Three months later
Chara had, to her surprise, convinced the human leaders to adopt laws on human-monster violence.
The recent incidents involving both the Monster Kingdom and the nearby Human country made both of them look bad to the public eye, let alone to the few Human nations who welcomed monsters on their territory. Chara had to pull something decent enough to diffuse the tension and protect her people.
After those incidents, both humans and monsters involved were charged to six months of hard labor. While some critics asked for jail time and others wanted a harsher punishment for the Monsters, both governments agreed that heavier charges would only make things more difficult.
Chara drooped on her desk's chair, having to review all the charges' statements because there was no proper monster court at the moment. She carefully eyed each and every line before stamping the Monster Kingdom seal, signifying her approval. Why would Chara do that, you ask? Because she will be Queen on her own very soon, given she graduated just recently and could now be devoted full-time to the Kingdom's business.
Asgore and Toriel told her they would step down for a moment, given there was much to be done for their own nation to be a proper party in a world of Human politics. Asgore thought it would be better if Chara stepped up, given she had near-unanimous support from the Monster population, and could get around Human politicians, whether they were reasonable people or haughty individuals.
Toriel only dedicated a few hours a week to her job at school, since she now wanted a proper education system for the Monster kids. She drafted many a proposition to be submitted to both Chara and her then-husband, which Asgore took seriously. Chara, on the other hand, did not know much about Monster schools, so she just listened to her Mother's explanations and nodded when she felt it was appropriate to do so.
The Judiciary fell to Asgore, who quietly went around town to gather a few individuals who would help put up some Monster Court. Aside from going to Grillby's, he came across every Monster he could think of before picking a few candidates he would interview in two weeks' time. He enjoyed the idea of helping his daughter since he and Toriel made her carry a burden she may not be ready to assume just yet.
Chara skimmed through the rest of the documents presented to her desk, including one she labeled with a pink bookmark.
"Hey Punk, didn't know you were head over heels for that other Punk who just enrolled in school?"
"Undyne, did you go through my stuff AGAIN?!"
True, Undyne was the one taking care of delivering the documents to Chara's desk, but even Fishface could not resist teasing Chara over that Punk that made her "Boss" blush like an idiot at the sight of a mere bookmark. Yet, Chara quickly went from that idiotic grin to a sad, almost desperate expression.
Undyne have only heard from Sans about how that human told Chara they needed to be apart for now, but she hadn't asked for more details. Alphys always told her not to pry into other people's business that much, and that was the last person Undyne wanted to upset. She even had everything ready to ask Alphys on another date and - potentially - her hand.
"Punk, if you're done glooming over that document, I can deliver those back home and go see my date".
Undyne rarely looked dead serious, but she did the moment Chara stared her way. That expression made Chara think that Fishface was not being inconsiderate but made her face the only fact her brain ACTed upon, over and over.
Frisk was definitely not willing to be with her at the moment.
"I don't want to hurt you, Chara !"
She gave Undyne the four binders she had ready, then went to the balcony that came with that office of hers. Chara chewed some gum, rested her chin on one hand, and peered at the distant school Frisk had just enrolled in.
Chara took her phone out and dialed a number.
"SABRINA"
"Hey there, blondie, wanna chat over a cup of tea?"
The Manning household.
Arthur managed, thanks to his stupidly recurrent addiction, to have charges dropped against him. He could finally get that bracelet off his ankle and walk around the luscious garden his parents barely took the time to look at. Arthur may be a poet at heart and be fond of beautiful things, but he was arrogant and willing to obtain them by all means necessary
Hence why Karma decided to make him walk around with an IV Bag and a middle-aged woman who acted as his nurse.
Arthur could not even appreciate that Buttercup patch he asked for, given that his nurse specifically told him to stay away from those flowers. Anything that could remind him of Chara made him unstable and prone to do something stupid, but the man would just not listen to what the adults had to say to him.
He still wanted Chara more than ever, even if he had to destroy her life at this point.
"Brother! You should not move around so much, you are still weak !"
The loud, yet cheery voice of his sister, Claire, made him forget about Chara for a moment. He turned around to stare at her, and Claire did not comprehend why would her brother look at her that way.
"Claire, beautiful as always."
Arthur knew his ways around ladies and did not hesitate in displaying his "gentleman" side, even for his own flesh and blood.
Claire playfully got along without much of a word, but deep inside she could hardly contain those feelings of pity and disgust she now had towards that hollow-looking brother of hers. She was well aware of how much of a womanizer he was, but could not expect he would actually do this much for one single girl.
Claire bit her nail at the thought of Chara towering over Arthur, making him beg her to be together again. Every time Chara is mentioned, Arthur's eyes ignited a spark and he looked genuinely interested in that bit of conversation. Claire had Chara monitored by a couple of private detectives, although it was not as efficient as she wanted it to be.
Three of those investigators aborted that mission because they were almost "skewered" by some Fish Monster.
A fourth had been teleported to some eerie land, with talking flowers, and barely could find a way out.
Only the man named DeJean knew exactly what they were doing, given they had a previous interaction with Ambassador Chara and her "mob".
His three aides were forgettable, to say the least, Claire memorized the names pretty quickly, but never got interested to know more about them.
DeJean was intimidating, to say the least. Claire noticed him when he first answered that request she posted on that forum. Given the paycheck, DeJean saw in it an opportunity to ruin the family that cost him his career but also have his revenge on that stupid monster-loving human who denied him the thrill of solving the case. DeJean towards over the 5'3", young client of his. His haphazardly shaved face and the dead fish look in his eyes caught Claire's attention, more so when he showed up at the Mansion with that Private eye gray setup she only saw in old movies: Fedora and Trenchcoat all the way.
The 6'1" man looked extremely disgusted when he first entered the mansion, let alone being followed by butlers and the like. He despised families like the Manning for sure, but that was the golden opportunity he waited for. Yes, he deeply resented the Mannings and would never have accepted a request from them back then, but his morals went quickly down the gutter when he was out on the streets with his former C.I.
How easily people were swayed by money, power, and thrill when there was nothing else for them down here.
It took months for DeJean to realize whatever justice he upheld back in the day was a pipe dream, and had he better be dirtier than the dirt he was dealing with.
DeJean quickly talked with Claire about the job details and how he hated his family, but he had a smirk when Claire revealed who was the target.
"Chara Dreemurr"
Claire was about to thank the gloomy-looking detective, who glared at her and said:
"SPARE me the prissy act, I know you all are an ungrateful bunch".
Frisk yawned, it was his first day of school and he was up way too early already.
"4 am, better check what's in the fridge."
He got out of bed, approached the window then looked at the pale moonlight covering the immediate landscape. Frisk immediately thought of Red, but denied that thought as fast as it came to mind.
"Why would you not understand?! I love you, Frisk, I LOVE YOU !"
He could not give her a straight answer on time, he just fidgeted there and ran through all the possibilities in his mind. One stood above all those scenarios he came up with: Sooner or later, he may hurt Chara or k-
Frisk felt nauseous, gave up on the idea of munching something, and settled for juice. He sat quietly on the couch that Sans used to laze on all day, back when they were in the Underground. Sipping that strawberry juice of his, he looked up the material Mettaton gave him weeks ago, for his fabulous first-year art Class. Mettaton may have been excited to teach humans how gorgeous Art is, but Frisk only hopped into Art major because not many people enrolled in it, except around ten people.
Frisk turned the TV on, and slouched like Sans would have done at any time of the day. He barely paid attention to that family quiz show replay with absurd survey questions and below-the-waist humor, but left the TV on just to have background noise of sorts. He could not afford his brain to wallow over Chara for too long, giving a second look to Mettaton's Syllabus, which honestly was more of an Art Portfolio than anything else.
Before his brain indulged in finding excused for why he wanted a RESET so badly, his eyes stopped at some big font poster with that caption.
"ART IS LOVE, MY LOVELIES ! ART IS LOVE, PASSION ... AND LEGS !"
Frisk laughed for a good minute about how random those pep-talk quotes were presented and started enjoying that content a bit more now that he allowed himself not to think through what happened in that hospital room.
Two hours later, Papyrus woke up in a hurry, storming into the living room and heading to Sans' laboratory/bedroom
"GOOD MORNING HUMAN ! HEADING TO SCHOOL TODAY?!"
Frisk simply waved at the fast-running skelebro, who woke up Sans to take the Human for their daily SOUL Checkup.
"i'm awake, i'm ... zzzzzz"
"YOU LAZY BONES, GET UP AND GET READY FOR BREAKFAST, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL ASTONISH YOU WI-"
Aster showed up in the room, he seemingly phased through that wall with a grumpy morning face. Papyrus knew better than shouting first thing in the morning, but he was also ... naturally loud.
"Papyrus ... Your enthusiasm is appreciated, but it is way early to wake this pile of bones that is your brother"
"BUT PAPA, THE HUMAN HAS CHECKUPS AND SCHOOL TODAY"
"I will take the human to Alphys' lab in a minute, I just need to -"
Aster took some time to stretch his limbs , phasing through the wall yet again, making Papyrus drop his jaw hard enough to wake up Sans"
"bro, what was that?"
"Good Morning, Sans"
" 'sup pops, has some bone-ding time with mom?"
"It was quite pleasant indeed, but you should not worry about that. Look for Frisk on their way to school"
"as much as i'd love to do that, kid already knows how to use shortcuts"
Aster sighed, Papyrus was already out in the kitchen making pancakes with Arial, which quietly woke up and greeted Frisk on her way down.
Breakfast went just fine, even though Papyrus thought it would be ideal to serve spaghetti on pancakes, and Sans wanted a helping of ketchup on his own.
After a few SOUL checkups and another conversation with Alphys about how Undyne is a cool anime trope, Frisk was already at school after hopping in a portal. He may have better control over these, but always spawned near the SOULs common house for some reason. Sabrina met him as she was the on trash duty that morning, and she could not contain her excitement.
"OH GOD ! Frisk, is that you? You okay?"
Frisk grinned awkwardly and waved hi before slowly walking away to school, he knew what Sabrina would ask for first thing in the morning.
"Thank you for SAVing me, somehow, although I know your first objective was SAVing Chara"
Sabrina bowed to Frisk, who urged her to rise her head.
"It's ... nothing, I was not even myself back then ..."
"What happened, then? Did you guys patch up things?"
"No"
Before Sabrina dug further in that direction, Frisk quickly said he had to be at School, so she let him slip for this time. Soon after, she received a call from Chara.
"Tea? at your place? Can I bring the girls too? Sure thing !"