stand there. "Brother, Frisk is my friend, and our parents are with them! I can't allow you to hurt them!"
"...You would stand in my way?" Chara said. "...With the power I have just obtained... you would keep me from my destiny?"
Asriel looked down. He knew that he didn't really have anything that would stop Chara, but he wouldn't allow Chara to go out and hurt them if he could help it, even if it meant he had to risk his own life for it. "...Yes."
"..." Chara gave a sigh and looked down. "...Very well." he said as he looked at Darkeol. "...Spectate the others... make sure they find the Human Souls, and bring them all back to me... don't report back until all of the souls are found."
Darkeol nodded and gave a little bow and walked out. Asriel gave a sigh of relief and moved away from the doorway as Darkeol closed it. "...You have quite a demanding care for Frisk and her friends." Chara said with a hum. "...It might just get you into trouble some day."
Asriel gave a sigh and a nod as he looked as Chara went and got a phone book and looked through it. "Hmmm... no... no... no..." he muttered as he looked through the pages.
"...What are you looking for?" Asriel questioned.
"A restaurant advertisement that has good food and delivers." Chara said. "I haven't eaten absolutely anything since I first woke up, and even a demon child has to eat something."
Asriel gave a hum and nodded as he looked at the TV. "...Hey, bro... what games are here for the Playstation?"
"Should be in one of the drawers somewhere." he said. "If I remember correctly... I have Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and some Monopoly game."
"You're going to have to show me how one of these work." Asriel said as he was looking through the drawers, trying to find the game. "I've never played one of these things before."
"I don't doubt that." Chara said as he put the phonebook down and began walking to where Asriel was to help him figure out how a Playstation works. "Alright, hold on. I'm coming."