Frisk cowered away, seeing Chara coming out from the house and looking for him. The boy ran down the empty streets of the human city, and without noticing he used a black portal to get that far. When Frisk looked up, it was where Sans dropped them off in the first place.
The streets were getting a little crowded around that area, which boasted a few more shops, a primary school, and a common house. Frisk looked at the odd sign, immediately recognizing the human SOUL colors. He took a peek at an open window and noticed three girls having lunch.
"Man, Chara's on edge lately. She barely talks to us and focuses more on her studies." said a blonde girl with a red ribbon. Frisk looked at the cloth and caressed his arm, where the ribbon used to cover Chara's wounds.
Another girl with glasses wrote something on a piece of paper, then handed it over to the ranting blonde. She looked a little surprised at the content, then looked at the shy person next to said glasses girl. The girl, in a dancer outfit, pointed at something strange by the window. When all girls hurried to check it out, they saw a boy running away.
Elaine wrote on Umeno's palm, a language they both established to keep things to each other. In short, she signaled to her equally mute friend that she knows the boy from somewhere. Umeno widened her violet eyes, quickly asking from where she knows that boy.
Elaine wrote his name on Umeno's palm, who then tugged Sabrina's sailor uniform.
"What is it now? Another stalker? "
When Umeno handed Sabrina another piece of paper, she gasped. Save for a sentence, it was her usual journal note.
"Frisk was here."
"Whaaaat ?!"
Frisk heard that loud exclamation, hiding two houses away from where he almost got caught. He knew Chara had friends, and they were no ordinary humans to boot. That made him sigh in relief but had him worried as well. She seemed to distance herself again, perhaps was it that human's fault. The one who followed Chara to her apartment then retreated with a bunch of other humans.
One she apparently had some history with.
Back at Chara's apartment, they froze when Frisk abruptly used magic. Sans was unsure how that happened, but Undyne found that cool.
"Hey, that punk is a coward but he got nice magic tricks."
"didn't expect competition in my department."
Both monsters in the living room grinned, but Chara simply sipped her golden flower tea. She tried to process again what happened earlier.
She saw Frisk and ran towards him. She doesn't know why, but she had the urge to hit him, snap at him, and lecture him again. She wanted a proper closure to what they shared, but couldn't deliver in time because he just went in some portal.
She can still feel the air fizzling, and a dark hole quickly closing up on his small figure. Chara stood there, clenching her fist so hard that her nails bled her pale skin. It was as if the world itself denied her a proper end, willing to further a relationship in hiatus. Truth is, Chara may not feel much towards Frisk anymore, but she doesn't hate him.
Going back into the house, she made some tea to gather her thoughts. Sans grabbed a half-full ketchup bottle, and Undyne took out some alcohol from a bar she built herself. Both monsters engaged in some cumbersome conversation, leaving Chara the leisure to think about what happened. Most of all, she wondered if she was really through Frisk. She knew it was to punch the crap out and say everything she wanted to say for so long, but she has not thought once of staying put.
"Hey, Bonehead"
Sans was in the middle of teasing Undyne with Her and Alphys' blooming relationship, dodging a spear that left yet another hole in the wall.
"Fishface, take some stuff down the basement to fix what you did."
Undyne simply obeyed with a UGH in Sans' direction, who sat there chuckling and then chugging what was left of his bottle. Chara was getting a little irritated, yet had no intention to argue now, she just wanted answers.
"You said your Dad gave Frisk some SOUL fragments? Is there any danger to the Child?"
"why would you care, demon gurl? thought you're no longer feeling Frisky about him."
Chara almost snapped out at him, but Sans reacted just in time and froze her body still.
"Tch."
"we can have a conversation without you showing chara-cter, sit down and sip your tea."
Chara reluctantly obliged and listened to what Bonehead had in mind.
"m'kay, so as far as i know, kiddo's vitals are okay, he also got a lot smarter and can use some magic from pops. i mean, nothing too draining."
"You sure about that?"
"yea, as long as the kid doesn't get too emotional."
Chara flinched at the thought, she knew there will be something wrong with any kind of Monster injection. Having Aster beneath the skin could make Frisk different, and it got her to regret denying him her SOUL samples after what happened. Sans left shortly after stepping into another shortcut, he had to find the kid before he does something stupid.
In another part of the human town, Arthur had been gathering a few shady fellows of his to get supplies. He needed "date rape drugs", and used his network of rich kids to get just enough for spiking a drink or two. He manage to get hold of Chris, who knew of most of the drug dealers in the rich district."
"Hey, pal, if you got any Valium left, hit me up."
"Would some Rohypnol do? Valium stocks are low these days man."
"Nah, even some GHB or GBL will do, or Ketamine if you have nothing else at hand."
"I'll ship you a bit of everything, you can do that weird mix of yours and put it in a punch bowl or something."
Arthur thanked Chris, hung up, and looked at the ceiling in his room. Pictures of Chara, of different sizes and qualities, were taped there. Shots of her eyes, lips, skin, or other full body shots filled Arthur's papered ceiling with every expression of hers. He slowly licked his fingers, then lips, itching at the prospect of finally getting to eat her up.
Arthur, besides being a bully, was also becoming a stalker and an eventual rapist. He was a little bored of people flocking around his family's wealth and became a bully of sorts to contrast with that image. Even so, people continued to gather around him, people similarly fed up with their fortunate families and in search of any stimulus. He still managed to pass classes because he wasn't exactly stupid, but he was barely given any interest in family gatherings or golfing.
Hitting people was fun at first, he could see them squeal and plead for mercy, and he could get anything he wanted from him. He did not need money or food, he just wanted to humiliate people because it sounded fun. His parents wouldn't care much about him, however, fixing incidents with a bribe or a phone call, then simply going back to what they were doing. Arthur hated how his parents simply provided him with means and left him to fend for himself. He couldn't get hold of their attention yet, so he tried to gather someone else's.
Chara happened to be there when he needed someone the most, hence his fixation on her. At first, he thought he could tease her like any other newbie that came to school. It was more even exciting to have the Monster Ambassador pounded into submission, but Arthur had not accounted for her fierce nature or her friends. He sent a few henchmen to threaten her, but she had not retaliated until they cornered her in a dark alley. He saw her punch, stab and dispose of a couple grew men with ease. Strangely enough, he loved the sight of her harming trash, more so when it was at unfavorable odds.
Since then, Arthur stayed low, taking pictures of Chara whenever he could. He got information about her from the ring of her friends' classmates and looked for her constantly changing schedule. It took many a gift and almost genuine confessions to have Chara even consider him, which got him even more interested in her. They started "dating", and for a little while, they looked like a legit college students' normal couple. Of course, Chara had stopped bullying people forever, which made Arthur think he should stop doing that openly. He started treating "trash" like human beings, hoping that she would notice that.
He could see in her eyes that she was not completely into him, but brushed the thought aside and continued dating her. His need for skinship was killing him, and every time they exchanged pecks or cuddles, he craved her much more than he would have thought. Chara never gave him the chance to fulfill that need, however, leaving him to think there was something behind her constant refusal.
His searches were unfruitful, and his questioning Chara almost daily about the matter made her slowly drift away from his grasp. She eventually broke up when he almost slipped a hand under her skirt to feel her up, earning a slap and much scolding. After being shut down by a slammed door, he gritted his teeth. He got too eager and ruined his most meaningful "relationship", making him go back to look for more stimulus. Girls after that felt the same to him, as he made out with every bee buzzing over his money. Even the most chaste of people would fall for him, making him try to spike their drink to go past their initial shyness.
He slept with most - if not all - girls in his class, but it did not make him feel the slightest goosebump. His search for pleasure and thrill was halted, as long as he couldn't get his hands on his Chara, who got even busier during College. He followed her every time he could to her apartment complex, but he either got scared by Undyne or there were too many people down the street to attempt anything.
When he hung out last time near her house, after giving up because two monsters were there, he noticed a boy in the car. He had no idea who that was, but that kid was gazing at Chara's window for the most part. He did not hear his fellow bullies call his name, and simply watched Chara getting out of the house and trying to catch up to the boy.
A kid his age, who almost looked like her, jumped into nothing and disappeared.
Arthur knew nothing about magic, but if that kid could use that, he probably knew Chara before she got out of there. In a fit of rage, he kicked a few trash cans before stomping on the ground and going back home.
He found the root cause, the evil, the one that denied him from eating Chara up. He could take his revenge on him, but he had no idea of that kid's whereabouts. After much thought, he stuck to his initial plan: snatch Chara during prom and have her fulfill his lustful desires.