Authors Note: Warnings for violence, blood, and a small mention of suicide ideation at the very end. I promise its going to start getting a little less grim soon guys.

Chapter 2

Forsaken\\Macabre

Its not an open casket. Mostly because the funeral is set back a couple of months to deal with the expenses, and because her father had some strange wish to be cremated. Which, to honestly think about it makes Chara wonder just how his body looked turning to a crisp, and being reduced to a pile of dust.

Oh well, at least now she has time now to think and breathe. She seems to be the only one not entirely affected by the recent happenings, but thats alright as long as nobody starts to call her out for it. Its bad enough being stuck in the house with her overbearing Aunt watching her every move. She doesn't need anyone else getting on her back about it.

They hold a small wake at the apartment building. Chara thinks its stupid to hold it this early, as if doing it now is going to help the situation any when the actual funeral comes around. A bunch of family and friends show up and hold a small dinner in the buildings rec center but Chara sticks to the back of the room, sipping Kool-aid from a juice packet she brought out from her room. She locks eyes with her Aunt for a split second and receives a dirty look before turning away. Chara smirks around the straw, wondering just how much trouble she would get in for starting a scene here and now.

But shes got more respect than that, she may hate everyone but it would be distasteful to start anything now. Besides, her grandparents are here and they are the only family members that Chara can bring herself to actually like. Though she doesn't see them enough to know exactly what their stance on her is.

"Hi Chara," One of her distant cousins, Mira, approaches looking the picture of charm and grace. Chara has to give it to her, Mira has mostly been untouched by the impurity of their family, but she knows that sooner or later that will change. "S'up." Chara mumbles around a bite of a croissant she took from the kitchen.

Mira shrugs and motions around, "This I guess, how are you?" She asks, pleasantly. They rarely talk any time other than at these family gatherings. So Chara has no reason to be rude to her, "I'm fine." She answers back, "Is there any reason you ask?"

She looks stumped for a moment, pondering the question for a ridiculously long time. "I mean, your dad just died..." Mira prompts after so long, chewing visibly on her painted bottom lip. Chara stifles a snort and nods, letting her bangs fall over her eyes to hide her glee. "Yeah, he is."

"O-ok then," Mira stumbles over her words, frowning for a moment. Neither of them have anything much to say to each other. They never do. "Well um...How is school going?" The other girl shifts the topic, and though Chara hates small talk with a burning passion she manages to stay pleasant as she explains her lack of interest in school, and how she absolutely hates her history class. This at least seems to stifle the awkwardness for a while as they exchange stories about school.

"So have you started learning anything about the Monster war yet?" Mira questions, an excited gleam in her eyes. Likes shes been waiting to tell this story forever now. Chara shakes her head, keeping her expression neutral but her interest is certainly piqued. Mira launches into a long winded explanation, speaking rapidly with mounting intensity. Chara's head swims with all of the random information but doesn't bother asking the other to slow down.

"Everyone says its a myth though," Mira sighs, "But isn't it super cool that it supposedly happened here? They say that the people who go there always disappear, never to be heard from again. I think its a silly rumor, but wouldn't it be so cool to see an actual monster?"

Chara nods, "We should check it out," she suggest to Mira, though she would rather not have the other girl there at her side. As friendly as their brief exchanges were neither of them had the drive to be around the other in the long run. It was amazing that they had even held this conversation at all. But the possibility of seeing a real monster...yeah, that definitely sounded amazing.

Mira goes quiet, looking thoughtful. "I don't know, its not exactly safe..."

Chara knew as much, Ebott was notorious for the amount of injured hikers that came back from it, not to mention the few that had actually died there in accidents related to climbing it. It had been in the news a few times, and most hikers had since been warned away from braving its dangerous trails. Chara shrugs, "Yeah, I guess so." And thats the end to their discussion about it. Mira sticks around for a brief few minutes before heading off the converse with other family members.

Leaving Chara to her thoughts. She leans back against the wall and finishes off her juice, thinking about this new bit of information. A war between monsters and humans, she could only imagine how that had gone. A bloody massacre, shes sure of it though the fact that the monsters weren't wiped out also suggests otherwise. No matter, she would likely go home and do her own research about it later.

The Wake lasts for a while longer, but Chara quickly grows bored of being around these people. Choosing to disappear back into the apartment, holing up in her room and waiting for the telltale sounds of cars leaving the complex. At least it went well enough, Chara wasn't forced to talk to people she hated, and most of her family members had ignored her besides Mira and a few distant relatives whom she only saw once in a great while.

Two months passed in a blur since her fathers death and every day since has been a celebration on her end. Though the rest of her family mopes about, her older sister more irritable than usual and her brother doped out more often than he is sober. She doesn't understand why they aren't as happy as she is, but then again neither of them had endured quite the same treatment. They got small doses of their fathers rage, while Chara took the worst of it.

Her celebrations however had come to a quick, painful ending the day of the funeral. Her mother was there. Chara knew there could only be one reason for the old womans attendance. After all, when her mother had moved away she swore never to return, not while her ex-husband was still around.

"Chara?" The woman called, spotting her daughter from across the hall. Wanting to run, but knowing it would be futile Chara turns to face her oncoming doom. "My, you've certainly grown..." people change a lot in four years, "as quiet as ever too." Her mother hums her disapproval.

They've never gotten along, but that wasn't a surprise for anyone. Elizabeth had never wanted children, she was still young when she had met Chara's father, and impressionable at that. When she had gotten pregnant she had wanted to abort immediately, and it was Chara's father who had convinced her not to. Fat lot of good it did. It certainly would have saved everyone the trouble.

As Chara grew older there were certain things that Elizabeth wanted for her, namely for Chara to adopt the same girly attitude that Elizabeth herself had. To be more feminine, and to dress in clothes that didn't obscure her born gender. Chara however had always found that she had no real reason to do as her mother wished, she was perfectly fine the way she was.

Though Elizabeth really didn't need an excuse to hate her daughter, she often blamed her lack of a relationship on the fact that they didn't have much in common. If Elizabeth were being truthful their lack of relationship would have been entirely about the neglect and verbal abuse that Chara had to suffer with until she was four.

Chara hated her father, she hated that he could so easily reduce her pure fear. But somehow, she still found more hatred for the mother whom denied her, whom could have saved her but chose not to out of her own selfishness. Yes, her father was a monster, but her mother the devil herself.

"...Are you listening to me?" Her mother questions, tightening her hold on Chara's small hand. Chara shakes her head truthfully, uncaring that she had tuned out whatever tearful reunion of a monologue her mother was probably reciting. Shes glad that there are some people in the hall with them, she shudders to think what would happen if they were alone.

Her mother sighs, but continues on "No matter, the gist is, you'll be coming to live with me now."

That isn't at all surprising but still makes Chara want to vomit. The very idea of living with her mother, its unfathomable. And she doesn't want to leave the village anyway. "Aunt Judy can't take me?" Chara asks, quiet and hopeful.

Her mother laughs harshly, "Oh honey...Shes the one who begged me to take you." Her voice is lowered, but the hallway is less crowded now that people are filtering into the reception room. Chara hunches in on herself, trying to ignore the stabbing feeling of anger in her gut. Her fingers itch to draw blood.

Those urges are rising again, acting on them here would draw a lot of attention - besides without any sort of weapon or defense she would easily be overpowered. In that moment she has two overwhelming trains of thoughts getting ready to collide; do something incredibly stupid to draw attention to herself, or run away to the flowers.

She chooses the flowers. Tearing her hand from her mothers grasp, she gasps at the sensation of dull pain in her wrist, from all those months ago when Aunt Judy threw her around like a rag doll. She doesn't focus too much on it now though. Instead she turns, ignoring her mothers shouts of protest as she takes off down the hall to the chapels front doors.

Out in the streets she narrowly avoids a collision with the familiar faces of her neighbors. Many of which she would like to teach a lesson as well. But for the moment her focus is solely on getting to the edge of town, where the flowers grow. Its here that she can take a deep breath and think. The way things are now...if she doesn't do something soon she'll be stuck in another bad situation that she really doesn't want to deal with.

"They say that the people who go there always disappear, never to be heard from again. I think its a silly rumor, but wouldn't it be so cool to see an actual monster?"

Chara thinks hard on the words from earlier... a place people go to disappear forever. It sounds ominous enough, but also exactly what she needs. Besides, meeting monsters...no matter how afraid the idea makes her its still extremely intriguing. Bloodthirsty beasts is how Mira had described them, warriors with no sense of right and wrong. Mira may have been exaggerating but still...

Shes already made up her mind.

"Someday," She promises to the flowers, picking up a handful of fallen petals from the ground "Someday I'll come back to see you again."

And then shes gone, leaving a trail of petals behind her.

She changes out of the stuffy black dress and into something a little more comfortable, a simple striped sweater and brown pants, she isn't sure what she will need when underground so she packs light. Extra clothes, her hygiene products, a few sandwiches just in case things go awry and she ends up stranded. As she goes through the motions of packing things away into her little gray backpack her confidence in this plan begins to wane.

"Its not a myth," She says aloud, trying and failing to convince herself. Because if it is just a myth, her little trip is nothing but a suicide mission. Then again, suicide is still the better option. She sighs, considering writing a brief note to leave behind. She decides against it though, she doesn't need to explain herself to anyone.

With a renewed sense of determination she leaves her house, facing towards the distant mountains.

She knows that she has nowhere else to go but up.

Authors Note: I said a couple of hours and it turned into days. Wowie. Anyway I have an excuse but its literally just that I slept for a really long time, had to do homework *cough* *cough* Four late essays and two late math assignments that were supposed to be done before turkey break *cough* *cough*, and then never got around to writing this last chunk of text lol. Sorry. Anyway next chapter is entirely dedicated to the underground! Yay, finally!