"Are you sure we should be doing this, Chara?" Asriel whimpered. "I mean, Mom said we're not supposed to be messing around in the kitchen alone."

You passed down a pie tin from your perch on the counter. "Yeah, well we're not alone. I'm here and you're here."

"You know that's not what she meant!"

"You can't prove that." You began to climb down now that you had all of the things you needed. Flour, eggs, milk, and a bunch of other stuff the cookbook said. But just to be sure, you checked the large, rather worn, book you had propped up on the counter. "Besides, it's Dad's birthday, and we need a present. A pie is like, the best present for him."

Asriel walked up to you, still looking apprehensive. "I guess so…"

You grinned widely. "Of course! Have I ever led you wrong?"

"Yeah, lot's of times. Like when you suggested we just pretend we didn't know what happened to Mom and Dad's camera a few months ago. After we tore up the room and didn't clean up."

"First of all, they weren't using it. Second of all, it was your idea to go digging around in there. Finally, I haven't had a bad idea recently. That's the key word."

Asriel sighed as you looked back at the cookbook. You had to admit, making him annoyed was sort of fun. You had never known how fun it was to mess with people like this. Or at least it was pretty funny. "Now, let's see…. eggs, check. Milk, yep. Etc…. Oh, we forgot the one and a half cups of butter."

"Oh, there's some in the fridge, I'll grab it."

You held out a hand to stop him before scrutinizing the page a bit more. Something was bugging you about the recipe. "Wait, I think it means buttercups. Like saying 'worms of silk' or something. It is an old book."

Asriel gave you a blank look. "Wh- why would it say that? Aren't buttercups flowers?"

You shrugged. "Well, people put flowers in stuff a lot. Like seasoning. And the butterscotch part must mean buttercups!" Such an amazing deduction on your part. No wonder Mom said to not cook on your own. These recipes were all tricky.

Asriel thought for a moment before nodding. "Well, that makes sense anyway. I think Dad showed me some buttercups in a flower pot the other day. I'll go get them!" With that, he rushed off.

While he was off retrieving the secret ingredient, you got to making the crust. First, you pored the flour into the bowl. However, you poured it too quickly and a lot of it puffed up into the air. You didn't even have to look at yourself to know you were probably covered in flour. Next, you poured in the bit of salt that was needed. Luckily, that went over better than the flour. You didn't think you'd be able to wipe a ton of salt out of your face without lots of stinging in your eyes.

"I got the buttercups!" Asriel announced. You turned around to see him in the door. A sly grin immediately grew on his face the moment he saw you. "Hey, being all white is a nice look for you. Almost makes it look like you've got fur."

"Shut up and help me make the crust."

You both got to work, eventually making a half decent looking mold of a pie crust in the tin. However, it looked a little weird. Like, the wrong color and texture. Maybe that's what all pies looked like before they got cooked. Regardless, Asriel went to put it in the probably unused oven. Since you couldn't use fire magic, and Asriel wasn't good enough at it to not burn the house down, you had to settled for the boring way.

You picked up the cookbook and flipped to the part where it told you how to make the filling. "Alright, now we just have to… uh…" This section was actually much more detailed than you expected. So many steps! "... Do everything it says here. Alright, let's go!"

Asriel tilted his head to the side slightly. "Uh, are you sure you know what we're doing?"

You shrugged. "Hey, we're already this far. Might as well finish it off. How hard could it be?"

Pretty hard, as you soon learned. You had to chop up and crush the buttercups, which was pretty hard with the weak knifes you had. Unfortunately, you had no idea where Mom kept the real knives. Maybe one day you'd find them. From there, you had to do a ton of mixing stuff on the stove, and it was generally a total chore. But eventually, you got your filling.

Like the crust, it looked… off. But hey, you had never seen an uncooked pie before.

"See, I told you this would work out," you commented to Asriel as you both hefted the pot of filling over to the counter. It was much heavier than you would have liked, but it would all be worth it once you saw the look on Dad's face. He'd be so surprised to see what you two had made.

"I still feel like something's wrong, Chara," he said as you finally set it down. "I just can't put my finger on it."

"Well, whatever it is, we still made a great pie. Now let's finish it!" You both took turns scooping the filling into the pie crust with a ladle. You couldn't exactly pour it in, since you doubted either of you could support the pot correctly without it falling. Eventually, it was filled to what you believed was the correct level: to the brim.

You looked at the book one last time. "Okay, now it says to put it in the oven for another 25 minutes. Easy enough."

Asriel nodded and carried your joint creation over to the oven once more. You set the timer to the correct time and finally sat down on the kitchen floor. Man, baking was exhausting. How did Mom do it all of the time?

Asriel joined you, clearly tired as well. He looked just as relieved to take a break. "Man, Dad's gonna be so surprised to see we made him a pie."

You grinned. "I know! Mom too. Maybe we can help her bake too from now on."

"I say we make a pie with all of the best fillings next. We'll call it the ULTI-PIE!"

You giggled and punched him on the shoulder lightly. "Wow, that is the dorkiest name for a pie I've ever heard."

"Oh yeah, what would you call it?"

"Um, The One Pie to rule them all."

You were rewarded with a light hit to the shoulder for that one. "That's even worse than mine!" You both laughed. You had to admit, they were both pretty bad. Asgore had rubbed off on both of you apparently.

By the time the pie was done, you and Asriel had managed to clean up the kitchen. It certainly wasn't as meticulously cleaned as when you arrived, but it was good enough. Once again, Asriel was the one to take the pie out of the oven. The heat didn't seem to bother him as much, and the oven mitts didn't do much in your opinion.

Finally, the pie was set on the counter. It actually turned out pretty good. It was a bit lopsided, and the color was a bit off in some places, but it actually looked good! "Great job, bro!" You said, holding your hand out for a high five. He quickly returned it. And just in time.

You heard the front door open and close, and you both knew Toriel and Asgore had finally come back home. You couldn't have finished at a better time.

You and Asriel rushed to the front door of the house, but Asriel was faster than you. By the time you got there, Asgore had already scooped him up in a hug. However, you weren't going to be left out, and he quickly scooped you up dad may have made you look miniscule in comparison, but all of that fur made for the best hugs. "So, how was your day home alone?"

"You didn't get into any trouble, did you?" Toriel asked. She was right behind Asgore. "You don't want to do anything to mess with your dad's big day." She gave him a strange look that you didn't understand. Some sort of weird smile.

"Of course not," Asriel said. "But we made you a present, Dad!"

Asgore grinned. "Oh really? What is it?" He let you both down and you led them both into the kitchen. Needless to say, both of them were surprised to see a pie waiting for them. Just in a different way than you had expected.

"Surprise!" You and Asriel shouted.

Toriel looked between you, Asriel, and the pie for several seconds. She opened her mouth to speak, but Asgore beat her to it.

"You two made this? All by yourselves?" You both nodded proudly, large grins practically splitting your faces apart. "Wow, Tori. These are some great kids, aren't they?"

Toriel's happy expression wasn't different in the slightest from when she had first come into the house. "Yes, they really are, aren't they?" Inwardly, you were relieved. That earlier calm was more or less a front. You were afraid they'd be mad at you both for cooking alone. But evidently, you two were getting off scot-free.

"Now, what do you say we eat this?" Asgore asked. However, you shook your head.

"Nope, we made it for you, remember? It's all yours." Asriel nodded in agreement.

"Well who am I to deny a request like that?"

It wasn't more than an hour before Asgore started to look bad. It started with the large monster sweating a bit and feeling dizzy. And things just went from bad to worse from there.

"Uh, Tori?" Asgore said. You looked up at him from your dinner plate. He seemed kind of pale, even with all of that fur in the way. You weren't sure how you could tell, but he certainly didn't look good.

You looked over at Asriel, whose eyes were wide with worry. His thought process was as clear as day to you. Did we do that? You couldn't help but think that maybe you were responsible for what was happening. But how could a pie do something so bad?

"I don't feel so well," Asgore forced out. "I think I'll skip dinner tonight." He attempted to rise from his chair, but you could see he was moving too slowly. And with far too little balance. It wasn't more than a moment before his chair toppled underneath him and the boss monster crashed to the ground with a resounding thump.

"Dad!"

"Asgore!"

Everyone rushed to his side. Asgore lay on the ground, looking utterly spent. It was as if all of the life had been drained out of him. You felt sick to your stomach. This was your fault. He was sick because of your awful pie. But you had followed all of the directions! How could it have gone wrong?

"Children, go back to your dinner," Toriel said. Despite her still-warm tone, you could tell she meant serious business. You didn't argue and went back to your seat. The same went for Asriel. Toriel, meanwhile, hoisted Asgore up to his feet. You had never felt more relieved when you saw his eyes open, even if they were a little unfocused.

"Do not worry, kids. I'm fine. Just a little dizzy."

"Let's get you to bed, dear," your mother said. She then immediately started walking, allowing her husband to use her as a sort of crutch. You had to admit, she was strong.

Once they were gone, you looked at Asriel across the table. He was staring at his food in silence. You didn't have much of an appetite either. Just eating after what your food had done to your own dad? You didn't deserve to.

"This was our fault, wasn't it?" You muttered. Asriel nodded silently. By the way he was breathing, you could tell he was starting to cry. Truth be told, you felt like crying too. But you had to be the strong one. You held back the welling tears. Without another word, you both got up from your chairs and walked to your room.

When Toriel arrived, you were both in your beds. The lights were off, and you hadn't said a word in the longest time. You had your back to the rest of the room and had the covers wrapped around yourself. But still, you didn't cry.

You heard the door open and shut, but neither you nor Asriel said anything. "Children, do you wish to talk?" No response from either of you. "I guessed as much." You heard her walk to the center of the room and pull up a spare chair.

"I just want to say that what happened was not your faults, children," Toriel continued. You lifted your head slightly. "You couldn't have known that buttercups are poisonous." Your heart skipped a beat. Poisonous? You had poisoned your father! The revelation made you retreat further into your covers. Why did you have to mess up so much? It was like you were a walking mistake.

"Do not worry, he will be fine. He just needs a little rest." You heard the chair move. Toriel had probably stood up. "Perhaps that's what we all need…. Goodnight, Asriel, Chara. I love you." The door open and shut after a few seconds, leaving you in silence again.

"We really messed up today, didn't we?" Asriel said. From the breaks in his voice, you could tell he really was crying. He was better at silent crying apparently. "I hope Dad will be okay."

A short chuckle escaped your throat. "Heh, of course he will. He's the best king ever! Some crappy pie made by a couple of kids isn't going to take him out!"

You heard a gasp. "Chara! You can't say that!"

"Oh, crap, forgot!"

"Chara!" You smiled a bit even as your mood worsened. You still felt awful. In fact, you felt as if you'd throw up any second. But if you could at least get Asriel back to his old cheerfulness, then maybe it could be a little better. One of you deserved to be happy. And laughing it off always made people think you were fine.

A/N: Okay, maybe I have a problem with making Chara sympathetic. But hey, no one's getting hurt. Well, except Asgore. He's sick now. Anyway, long story short, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Making the whole buttercup incident a total accident and Chara just pretending to laugh it off for Asriel's sake is something that's been mulling around in my head for a while. But you know, Asgore's not the only one who gets a buttercup problem *evil laughter*