Third Monster Year

Frisk was in their "room.", somewhere in that empty place the living called the Void. They only managed to access it once in a while, when they were at their worst. It was a replica of that blood room they say during the genocide run, and they enabled access to it for some reason. Whenever they hit rock bottom, their mind slowly slipped away and fled there.

Physically, Frisk was in that Snowdin Inn, booking a free room for services completed. They managed to remember where they met Chara the last time they were alive. Their mind, however, was in a puddle of blood. Arms protruded from the ground and sought to embrace them. They wanted Frisk to join the ranks of the forgotten, they wanted him to fade.

And that, he wouldn't mind at all now.

Chara had been listening to the conversation they had with Flowey all along when it was actually supposed to be a birthday surprise. Chara tried her best to take that day off, pushing every meeting she had and rattling her mind to find a proper gift. The date was that of the barrier's destruction, which was somehow every monster's birthday on the surface world. She had picked up a few things, not knowing what a proper gift could be. Some chocolate, a sweater, an apron, a pendant, and some slippers sans threw in there without her noticing.

Chara brought that box along, hoping to surprise Frisk. They found them talking to something, a wiggly strange flower in a pot. Taking a closer look, she ascertained it was Flowey, the one who had a tiny bit of Asriel's consciousness. Slowly closing in, she listened behind that cage Papyrus tried to put her inside, one timeline ago.

"So, you know, that little goat had been bothering my pea brain about getting you all chummy again with Chara."

"You want me to go to the surface?"

"Everyone did, you idiot."

"I'd rather stay here."

"What's the matter, brat, you helped her SAVE monsterkind, and now you've been alone down here for three freaking years !"

"It's better that way, you know that."

" I can't believe I'm saying that again but ... YOU helped the monsters get out ... YOU revived their long lost angel ... YOU granted them all they did wish for, and you wanna hang out in what used to be their prison?"

"I do, the surface isn't made for me."

"What, because you don't wanna go on another rampage?"

Frisk "froze", that was part of the answer. They also feared the whole going back into the human world, obviously feeling safer here.

"It's not like that crazy skeleton couple is out there anymore, I mean ... she's gone for good and he went up with the others."

They haven't heard of Arial since they met her a few times, in that last run to SAVE monsterkind.

"Even so, it's not entirely her fault, if I wasn't that weak, I ..."

Chara saw Frisk slowly materialize themselves, tapping on magical reserves she did not know of. Her mind wasn't able to realize why or how Frisk could revive outside of touching that pendant.

It was whatever mutual love they had that kept them going, and slowly recovered Frisk's heart-shaped lifeline. Chara, however, never saw that as a possibility. She simply stopped at the fact that they could be alive and strolled back to the surface without realizing they could have helped them do that too.

They have been denying being able to go up because they were a ghost, Chara suggested living together as "siblings" while their SOUL was recovering, and waiting for that pair of scientists to get their SOUL back to their body. Chara felt a little betrayed, they could have tried once in those three years to grant her that little wish of hers. Loving them, dating them, living with them on the surface. Whatever took them three timelines was at reach, but Frisk never accepted that.

She wondered if she did not need some time off, images of their parting flashing through her mind. The Mettaton show, their broken SOUL, their petty argument, their weird reunion, their making out in New Home. Every piece of memory Chara had of them was making her tear up, for she wanted those to go away. She wanted to stop loving them. They already had a "pause" once, and it went pretty badly, even so, she couldn't stomach another lie. She simply wanted out of there, her legs turned around and ran. She didn't care to be exposed, or if someone followed her. She just wanted to get out of there before her heart constricts any further.

Frisk and Flowey heard someone running to New Home, then noticed a box floating on the river. While Frisk went to catch the running shadow, while Flowey followed the lost box, both thinking it was some intruder prying on them. Frisk soon managed to catch up to Chara, who turned back to slap them. It wasn't the first time they did, but this one stung much more than any other.

Perhaps was it because she did it while crying her heart and ran to the exit. Frisk did not bother chasing her more than that, they knew what they said, they knew they weren't ready to go and face the world. Deep down, they were aware they broke her heart for good, but they convinced themselves it was for the best. Little they knew about what broke her heart.

Thus one year went by, then came the next without them seeing each other

Fifth Monster Year

The Monster Kingdom was now officially recognized by a few more countries, thanks to the work of the retiring ambassador. The past two years were intense, juggling between school and office work was a pain, but she could finally delegate some work to King Dad. Sans lived in the first village with Papyrus and Aster, the latter commuting to the city six days a week to oversee Alphys' work. Sans tried getting back into that field, but his father convinced him not to, to preserve both his health and sanity. Papyrus worked hard as a Royal Guard with his brother, both accompanying Asgore for visits. They made quite the impression, more often that of a comical duo than anything else. It eased up some tense negotiations, and Sans was clever enough to earn some compromise should the other parties be stiffer than a cadaver.

Papyrus did catering after he got some help from Toriel, managing to both earn humans good food and bad laughs. That unusual strategy earned some merit among neighboring countries, who studied the matter more in-depth.

Alphys earned her keep with SOUL research, which helped cure diseases without any other form of medication. Earned with scorn and resistance from fellow scientists, they gradually opened up to it after Undyne kindly asked for it - in an Undyne fashion.

Fishface was still Chara's driver and bodyguard, taking her to school and back without minding traffic lights that much. She noticed that demon was not feeling well but dared not ask why. All she heard was her friends talking about how down she is, and even Goat Mom couldn't manage to make her talk about it.

Chara thought of him, now that she clearly remembers his gender. She had his things packed and loaded since day one, hoping he would move at some point. She had a room ready for him back in the village, and even in the capital city. Chara looked at the few things she retrieved from Frisk's multiple foster families, as well as a few items she bought him with her own money. A doodle book, a few pencils, a diary, a couple of clothes, a plushie, books and chocolate bars, and a backpack.

She always wondered what was on that diary, putting back the rest into a box and then storing it in a cellar. Once she got back, the wind blowing from the window opened an entry on a random page. Chara hesitated quite some time before looking, smiling at how cute his handwriting was. She passed her hand through every line, reading the entry out loud.

"October 25th

I learned that was the day mother died, I had no idea it was today, but a social service lady asked about it before informing my third family for this year./em

I'm not exactly thrilled to go there, I would like to know where Mother's grave is, take the day and stay with her. Dad never went to see her, and never talked about it either.

Mom used to tease me before she got sick, telling me I would meet a little girl and all. I wish she was still here, so she can see me meeting a girl later on. Anyone other than those people bullying me - girls included.

I would like her to see me watch over that girl like she did to me, and not let the girl ...

Die."

Chara stopped reading, closed the diary, and left it there, plopping on the bed. The last word rang through her very being a thousand times. Of course, that idiot would die to make her happy, even at his own expense. That is why they "broke up" without a word or an argument, and just left it there. It was extremely painful, but it was justified somehow.

She didn't want him to die for her, especially if he could be revived. His stubborn refusal made her give it up and try to live a life. Chara's feelings slowly faded in the past two years, as she was now a university student with the same high-school clique she had. She then met Arthur, the same bully that tried to rally people against her on the first day at school. Turns out this boy was more than a brainless bully, and after getting to know each other, they started hanging out.

Arthur had stopped being a bully, at least in front of Chara, and asked her out a few times, almost once every semester. Chara made him wait until her senior year, but he didn't flinch, so they started dating for the past three months. He made everything to please her, and she felt like opening up a bit more to him. However, she never let him go beyond pecks and hugs, for some reason Arthur couldn't tell.

Chara felt stupid not to be able to properly invest herself in that dating trial since she really tried to love her newly acquired boyfriend. She wasn't able to let anyone touch her the way Frisk did, perhaps she would allow it with time. Arthur, slowly converting back to being a jerk and openly bullying people again, was getting unnerved by Chara's chastity. Their dates often resulted in her avoiding further advances from him, and ended when he tried to feel her up in an alley.

The last semester approached, Chara had been distant with almost everyone, and Arthur had been plotting a petty revenge plan. But what made local news was the appearance of a boy, five years later, after all, monsters evacuated Mt. Ebott. He was hospitalized for weeks, then finally woke up to a flower pot in some bedroom.

"Hello there, sleepy, took you long enough."