"And then, the monsters were forced to retreat into underground caves, deeper and deeper until the light was no longer able to be seen. But rather than pursue them, the humans had their seven strongest spell-casters create a barrier to seal the monsters below ground. Only someone with a human SOUL and a monster SOUL would be able to pass through it from the Underground, and it would take the power of another seven human SOULs to break it completely."

You felt as if your stomach was twisting in on itself as you listened to Toriel speak. It was your weekly history lesson, something she very much looked forward to. You had heard she mentioned wanting to be a teacher before, and she certainly looked the part as she taught you and Asriel every day. However, you were surprised that the war had never come up in the past few months.

That book you had found on the surface never gone into details about the war, which was understandable. Humans didn't even care about the war anymore. The existence of monsters wasn't even remembered by them. But to monsters, that war was everything. It was the reason they were trapped down here, unable to even see the sun. Life itself was a consequence of it. And humans were awful during it.

Even though Toriel was obviously sugarcoating things, probably for your sake, you couldn't help but know how brutal the humans were during the war. Human SOULs were stronger than a monster's, in a sense. Monster SOULs were their whole being. Humans' were their essence too, but with a physical shell around them. And they lasted long after death. A magic attack couldn't do anything if a person struck a monster down before they could use it. And humans used this information to its limit.

Monsters died by the thousands. It was only after hiding away underground that the carnage finally stopped. But you had the feeling any stragglers would have been hunted down mercilessly. It made you sick. How could someone just kill without remorse? Humans were awful. Why did you have to be born one?

"Chara?"

"Huh?" You snapped out of your thoughts, seeing that Toriel was looking at you. You quickly composed yourself. "Yes?"

"You were paying attention, correct?" You nodded, but her sly grin let you know she wasn't buying it. This was the fifth time that day. Then again, you thought it was fair, considering how little sleep you had last night. You had no idea how you were expected to pay attention after how much you had embarrassed yourself in front of Asriel. You still couldn't look him in the eyes. "Well, I suppose we can cut this lesson short for today. Go have fun, children."

Asriel was up on his feet in seconds, holding out a hand to help you up. "Chara, I already know what we should do!" You hesitantly took his hand and stood up. As you started to walk back to your room, he continued. "We haven't used the camera in a while, and I've got the perfect thing to film!" You raised an eyebrow, but he didn't pay any mind to it.

You went back to your room, where Asriel grabbed the video camera from the closet. On the floor was stacked a small pile of VHS tapes. Some, you had found in Asgore and Toriel's closet. They were just old home videos, usually from when Asriel was a baby. Your favorite was the one where he tried to ram his dad like an actual goat at the age of three. Asriel didn't take kindly to your amusement that time.

However, the majority of the tapes were the result of you and Asriel fooling around with the camera. By then, your parents had figured out you had the camera. They were just glad someone was getting use out of it, so you kept it and just kept filming all sorts of stuff. Sometimes the two of you left it on out of habit.

As the two of you left, you couldn't help but look back at your parents' room. Asgore was still in there, probably still throwing up or something. That knotted feeling in your gut returned. You hated this guilty feeling. You'd have to make it up to him somehow.

"Chara, hurry up!" Your attention refocused on Asriel. He was already starting down the stairs.

"Coming!"

When you reached the garden, you looked at Asriel, a bored expression on your face. "So, what'd you drag me out here for?" You were trying your best to act normal. Abrasiveness worked.

"Okay, hold the camera, and focus it on me," He said, handing it to you. You turned it on, and after it booted up, did as he said. He smiled broadly. You had a hard time restraining even a small grin. His happiness was infectious. "Alright! Now watch this! Star Blazing!"

Asriel held his hands out in front of him, eyes closed in concentration. After a moment, a bright light began to form between his hands. It grew brighter and brighter, until it formed a star sheathed in rainbow light. Your eyes widened. Where had he learned to do that? This wasn't fire magic!

It didn't end there. With a short, joyful cry, Asriel waved his arm in front of him in a large arc. At once, white stars began to fly forth. They flew all the way to the far wall, where they crashed harmlessly into the stone.

You stared, unable to come up with words. Asriel beamed at you, obviously proud that he had impressed you. You shut the camera off. "Asriel… wow."

"You like it?" He looked at you expectantly. "I've been making this up lately, since I'm not that good at fire magic like Mom and Dad. But I think this is way cooler."

You nodded. "Of course it is!" You paused. "Well, except for the name. That's kind of lame."

He winced, as if you had actually hit him. Sheesh, what a drama queen. "Oh, that… I was hoping you wouldn't notice."

You crossed your arms. Your usual demeanor was back. "Well you shouldn't have called it out. Who does that outside of anime?"

"What's anime?" Asriel asked. You sighed. Man, this kid had a lot of learning to do.

"That doesn't matter. But what does is whether or not you have any more attacks so badly named. Man, you are just like your dad." His eyes widened at the mention of being like his dad, but you couldn't tell whether it was because he was proud to hear that or embarrassed. But seriously, they were both bad at naming things. New Home, Home, even Asriel's name was just a mash-up of his parents'.

"Well, I came up with some other attacks…." He muttered, looking up at the ceiling. Oh God, they are just as bad. He reached into one of his pockets and pulled up a few sheets of folded paper. He quickly smoothed them out and set them down carefully in front of you. They were just as bad as you expected. Not to mention the last drawing, which was a picture of what you guessed was an older Asriel but with some crazy markings captioned "God of Hyperdeath." He was such a nerd.

As he explained his own rather ridiculous attacks (very thoroughly), you felt your mind wandering. What was he even going to do with these? It wasn't like there was going to be another war anytime soon; the humans had taken care of that before either of you were born. And as far as you could tell, every monster loved the Dreemurr family. They didn't even need guards in the palace. You doubted anyone would ever attack and make Asriel use his magic, so what was the point?

Well, maybe there was.

Humans probably weren't well-liked down in the Underground. It was just luck that the Asriel had found you and not some violent human-hating killer. By that logic, you were more likely to be attacked than anyone. And you couldn't even defend yourself. So... was he becoming stronger... to keep you safe?

The thought brought a weird feeling to your chest. He couldn't be doing this for you! Why would he? But even Toriel had said he was working harder when it came to magic ever since you arrived. And he was always trying to keep you out of trouble, no matter what you did. Not to mention the night before, when he did everything he could to try and comfort you during that nightmare and panic attack. He was always trying to protect you.

Just like a brother should.

You breath caught in your throat and you could feel the tears start to fill your eyes. No, not now! I can't just keep looking weak in front of him like this! But nothing could hold your tears back. They poured down your face, and Asriel noticed immediately.

"Ch-Chara! Are you alright!" He rushed over immediately. "Why are you crying? Was it that bad?"

You did your best to wipe away the tears that were streaming from your eyes. BUt it was like trying to stop a dam from overflowing. So many pent up feelings were coming to the forefront of your mind. You had just kept burying them under a guise of not caring, but now they were shooting to the surface and you couldn't stop them. "No you i-idiot!" You hiccuped. Oh God, you were hiccuping. "It's just… I've never been so happy." You couldn't hide the smile of your face, despite the snot and tears that were pouring down your face.

Before you knew it, Asriel's arms were around your body. His face was right next to yours. It was so comforting. "I love you too, Chara." Wait, you didn't say that! Why would he think… no, that was right. You loved him. He was a greater friend no—a greater brother—than you had ever known. And you'd be damned to find a part of you that didn't love him like one.

You were together like that for the longest time. The whole time, his chest was heaving with the sobs too. You must have looked so pathetic like this, two kids crying their eyes out over how happy they were to be with each other. You were just glad no one could see you then. And you always called him the crybaby.

Eventually, you managed to stop crying, and wiped your face on your sweater's sleeves. You could tell that your eyes were probably puffy and red by then, but you didn't care.

"All better now?" You heard Asriel say.

You nodded, even though he couldn't see it. "Yeah." You both pulled away, and you finally got a look at Asriel. He looked just as bad as you figured you did. But there was a hint of hesitation in his face too. Like, he really wanted to say something.

Apparently, he was able to force it out. "So, you were talking in your sleep last night." He looked away. "And I heard some stuff, stuff I'm not sure you're ready to talk about." I know it's a touchy subject, but if you ever want to talk—like, about your life on the surface—you know I'm always there for you, right?" Man, was it that obvious that your life sucked before?

You smiled faintly. "Yeah, I know. Maybe one day."

Asriel nodded. "Good. I'm gonna go help Mom with lunch now, you want to come along?" You shook your head. You needed a minute alone. "Sure. See you soon!"

You listened to Asriel's footsteps as he walked away. Soon, it was once again quiet, other than the sounds of birds and insects buzzing around. You were alone, with just the flowers.

Eventually, you brought your attention to the flowers that were right in front of you. They were a bright yellow, not unlike the golden flowers you cared for back in your village. Just not as bright. Buttercups. The things that had brought back all of those bad feelings. How could something so devastating be so pretty? Asgore would be dying right now if you hadn't cooked the things or used more. And then where would the monsters be? Well, still living down here, just sadder.

You thought back to the story of the war Toriel was telling you that day. It would take a human SOUL and a monster SOUL to cross the barrier, and even more to break it completely. Did monsters really deserve to be trapped down here? Somehow, you doubted they were the cause of the war so many years ago. And they'd never get out. You were the first human to fall down there, period. And that had taken so many years. Monsters would never get to leave.

Unless one was able to get a human SOUL and cross the barrier to get six more.

The thought hit you like a wrecking ball. Monsters could leave, if one could just get past the barrier. And then they could just wait around a graveyard or something for the other six. Sure, things could be awkward at first—no one even knew monsters existed anymore—but things could end up differently than before. Everyone could be happy.

They just needed one human SOUL to get the ball rolling.

You looked down at yourself. One SOUL was all it took. And you were the only human in the Underground. Maybe you could do something with your miserable life. Maybe you could get the happy ending that everyone else deserved.

Everyone at least deserved to see the sun after giving you the best six months of your life.