A/N: Hey guys, sorry it's been a while. I don't really have an excuse other than that I wanted to release the next two chapters like I did when I first published this story. With that said, sorry again, and ENJOY THE SHOW!

Chapter Three

As the Pieces Fall

"...just a scratch."

"Undyne..."

"Back off, Human. Let me die in peace. That's what you wanted right? To watch us all fade?"

"No, I never-"

"Spare me your false pity. You've killed too many of my friends to not want this. Papyrus, Snowdrake, that drakon hatchling. You hurt all of them."

"You don't understand. I have to do this."

"Oh we understand, Frisk. After all it's not everyone who can kill their friends over, and over, and over!"

"No, you- This- Please stop. This isn't what I wanted."

"Then what did you want, kid?"

"YES HUMAN, DO TELL US."

"A-after all, we d-did die for it."

"Come on Human, tell us what we died for."

Frisk shot upright in her bed, her face covered in sweat and her cheeks streaked with tears. The Savior of the Underground curled in on herself and began shaking from the horrid dream.

"I'm not a murderer. I'm not a murderer." she muttered over and over.

"Wake up, guys!" Undyne yelled as she kicked down the door to Frisk and Chara's room. "We're going to the beach today!"

It had been a week since they had met Dipper and Mabel. They hadn't seen the twins since then, having been concerned with keeping the monsters out of trouble. Today, it seemed, was going to be no different.

Chara groaned and rolled over in her bed, shoving her pillow over her head in hopes of drowning out the loud Monster. Frisk curled herself into a ball under her covers in her sleep, unconsciously trying to ignore the loud Mer.

"Ngaaah, get up, you two!" Undyne shouted as she marched into the room, standing in between the two beds.

"Azzy, get rid of the scaly fiend please" Chara groaned, her voice muffled by the pillow.

"Why me?" Flowey complained from his pot on the desk that sat beside Chara's bed. "Get out of your damn bed and do it yourself."

Undyne had had enough and took matters into her own hands. She stomped over to Chara's bed and, using only one arm, scooped the girl out of bed, tucking the former demon under her arm, blankets and all. She then stepped over to Frisk's bed and repeated the process.

As soon as she was picked up, Chara began struggling and shouting obscenities at Undyne. Frisk, on the other hand, had succeeded in her attempt to ignore her and hung limply in the Mer's hold. The former royal guardswoman carried the two blanket-covered girls into the kitchen of the apartment with ease, laughing at Chara's shouts the whole time.

"Come on, Punk. It's saturday. The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming. It's a perfect day for the beach!"

Chara growled and kicked at the fish-woman once more before giving up completely. Undyne shook the two girls roughly to wake them both up. Frisk groaned as she woke up, rubbed her eyes, and lifted her blankets out of her view. She was greeted with the sight of a struggling Chara and a smiling Toriel, not to mention the sounds that accompanied both of those sights.

"Good morning, my children," the former queen said. "Get ready, it's a perfect day for the beach."

Frisk nodded tiredly and asked Undyne to set her down. The former Royal Guard Captain laughed boisterously and practically dropped the two girls to the floor. Chara shot up and glared at Undyne with barely controlled rage.

"Listen here," Chara spat, "you do that again and I'll-"

"My child," Toriel interrupted her with a sad look on her face, "it was upon my request that Miss Undyne get you both out of bed. I had forgotten your reluctance about being carried."

Chara scowled but looked down at the ground and began scuffing her sock-covered foot across the floor.

"Don't worry about it, Punk!" Undyne laughed, a giant grin on her face. "You can make it up to me by helping us get ready."

After that, it took fifteen minutes to get everyone in the house ready. It took Chara a few minutes to get prepared enough to help Undyne and Toriel, then another five to gather up various supplies for their day that the beach. In all, once they all actually got to the town lake it was the middle of the morning.

"S-see? It's purfect out t-today." Alphys stuttered as they looked out at the shore, the doctor having met up with them soon after they had left.

"Yeah but everyone and their cousin had the same idea." Chara grumbled from behind her.

What she said was true, the beach was crowded. There wasn't any free space left on the sandy shore of the lake. The Gravity Falls lake wasn't all that big to begin with, so when nearly the entire town tried to fit itself around it, the results were not pretty. Chara scowled and crossed her arms irritably, this was not her definition of fun.

She wore a black t-shirt and blue jeans. Her heart shaped necklace dangled in front of her shirt, glinting in the sunlight as she gazed out on the crowded area. Flowey looked over her shoulder as he balanced his pot on top of the backpack that adorned the former demon's shoulders.

"Chara, be nice." Frisk said. "It's a nice day out, let's just enjoy it."

She wore a light blue t-shirt and black shorts that went past her knees. She smiled as Toriel, Alphys, and Undyne nodded in agreement to her statement. Chara only nodded, still looking at the crowded area in annoyance.

With a little maneuvering, the Dreemurr family and friends made their way to a small not-so-packed spot to set up camp. Frisk and Toriel began laying down large beach towels while Undyne slammed the cooler she was carrying down and laughed manically, earning the group more than a few strange looks. With that everyone split up to do their own things.

Chara and Flowey moved to one of the towels and pulled out her drawing supplies from her backpack. Frisk also noticed a flash of familiar silver when Chara was zipping the pack closed though, might have to keep an eye on her. Alphys, and Undyne moved towards the water with the large Mer jumping in as soon as she got close enough. Alphys stayed on the sand and watched as Undyne laughed and splashed in the semi-shallow water.

Toriel and Frisk watched as their friends and family moved to their own spots on the crowded beach. They stayed back for a while, watching everyone enjoy themselves. In that time, the young human slowly began to see a trend. As she watched, she could not help but notice as the humans shied away from the monsters that were there.

Undyne, Alphys, and even Toriel were getting wary looks for being so close to Frisk. It had been a month already. Why couldn't people accept the monsters here? Noticing her adoptive daughter's sad expression, Toriel reached down and grabbed her daughter's hand.

"My child, what is wrong?"

"It's nothing," Frisk replied sadly. "It just seems like we've been for a month now and nothing has changed. The humans still fear us, still look down on us. Sometime I wonder if Chara was right." Toriel looked back at the beach and nodded in understanding.

"My child, you cannot expect the world to change overnight." She said consolingly. "Give them time, their views will change."

Frisk nodded morosely and slipped her hand out of Toriel's grasp. She walked through the beach, watching everything. It was a trait that had gotten her into more trouble than she cared to admit. After watching a few Humans shy away from a flexing Aaron, she turned around and began to walk back to the Dreemurr's spot. As she was walking, she spotted Chara and Flowey and began to smile happily. Her eyes glinted brightly as she walked towards her sister.

Chara had set herself up to where she could gaze at the beach by simply raising her head. She was currently laying on her stomach, drawing something. Flowey was sitting slightly in front of her, well within her field of view when she looked up. He was currently watching her draw what looked to be a rendition of Flowey smiling in front of the ocean, a thought so bizarre that Frisk had to double check the picture to see if she had gotten it right.

"Hey Chara," Frisk said once she got next to them them.

"Hey Frisk," Chara replied, not looking up, her face scrunching up as she worked on her drawing.

The demonic flower besides her, however, did look up before quickly turning back to the drawing and growling.

"Hey, get it right, you idiot!" He scolded Chara angrily. "My face doesn't look like that."

"Oh right, sorry," Char said sarcastically, looking up and giving him a deadpan stare. "I was remembering when you tried to kill me and Frisk as a giant television."

"I said I was sorry!" Flowey complained "Wh-"

"Guys," Frisk complained, trying to stop the fight before it went too far. "Stop, please."

They ignored her and kept bickering, Frisk saw something in the water and smiled happily knowing that she could stop the argument and greet a friend in one swoop. As much as she hated the metaphor "killing two birds with one stone" seemed apt in that scenario.

She rushed past Chara, swiping Flowey from his spot as she did so. The flower squawked in surprise and anger at the sudden movement. Ignoring her former enemy, Frisk ran up to the water, dodging left and right to avoid people as she ran to the shore, looking just past Undyne and Alphys. She set the plant down quickly before waving enthusiastically at the lake.

"Frisk!" Flowey snarled. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Hi Onionsan!" she yelled out to the seemingly empty water, waving her hand energetically.

Several people glared at her before turning back to their activities, mostly preparing to go fishing, a few even grumbled about "the damn monster child." Frisk tried to ignore them all and watched as a thin yellow tentacle cautiously rose above the surface of the water. The yellow appendage waved a little before quickly sinking back under the water.

Frisk kept waving for a few seconds before turning towards Flowey. The plant's face bore a look of confusion that rivaled the one Chara made when Frisk explained her reason for meeting her for the first time.

"Frisk, why did you take Flowey and bolt like that?" Chara puffed as she ran up to the two, her drawings and pencil still in hand.

"I thought I saw Onionsan's head spike under the water so I wanted to say 'hello.'" The blue-clad girl shrugged uncomfortably, aware of the weirdness of her actions.

"Then why the hell did you feel the need to drag me along with you?" Flowey demanded waving his petals around angrily.

Frisk smiled and opened her mouth to answer that she grabbed Flowey to stop Chara and the former prince from arguing when she was cut off but a loud ringing of a megaphone. An old man in a faded suit and fez stepped up the the edge of the beach and raised the megaphone to his mouth.

"May I have your attention please?" he said into the amplification device after he had everyone's attention. "The world renowned Mystery Shack is holding a special event later this afternoon at two thirty." At this point the man sped up his speech. "Food and drink will be provided and may or may not cost a small fee."

He lowered the megaphone before smiling winningly and walking away. Frisk and Chara removed their fingers from their ears and watched the man walk towards a red convertible. Chara scowled at the man's back while Frisk looked excited. The Savior of the Underground thought that the "Mystery Shack" sounded fun, as well as slightly familiar. Besides how bad could one event be?

"Chara," Frisk exclaimed, "that sounds like fun." Chara fixed her sister with withering stare, Flowey's expression almost mirroring hers from his spot on the ground.

"Frisk, why?" the former prince asked. "It's just a tourist trap run by some idiot who makes money by tricking other, stupider idiots into spending large amounts of cash on things they don't need."

"But-"

"Hey, Punks" Undyne interrupted angrily from the towel that Chara had set up not twenty minutes before. "We're leaving."

Frisk and Chara looked around cautiously, searching for the source of their sudden choice of departure. They both zeroed in on Alphys almost immediately. The drakon was cowering behind Undyne, nervously wringing her hands and watching a group of humans warily. The group was rather menacing and they were all glaring at any monster that came too close to them. They were also coalescing around the spot that Undyne and Alphys had previously been occupying.

Undyne was watching the group as well, but, contrary to Alphys, she was baring her sharp teeth whenever any of the humans looked their direction. Her fists were clenched violently and the girls could see a slight crackle of blue electricity under the Mer's feet. Racist bigots had always pissed the guard captain off.

Chara tensed and scowled. She grabbed Frisk's wrist and scooped up Flowey and thrust him back into Frisk's other arm before walking stiffly towards the two monsters. Frisk felt a sharp prickle of magic at the base of her spine and looked over to see Chara's illusionary knife flickering in her other hand.

Flowey leaned backwards from Frisk's elbow and caught one of the humans glaring at them. He grinned evilly, his face morphing in an instant. His eyes lost all signs of kindness they may have had and turned into malicious pinpricks of light in pools of inky blackness. His near human-like frown was quickly replaced with a demonic, fanged, smile that promised torment and agony if the receiver didn't do exactly what the flower wanted. It was a look that that been aimed at many people over the years with only one person able to brush off its effects effortlessly.

They found Toriel after a few minutes of searching. She was having a pleasant conversation with a Migosp by the road, praising it on it's recent performance it had put on with Shyren and Madjick. They left and walked quickly back to the Dreemurr apartment, Undyne glaring at everyone they passed.

Despite her best efforts, Frisk couldn't get anyone to go to the Mystery Shack with her. But after talking with Papyrus, she learned that the man in charge really was a con artist and decided against going. The family had a nice afternoon with Undyne and Alphys, successfully forgetting the unpleasantness of the morning.

After lunch, Undyne and Alphys left, leaving the Dreemurrs alone in the apartment. Chara and Flowey went over the drawing that Chara had made at the beach, making small adjustments here and there to the image of Flowey sitting on the beach smirking at the viewer. Frisk went to her room and began practicing her magic. She didn't join Chara and Flowey because Toriel had forbidden her from practicing near Chara after a passing comment had resulted in her losing control and burning a hole in the carpet.

She made small sparks dance between her fingers as she controlled her breathing. Continuing to breath carefully, she increased the size of the sparks until she held a small flame in the center of her palm. Toriel said that Fire magic reacted to emotions, so that meant keeping her thoughts in order, hence the breathing. A shout from Chara caused the exact opposite of the desired mental state to occur.

"Frisk, can you grab my pencils?" Her sister shouted from the living room. Frisk jumped and started to juggle the small ball of fire in her surprise. She finally caught the flame with both hands and put it out.

"Sure," the final fallen human called out shakily.

She got off the bed and walked over to her sister's bed. She crouched down and reached under the frame, feeling for the small box that Chara used to store her drawing supplies. Her fingers skimmed across the top of the box and she reached further in, to pull it out. Then her fingers brushed across something else behind the pencil box. Curious, Frisk reached farther back and pulled out the foreign object. It was an old, dark blue binder with the word "Reminders" on the front cover. Frisk opened the cover and looked inside. The binder was full of black and white drawings on slightly yellowed paper. Every single picture was much more detailed than she had ever seen Chara draw and all of them seemed to be from the Underground.

Frisk flipped through the first few pictures, looking at the beautiful drawings. Every one of them featured Agsore, Toriel, Asriel, and/or Chara. They showed Chara picking flowers, Asriel laughing with Asgore, Toriel cooking in the kitchen. That last one could have been from above ground but Frisk doubted it. The pictures all looked like scenes from a happy life, but it was almost as if every scene was exuding a puff of sadness as well.

She kept flipping through the memories until she found a page that looked different from the others. Unlike the previous drawings, this one was done on new, white paper. It was a simple design. And, unlike the others, didn't contain anyone from the Dreemurr family.

Instead it was a picture of a heart, like how Frisk's soul looked when it was called out during battle. Beside the heart was a gleaming silver knife with the reflection of a glowing eye on the blade. Under the two objects, a couple of words were written in a bright red color, similar to the color of the heart. My savior's soul shines crimson emerald. There were a couple of splotches around the words but none interfered with the meaning of the words.

Frisk wiped her eyes to clear the tears that were starting to form and kept flipping through the binder. The next pictures were newer, now completely centered on life on the surface. There were only a couple of them, not like the pages and pages that took up the rest of the book.

There was one of Asgore standing in his suit as he looked out towards the sunrise. That had been the last time they had seen him before he went to become the monster ambassador. Frisk remembered that moment like it was yesterday. Apparently, so did Chara.

There was one of Frisk laughing with a Loox and a Froggit. The picture was so incredibly detailed, it was almost like Chara had taken a photo of the moment and placed it on the page.

The final picture in the binder was split in half. On one side, Flowey sat in his pot, looking forlornly out of the window, where Frisk could make out the image of Toriel laughing with a monster. On the other side of the picture, the white paper had been shaded a light grey. Frisk saw a drawing of herself sitting curled up on a bed in the darkness of the paper. Under the two images there a line and a single sentence.

Frisk put the secret fragment of Chara's life back under the bed, pulling out the box of pencils. She reached inside and drew out a few pencils. She then put the box back and stepped out of the room, the words of the final picture ringing in her head.

"Even the best person can change."