Chapter Two | When You Meet Someone New
Chara and Frisk both look at each other and then back towards where the noise came from. They looked down at the stairs. Chara started walking down them when Frisk said
"Chara you don't know if it's a monster or not!"
"Frisk," Chara replied looking unworried as usual "have you seen a monster down here yet?"
"Well um...no.."
"Then we have nothing to fear!"
Chara continues going down the stairs. There is a long hallway. As Chara goes further down it starts to get darker and darker. Chara was about to turn the corner when Frisk came running down the hall.
"Chara! Wait!" They yelled asking Chara to stop and wait for them.
Chara and Frisk then both turn the corner together. They see a door with a strange marking on it. It was a circle with wings and underneath was three triangles Two facing up and one facing down. Chara walks slowly while Frisk follows very closely.
"So the sound came from here?" Chara wonders. They put an ear up next to the door but hear nothing.
"Whatever it is, it's gone. Can we...go back upstairs now?" Frisk says as they start to walk away from Chara.
"What? Don't you want to know what made that noise?" Chara turned to face Frisk.
"N-not really…" Frisk took another step back.
"But, Frisk," Chara walked toward Frisk.
They take their hand in their own and look Frisk in the eyes "Don't you want get out of here?" Don't you want to go home and see the surface again?"
"Well..." Frisk is silent for a few seconds before replying "Yeah. I guess so."
"Great! Come on then!" Chara grabs Frisk by their arm and opens the door.
They are then in another long hallway. Chara lets go of Frisk and walks to the end of the hall. At the end there is a huge door with the same markings. Chara gets to the door and places their hands on it. They hang their head and sigh. Chara doesn't know why they were stalling to open the door. Something about it was somehow familiar to them. Frisk comes up beside Chara and places theirs hands on the door beside Chara's.
"Together?" asks Frisk as they give a gentle smile.
Chara lifts their head and turns it to Frisk, smiles back and says,
"Together."
Then, both children, with all their might, open the big door and walk through.
When they open the door, at first all the see is white. At first Frisk thought that it was sunlight but it turned out just to be snow. Frisk and Chara took a few steps out into the cold, oddly placed forest. As both got away from the door, it slammed shut. Chara banged on the door but it was locked. Frisk shivered from the cold and looked at the bush beside them and saw something inside it. It looked like a camera. But the lens was frozen. Guess who's ever seeing this isn't getting a great picture. Thought Frisk.
"Hey Frisk!" It was Chara. They were ahead by a little bit "Let's go! I'm freezing my butt out here!"
Frisk walks up to Chara and they walk together, still shivering, over a big branch. They keep walking but they hear a 'CRACK' behind them. Both Frisk and Chara turn around and see the branch is broken but no one was behind them.
"Maybe it was a bird?" Frisk said trying to stay positive
"Frisk, I don't think that was a bird. Or any animal. Come on we'd better move faster."
Chara starts moving faster and Frisk joins up behind Chara. Frisk is still worried about what may or may not be there. Then they come to a big gate. The bars seem to wide to stop anyone. They were about to walk through when they hear a sound coming from behind them. The sound of footsteps in the snow.
"Chara…" Frisk tugs on Chara's shirt "There's something behind us."
The footsteps get closer and louder until the stop. What ever was there, was right behind them. Frisk was holding on to Chara's right arm tightly and too scared to turn around. Then out of the blue a male voice says.
"Are you lost, humans? Turn around. I can help you."
Chara can feel that Frisk is holding onto their arm tightly. Chara turns around to face the person behind them. To Chara's surprise it was a small skeleton wearing a blue, fur-lined hood, winter coat. He had a white sweater and a blue scarf with purple stripes. He also had black boots on. His scarf looked a lot like the shirt that Frisk wore when they first met them. Chara gave the skeleton a suspicious look. The skeleton was taller than both Chara and Frisk but since they were kids, it wasn't much taller. The skeleton held out his hand to Chara's that wasn't being held hostage by Frisk. Chara looked at the skeleton's bony hand but kept their hand to themselves.
"Come on kid. I'm not gonna bite." The skeleton said. He had a big smile on his face. It was a bit disconcerting.
Chara put their hand in his and they shook hands.
"The name's Sans. Sans The skeleton."
"I'm...uh...Chara and this," Chara shows Frisk holding their arm "is Frisk."
Sans laughs at the sight of Frisk. "Hey uh, Frisk? It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you. You can let go of this kid's arm."
Frisk unwilling let's go of Chara's arm and stood beside them still looking a bit frightened.
"You'll have to excuse Frisk." Chara says "They're afraid of everything."
Frisk looked at Chara with a hateful look as if saying 'Why would you tell him that?'
Sans walks ahead of them and invites them to walk with him.
"Come on. I'll guide you two through here."
Chara and Frisk walk behind him. Chara wasn't so sure of the skeleton yet. He seemed nice enough but they got the feeling something wasn't right. Slowly during their walk, Frisk warmed up to Sans. They even walked beside him pointing things out to ask what they are. Frisk pointed out tiny snow lumps that Sans described as snow poffs. Frisk looked in each of them and found 30 gold. They tried to share it with Chara but Chara said to take it since they found it. Soon enough they reach a petty town. Chara looked around and didn't see many monsters here. In fact, along their journey, Sans was the first monster they had seen.
"So this is Snowdin Town. We don't have many residents but then again, nowhere down here has many residents." He walked forward with his head down.
Chara looked at him with surprise. What is he talking about? Chara wondered as they and Frisk followed him into town. Sans pointed at a building that was connected to the building next to it.
"This is the Snowed Inn and the shop."
"Wait Snowed Inn? Is that supposed to be ... a pun?" Chara asked
"Uh yeah. You'll find a few puns or jokes down here. Just don't say anything bad about the state of the place." Sans explained.
Chara noticed that the town looked...empty. The building looked as if they could crumble at any moment. Chara felt more chills. Maybe it was cold. Who knew.
He kept walking. And showing them things. Chara's stomach suddenly grumbled. That's when they realized that neither them or Frisk had eaten anything since they got here. They were starving.
"Hey um, Sans?"
"Yeah kid?" Sans replied turning their head towards Chara.
"Is there someplace we can eat. I'm starving and I'm sure Frisk is as well." Chara said as they put their hand on Frisk's shoulder.
"Yeah. Right here." Sans stopped in front of seemed to be restaurant with a huge sign on it.
"Grillby's is the best, and only, place to get food." Sans walked forward and Chara and Frisk followed him inside.
Frisk tried to pour ketchup on their fries but the cap came off and the ketchup had spilled everywhere on them.
"Uh…"
Sans laughed and said through his laughter,
"Heh, sorry for that kid. I forgot that happens sometimes."
Frisk started to laugh as well. They look over to Chara who wasn't laughing.
Doesn't Chara like jokes? Frisk wondered.
Frisk put the cap back on the bottle and handed it to Sans on their right. They then watched as Sans drank straight from the bottle. Frisk then looked over at Chara that was sitting to their left. They leaned in and whisper to their friend,
"Is that weird to you?"
Chara looked over at Sans and replies
"Yeah." Chara, like they had no problem with what they saw and continues eating their own fries.
Frisk leaned back into their normal position and was shocked about what they had just witnessed. They looked back over Sans then back to their ketchup covered fries and continued to eat as well.
"Well? What did you two think?" Sans asked the two kids as they were now standing back out into the cold.
"It was good. But I'm totally full now." Chara replies and pats their stomach.
"Yeah it was delicious!" Frisk said with a little squeal.
"Didn't I tell you Grillby's was good?"
"Yeah. It" Frisk yawns mid sentence "was."
"Hey kid you tired or somethn'?" Sans asked Frisk who seemed to be slowly fall asleep.
"Oh yeah. Well we haven't really gotten much sleep since we got here…actually we haven't gotten any sleep!" Chara replies for Frisk who is practically falling asleep standing up.
"Well I've got a place here in town and there's a spare room that I don't use. You two could sleep there for tonight. It would be better than sleeping at the Inn." Sans offered and walked toward his house.
Chara and Frisk followed. I guess we're going with you. Thought Chara as they came to a house with christmas lights and a wreath on it . There was also a balcony on the right and a there was one mailbox that was overflowing with mail.
"Here we are." Sans said as he invited them inside.
Chara's first thought as they walked in was Ew. There was dirty laundry everywhere. On the couch, on the stairs on the table to the right. Chara stepped in looking disgusted. Guess he doesn't get too many visitors. Frisk followed, looking even more tired than they were before. They rubbed their eyes as they try to stay awake. Chara took off their shoes and helped Frisk take off their boots. They knew it was rude to wear shoes in someone else's home. Chara watched as Sans took off his odd scarf and jacket and put it on a hanger near a big tv.
"Wait here. I need to do a quick clean up." Sans said as he went upstairs into the room near the top of the stairs.
It'll take more than a 'quick clean up' to fix this mess! Chara though as they moved some dirty laundry off the couch and guided Frisk over to it so they could both sit down. Chara noticed that Frisk was virtually asleep on their shoulder. Chara smiles at Frisk and looked over at a small table next to them on the couch. They pick it up and look at the cover. It said it's full of jokes. Chara put the book down immediately but thinks I wouldn't think Sans was the kind of guy to make jokes... he hasn't even said one yet. Maybe it's just a book he has-
"Okay! Come on up!"
Chara's thought was interrupted by Sans at the top of the stairs waving for them to come up. Chara picked up Frisk in their arms and carried them up the stairs. They entered the room. There was a window and a bookshelf with no books. Just cobwebs. There were a few boxes that look to be sealed up. There were also two red sleeping bags on the floor with pillows and blankets. One was near the door the other was near the window. Chara laid Frisk down on one near the door and they took the other one. Chara started to move theirs into a corner. They like the corner more than out in the open. Sans just shrugged as he crouched down and trucked Frisk in. Chara watched as he pulled their blanket up to their cheeks and whispered
"Goodnight" and brushed their hair to the side.
Chara ignored this action and continued moving their sleeping bag when Sans came over and crouched near Chara.
"Your sibling's really tired. They fell right to sleep."
"They're not my sibling." Chara corrected Sans as they get into their sleeping bag.
"Oh? Then what are they?" Sans asked as he looked back at Frisk.
"They were another human that was there when I woke up. We're friends." Chara replied pulling the blanket up to their waist.
Sans looked back at Chara. "Hm. Well why don't you try to get some sleep? Seems like they had the right idea."
"I'm not as tired as Frisk. I think I'm just going to stay up a bit." Chara yawned and looked at Frisk sleeping peacefully.
They couldn't help but smile watching them sleep.
"Well okay." Sans brings the blanket up to Chara's shoulders.
Chara gave a Sans a questioning look.
"It's cold out. Goodnight Chara."
Sans got up and walked towards the door. He turned out the lights and closed the door behind him.
Chara woke up suddenly. Breathing heavily trying to catch their breath, they get up and go towards the door quietly. They go into the hallway and go down the stairs. When they got to the bottom they see Sans still up, sitting on the couch, doing...something.
He had some blueprints in his hands and notes and stuff were scattered around him. Chara took another step forward and Sans looked up surprised to see Chara.
"Chara! I uh...hold on."
Sans said in a panic. He clearly wasn't expecting anyone to be so early. Chara watched as he picked everything up with blue magic. Chara was shocked to see him do this. They weren't sure if they shocked because he levitating things? Or the fact that he could do it at all. He snapped his fingers and all the papers disappeared. Chara was still very shocked by this.
"What...what was that?"
They ask Sans who is standing up now.
"What that? That was my magic. Every monster has it. It differs for every kind."
"R-really? All monsters?"
"Yep."
"Wow."
Chara was even more shocked now. They had no idea. Then again, why would they? He was the first monsters they had met. Thankfully he was nice or they and Frisk would have had some trouble.
"So all monster magic is different?"
"Yeah, although, we all do have one thing in common."
"And that is?" Chara asked sounding very intrigued
"We can all heal."
"H-heal?"
"Mmhmm" Sans says as he nods his head.
"Woah."
Chara takes ahold of their arm. They hold on very tightly. Nervously they ask him,
"Do you think...you could...heal these?"
Chara rolls up their sleeves to reveal cuts on both their arms. Sans takes a step back. He looks like he had a 'woah' moment too. He steps forward again and takes their arms in his hands.
"When did you do this?"
"I...I don't know. I found these earlier and I had no idea why they're there. Do you think you can try?"
Sans let out a sigh and places his hands on top of Chara's cut arms.
"I can try. But I can't make any promises."
Chara watched as a green colour goes around their arms. It stung a little. Okay a lot. It felt like bees were stinging them and not stopping. Sans stopped breathing hard like he was out of breath, and pulled his hands away showing Chara's arms. They still had cuts.
"I'm sorry kid. I guess those cuts are too old to heal."
"It's...okay. I wasn't expecting it to work anyway…plus it stung like crazy…"
Chara hung their head and sat down on the lowest step of the stairs. Sans came over and sat next to them.
"The whole reason I came down here was too clear my head."
"Of what?"
"I had a nightmare."
"If you don't mind me asking...what was it about?"
Chara sighed and turned to Sans.
"It was...terrible. I dreamt that I went around killing everyone. All the monsters I mean. And I even...had to kill you."
Chara looked back down and started to cry. The quickly wiped them away. Big kids don't cry. They thought to themselves. Sans came closer and comforted them.
"Kid, nightmares and just a figment of your imagination. They take all the scary things and make them worse. But you know what? I have 'em too."
Chara sniffed and replied
"You do?"
"Yea. and let me tell you, they suck! A lot!"
Chara giggled a little.
"But it helps if you talk them out, you know?"
Chara nodded and wiped more tears.
"Good."
Sans hugged them and he got up and offered his hand.
"Come on. Let's get started on some breakfast."
Chara put their hand in his and he pulled them up. Sans and Chara walked into the kitchen. Before Chara went in, a yellow flash went by in the window. Chara looked at the window but nothing was there. Is this all in my head? The feeling of being watched? Is this just anxiety? Chara followed Sans into the kitchen. Could there be more here than meets the eye?
