Author's Note:
Fresh Air has received it's first piece of fanart! I'm really happy it's gotten this popular. (Art is photo on top). Art by lizardchips on Instagram, oesgcaroline here! Also! If You ever see typos or grammar mistakes in my story, please point them out so I can fix them!
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Asriel had come on late to the bus. Chara had to sit and wait for him, their anxiety spiking as they sat down. They start fidgeting with their locket. Chara stated directly in front of them to avoid eye contact with anyone else. Suddenly, they were shoved against the bus wall, their head slamming into the window. Chara gasps in surprise, looking to see their attacker. Danny, of course. He grinned at them as he walks to the back of the bus. Chara shudders. They rub the side of their head that had hit the window. Asriel finally walks into the bus. He quickly takes a seat next to Chara. He frowns, immediately noticing how tense Chara was.
"Chara..are..you okay..?" Asriel tips his head to the side. Chara just shakes their head.
"What's wrong..?" Asriel takes their hand gently.
"Well..t..this morning.." Chara starts. They glance to the seats near them, just in case Danny was listening. "..I...I ran into Danny. He...he's going after me. Much...worse than usual. And I...I..I-I'm afraid.."
Asriel quickly pulls them into a warm hug. "Shh..C..Chara...that's awful..but..you...you'll be okay. I'm sure we'll figure it out."
Chara accepted the hug. They were extremely grateful for it. They relax in his arms. Chara blocks out the world around them. Asriel was all that mattered right now. That was, until Chara opened their eyes for just a moment and caught sight of Danny staring at them from the back of the bus. Chara clenches their eyes shut and hugs Asriel tighter. They hated being afraid. They felt so weak. They didn't want to live in fear anymore.
Chara made up their mind.
They were going to kill Danny Lin.
Chara immediately goes to their room once they get home. They didn't need to deal with anyone else right now. Besides, they needed to come up with a plan. How would they even go about it..? They could just get him alone and stab him up front..but that was too dangerous. Maybe they could make it seem like suicide..? No. They could poison him.
Yeah. That would work. Poison.
Asriel knocks on their door a few hours later. "Chara..? You feeling Okay? You should come down for dinner."
"Mmph..?" Chara sits up in bed. "Oh..um..I'll be fine. I...I kinda just feel like being alone right now.."
"You should at least eat something.." Asriel frowns. "I can bring something up.."
Chara shakes their head. "No, no..I'm not hungry, anyway.."
"No, Chara.." Asriel huffs. "You don't have to go downstairs, but I'm getting you food and you're eating it. Period."
Chara sighs. "I...Guess there's no arguing with you then.
Whatever."
"I'll be back in a minute," Asriel walks away from the door.
Chara slides down the wall, sighing heavily. They really didn't feel like eating right now. Not to mention eating more than they were used to made them feel even worse now. Growing up, Chara was taught that they should never, ever eat more than they deserve. They had learned how to cope with unhealthy amounts of nutrition. Chara knew how bad this was for them, but they didn't care. Especially not now, when it was difficult enough to feed everyone in the house.
Asriel comes back a few minutes later. He knocks on Chara's door. Chara begrudgingly opens it. Asriel smiles at them, handing them a plate of food.
A full plate of food.
Chara shuts the door behind them. They set the plate on their bed and sit down. Chara stares at the food like an enemy. The thing with Chara's eating habits was that they either ate virtually nothing, or anything they could get their hands on. Chara just stares at their food for a long while. They eventually give in. Within ten minutes, Chara had eaten all they could. They hadn't even noticed until they were finished. They took a few seconds to realize what was going on. Chara starts panicking. They had eaten more than they deserved. They curl up in their knees, panting heavily. They knew that they wouldn't get in trouble, but this was their natural reaction. Chara starts sobbing. They hear footsteps from the stairs, but were too panicked to move or lock the door. Asriel slowly creaks open their door.
"..Chara..?" He asks. "Are you okay?"
He gasps when he notices how freaked out they were. Asriel sits next to them on their bed and pulls them into a hug. Chara sobs into his shoulder, shaking. Asriel rubs their back.
"Chara...what's wrong..?"
Chara didn't respond. They didn't know how they'd kill Danny if they could barely deal with their own emotional instability.
