Chapter 2: Asriel
The next time he had awoke it was to a throbbing pain at the back of his head.
"Are you alright?" A soft voice asked.
Chara looked up and saw a white creature with long drooping ears and fangs that hung over his mouth. He wore black robes with a strange symbol on them.
"Yeah," Chara said before pointing above him. "I think I fell from up there."
"Oh, I heard that leads to the surface world."
"Surface world?"
"It's where humans live. You are a human aren't you?"
"Yeah."
"I see. What's your name?"
"Chara."
"Chara, huh? That's a nice name. My name is Asriel Dreemurr."
Chara smiled.
"Nice to meet you, Asriel."
"Ah I can't wait to tell my parents all about you. I'm sure mom would love to meet you."
Asriel took his hand and dragged him through the ruins. They eventually arrived outside a large castle. Asriel opened the door.
Chara stood patiently outside the house.
"Oh, you can come in."
Chara stepped inside.
Asriel ran off to the left.
"Where are they?" Asriel muttered to himself.
"Who're you looking for?" Chara asked.
"My parents. They don't seem to be in their rooms. Mom is probably cooking some snail pie while my father is reading some books in the living room."
Asriel headed to the left of the hall, Chara following him from behind.
"No, no, wait here. I think I ought to surprise them."
Chara waited there while Asriel headed to the living room.
His father sat on a large rocking chair facing in the direction of another rocking chair. The bookshelf was against the wall to the left of where he was sitting nowhere near the rocking chairs. A table and three sets of chairs stood against the opposite wall. His father wore tiny half circles glasses which hung over his large nose.
"Dad, where's mom?"
"She cooking in the kitchen."
Asriel ran into the kitchen as his mother turned around.
"Asriel, you silly boy. Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you."
"Mom," Asriel said. "I got a surprise to show you."
His mother left the stove and headed in the living room.
"Toriel? Where are you going?" His father asked.
"Asriel had something he wanted to show me."
"Dad, can you come too?"
"Sure."
His father got up, placed a leather bookmark into the book to mark his spot and put it back on the shelf.
"Now you two got to close your eyes."
Toriel brought a hand up to her face to conceal her eyes. His father did the same though Asriel could see him peaking through the gaps of his fingers.
"Dad, you too."
"But I-"
Asriel huffed.
"No cheating."
Toriel grabbed her husband's hand while Asriel grabbed his mother's and he lead them into the hall where Chara was waiting.
"You can open your eyes now."
Both his mother and father removed the hands from their eyes. Their eyes widened at the sight of the small child with shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes and flushed cheeks.
"Oh my, it's-"
"A human?" His father asked.
"Yeah, he said he tripped and fell into the cave."
Toriel gasped.
Chara was still rubbing at his head wound.
"Oh he's hurt."
Asriel walked to the side as Toriel grabbed Chara's hands leading him into the kitchen. She opened the freezer and took out an ice pack.
"Put that on your head, my child."
Chara took the ice pack and put it on the back of his head.
"You should leave it on your head for a while until the pain eases away."
Chara walked out of the kitchen and spotted Asriel sitting on the floor talking with his father.
Toriel was not far behind.
"Oh Chara, you're alright. Now we can go play," said Asriel who beamed at the thought.
"Not so fast," Toriel snapped. "He might have a concussion. We can't afford to make it any worse."
"Oh mom."
"I think the pain is starting to go away though," Chara said.
"It doesn't hurt to be a little cautious. Maybe Asgore can tell you both a story and Asriel can show you the inside of his room."
"But Tori-"
"You know I have to attend to the pie."
Asgore sighed.
After Asgore told them a story, Asriel lead Chara into his room. Besides the large red rug of white triangles and white squiggly lines, a red striped lamp stood on a stool in the top left corner of the room with a small chest approximately 12 inches away from it. Beside the small chest was a shelf to store shoes. Near that was large cabinet with one drawer beneath it. A tall striped lamp stood on the opposite end of the other lamp. Below that was a twin sized bed with red and black covers. In front of the bed was a chest of toys none of them holding Chara's interest.
"Do you like it?"
"It seems a little empty don't you think?"
Asriel frowned.
"I don't have many friends. No one really respects me as a person. They only see me as the king's son."
"That's a shame."
Asriel smiled.
"The locals are nice though. There's Monsterwoman, Doggo, Ice Cap and Snowdrake," Asriel said. "Monsterwoman makes the best cookies."
'What a bunch of losers,' Chara thought.
Asriel took out some toys.
The child's eyes lit up at the sight of the ball.
"Is that a baseball?"
Asriel chuckled.
"Yeah, it's a part of a little prank I pulled on my dad. Here you can hold it if you want."
Asriel handed Chara the ball.
"Why would I want to do that?"
"Ah, come on please."
Chara took the ball. He was stunned by the way it grew in his hand.
"Why is it growing so big?"
Asriel snickered.
"I too wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me."
Chara was silent.
"Ah come on. I worked so hard on that one."
"Want to play catch?"
"Are you sure? You are still hurt and mom told you to take it easy."
Chara snorted.
"I'm not going to die from it."
Asriel chuckled.
Chara tossed him the ball.
Asriel caught it and threw it back.
Chara's smile grew wider.
"We should throw it faster. It'd be more fun that way."
Chara tossed it hard in Asriel's direction.
Asriel caught it easily.
"Wow that was fast. I didn't know humans could do that."
"It's very easy to do."
It was some time after they were playing catch that Asriel seemed to think about something.
"You said that you came from the surface world right? Do you have a home up there?"
"Yes, though there's no way I'm getting back there now."
"Maybe my mom and dad know how to leave this place."
Asriel left the room. In the living room, the pie stood in the center of the table. His father had already devoured two pieces of pie.
Toriel on the other hand was sitting in the right rocking chair wearing her glasses and reading a book.
"Hey mom, is there a way to the surface?" Asriel asked.
"Is your friend thinking of leaving this place?"
"Well, he wanted to go home. I think he misses his family."
"I see."
"Asriel, surely you can convince your friend to reconsider. It's not too often you find yourself a friend like that is there?" Toriel asked.
Asriel felt his face grow hot.
"Alright."
He headed back to his bedroom.
"What did she say? Can I finally get out of here?"
"Well I'd kind of like it if you can stay here with us? My mom and dad would take good care of you."
Chara was silent. He stroked his chin with his fingers thoughtfully.
"I'll think about it."
Asriel headed back into the living.
"He says he'll think about it."
"Well, he can think about it tomorrow morning when you two head to town. I'm sure he'd love a tour. Asriel, do you mind sharing a room with Chara?" Toriel asked.
Asriel shook his head.
"Not at all."
"I'll conjure another bed for your friend."
The next morning, Chara followed Asriel into the living room. Toriel had already set breakfast on the table.
"I hope you like chocolate. I heard it makes the best cakes."
Chara's eyes widened in excitement.
"I love chocolate."
Toriel eased between Asriel and Chara to slice the cake with her knife. She gave the first piece to Chara who immediately dug into it.
"That should give you enough energy for your trip," Toriel said.
After the two had finished eating, Asriel walked into the hall and headed downstairs.
"Where are we going?" Chara asked.
"This is the way out of the castle."
Once they managed to step outside the castle, the two headed through the village of Waterfall before noticing the tall trees and tiny specks of snow that floated from the surface.
The moment they had arrived in Snowdin, Chara seen that it was a village comprised of small, coozy looking cabins.
Asriel lead Chara to the north of the village. To the right was a building where a large black dog hurled large blocks of ice into the body of water next to him while to the left was a cabin. Several rocks stood outside.
"Oh Asriel, I didn't know you were in town," one of the rocks said.
"I'm just showing a friend around."
"I've never seen any monster looking like that before," Another rock said.
"Oh it's because he's human."
"What? I didn't know humans wore striped shirts."
"Um, er..."
The door of the cabin opened and a tall yellow scaly monster stepped outside with an apron on waving a large plastic spoon in their direction.
"Boys knock it off. You don't need to give Asriel a bad time."
The rocks groaned.
"Sorry Asriel."
"It's alright."
The tall yellow monster wrapped her arm around Asriel escorting him inside her cabin.
"Oh Asriel, you must be exhausted. You should get on that mother of yours always letting you go out by yourself. What brings you in here anyway?"
"I was supposed to give Chara a tour of town."
"Chara, huh?" The tall yellow monster said. "Is that your name?"
Chara nodded.
"You said he was a human right?"
Asriel nodded.
"Does that mean that the king will finally be able to break through the barrier and bring us to the surface?"
"Uh..."
"What do you mean by barrier?" Chara asked.
"I'm certain the surface world has it's legends how monsters became sealed deep from within Mount Ebott."
"So there's no way out?"
"For us monsters but not for a human with a strong soul. It is a barrier created from the will of humans. It's purpose is to keep monsters out."
"So all a monster needs is a human soul to pass through the barrier?"
"Yes."
It seemed to good to be true. The idea of monsters attacking the wretched souls that left him in that awful orphanage to be bullied by those children had filled him with such glee.
"What prevents the barrier from being destroyed in the first place?" Chara asked.
"Seven human souls are needed to shatter the barrier. It's not exactly easy to acquire seven dead humans is it?"
Chara sighed.
"Asriel, you're looking a little peakish. Are you alright?" She asked.
"I'm fine."
"You look exhausted. Maybe the weather is getting to you. I'll be back with some hot chocolate and cookies."
The yellow monster headed for the kitchen.
Chara smiled.
"You know, I think I've changed my mind."
Asriel beamed.
"Really?"
"I could get used to living down here for a while if you'll still accept me of course?"
Asriel nodded.
"But what about your parents won't they miss you?"
Chara frowned.
"They wouldn't miss me that much. It's not exactly a happy life. My parents were killed when I was only just a baby. They left me in that orphanage. It's terrible."
The yellow creature came back with a plate of cookies.
"I'll be back with your hot chocolate."
It was later she had came back with two mugs. Steam was coming out of them both.
"Be careful it's hot."
A month had gone by, Toriel had dropped by with something akin to excitement.
"Can you believe it, Fluffybuns? Snowdrake is hosting a fair with Ice Cap. Doesn't that sound like fun."
Asgore groaned.
"It'll be very embarrassing. What will the monsters say if you keep calling me, King Fluffybuns?"
A knock from the front door interrupted their conversation.
Toriel smiled.
"I don't see the problem. You were always Fluffybuns to me," She said slyly.
"Get a room you two," Asriel said, fake vomiting into his hand.
Toriel headed for the door and opened.
Outside was a short skeleton with a blue hooded jacket and black shorts. He was wearing blue sneakers on his feet.
"Sans, it's been a while. Is your father doing alright?"
"He's busy as usual with his convoluted experiments."
"Come in, won't you? You hardly drop by just to talk."
"Alright."
He walked inside immediately catching sight of the three who were seated at the table. The king and his son were the only two familiar to him.
"You haven't met Chara yet have you?"
The other guest was completely different from anything he'd ever seen before, peach skin, flushed cheeks and a yellow shirt with green stripes.
"Hi."
Asgore looked up from what he was doing. He looked very startled by the sight of the skeleton.
"Ah Sans I wasn't expecting you for at least another hour."
"Well, who could afford to waste this opportunity. It's not everyday we hear about the secret life of our king or should I say King Fluffybuns."
"Well, we're heading to the fair right now so say hi to your father for me will ya?"
Sans nodded.
"Well then I guess I'll be going then. See ya."
Sans headed out.
Toriel glanced at her watch.
"We got to go now or we're going to be late."
After Asgore and Asriel finished their meal, Toriel took a coat from the coatrack in the hall and wrapped it around Chara.
"It's going to be cold out there so you two need to stay warm."
Asgore handed Asriel a coat.
The two headed north of Snowdin. Snowdrake had already set up the games. There were games like breaking the ice, fishing for rocks in the river and rings on the gyftrot, a creature that looked a lot like a reindeer.
Most of the kids had already gathered in the center throwing rings trying to get them to land on the gyftrot's antlers. Ice Cap who had been running the event was giving away stuffed teddy bears to anyone who was able to do it.
Filled with determination, Chara walked up to Ice Cap.
"Can I try?"
Ice Cap handed Chara some toy rings.
Chara tried to toss the rings but all five missed. Over the past few weeks, Chara had discovered that making even the slightest mistake and having the determination to fix it seemed to rewind the timeline somehow.
He had told Asriel about it.
"Wow, that's cool," he said. "I didn't know humans even had the ability to travel through time."
Chara found that if he willed it the timeline would reverse and continue reversing until he was satisfied.
"Are you going to do it now?" Asriel whispered.
"Yeah."
Asriel only seemed to remember the timeline that Chara had succeeded in. He had picked out two bears, one white and the other one red.
"Thank you, Chara."