I love being Undertale trash.

As promised by Asriel, Chara and I were allowed to be in charge of preparing dinner- not on our own, of course. He had told us that Toriel, who I suppose was now our mother as too, although it felt weird to say that aloud, considering how I had no idea how she looked. Chara had told me that she pretty much looked like a taller female version of Asriel, except she had small horns. As instructed, Chara and I waited patiently for Asriel to get Toriel. We waited, and that's when minutes begun to turn to hours. Even Frisk, who was sitting in the next room at the dining table, had fallen asleep face down on their white plate. "Is it usually like this?" We were at this point bored, and even Chara had earlier insisted that I'd play with the knife for fun, to which I politely declined, which left them slightly bitter.

"Not that I recall." Chara replied. "Wait… No, that I think about it, she does take her time shopping. Hey uh, don't you like to read?"

"I was actually meaning to ask you that. I noticed her collection of books; do you know what sort of material she has?"

"I don't know, I never bothered to check. But , she does have this book about snail facts, if you're into that kind of thing."

"Oh… I'm alright, but thank you."

"Sure..." With the awkward silence settling between us. we continued to wait; the only sound notable was Frisk's snoring. "So… Are you fond of chocolate?"

"I'm more of a coffee sort of person." I replied, but not wanting to be rude, I followed with a nod. "But yes, I do occasionally eat sweets."

"Then I have a surprise for you! Check inside the fridge, my good sir." Not having anything else better to do, I indulged Chara's request, and made my way to the fridge. Inside was nothing more than groceries and snails. A lot of snails actually. "Impossible! I had a bar of chocolate I was saving for later! Whoever stole my chocolate bar shall know no other pain greater than what we'll bestow down upon them! Kaneki, we shall tear into their flesh and spread salt upon their-"

"You and I aren't from here." I interrupted. "So yes, I would presume you never put a chocolate bar, or anything for that matter, in that particular fridge."

"... That would make sense." Chara muttered before sighing. "Ugh… Where are they? They should be back by now, it's like the Ruins are that big."

"I'm beginning to worry about them myself…Earlier, you said that the Ruins were a dangerous place, right?"

"For humans, yes."

"Then, if that's the case, they should be fine, right?"

"Obviously… Why, what are you getting at?"

"It's been more than an hour at least, and if they're familiar with this area, then surely they would have come back by now." I reasoned. "I don't want to make assumptions just yet, but I do believe that it would be our best interest to look for them."

"I agree, but what about Frisk?" Chara questioned.

"We'll bring them along." I thought the answer was obvious. "Why, is there something else you'd rather do?"

"... It's not like we have a lot of options here: it's either leave them or bring them. It's just… Frisk might get in our way.We'll… We'll just have to balance our efforts between searching for Asriel and Toriel AND ensuring Frisk's safety." Although I knew they were right, I still had to question Chara's intention. I understand that they've improved greatly in such little time, but… still.

"Chara, why is it you're saying that the Ruins are exclusively dangerous for humans?"

"It's not just the Ruins, Kaneki, it's the entire Underground." Chara corrected. "I can't be positive, considering how Asriel's still alive, I'm not sure if Asgore still harbors resentment for humanity, but if monsters are still in the Underground, than that must mean that the barrier between here and the surface is still active… I don't know, Kaneki, just trust me on this." Back when I didn't believe that the story was true, I always did question a lot about the story, such as why the monsters never just left the Underground back the way they came. "Just go wake up Frisk, who knows, maybe they'll know where they are."

"Understood." Outside the kitchen, I watched Frisk drool in their sleep as they lightly snored, which was pretty adorable, and made me reluctant to disturb their sleep, but even so, placed my hand on the arm to softly shake them awake. However, Frisk instead pulled my forearm in closer to snuggle their head against it as they continued to sleep. "Oh… Um... Frisk?"

"Allow me." Kaneki was taking too long. Frisk may be gentle soul, and Kaneki was definitely a pushover, but I wasn't. I clamped my free hand over their mouth and nose, and it take long for them to begin stirring from their slumber. As soon as I knew they were awake, I let go. As they sat there gasping for air, I used the dusty-rose colored scarf around my neck to wipe off the saliva and whatever germs they had.

"... Kaneki?" Frisk, who had finally caught their breath, asked as they turned to face me. It was hard to tell if their eyes were opened or not.

"It's Chara."

"Oh… Hi Chara."

"Don't sound too excited there." I muttered.

"I wasn't trying to be mean, sorry." They apologized. "It's just that it's hard to tell if it's you or Kaneki speaking sometimes."

"Whatever, anyways, it's been over an hour, and neither Asriel nor Toriel has come back yet." Although Frisk seemed surprised at this, they didn't seemed worried at all, which was unexpected of them.

"That's weird… Let me just call them real quick." Frisk replied before reaching down in their pocket.

"They have cell phones here?!" Kaneki asked in disbelief. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?! We could have called them a while ago!"

"It's not my fault, Kaneki! I barely know how to work one!" In my defense, back when I was alive, we didn't have the technology that they had now; we wrote our messages with a pen and paper, but then again, it wasn't like I had any friends to write to either.

"Is Kaneki there?" Frisk asked as they held the device in their hands.

"He is." I answered back.

"Hi Kaneki!"

"Hello." I hadn't expected him to answer, but I could tell that Frisk enjoyed hearing his voice. "Please Frisk, can you call them? I'm starting to worry about them."

"Even Chara's worried?" I almost felt insulted by that, and Kaneki just had laugh. Then again, I didn't think I've heard him laugh before; it was a pleasant change to hear him somewhat happy.

"Yes, especially Chara." Frisk giggled at that a little too hard.

"Enough! Just call them!" Frisk's smile faded quickly, and then gave me an annoyed look before sighing to themselves softly. Listening carefully, I could hear the phone ringing through the speaker of the cell phone. After a few minutes, Frisk pressed a button on the device to end the dialtone. They didn't seem too shaken up about it, but they did seemed slightly anxious. "Who'd you try calling?"

"Mom… But, she has a hard time answering her phone, so I'll just call Asriel- he always picks up, even if he has to wake up to do it." Dialing the buttons more hastily, it wasn't long until that familiar ringing begun, until finally, it seemed like Frisk had got a hold of him. "Asriel, are you with mom? She has-" Frisk suddenly stopped talking, and became frozen as they continued to hold the phone to their ear.

"Why'd you stop talking? Go on ask Asriel if-"

"Hi Asriel, this is me, Frisk… Please give me a call back when you get this. Goodbye." It had taken a while, but Frisk managed to put the phone in their pocket before staring at the floor. I knew it wouldn't be long.

"This is what I was talking about, Kaneki."

"What are you talking about-" He didn't even have a chance to finish his sentence. Frisk let out a loud wail before sobbing violently. Having once possessed their soul, I had always known that Frisk was weak without me, but seeing them now only proved my own point even more. I'm not a someone who believes in miracles, nor was I the one to believe that everything would always work out for the best. If we found their dust, Kaneki would be bothered, of course, but he didn't know much about Toriel, and he had only known Asriel for a few hours, so I believed that I wouldn't have to worry about him recovering emotionally if the things came to that. Frisk on the other hand, well, they cherished all life, and I didn't even know what they'd do if they witnessed such a tragedy. At least if they stayed here, that would be one less thing to worry about.

"Frisk… Kaneki and I are going to go look look for them, I want you to stay here and lock the door; don't answer it unless you know it's us." I already knew what was to follow. They couldn't even speak, but rather just cried harder in protest.

"Why would say that?! They're worried sick about them, and you're going to tell that they can't come?!"

"I'm being smart about this, Kaneki. They're obviously too distraught to come along; they'll only slow us down." This caught Frisk's attention, which caused them to scream before trying to grab at my hair. I tried pushing them away, but they refused to let go. "Let go, you crybaby!"

"Just let them come with us! This is harder than leaving them behind, isn't it?"

"You know what? I'm done trying to talk to them, you do it." I didn't agree with how Chara told Frisk that, but I knew Chara had a point. Even so, l couldn't bring myself to leave them in tears.

"Frisk... please don't cry." I asked as softly as I could. They had buried their head into my scarf, and still continued to sob fiercely into it. I never had to comfort anyone like this before, it was always me who had received such treatment from Hide and his mother. Although it pained me to remember, I thought back to when the Nagachika family had first adopted me. I at the time was already best friends with Hide, who I had to come to for comfort. I for the longest time believed that my mother was a sweet person, and many who thought they knew her would testified that. I had become too accustomed to the beatings to realize otherwise. After my mother had passed away, it was Hide who remained by my side, and even realizing what kind of mother I really had, he made me feel better about it. Many times, when I would wake up crying during the middle of the night, Hide had always put his arms around me to pull me into a hug, just like Frisk had done earlier. So, I pulled Frisk into a close hug and I rested my chin on their shoulder. Just like how Hide's mother would rub my back softly as she hug me, I did the same to Frisk. "Please… Don't be sad..." Saying that seemed to ease their crying into shallow breathing, yet they continued to hold on to me. Sitting down on the floor, I continued to comfort Frisk, and they continued to calm down more and more. Soon, as what I was hoping for, their light shallow breathing slowed down into a light snore. Carefully, I held on to them as I lowered them softly to the floor before getting up to drape the blanket that was folded over the living room chair on top of their sleeping body. I was quiet on my way out, and I made sure not to lock the door too loudly before silently closing it on my way out.

I made way down the stairs. Enclosed between two tall brick fortifications, I made my way down the dirt path in the glooming shadows. High above the roof of the cavern, I could barely make out the large stalactites that hung above ominously; I had almost forgotten where I actually was. "Hey, stop real quick." Although I did as they said, I didn't understand why Chara wanted me stop. We were so close to leaving sight of the house. "... There used to be a tree here."

"Can this wait?" I knew I was being impolite, but we had no time for reminiscing about trees. "We need to get going, so can we please discuss this another time?"

"... Nevermind, it has no relevance now." I could sense a hint of sorrow in their voice, and had it been another time, I would have gladly addressed the problem. "Anyways, you're going to make a right… Actually, make a left first. We forgot to bring something to defend ourselves with, so I want to see if there's still a toy knife over there." I knew nothing about the Underground, let alone the Ruins; so all I had to put my trust in was walking blindly into the unknown with a child serial killer guiding me; so of course the mere mention of a knife put me on a little one edge. But nonetheless, we turned left on the T-shaped path, and entered the next area, which was essentially just an an alley with an archway built into the northern wall. Walking through that empty area however, seemed to have bothered Chara slightly, but they remained silent; that was until we arrived on the ledged-overview that lead into the city. It wasn't the sight of the vast silhouettes of stone-built architectures over the horizon that had us awe struck. Dead center of the ledge, a mere few yards where we stood, was a white tablecloth draped down over a small table. There were two chairs parallel from each other, and sitting down at the table was a what I first thought to be a girl around my age with a plate full of cobweb-filled pastries gulping down from their white tea cup. There Chara and I stood in silence, neither of us knowing exactly how to approach the situation. "Oh wow! That's pretty a cup of water!" He didn't exactly have a masculine voice, but I had a feeling that he was a male, not that it mattered, of course. I got a better look at him when he slammed the empty cup down on the table counter, which caused it to shatter upon impact. His hair was like Chara's, except it was a pure white in color along with it being wavy and messy. He wore a red ribbon on his bangs, and the way he wore it made it look like there was a roman numeral thirteen on his forehead. His eyes were a rosey pink, and rather large might I add, which were unnervingly large and giddish. Even his outfit was a bit outlandish: a collared dress white shirt loosely buttoned up with blue suspenders. God only knew what he was wearing from the waist down. What seemed most unsettling about him, was the various spots of red switches he had stitched into his skin- most notably down his neck.

"What in the world…" Even Chara didn't know what to say at first glance of him, so I didn't know what they were expecting me to say. "... Umm… I suppose you should start by greeting him."

"Good afternoon." I introduced myself as I tried my best to put on a smile. "I'm sorry to bother you, but-"

"-Hi! I'm Juuzou! Nice to meet you!" He shouted with a large grin on his face. "Come! Sit with me!" Juuzou then motioned toward me with a pastry in hand as he begun to rapidly tap the surface of the table, even while I was making my way toward the chair parallel from him. "Good! And how about you? Are you Juuzou too?"

"What."

"My name's Kaneki, if that's what you were asking." He hummed for a bit while gazing around the ceiling before turning back to look at me.

"You're right, that wasn't what I was asking, but it's nice to meet you Kaneki!" He giggled as he begun to kick underneath the table. "Had I known I would be having company, than I would have made more cups of water!"

"... Whatever, just ask if him if he's seen Asriel or Toriel so we can get away from him."

"Excuse me, Juuzou, have you've seen two monsters by the name or Asriel and Toriel? They have white fur and look like-"

"Sounds a lot like sheep; they're sheople, right?"

"... More like goats, really, but yes, have you've seen them?" Juuzou shook his head before reaching over to take bite of one of the many pastries he had. "I see…"

"Hey, don't look so gloom!" He said, or at least that's what I thought he said; it was a bit difficult to understand him with his mouth full of cobwebs and dough. Juuzou reached below, to what I assumed to be his pockets, before pulling out a bulky black cell phone- one identical to Frisk's. "I can't say that I've seen any farm animals around, otherwise I'd probably would be drinking milk right now instead of the water I found in a river, but I did find this while I was filling up my cup!" Juuzou slid the phone across the table and luckily I caught it. "It was vibrating earlier, and I didn't answer because it was tickling me, and I like being tickled, so I let it go to voicemail." Picking up the cell phone, I navigated through the bulky device's pixley menu to access the voicemail option. Playing back the message, I felt glad to hear Frisk's voice again through the voicemail; I also felt guilty for leaving them back in their home.

"Hi Asriel, this is me, Frisk… Please give me a call back when you get this. Goodbye." I sighed to myself before zipping the cell phone up safely into my coat's pocket. Juuzou must have finally taken notice at my dismay. He grabbed my chin from across the table to make me face his grinning smile.

"Don't be so down in the dumps Kaneki! I'll help you look for them after we're done!" Juuzou reassured. Much like Chara, this caught my attention, but for different reasons. "Actually… That reminds me..." Juuzou muttered to himself. "Since I helped you, you don't mind if I have you listen to a few songs with me, do you?"

"Erm… Of course." It was then that he pulled out a CD player from underneath the table, bumping over the plate of pastries in the process, before placing it beside his plate. "What are we going to listen to?"

"Well, on my way over here, this ghost, if you can believe it, was just laying there on the ground! I think they may have had some self confidence issues, but they seemed pretty nice! In fact, they even gave me a mixtape! Isn't that great?!"

"Oh God, please no."

So I might have lied about Toriel being in this chapter, but hey, next time for sure (probably). Don't worry, they'll leave the ruins eventually.