A/N- *Cackles*

Many thanks to TheFlameRose for Beta-ing!

Disclaimer- I don't own Undertale

Chapter 2

The woods were crawling with monsters after that, and Chara growled under their breath as the dog monster clanked by in its huge armour. There had also been another skeleton, taller than the last, but shorter than the scientist, that kept coming back. It had yelled something about promising not to capture them before leaving a plate of something. Chara refused to touch it. Boxes were showing up along the edge of the paths near the forest, all of them filled with clothes, blankets and food. Chara avoided those, despite the temptation of getting something warm to wear.

Some monsters had lost a couple of blankets that Chara had taken, having found them in the branches of some trees and branches. It worked to keep the two humans alive, and even almost comfortable when they were in the hollow tree Chara had found. They had lined it with one blanket and given the other one to Frisk, tying the cotton around their shoulders. But no matter how hard Chara tried, Frisk kept getting colder and colder. The lack of food was starting to take its toll, and soon Chara may be forced to risk the food that the monsters had left out.

The dog moved on, and Chara laid a hand on Frisk's shoulder, feeling the minute tremors coming from their adoptive sibling. Frisk glanced up at Chara with dead eyes, but at least they were responding to Chara again. The two humans stumbled away, Chara's feet, cracked and bloody from the cold, leaving bloody footprints as they walked. Chara led Frisk a different way towards where they were staying, stumbling out onto the road. Chara noticed the small wood structure nearby, they grit their teeth, and then blinked.

The structure was empty one moment, and the next, the short skeleton that had talked to them was propping its feet up on the wood. Chara stumbled back in surprise, shoving Frisk behind their back. The movement caught the skeleton's attention, and it turned its head to face the two humans.

"oh, hey there. chara and frisk, right?" it asked, and its grin widened. "things chill for you lately?"

Chara twitched at the pun, and then stiffened as the skeleton's attention shifted to the human just past Chara. Chara shifted to block its view of Frisk, growling under their breath as they mentally warned it to back off.

"well," it said, "at least one of you enjoys my jokes."

Chara felt their throat tighten, and they forgot about being careful around monsters, about keeping their guard up so they could react if any one tried to take the two of them back to the lab. Chara whirled around, and stared at the smile on Frisk's lips. It was more of just a slight tilt upward, easy to miss if someone wasn't looking for it, but it had the effect of making Frisk's face actually look alive.

The smile fell as soon as Frisk noticed that both Chara and the skeleton were staring at them. Frisk blinked, and once again they were completely buried in their head. Chara sighed, placing a hand on Frisk's head.

"I'm so proud of you," Chara whispered. "For being Frisk instead of Subject F even if it was just for a second."

"uhhh," the skeleton brought Chara's attention back to it, and Chara glared at it, though they couldn't work up the same amount of heat as before. It had been responsible for that moment with Frisk after all.

"What?" Chara snapped.

"you really care about them don't you?" the skeleton murmured, more to himself than to Chara, and that set the human on edge. Chara didn't want to confirm anything in case the skeleton wanted to use Frisk against them. They inched back, trying to get Frisk to move away from the skeleton. It didn't move, but its eyes watched them in a way that made Chara's skin crawl.

"BROTHER!" a voice yelled, and Chara jumped, grabbing Frisk's wrists and taking off at a run in the direction they had come from. It was away from the hollow they stayed at, but it was also away from the monsters. Chara's injured leg throbbed as they tried to run without a limp. Frisk ran behind them, the blanket flowing behind them as they ran, and Chara wondered if they should make Frisk run ahead of them. If Frisk was in front Chara could attempt to fight off the monsters while Frisk made their escape.

Chara glanced behind them, and cursed as their foot caught on a root. They pitched forward, dragging Frisk down with them as they fell. The two humans fell in a pile of limbs, and Chara clenched their jaw against the throbbing pain from their left leg. The two of them stood back up, and Chara glanced around, realizing with a sinking stomach that they had no idea where they were.

Whatever caused the light in the Underground was slinking away, the shadows growing longer. Chara shifted, turning in a slow circle as they tried to decide what to do. The simplest thing would be to follow their own footprints, but that would take them back to the skeleton. The skeleton that could follow the footprints to find them as well.

Chara felt hysterical laughter bubble up from their throat. They had messed up. They had one job. Chara couldn't even manage to protect the one person who mattered to them, and wasn't that just hilarious. They could destroy all they want, as shown from their growing LV from the lab, but they couldn't protect one thing.

They doubled over, clutching at their stomach as they laughed harder. All they had done was go from a violent demented ghost, to a violent demented doll that passed as human. Chara was distantly aware of the world growing cold around them, and the fact that they couldn't breath because of the laughter. Black started to creep in at the edges of their vision, sending them into a panic. Chara tried to cut off their laughter, only to find that they couldn't breath anyways as they descended into a panic attack

Pressure built on their chest, and Chara wanted to laugh again. They were going to die out here in the cold. Then Frisk would die, and they would find themselves right back in the lab as time rewound. Chara curled into a ball, hyperventilating. They couldn't do this anymore. Maybe Frisk had the right idea about giving up. But, Chara felt something warm that prompted them to struggle to stay awake. No, Frisk was still Determined, if they weren't they would have died already.

The thought of Frisk remaining Determined filled Chara with Determination as they slipped into unconsciousness.


Chara woke to an unfamiliar ceiling. They jolted upwards, knocking the stack of blankets on top of them off. Every part of them felt warm, but they chalked it up to the fact that they were indoors instead of out in the snow. The human scanned the room, noting the strange dolls, the bookshelf and the computer. They shoved the blankets the rest of the way off of them, and blinked. They weren't in that gown any more, instead a set of soft orange clothes was fashioned to hang loosely off of their body covered them. Their feet had been wrapped in bandages that wound up to their mid shins.

They climbed off of the bed, which was shaped strangely, the name of the thing on the tip of Chara's tongue, but kept slipping away. Chara headed straight for the door that was by the computer assuming that whoever had them would have put Frisk there. They pulled it open, and their breath hitched as they saw that is was just more clothes.

They whirled around and hurried towards the other door, realizing with a sinking heart that it was probably locked, and they had been separated from Frisk. To Chara's surprise the handle turned easily under their hand, and they pushed the door open. Low murmuring could be heard now that the door was open.

Their feet stung as they walked across the carpet to look out at the floor below. The first thing they laid eyes on was Frisk laid out on a strange looking bed that had three headboards made out of pillows rather than two. Frisk was covered in blankets as well, and a cloth on their forehead. Their chest moved up and down steadily, and Chara felt something in their chest relax as soon as they saw Frisk.

They glanced around, wondering where the monsters were, but hurried down the stairs to Frisk. Chara knelt down next to them, and placed a hand on their cheek. Frisk was covered in sweat from the heat, and Chara reached over to push the blankets off of them. The monsters could be trying to test how much heat a human could take again.

Chara's eyes flickered over to where the murmuring was coming from, and they leaned in that direction to hear even better.

"-dunno grillby. it could make things worse. you saw the state they were in."

"All the more reason to gain their trust."

Chara mentally snarled. Like they would ever trust a monster. They turned to their adoptive sibling and gathered Frisk up, settling the sleeping human onto their back. Frisk's hands hung over Chara's shoulders, and Chara held onto their knees. It was a struggle to stand with their injured leg but Chara managed it, wobbling as they tried to balance the new weight.

Chara's first thought was to go back to the room they were in before and barricade the two of them in it, but the monsters would find a way in eventually. Their eyes locked onto the door by the couch, that from the look of it led outside. They moved as quickly and quietly as they could, opening the door.

"papyrus? did you get-" the short skeleton glanced out of the room it was in, and its eyes widened as it caught sight of Chara with Frisk on their back. "kid-"

Chara slammed the door behind them and hurried through the snow in the direction their gut was tugging them in. They slugged through the snow, away from the town following the river as they went. The path felt familiar to Chara, though the human could have sworn they had never been Underground before Frisk fell.

Chara shook their head, and walked faster. It probably wasn't important.