[Going for something different in this chapter, it's mostly going to be a character interaction chapter with some cutesy sibling stuff with Chara and Asriel, not too dark this time around. I'm going to try and introduce some more of the familiar characters within the next few chapters as well. This chapter took me forever to write and may be my longest chapter yet, enjoy!]
Six weeks had passed since the incident in the Hall of Judgement and the events of that day have since become only a memory. Now, Asriel and Chara went about their daily lives, hanging out, playing and doing the activities they used to do together, before their foolishness had cost them their lives in a previous timeline. Asriel stood beside Chara's bed and shook him violently in an attempt to wake him up.
"Chara! Chara! Wake up Chara! Wakey wakey! Asriel shouted as he shook Chara back and forth. Chara, who was snug in his warm bed, threw his orange and gold checkered quilt over his head and groaned in annoyance. Asriel pouted in response, loweing his head sadly.
"Chara, you promised!" Asriel whined.
"It's 7:30 AM on a Saturday Asriel, stop being a pest!" Chara growled in frustration. Asriel's eyes narrowed and a sly smirk not unlike Flowey's crept across his face.
"Listen buddy, you said we were going to go hang out today, now wake up or I'll be forced to use my special attack!" Asriel said as he took a few steps back and bent down, preparing to ram Chara like a normal goat and kicking his leg like a bull ready to charge. Chara turned away from Asriel and groaned sleepily.
"I swear to god Asriel, if you-" Chara started to say, but it was too late. With the shout of "Asriel Strike!" Asriel charged forward and rammed Chara out of bed with a high pitched scream. Asriel then started to laugh so hard he held his sides and was in tears.
"Ha ha ha! You scream like a girl Chara!" Asriel said with a snort, but his laughter stopped when Chara sprang to his feet with his face as red as a beet and his teeth clenched in rage.
"You're dead Asriel!" Chara screamed angrily and pounced at Asriel. Asriel yelped in fear and tried to run away but was tackled to the floor and grabbed in a headlock.
"Ah! Quit is Chara!" Asriel begged, but Chara started to rub his fist on Asriel's skull.
"How's THIS for a 'special attack' Asriel!?" Chara said with an evil grin as he continued his assault on Asriel's fuzzy skull.
"Ow! Ow! Mooom!" Asriel yelled out and then started bleating like a young goat in distress while Chara laughed maliciously until the two were interrupted by Toriel's voice calling out from across the hall.
"Children, breakfast!" Toriel's voice sang out, stopping the two fighting children in their place.
"Coming!" The two called back in unison.
Chara and Asriel got dressed and sat at the dinner table and ate with their parents. Toriel cooked a large breakfast for the family and had just finished the last bunch of waffles which she put on a plate at the center of the table while humming a tune, Toriel was wearing a frilly white apron over her purple robes as she cooked. The breakfast consisted of waffles with syrup, various pieces of strange, glowing fruit native to the underground, fried snails (which Chara wouldn't touch for the life of him), toast and a warm pot of golden flower tea. Asriel immediately dug into his meal, shoveling the food into his mouth hungrily while Chara calmly ate his food. Having been in a coma for such a long time and fed intravenously, Asriel's apatite had been voracious since he came to. Asgore took a sip of tea, the small china teacup with blue floral patterns on it looking comically out of place in his massive hand.
"Mm... This meal is delicious Tori!" You always make the best breakfasts." Asgore said as he placed the teacup on it's sauce with a clicking sound. Toriel smiled.
"A great day begins with a great breakfast, love!" Toriel said cheerfully before turning to Asriel who was already on seconds, biting into a piece of toast with a fried snail on it.
"Well there my child, I see why it's called a 'breakfast', because you eat it so "fast" you might "break" something!" Toriel said with a giggle, Chara rolled his eyes, he never had much of a sense of humor and didn't quite understand monster humor and it's love of bad puns.
"Good one mom!" Asriel said with his mouth full, causing Chara to glare at him.
"Were you raised in a barn Asriel? Don't talk with your mouth full, it's gross!" Chara said with disgust, not realizing that he may have inadvertently made a bad joke himself. Asriel caught on to the reference a moment later, followed by Chara who tried not to laugh but snorted.
"Funny, veeery funny." Asriel said with an annoyed look and a squinted glare. Toriel laughed but didn't catch on to the unintentional joke.
"I don't get it." Toriel said in confusion, placing a finger on her chin. Asgore finished his meal and brushed his clothes.
"Well then, I must be off. I have an important day ahead of me, I'm calling a large meeting at the castle with all my royal subjects and we're discussing something of great importance. You two children have fun." Asgore said as he placed on his cape and crown and left the room.
After leaving the house to go to Waterfall and play as Chara had earlier promised, Asriel and Chara were laughing and playing among the rainy, crystalline caves of the region.
"Golly, it's been a while since we hung out like this, so what do you want to do Chara?" Asriel asked.
"Well, we could go to the junkyard again and play Good vs. Evil." Chara said.
"I call dibs on the bad guy!" Asriel said excitedly shortly after. "Now let's go there and battle!"
"Race you!" Chara said as he ran along the path with Asriel trailing behind, trying to catch up.
"Hey! Wait up!" Asriel said with a laugh as he gave chase, the massive royal palace looming in the distance beneath a ceiling of blue crystals which gave the illusion of a starry night. Behind them however was a mysterious figure lurking in the shadows, watching them with anger in his eyes.
Asriel, the God of Hyperdeath, sat upon a dark throne in his fortress of doom while his many slaves toiled, building a giant golden statue of himself while his guards threatened them with spears. In front of him were red robed cultists who bowed and knelt before their god, chanting in an unknown language. However, through one of the red, stained glass windows of his fortress came the human hero Chara who smashed through the glass unscathed and drew his sword to challenge the evil god. Upon seeing this, the cultists fled while Chara slashed and defeated the various armed guards who tried to stop him. Asriel smirked.
"I've been expecting you human, do you think you can withstand the awesome power of Asriel Dreemurr, the God of Hyperdeath?" Asriel said, leaning on his fist, slumped into his throne confidently as he charged a magical fireball in his other hand. "Because I will vanquish you with all my divine powers!"
"Never!" Said the long haired human hero who carried a sword and golden shield and who wore a brown poncho covered in Inca-style patterns and images of animals and warriors.
"I, the legendary hero Chara Vattare, will strike you down and free the underground from you tyranny!" The brave human said as he pointed his sword to Asriel.
"Oh really? Well then come and face me!" Asriel said as he threw the fireball at Chara, but Chara used his magic shield which resembled the face of a tribal South American god to deflect the fireball, Chara then smiled confidently.
"Nice try, but it will take more than that to stop the hero who comes when you call for help!" Chara said as he pointed his sword at Asriel and fired a beam of light which Asriel was able to block with a magical force field. Asriel then laughed evilly and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, stone sarcophagi rose from the ground, each one shaped like a screaming human and resembling an iron maiden. At least a dozen of them broke through the stone floor and surrounded Chara before their lids opened on their own. From the stone coffins an army of sword wielding zombie warriors in various styles of armor came lurching toward Chara, ready to fight. Some looked like roman gladiators, others like Japanese samurai and others like Egyptian pharaohs, all were unique in appearance, their eyes glowing red with evil power.
"Behold, 'hero'! This is the fate of all the human warriors who have challenged me! Now you too shall join my army of the undead!" Asriel said with an evil laugh as Chara used his sword and shield to fight the zombies and block their attacks. Chara would strike the zombies with their blades, stabbing them, slicing them to pieces, but they would always regenerate and keep coming after him and would become more and more vicious with each hit they take. They attacked with swords, spears, arrows and magic, but Chara managed to deflect each of their attacks and keep fighting.
"You can't fight forever, fool!" Asriel taunted as he watched Chara get backed into a corner. In desperation, Chara reached into his poncho and searched for something that would help him, it was then that he procured a scroll written with ancient runes.
"Klaatu! Barada! Nikto!" Chara said as he read the magic words on the scroll, light filled the room from the Scroll of Turn Undead, causing the zombies to collapse into dust, leaving behind only their empty suits of armor. Asriel covered his eyes with his cape to block out the light and then scowled when it went away, seeing his army defeated and Chara still alive. Asriel stood up, tossing off his cape and conjured a pair of magical swords in his hands.
"So you've decided to fight me like a man, Asriel?" Chara said as he prepared to fight, Asriel laughed.
"Like a man? I fight like a monster, men fight like sissy girls!" Asriel said as they clashed blades.
"Chaos Saber!"
"Hero Slash!"
"Shocker Breaker!"
"Psycho Wave!"
The two warriors used their special attacks on each other until...
"Now it's time for me to use my ultimate attack! Hyper Goner!" Asriel said as he fired a massive blue laser beam at Chara from his hands which engulfed him, but when the smoke cleared Chara stood there undamaged, causing Asriel to growl in frustration.
"Chara! That move knocks you down!" The God of Hyperdeath whined like a little kid.
"I was determined not to take damage, therefore I am not hurt." Chara said, Asriel groaned in annoyance and rolled his eyes.
"Lame! That is so cheap! You can't just deflect a giant laser beam just because you're 'Determined'." Asriel complained as they snapped back to reality, Asriel's "throne" was actually just an old armchair and Chara's "weapons" were a plastic lightsaber and a garbage can lid.
"I do recall Asriel that it was you who wanted to be the bad guy, correct?" Chara said, Asriel then flopped down on the old chair grumpily.
"Can't you just let me win? Just once?" Asriel said sadly until the weather suddenly changed. It then started to rain, a few droplets of water fell from the ceiling at first, but then a steady downpour shortly afterwards. Asriel sighed and hung his head sadly as Chara took an umbrella he left nearby and opened it.
"Great, now it's raining!" Asriel complained, Chara motioned for Asriel to follow.
"Stop complaining. Come along dear brother, let's go for a walk. Next time, we can both be good guys." Chara said as Asriel came along and moved under the umbrella as well.
"Save some space for me Chara!" Asriel said.
"Fine, but next time bring your own." Chara said assertively as the two walked along, Chara curious about the sudden change in weather.
"By the way Asriel, how is it that rain can exist underground?" Chara asked curiously, not understanding how it could possibly happen. Asriel laughed.
"Magic obviously, but not just any magic, but magic created by the greatest wizard in the monster kingdom, the great royal mage Solomon. A long time ago, before I was born we all lived in the ruins which was called Home back then, but it got too crowded and good air and food were on short supply. It was Solomon's magic which made the rest of the underground habitable, and from there we moved out and formed all the towns and cities you see now." Asriel said, this made Chara even more confused.
"Solomon, if he's that important why haven't I heard of him?" Chara asked, Asriel scratched his head.
"I've never met him either, I've only ever heard of him. Supposedly he's still around, living among the monsters in plain sight, but nobody knows who he really is. He's a very mysterious and illusive guy and dad rarely has to speak to him, he's sort of retired but not quite." Asriel explained, Chara looked up at the rain falling seemingly from nowhere, the sparkling blue gems hanging from the ceiling.
"A member of father's royal court whom I've never even heard of, how fascinating." Chara said to himself as they walked along. As the two walked along the dirt roads of Waterfall, littered with junk and glowing blue echo flowers, their unseen follower appeared once they were out of sight. He was a man in a white lab coat, he heard a murmuring from one of the echo flowers and approached it.
"...next time, we can both be good guys." The echo flower repeated with Chara's voice over and over every few seconds.
"do you think... that even the worst person can change?" The deep voice of their follower said before his left eye began to glow blue.
"...you dirty brother killer?"
[Well, that chapter took forever to write but I think I'm satisfied with it. You could probably guess who's going to be making an appearance soon, is he out for Chara's blood? I've also finally made mention of Solomon, Asgore's illusive court wizard whom even Chara knew nothing about. I'll let you know one thing as well, he's not an original character technically, someone from the Underground is Solomon but I'm not revealing who it is yet, you'll just have to keep guessing. Flowey hasn't appeared in any of Asriel's vision lately either, but I don't think he's gone for good, I suppose we'll have to keep an eye out for him in later chapters too.]