Chapter Eight: Fear
"Oh my god, it's soooo HOT!" Undyne shouted, fanning herself with her hand. She had stripped down to a tank top and shorts, her scaly body covered glossy from the sweat she'd been sweating. She lay on the floor of the living room in the house, panting.
"I have to say" Alphys said, drinking a large glass of ice water before handing it to Undyne, who dumped it on her face (though Alphys wasn't heated enough to even take off her lab coat). "it is warmer than normal."
"I don't know what you guys are complaining about." Toriel said, walking downstairs. "I don't feel any heat. The house's air conditioner is broken. It does that from time to time."
"Says the fire magic user." Undyne grumbled.
"I don't feel hot." Frisk said, dressed in a blue t-shirt and pink shorts. "I mean it's too warm for my sweater, but it's not unbearable."
"I'm an aquatic monster." Undyne said. "I can't take heat that well."
"Holy f #$, it's HOT!" Chara shouted, coming down the stairs. She had stripped down to a bra and her underwear and her skin was shiny from the sweat she'd sweat. She grabbed a bucket of ice water, crashing down onto the couch, the bucket splashing all over her.
"Chara." Toriel said, looking at her oldest child. "You're dressed indecently. You still have school today. It's just fifty five degrees outside."
"I'm burning up." Chara said, panting. "I'd come down naked if it meant getting out of this heat."
"That must suck." Undyne said. "humans sweat a lot. I've heard it's because they have far more glands than monsters."
"Yes.' Toriel said, nodding. "One monster I knew, a Nekomon named Khara Darkspawn, always complained about being hot when we went to the Core. She refused to take her armor off though, poor girl."
Chara bit her lip to keep from saying anything (A/N: they don't know that Khara was her mother or even that she's half monster—Sans or Gaster would be the only beings (besides Frisk) who would have any sort of knowledge as to whether or not Chara was fully human, San )
"Khara Darkspawn?" Alphys asked, bringing in a special air conditioner she'd made in case the house's air stopped working. "I've heard of her. She was known as the Demon's Maiden. A powerful dark magic user."
"Yeah." Undyne said. "She's actually what made me want to join the Royal Guard in the first place. I'd heard the legends about her. She was a badass."
"I know, right.' Alphys said. "She was more badass than Guts and Vegeta combined. Gaster told me a lot about her, saying that he respected her a lot. Though, her essence was dark in and of itself, her being a dark magic user and all."
"Yeah." Sans said, teleporting into the room. "Kind of interesting, isn't it?"
"What?" Chara asked.
"My old man said you had dust on you when you fell." Sans said, shrugging. "He analyzed it and said that it resembled a Nekomon's."
"So what?" Chara said, trying to avoid the statement. "There's dust on the surface that doesn't come from monsters."
"It's some of the same dust in the heart shaped vial around your neck." Sans said. "I swear, I can see it beating sometimes. Why would you keep that dust in a vial if it was only dust?"
"I—I" Chara said, chewing her lip to avoid saying something she'd regret saying.
"She keeps it to remember the surface." Frisk spoke up.
"What?" Undyne asked. "That makes no sense."
"She lived on the surface before her parents died." Frisk said, subtly winking at her older sister. "She keeps it to remind her of her mother, who loved the outdoors."
Chara didn't say anything. That was way too close a statement for her to be comfortable with it. Even though her mother loved the outdoors, she didn't really go out in it that much, especially after she (Chara) had been born.
"R-right." She said after a couple seconds.
"How old were you when you fell?" Sans asked. His tone wasn't accusatory, but it was more inquisitive, like he had no bad intentions with his question, but was simply curious of the answer.
"I don't remember." Chara said. "I was like five or seven. I was around Asriel's age, so that's how I remember that."
"Though, he's a bit plantier now." Sans said, leaning on the wall.
"She looked about five." Toriel said, walking out of the house, heading to her job as a teacher.
"Let's go with that." Chara said.
"My old man also said" Sans said. "that five or so years before you were born, Khara Darkspawn, a Nekomon, stopped her visits to the Underground. She was powerful enough to leave, but she just stopped coming. Why?"
"Well" Chara said. "How would I know? I was five at the time."
"The dust is hers." Sans said, shrugging. "I'm not saying you killed her, nor am I suggesting you killed anyone (you know, other than the monsters you killed, but that's beside the point), but I am curious as to why you have her dust around your neck."
"I knew her." Chara said, looking down. "She was the reason I fell into the Underground in the first place. I wear her dust to remember the cruelty of humanity."
"Hmm." Sans said, thinking.
"What is it, Sans?" Alphys asked.
"Nothing." Sans said, quicker than Alphys would consider not suspicious. She may have been nervous sometimes, but she wasn't known as Gaster's superior for nothing. "I just need to spaghetti out of here before Papyrus wakes up."
The irritated scream of Papyrus could be heard from his and Frisk's room upstairs.
"Right." Alphys said, not buying it. "What's bothering you?"
"My old man said that Khara was powerful enough to resist death." Sans said. "He said her DETERMINATION was extremely high, even higher that yours Undyne. She was powerful enough to have full mastery of the dark magic abilities. I don't think a few humans would give her much trouble. I don't know how she could have died simply taking you to the Underground. If you remember, we're curious."
Chara at this point was being flooded with memories, the emotions returning more than when she told Flowey her story.
"She died" Chara said, a tear falling onto the floor. "Protecting a young child from the cruel humans that were trying to kill her and her lover."
"A child?" Alphys asked. "W-was that child you?"
"Yes." Chara said. "I carry her dust to remind me of her. The one who saved my life." (A/N: this isn't Chara revealing that she's a hybrid, in fact, she's not even saying Khara was her mother here. She's saying Khara helped her reach the Underground.)
"She must have meant a lot to you." Undyne said, putting her hand on Chara's shoulder.
"Yeah.' Chara said, looking at the Locket on her necklace. Sometimes, it looked as if it beat like a heart, but Chara knew that the dust inside lived on through her. She truly loved her mother and tried to make her proud.
"So" Undyne said. "I think it's time for you to go to school."
"Right." Chara said, getting up and heading to the door.
"Um, Chara?" Flowey, who had sprouted from the ground, said, an 'innocent' tone in his voice. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"What?" Chara asked. "Oh, right. Grab on."
"No, stupid." Flowey said, shaking his head. "Your clothes."
"What about th—?" Chara said, looking down to realize she was still in her underwear. She quickly ran upstairs and threw on her sweater and some pants. She ran back downstairs, reaching her arm out towards Flowey, who snaked his way up it, his head popping out by Chara's shoulder. Frisk, who was waiting at the door, walked out when she saw her older sister.
At school
Monster Kid was leaning on the door, waiting for his best friend to show up. Toriel had shown up earlier and said that Frisk was coming in a minute. Kid saw Frisk and ran up to her, Frisk hugging him.
"I'm gonna head to class, kiddo. Gotta grab my favorite snoozing desk." Chara said, putting her arm around Frisk and squeezing her quickly before walking inside. "See ya later."
"See ya later." Frisk said, waving.
"So" Kid said. "I found this great restaurant on the corner. Mettaton, Muffet, and Shyren all told me it was great and the service was good as well. (A/N: Kid, Napstablook, Mettaton, Muffet (and by extension her pet and about a dozen spiders), and Shyren live in a house together—it's actually just down the road from Toriel's house) Wanna go sometime? I hear it's really good."
"Ooh." Frisk said, thinking. "That sounds great. Better not tell Sans or Chara though. Those guys eat like anime characters. I'm sure they'd have an eating contest and we'd get kicked out."
"Well" Kid said, thinking. "It's not super fancy, just a good burger joint. I don't think they'd get kicked out over it. You know, unless Sans drinks all the ketchup or something."
Frisk laughed at the thought of Sans drinking his own personal equivalent to alcohol and being kicked out of a restaurant for it. Grillby never cared about Sans drinking all his ketchup because he always stopped in and ate like every five minutes on his 'legally required breaks'.
"But, still." Frisk said. "Let's not tell them until we scope it for ourselves. If we decide that they'd be fine in a restaurant like that, we'll invite them for another meal, but typically, if Mettaton recommends it, it's gotta be at least a little fancy."
"True." Kid said, shrugging (for him a shrug is him tilting his head to the side and raising his heels up so his body shifts up). "I guess you're right."
"Plus" Frisk added, holding up a finger. "We'd have a quieter meal without them."
"True." Kid said, nodding.
"Well" Frisk said, looking at the door. "We should get to class."
"Yeah." Kid said. "We should."
Frisk put her arm around Kid, pulling him right beside her, and the two of them walked towards the door of the school. As the two of them walked toward the door, however, a voice spoke.
"Francesca?" the voice, a female's said, its tone disguised and undeterminable. "Is that you?"
Frisk's pupils shrank to the size of periods. Kid could tell she was feeling fear because he could hear her breathing become faster as well as her heartbeat. But, one thing that convinced him would definitely be that her arm instinctively squeezed him harder into her side. She tried to continue walking, trying to ignore the voice. Kid wondered what this voice had to do with Frisk that she'd act so scared. Kid, from his time shared with Frisk knew that there were only two things in the Underground that scared her: Sans (at certain times when Sans is in a certain mood), Undyne (with any sort of fire producing object such as a stove), and even those things combined weren't on the level of fear she was emitting at this moment. Who could the speaker be to get Frisk so nervous? Were they someone she knew from her past, the time before she fell into the Underground?
"Francesca, I know it's you." The voice said again. "Turn around and look at me."
Frisk stopped dead in her tracks, turning her head as her body began to tremble.
With Chara
Chara walked into her class and sat down in her desk. She promptly began to get comfortable, trying to go to sleep. However, sleep seemed to avoid her. She shifted over and over again on her desk. Flowey had moved to resting on her head, his roots in her hair, so she wouldn't accidentally crush him. Some of the human students started whispering about why Chara had a flower in her hair, but the monster students in the class just ignored Chara, the violent girl's tendencies expected of her. They'd known Chara since before they all left the Underground and they knew Flowey a little too.
"Can't get cozy?" he asked his best friend, his voice in a teasing tone.
"Can't shake this uneasy feeling." Chara said, leaning back in her desk with her eyes closed.
"What?" Flowey asked, his tone the same. "The feeling that Toriel's gonna yell at you again?"
"Nah!" Chara said, trying to relax. "I can't explain it. It's like I feel something bad's happening, but I can't explain what."
"Huh.' Flowey said, thinking. He looked out the window, something catching his eye.
"Hey" he said, looking down at Chara. "Isn't that Frisk and Kid out there?"
"what?" Chara asked, looking out the window. She saw Frisk and Kid looking at this peculiar human neither Chara nor Flowey had ever seen before. Though, even though she didn't know this human, Chara could tell one thing: the expression in Frisk's eyes was one of fear. Whoever this human was, they scared Frisk.
"I'm going out there." Chara said, walking out as Toriel was walking in.
"Where are you going, Chara?" Toriel asked, her tone stern. Chara was known to just leave class without any explanation as to why. Mostly, she either went home or to the school's roof and slept.
"Outside." Chara said, continuing walking.
"Why?" Toriel asked, grabbing Chara's arm. Chara looked at Toriel's arm, contemplating whether or not she should force her arm open. She'd never hurt her mother on purpose, but three were times she'd had to get a little rough with her.
"Need to have a little talk with someone." Chara said.
Toriel sighed. When Chara said she wanted to have a 'little talk' with someone, usually, it ended with said person getting their head shoved in a trash can or something, depending on Chara's mood. Though, they were usually started in response to someone hurting someone Chara cared about.
"Don't do something you'll regret." Toriel said, releasing Chara and walking back into her classroom. Chara, with Flowey still attached, walked towards the entrance of the school into the front area.
With Frisk and Kid
Frisk stood next to Kid, holding him tightly out of her own fear as the woman, who was standing about ten feet away and wearing a trench coat, began to step closer. Frisk began backing away, obviously terrified of this woman.
"Francesca." The woman said, her voice in a small growl. "Come here now."
"Th-that's not my name." Frisk said, her voice quivering. "My name is Frisk."
"Francesca." The woman said, her voice very threatening. "What have I told you about using that name?"
Frisk was sweating at this point, backed up almost to the door of the school. Kid looked at his best friend with fear. The woman seemed to be terrifying her simply by her presence alone.
"M-my name is Frisk.' Frisk said, now backed up against the door.
"Francesca." The woman said, leaning closer to Frisk. "I do not approve of this game. I'm sure you know what will happen if you continue this little farce."
Frisk was gripping the door handle behind her, the handle actually bending from the force she put on it (Frisk is mildly superhuman—obviously not to the level of Chara—but doesn't use it).
Suddenly, Frisk felt a presence near her. To anyone else, the presence would have been terrifying, something to hide from. But, to Frisk, the presence was one of comfort, of security.
"Am I interrupting something?" Chara said, her tone suggesting she'd come for blood. She eyed the woman with a glare that would have intimidated Asgore, but the woman was undeterred.
"Leave us, girl." She said, not showing any fear of Chara. "I'm dealing with Francesca at the moment."
"Her name is Frisk." Chara said, taking a threatening step toward the woman.
"I will not take this from you." The woman said, reaching into her trench coat. "You will be punished for your defiance."
"Bring it, lady.' Chara said, growling. "I've taken on more powerful foes than you."
Chara never expected the knife to pierce her chest.
oh no! What's happening to Chara? And who is this woman and how does Frisk know her? Find out next chapter (definitely the first one-not sure about the second one)
