Chara had been through her paperwork for the rest of that day, barely winking before soundly falling asleep. She had left the last few items of monster registration, among which figured a certain "W.D. Frisk" that recently filled his paperwork.
Come morning, her eyes laid on that particular file, as she slowly took it and read it carefully. After stamping and signing where needed, she stopped again to read the heavily redacted file.
Frisk was a former human with some records unknown to the Monster Kingdom, and Chara had to clear that up before submitting his papers to the proper channels. She sighed at the number of offices to visit, going through town with Undyne to collect the necessary data.
"Hey Punk, what's up with that file? Is it important?"
"Yep, it is the other "Punk" like you say. He needs an ID but humans have not given all the info I need."
"Hey, that'll be cool, that kid looks like a good match for you too."
Chara was surprised Undyne has no memory of Frisk, but then again she wouldn't have much either. The last time Frisk met Undyne, he killed her in her determined form. Any recollection of that melted with the pacifist RESET, as well as the barrier shattering. If anything, Undyne thought Frisk was cool because he could use some magic, unlike the other humans she met so far. She couldn't wait to spare with that human.
"Nah, you know ... I had enough trouble dealing with that human trash that follows me almost every day."
"Surprised that Arthur guy has not been turned in yet, or on the other side of my spear ... but I guess we cannot go all in with all your duties, right?"
Chara smiled, she would love to inflict some pain upon all those who oppose Monsterkind's return to the surface. Her Dad does not want any conflict, however, and her Mom might just go crazy worried about it if she knew.
"Guess not, we cannot do anything like you crazy cooking gigs, Fishface."
To that, Undyne grinned like crazy. She started to love her "cooking" when Chara visited her and Alphys' house when they just got out of the Underground. It was messy as always, but that mixture of minced meat and crushed vegetables tasted okay. Undyne was also fine to fix her kitchen every time she cooked, but Alphys managed to stop her before it turns into a battlefield.
"So that's the Punk you had a crush on before coming up here?"
Chara blushed madly, she did not expect Undyne to remember that in particular. Fishface told her Sans gave her a quick view of what happened since Undyne wondered why Chara was so out of it the last time they were together. Chara simply scoffed at the idea, she no longer felt that much for Frisk ... yet she wanted to see him again for reasons that totally make no sense.
"Undyne, we're in the administrative street, let us hit those offices before I can finally get to that prom night in one piece."
Frisk has been out of breath for a while, he does not even remember when he ran that. Strangely enough, whenever he thinks of escaping, something dark sucks him in and takes him just far enough. He no longer thought of that when a familiar blue shortcut popped out.
"kid ... gimme ... a break ... will ya?"
"You okay there sans? I'm sorry I ran ... I ..."
Whatever Frisk wanted to say got choked by his urge to cry. Sans simply shrugged and patted the kid's head.
"i feel ya kid, i feel ya ... anyhoo we gotta head home and um ... hope you're getting a card soon."
Sans was maybe bad at parenting, but he did get an interesting find during that little incident : demon gurl was not totally over Frisky.
He smirked a bit, making Frisk wonder why as Sans opened up a portal home. Frisk jumped in, hesitating to miss a chance to see Chara again. After he told himself he may get another shot, he felt slightly better about it.
Both enjoyed another night on the couch, but Frisk decided to have a drink for once. He was old enough to, and he could still get one without an ID. Sans looked at him twice or thrice before asking :
"you drinking your problems away kiddo?"
"I'm not! I've already tasted wine as a child I can handle alcohol ..."
Sans just sighed again, kid really wanted to drown his love life in red wine - which made sense, color and all. He threw a jacket at Frisk, grabbed his pair of slippers and his blue hoodie, and went upstairs.
"lemme check if captain paps are awake before sailing away, mate."
"Aye Captain !"
Frisk almost shouted that but muffled his voice just in time not to wake the sleeping Papyrus.
"What of your shift today, Sans?"
"not like our own king fluffybuns will work during prom night, but i'll still drop by his house for the night"
Prom night, Chara would be there. Frisk felt bad not being by her side but quickly reminded himself of the situation. There was no need to grieve that much, and maybe one night at the barstool will fix it.
Grillby had just enough of some regulars' antics and drinking problems, he found himself serving two extra customers a bottle of red wine and a couple of beer cans.
Grillby looked at both Sans and Frisk in the actual mess that was his shop, feeling like those two got a little closer again. Of course, he remembers bits of the genocide route. He smiled with non-existent lips and a gentle hue of orange fire.
That was until Frisk started feeling really bad, his left eye was dyed red and he coughed a familiar substance. Black vomit was on the table, dirtying the pristine-looking soil of the establishment. Grillby hardly bothered with that, but sans' panic state had him worried though.
Sans had no idea what is happening, he guessed it was another SOUL malfunction but did not expect that to happen now of all times. He called Frisk out to no avail, one of the kid's eyes was replaced with an empty socket. Black mud dripped from his mouth and right eye, and he looked like he tried to say something.
Sans readied himself to hurt the kid, pinning him down on the wall and readying bones just in case.
"what the hell, kiddo?"
"SsAaNs ... Ii NnEeEeDd ... TtOo SsAaVvEe ... CcHhAaRrAa"
With that reverberating in every corner of the bar, waking up a few drunkards who asked for hangover medicine, Frisk was no longer there.
Sans undid his magic, the kid just sucked himself into a portal. Bonehead wondered where that SOUL injection has gone wrong, the kkid'svitals were fine. His emotional state might be the cause, but it wouldn't make Frisk look like that horrible self of his.
The genocidal Frisk cannot be back.
Earlier that day, when Chara was done fighting for Frisk's paperwork, she was back at her apartment after calling a few friends. Alphys, Undyne, and the three lost girl SOULs were home with her, ready to go shopping for prom. The two monsters just tagged along because they needed fashion advice. Sabrina and Umeno were good at those things, but Elaine and Chara usually wore sweaters and dancing outfits almost exclusively.
"I- I- do not know about this, Undyne, do they have um ... Monster sizes?"
"Come on Alph, they must have something for large hum- AW ! why the tail whip though? Wanna spar or something?"
"Undyne, seriously calling your girlfriend "fat" in front of everyone?"
Umeno scribbled something and handed it to Sabrina, who always wondered where this girl stored all those notes within her.
"AHAHAHAHA !"
Sabrina showed that Chara, who giggled then handed it to a battle-ready Undyne threatening Alphys to use her "amazing fighting abilities". When Fishface read that note, she was going all shades of red.
"That Fish Monster is a clumsy one, but that makes her also cute."
Alphys read the note and laughed quietly, prompting the blushing Undyne to cuddle her nervously to fluster her too. All three girls mimed a "get a room you two" before everybody started laughing at how silly they were.
Elaine took Chara's hand and squeezed it then released her grip. Whenever that quiet person does that a few times, Chara knew there was something wrong with her. Elaine used that along with scribbling on her palms to get herself understood or ask for help. She waited for the others to go wait for the car to take Chara aside and let her know.
"What is it, Elaine?"
Elaine's fingers trembled before she started to write her message, and Chara slowly went from a smile to a neutral expression. Frisk was near the SOULs' house when he "teleported" his way out of Chara's reach. It was quite strange for him to land there, but maybe Sans had an idea about how his dad's SOUL bits work.
Chara thanked Elaine by pecking her cheek, making the shy girl embarrassed. She was not fond of physical contact either but was comfortable with her friends doing minimal skinship. Both girls got in the back seats of the car, along with Sabrina. Alphys got permission from Chara to seat in the passenger spot, to which the Fallen agreed. She was eager to make the two monsters love each other, given she can no longer do that herself.
The five-people squad got into the capital's massively diverse mall. There was pretty much everything one could ever need to buy in that multitude of stores. Chara winced at the crowded place, sticking to her group to not bump into people too much. The girls raided the 23rd floor and went for a popular brand that made simple yet pretty dresses for occasions such as prom ball. They picked up something true to their "character", not minding what the store suggested to them.
Undyne went for a black tank top and a pair of rugged jeans, she added a black leather jacket on top of it and took a few spiked accessories. Chara absolutely loved it, her two friends were a little hesitant to point out how scary she was with that kind of getup. Alphys showed up next with a ... pretty red dress and pearls she spotted two stores earlier. She also took a little black purse with her, and slightly high heels that made her wobble a bit.
"Hey, there Sexy! You never dared to wear something like that before ~"
The human girls giggled at Undyne's cat call, making Alphys so embarrassed she hurried back to the dressing room.
"I- I- I- am going to c-c-change these, they're too t- t- tight on me."
The rest of the girls picked up similar things, going for a full dress and some shoes. They also hit the make-up stand, and Elaine stood the most because she never wore any kind of make-up before. Her lips were a little more enhanced once dyed in pink, and her eyelashes got a little more volume that would catch any faint-hearted man unaware.
"Gorgeous, you really are gorgeous that way, you ballet freak."
Elaine giggled because Sabrina managed to spot the ballerina shoes under the light pink; fluttery dress she picked for tonight. Sabrina hurried with her clothes at hand and managed to find heels that were not too steep for her little ballerina friend. They were uncomfortable at first, but Elaine managed to walk around without falling more than twice.
Sabrina traded her boyish attire for a blue dress that goes barely past her ankles, Chara whistled as the blonde passed and gave her a comic wink. The dress was also adorned with a red scarf since Sabrina decided to take her ribbon off and let her hair untouched.
"Guess Valiant gonna like what he sees"
"N-n-n-n-no way Juicy gets anything about clothing! He is too damn dense for his good, UGH!"
Chara also took her purchases home, not showing anyone anything despite their constant "friendly harassment" of her to see what she looks like. While Undyne left her at the apartment to change and took the girls to their home to get ready - and take Alphys to a date with the car - Chara hurried up to try her "secret" outfit, a dark blue dress with thin violet strips. She chose that because she thought of Frisk while dressing herself up, which was idiotic given she moved on.
As she got out, later that night, from the apartment complex she lived in, two shadows followed her until she managed to get a cab. One jumped back into a fancy car that took him on an alternate route to the prom ball, the other vanished as it spewed out blood and dark stains.