School started to become busy in the eleventh month. Swarmed with projects and reports, Frisk found themselves retreating to their room to do their homework every day after school. Chara would attempt to do their school work and was usually able to finish half of it before they decided to bug Frisk, asking them to come and play games together. Frisk, of course, preferred to complete everything for the day first.

"Why's it taking you so long to write a report?" Chara asked. "It takes me five minutes to write a paragraph."

"A report isn't a paragraph, Chara," Frisk responded without looking at them. They were too busy reading the latest news on their own monitor.

"Mother gave me a D+ when I handed in my last report," Chara said. "And all I did was write a paragraph."

Frisk was starting to feel annoyed. They alt-tabbed out of the news article that they were reading, having finished it, and began typing down notes.

"Do you think I want a D+?" they replied.

"That's enough to pass."

"I don't want to just pass," Frisk said. "I want to learn. There's a lot of interesting stuff going on in the world right now, and writing a good report helps me process it better. I'm not just doing it for the marks. I want to become well-versed in everything."

"...Frisk. You're too studious, you know that?"

Sighing, Chara returned to the game that they were playing on the computer. At a glance, Frisk saw that it was another one of those rage platformers that Chara had recently gotten into (they stopped playing visual novels after getting into a major argument with Alphys about one of them).

Later, when they went down to dinner, Frisk was surprised – and also rather worried – to find that Toriel had barely made anything for them. Toriel's dinners were usually feasts, but today, there was just some vegetable soup, with leftover pizza from yesterday. It had already been surprising enough that Toriel had ordered pizza for them last night, given that she usually preferred to cook her own meals. She emphasized nutrition, and believed that homemade food was the healthiest. Tonight's dinner and yesterday's was a stark departure from that belief.

Toriel looked fatigued. She also had an oddly anxious expression on her face as she sat down to eat. When she looked at Frisk and Chara, she looked as if she was ready to burst into tears.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Frisk asked, unable to hold themselves back from worrying.

"I am...just not in the best of moods," Toriel replied. "Being both a teacher and headmaster of a school is taking a major toll on my energy. It is enjoyable, as you know that I have always wanted to be a teacher, but – at the same time – I have hardly slept for more than four hours each night for the past week."

"Mother!" Chara said, appearing suddenly very concerned, "Please sleep more than that! I'll do the dishes tonight."

"That is very kind of you, my child," Toriel said, giving Chara a nod. However, her expression remained somber. "But there is more work for me to do tonight. If I do not complete everything, the school cannot run, and the students will not be able to come to class."

"We'll help you with it," Frisk offered. "Just tell us what we have to do."

"You are very thoughtful," Toriel replied, mustering up a slight smile. She gave Frisk a soft pat on the head. "But my work is my responsibility alone, and it would not be right for me to allow you to help. You are already burdened with homework, and I would not be happy making you do any more."

"It's all right," Frisk said. "My homework's not that hard, anyways."

A guilty look came over Chara's face.

"Well, it is not just that," Toriel said, and her expression suddenly changed.

It was an expression that Frisk had only seen a few times before, and the first time had been the moment that it became etched in their memory. Toriel steeled her expression, making a bitter frown, and her eyes became fierce and filled with determination. She stood up from her seat, towering over both Frisk and Chara. This was the expression that Toriel had made when she had attacked Frisk, long ago, when they had both been back at the ruins underground. It was an expression of fury and despair that Frisk would never forget.

"I...I have been meaning to tell you this for a while," Toriel began, her tone steady. "It is something that, out of my own selfishness and fear, I have tried to hide from you. However, I have realized that the two of you deserve to hear it. Afterwards, no matter what choice you make, I will comply with your decision."

Frisk looked at Chara, who returned a very confused expression. They turned back to face Toriel.

"What is it?" Frisk said at last.

"I...received a letter, last week, from your old friends," Toriel said. Briefly, her voice wavered. "It sounded rather urgent, and I thought it was perhaps a bit rude. I hid it from you because of what the letter was asking. Now, I realize that it was not right for me to do so, and I shall tell you what the letter had said."

"Who wrote it?" Chara asked.

For a second, Toriel's expression became doubtful again.

"...Sans," she said finally.

Frisk leaned back in their seat. They had only ever known Sans as a humorous person, though – when he became serious – he tended to say some very strange and very dark things. Given the way that Toriel had described the letter, calling it 'urgent' and 'a bit rude', they braced themselves themselves for the worst.

"Sans requested that I send you and Chara to live somewhere else for a while," Toriel continued. "It is the city that Alphys currently lives in, to be specific."

"Alphys?!" Frisk replied, throwing Chara another look.

"Alphys has agreed to this, but she does not yet know that Sans has sent us this letter," Toriel said. "If you agree to this plan, simply give Sans a call, and he will let Alphys know. It seems, from the tone of this letter, that he has been planning this for a while. He also stressed that he does not doubt that I have been a good mother to you, and that – if you were to disagree with this plan – he would be fine with your decision, and he would not ask again. But, he also added something very strange."

Frisk gulped. The look on Toriel's face grew rather dark.

"He said that the two of you may not be safe anymore."

This news had come out of the blue. Frisk and Chara were both shown the letter, and they returned to their room after reading it. Chara sat down on the bed with a crestfallen expression on their face. Frisk sat on the chair beside the desk instead, pondering over everything that they had learned.

Sans' tone in his letter had been ominous, and the fact that Toriel had hid the letter from them for nearly a week meant that it was all the more urgent for them to reply quickly. In the letter, he also mentioned that Alphys would take care of their education, and she and Undyne would help to cook for them (Frisk found this to be mildly amusing). They would live in Alphys' new laboratory, which had comfortable housing quarters, and most of the staff were monsters, so Chara would not feel too distressed living there. They were not told the exact details of what this was all for, but Sans had ended the letter on a light-hearted tone, inviting Frisk to come and see all of their old friends again (there were no closing words for Chara).

"You're not actually thinking of doing this, are you?" Chara spoke up nervously.

Frisk didn't know how to respond.

Somehow, they knew all along that this was going to happen. They had thought that being able to live with Toriel and Chara together and going to school every day as a normal human child was too good to be true. Yet, to their surprise, they weren't overly bothered by these news. In truth, they missed their old friends dearly, and the thought of moving in with them (or at least some of them – Alphys, Undyne, and maybe Sans, it seemed) was very tempting. They loved Toriel, and it would break their heart to leave her behind, but deep down, they felt that this 'normal life' was a bit too boring. It made them feel restless, and there had been that deep desire within them to go back to their old ways, to the kind of life where every day was a journey.

Or at least where every day could be different, as Alphys lived in a distant and much larger city. From reading about that city, they knew that there were a few million humans living there, along with a sizeable population of monsters. Alphys' new laboratory was, of course, located within the monster community.

"I'm...kind of tempted to," Frisk replied softly.

Chara began to look distressed. "Why? Why do you want to leave mother's house? Don't you like living here?"

It was hard for Frisk to reply with their true feelings, but they decided to do so anyways.

"Chara, I love living here," they began. "I love going to school with you and mom, and I love eating mom's delicious cooking."

"So why do you want to leave?!"

"I...Chara, we're being a burden on her," Frisk said, almost whispering. They pulled the chair towards the bed to sit closer to Chara. "She's stressed enough already having to manage her school while being a teacher. But having to take care of us every day is making her life even worse. I don't want her to have to worry about us all the time, and I think'd she feel much more relieved if she didn't have to cook every meal for us."

"But...mother – Toriel wants to take care of us!"

"Yes, I know. And, at the same time, she's becoming too stressed because of it."

Frisk stood up from their seat and sat down beside Chara on the bed.

"It's not that I want to make her feel worse by leaving her. I think, above everything, mom just wants us to be happy." Their eyes lowered. "Chara, we're not going to be very happy seeing her so stressed every day, especially when she can't even cook for us anymore."

"It could change," Chara answered. "Things could become better for her. Maybe her work load will lessen."

"I'd rather not rely on that."

Chara narrowed their eyes and stared at Frisk suspiciously.

"Do you just want to see your old friends again?" they said suddenly. "I mean, that's all right – I understand, Frisk. But, why not just go and visit them? Why do you have to leave Toriel's house?"

"Because...they might have a good reason to ask us to go live with them," Frisk answered. "I'll tell you what. Let's try living with Alphys and Undyne for a few months. If you don't like it, or something just doesn't work out, then we'll move right back. I don't think mom will really mind."

"What if...what about Sans?" Chara said. "I don't think he likes me very much."

"Sans? He's a joker. I doubt that he honestly dislikes you, especially since you're my friend. Err, datefriend, now."

"He seemed awfully suspicious of me back at that restaurant!"

Frisk placed a hand on Chara's shoulder and leaned towards them.

"Okay, Chara. That was different. That was because you were kind of suggesting that I go and kill everybody back then. I know that you aren't like that anymore, and if Sans needs me to explain, I'll convince him that you're a much better person now."

"Uh..."

"I trust you, Chara. In fact, more than anything, I would like to keep you around." Frisk felt themselves beginning to blush. "So, uh, I guess, you have the final say on this. I won't go anywhere that you don't want to go."

"You think I'm going to leave you?!" Chara replied. "No! If you want to move in with Alphys, then I'll go with you! We have to stay together, right?"

"Right. And we still need to go on more dates."

"Ah, yeah, that too!"

Frisk kissed Chara on the cheek, to which Chara responded by giggling, and then giving them a tight hug.

"Fine. I'll move out," Chara said. "Just let me...say goodbye to mother. Oh, and we'll bring Asriel along, right?"

"Definitely."

"Okay. Go and give Sans the call."

Chara jokingly pushed Frisk away from their embrace.

Frisk went to pick up their phone. They found, as they dialed Sans' number, that they could feel their heart beating fast. It had been so long since they last saw their friends, and they were extremely excited to see them again, to hear their voices – to be back in those good old days.

In a way, Chara must be excited, too.

Chara and Alphys could probably spend all day playing games together.

Author's Note: And with this chapter, a plot has finally been injected back into this story! It's still mostly going to be Charisk fluffery, as that's what I'm writing this story for, but, at last, we're moving into a new arc now. :)