Authors Note: Finally getting this done, it was a doozy to write because now ACTUAL interactions are happening. Believe me, its gonna get a lot more light hearted from here on out. Also very HUGE thank you to everyone who fav'd and followed, like holy crap I wasn't expecting that! Thanks guys! Its good to know I'm not only writing for myself :D
Chapter Three
Limbo/Healing
In retrospect, climbing a dangerous mountain thats been said to have killed people before? Yeah, not the most well thought out idea. Chara already regrets it when her feet begin to ache. What makes it worse is that she hadn't even really thought this plan out. Whats she going to even do here? Become a hermit and live in a cave? Yeah, right. She kicks a rock away from her, watching it bounce a short distance away and then disappear down a hole. She frowns, walking slowly towards the hole.
She peers over the edge, the darkness seeming to go on forever. She moves to pick up another rock to throw it down, to see how deep it goes. When she hears the sound of crumbling rock. Her feet disappearing beneath her.
There is a moment of surprise, the feeling of falling through the air, before slamming the ground hard enough to jar her entire body. Pain zapping her head, as she groans and rolls onto her back. Eyes narrowed as she glares up at the now obvious hole that she fell into. A trickle of blood draws her attention, the sticky wet feeling of it sliding over her forehead and into her hair. No doubt staining the coppery brown, but shes more so worried about the agonizing pain...everywhere, she can't pinpoint any exact point of pain, just that shes probably going to be a giant bruise if she survives this.
She can see a flash of yellow out of the corner of her eyes. She seems to have fallen into a bed of flowers - buttercups it looks like, since they aren't quite the same shade of gold as the flowers from her village, and a few have soft pink tinges to them.
"Hey, I think I heard something..." Chara groans, straining to hear the distant voice. She twists her neck, wanting to move, but not wanting the pain to flare up even worse. "Oh my gosh," The voice says, closer now to her. She strains, and can just barely see a kid...with...fur?
"Did you fall down?" He asks, Chara wants to scoff because its pretty obvious she did but her amazement outweighs her sense of rudeness. She stares at the kid - er, goat kid, for a few seconds. Committing his image to memory. He has to be one of the monsters from the legend but theres no way that this dopey looking kid is some bloodthirsty beast.
She manages a slight, dumbstruck nod.
"Whats your name?" He asks, leaning over her, worry clear in his big eyes. He wipes the hair from her forehead and winces as she groans, the contact bringing renewed attention to the throbbing pains in her head.
"Chara," She whispers, throat dry and crackling as she speaks. He smiles softly, "Chara...thats a nice name, mines Asriel." Chara manages a small, un-ironic smile and nods her head. This kid...is too nice.
But she isn't complaining, hes the kind of nice that doesn't make her immediately think he has an ulterior motive. Kind of dumb in a way, and probably going to cause himself more trouble in the long run. But its still refreshing to not be assaulted by fake niceness or true rudeness. Especially now that shes discovered that monsters are real - and shes ultimately at this kids mercy since shes certain shes been weakened a great amount.
"Can you move at all?" He asks, prompting Chara to shake her head rapidly. It hurts, and she groans again. She really doesn't want to move at all. "What if I help you?" He asks, concern painted on his face. Chara ponders for a second, then nods, swallowing down her fear. She could move, it would hurt of course, but if he could help her get started she could gather the determination to do it.
He smiles again, and places his hands...paws...underneath her arms and begins to heave her up. Chara struggles with her footing but once on her feet shes able to at least walk while leaning against him. She brings her hand up to her head to stop the pulsing pounding feeling but it does nothing. "Ugh, I feel like I got hit my a truck..." She might as well have, but she considers herself lucky to not have broken every bone in her body from that fall.
"Here, this might help." He digs in his pocket for something, and when he shows it to Chara, she laughs a little. "I don't understand..." She says, taking the object with her other hand and examining it. Its a small, vaguely bunny shaped cinnamon roll. Does he expect her to eat it?
"Well, down here, things like that recover our HP." He answers, "Doesn't hurt that it tastes good too." He snickers a little.
"Uh huh..." She looks at the cinnamon roll skeptically, but takes a small bite of it. It does nothing to help her physical wounds, but somehow, something inside of her feels much, much better. She eats the rest of it, feeling more invigorated than ever. Despite the physical pain.
"So its like medicine?" She asks, genuinely curious. Asriel shrugs a little, "Kind of, just not as gross." Chara laughs. "Oh man, you should try some Nice Cream too, its super good." Nice cream...Chara isn't sure if thats supposed to be a pun or if theres actually a food called Nice Cream. "Sure, maybe after I get this patched up?" She asks, pointing to the obvious gash on her head. He winces a little, "Oh yeah, we should definitely get you patched up. Come on." He starts to lead her again.
She leans against him for support, finding it only a little odd that he insists on keeping a hold of her hand. Maybe its a monster thing. She isn't quite sure. None of this is going exactly as she planned...well, actually she didn't have a plan, but if she did this wouldn't have been a part of it. Shes just surprised to find that monsters exist in the first place. Its kind of crazy. She worries a little bit that she may have hit her head harder than she thought. For once since they began walking she takes note of her surroundings. They are in a dimly lit corridor, nearing a menacingly large doorway. Chara feels suddenly nervous.
"Um..." She stops moving, stopping Asriel as well. "Whats wrong?" He asks, hand gripping hers lightly.
"Where...are we?" She asks, nervously glancing at the large, dark doorway.
"Oh!" He seems a little surprised by the question, "The Underground, don't worry I promise nobody will hurt you...I was going to take you to my mom, she always knows how to patch up an owie." Chara lets the childish use of the word Owie instead on the idea that nobody will hurt her. Certainly if all monsters were like this kid they wouldn't...but, the legend seemed to have some truth to it and because of that she doubts all of the monsters are as sunshine and rainbows as Asriel.
Hesitantly, Chara nods, "Alright." She can't really afford to pass up medical care anyways. Whatever the Cinnamon bun had done to her, it hadn't done anything for her wounds. She can feel the blood drying on her skin. Yuck.
They walk in silence for a few minutes, Chara is surprised by the strange puzzles they face in some of the rooms. Asriel explains them a bit, telling her that most monsters liked to make puzzles to pass the time. She doesn't really understand, puzzles aren't exactly her idea of fun.
"So uh...your a human right?" He asks, as they near a large, leafless tree. Chara nods, "Yeah, and your a...monster." She isn't sure if he would find the term offensive. She isn't sure why she cares either.
"Yup." He grins, wiggling his nose a bit. She takes this moment to actually take in his appearance. He looks sort of like...well, a really cute goat, though his fangs are sort of scary. And its a bit unnerving how much he also looks human, though his soft white fur kind of negates the human features.
"Theres never been a human down here before," Asriel says, "So you might not tell anyone else for now." She nods, thats a smart idea. At least until she knew what she was up against down here.
"I mean, just because they'd be curious." He chuckles nervously, scratching at his head.
"Anyway we're here, its a good thing my parents wanted to visit the ruins today. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't found you." Asriel states, seeming a little panicky at the idea. Chara doesn't know either, she certainly wouldn't have known what to do. Besides lay there in agony as she had been doing. Chara nudges him lightly, gripping his paw a little tighter.
"I'm glad you did, thank you." She whispers.
Authors Note: If you see a typo or something that looks like a typo feel free to shout it out to me ^.^