He couldn't get the image out of his mind. Asriel chose to sleep on his mother's soft reclining chair by the darkened fireplace tonight. He let Chara use his bed. His mind didn't allow him to rest anyway; the recent events took up too much of his mind. The image that stood out, painted on the back of his eyelids, was Chara's hateful eyes staring into his very soul.

Then there were the words Chara spoke, Some people were hurting me… you're no different. So what did I matter what Chara felt about him? Asriel was supposed to be the uncaring warden of a prisoner. However those words deeply unsettled him for reasons he couldn't say. He just didn't like it.

Chara's hidden strength was astounding. They stopped the chain just short of cutting straight through his neck. That's what it felt like at least. The area was still tender and raw, even through his coat of fur. Asriel's breathing was a bit laboured, even now. He could have been killed then and there without so much as a whimper, but Chara let him go.

Perhaps it was Asriel's fault. He was being harsh all the time just because… well, he supposed it was to show his strength. That was the only thing that mattered in the society he lived in. His parents couldn't protect him from everything, he needed to show he was capable on his own. However, it was clear that when it came to Chara, he needed to stop... just so he didn't get himself killed...

His eyes slowly opened. He didn't remember going to sleep. Out of habit, he surveyed his surroundings for danger. The only threatening thing was that the lights were not on.

He got up and rubbed his eyes, still trying to wake himself up. Something in the corner of his eye that caught his attention. The living room was very dark. However he thought he saw something pressed against the wall of the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

He slowly and quietly moved so he could get a better look. Chara flinched when he caught sight of them. They kept a hand on the wall, as if to keep themselves from falling over. They looked tense and stood frozen in place. Odd.

"Breakfast?" Asriel offered cautiously, not knowing what to expect. Chara didn't say anything, just noded slightly. Asriel motioned to the table near the wall opposite the fireplace. However, neither he, nor Chara moved an inch. That was until he saw a door open down the hall. A stream of dim light slipped out, illuminating that end of the hallway. Asriel's parents were up. "Come on," he prompted.

Asriel sat down first before Chara slowly sauntered over. The two of them would always sit next to each other during meals, primarily because the chain was too short for anything else. This time, Chara sat on the opposite end of the table, at the the seat furthest away from Asriel. The two sat in complete silence until Asriel's mother, Toriel, came into view. Asriel quickly remembered an important detail, and bunched up his sweater around his neck, in case any marks were visible.

Asriel noted the pause made by his mother when she saw Chara. It was obvious his mother had some issue with the small human. Her hesitation was only for a second at most before she came a bit closer.

"Hello my child," she said, mostly to Asriel, "How are you today?"

"Fine," said Asriel, straight-faced.

"What would you two like to eat?"

"Cereal."

"And you, Chara?"

"... could I just have a glass of milk, please?" Chara said, looking as if speaking was the last thing they wanted to do. Toirel looked back and forth between Asriel and Chara.

"Not very talkative today are we?" she said before she turned and headed to the kitchen. 'Not very talkative' seemed to be the theme of the entire morning. Asgore joined the table some time later without saying a word, and no one spoke for the entire meal.

Asriel didn't feel like bringing up the normal topics to his father, like asking him how his duties as king were going, or if he wanted to help Asriel hone his skills with some one-on-one sparring practice. His parents didn't even talk about political stuff. The same stuff that usually drove Asriel crazy, but he kinda wanted to hear it now. The silence was killing him.

Eventually, Asgore got up to leave. He walked liked he had a ton of bricks attached to his back. He must be tired, probably from his unending duties as, ya know, king. Down the hall, Asriel could hear the guard who always greeted his father in the morning. Then the sound of the door shutting echoed through the house.

The whole thing was so painful. Still Chara, his mother and himself sat in yet more stilted silence. He eventually accepted the awkwardness and began to think; his mind drifting once again to the subject of Chara. Asriel said he wouldn't try and hurt them. He was even thinking about acting a bit nicer. He would keep to his word, he would.

Yet Asriel felt that things were going to be different, even after the change he made. For some reason, Chara seemed more closed off than before. He remembered the sensation of Chara leaning against him while he worked. This wasn't something he would admit to anyone, but he kind of wanted it again. Kind of, nothing too fluffy or anything.

Maybe if he and them got along better, the buzzing sensation in the back of his skull would go away. What could he do? He left Chara alone a lot, maybe the two of them could visit some place? But where… then it came to him. Waterfall. Chara was from the surface, Asriel was meaning to interrogate- ask them about what real stars looked like for some time. They could compare by going to Waterfall.

"Hey Chara," said Asriel semi-cheerfully, "I wanted to ask you something."

"What?" they said, their expression impassive.

"I know this place. It's kinda far away but it's pretty cool. It's a place where people go to see stars, or at least the closest thing monsters have. It's called 'Waterfall,' wanna go there?" Not many monsters went there these days, so it would be easy to avoid getting hassled by other monsters.

"...If I go with you," they began slowly, "will you stay back?" Asriel blinked a couple times. This was not the answer he was expecting.

"I… what do you mean by that?" he asked.

"Are you making me go?" Their expression hadn't changed. Asriel was completely dumbfounded. Did they think he was going to attack them? He already said he wouldn't, what was their deal? Asriel began tapping a finger on the table.

"No, I am not. I was just asking," he said, a little bit too defensively.

"Then could I stay here instead?" Asriel was now having to put effort into keeping his cool.

"You're free to do what you want, remember."

"Then could I please go back to your room?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever." The tension in Asriel dissipated, replaced with a sense of disappointment.

"Am I be excused?" Chara asked. Asriel nodded.

Chara got up and started to walk away when Asriel blurted out, "One more thing." Chara stopped. "Can I, um, get you anything?"

"Thanks, but no." Asriel couldn't help but sink a little bit in his chair. Chara began to walk again.

"Alright, well if you need me you can always…" by that time Chara was already out of sight. This was going to be more difficult than he thought. He kept trying to tell himself that it didn't matter. He went through the motions of telling himself that Chara was an enemy and should be destroyed and humans were bad and this and that... It all just turned into white noise.

"Give them time, my child." Toriel's said. Her voice made Asriel flinch. He had somehow completely forgot that his mother was sitting at the table this whole time. "Your father has his moods too," she continued, "sometimes all it takes is a bit of waiting." Asriel didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, sure," he said eventually, trying to get used to the idea. It didn't sound terrible, but he didn't quite like it. He was never one for waiting.

"My child," Toriel said, "on a different subject, why ever were you not in your room last night?"

"How… did you know that?"

"I checked, just making sure everything was okay." She did have a habit of being a bit protective of him after all, even though he knew what he was doing… most of the time.

"Okay... well" Asriel started, thinking that he should probably give her an answer, "I uh… couldn't sleep."

"Why was that?"

"I don't really know, I just couldn't." Asriel thought the details should be left out. Besides, he wasn't exactly lying.

"Is something bothering you, my child?"

"No, but thanks for asking," said Asriel, intent on leaving the conversation there. Toriel's hands went to her mouth. "What is it?" Asriel said, a bit nervous, "did I do something wrong?"

"Oh, of course not. I'm just not used to hearing you say 'thanks." She was right, he did say 'thanks.' He was supposed to be the tough one; he couldn't be saying stuff like this, It was a sign of weakness. Well, not in public, he supposed this was okay.

"I guess I have been spending too much time with Chara." Then he realized his hand was touching his mother's, and he immediately and pulled back.

"No, no, It's okay my Child. You can relax." Asriel, a bit more reluctantly, wove his fingers in hers. She began to gently massage it with her thumb, careful to avoid digging in with her sharp nails. This was something she liked to do on occasion. Asriel would probably never tell her, but it felt nice. The moment continued for a bit too long.

"Hey mom, are you-" she pulled her hand away.

"What is this?" she said with deadly seriousness.

"What?" said Asriel. This was not a good tone of voice to be hearing from his mother. She wasn't smiling; an even worse sign.

"This," she said, pointing at Asriel's neck. His knotted sweater must have slowly crept away and he didn't even notice. This wasn't good. He, for reasons he still couldn't explain, wanted Chara to be okay, but now the thing threatening them was Asriel's very own mother. He had seen her dust other monsters on a few occasions, but Chara..?

"Oh, that?" Asriel said, trying to respond like he wasn't improvising something on the spot. "That's nothing, don't worry about it." He clenched his teeth, it didn't sound convincing at all.

"Tell me."

"Well I was… um," he needed to think, but his mind was drawing a blank.

"Would it happened to have anything to do with the yelling I heard last night, my child?" She knew. The only viable option now was to tell the truth; a slightly enhanced version of the truth.

"Well," he started in a forced casual voice, "me and Chara had an… argument." His words were starting to sound a bit more real.

"Go on."

"It got a bit out of hand, and…"

"Yes?" she prompted. In Asriel's head, this was the part of the story where Chara tried to strangled him. He didn't speak.

"Did Chara… hurt you?"

This was it. "Well, yes, but It was my fault. I set them off, don't hold it against them." That last part was really important. Then he thought and quickly added, "I did it, I was being mean and they didn't like it, but it's ok now. So, don't…" She leaned in, the words 'don't what?' engraved on her expression.

Then it came to Asriel. He knew exactly how he needed to respond. He looked Toriel straight in the eye. He spoke, sounding confidence "Alright, whatever your thinking is wrong, okay?" Surprise appeared on her face. Asriel didn't stop there. "I made a mistake, but I handled it. I'm fine and will continue to be fine. Do not mess with Chara, it's my job, got it?" His commanding act sounded convincing, but in reality, he wasn't really in it.

Toriel's expression softened. Her eyes drifted away from Asriel. There was a long pause. Then she smiled. "I thought you had gone soft." she said playfully. "If you say you can handle it, I believe you, but don't get yourself hurt. Okay, my child?"

"Wasn't planning on," Asriel said. He still had to pretend he was his normal, cool self, but this too was a bit of a facade.

"But still," said Toriel with more more seriousness, "I don't want anything to happen to you." Or Chara, Asriel thought. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Okay." She walked over to Asriel and patted down a stray hair on Asriel's head. She pulled him into a hug. He wasn't much for this sort of thing, but he didn't resist. "I have to go now, my child. I love you."

"I love you too mom." And he meant it. Toriel turned and headed for the front door. It was then he felt relieved that no one had died. Everyone was fine.

Later, when day had turned to night, he slept on the chair again. It was a long time before Asriel's mind finally calmed down enough to sleep. He didn't dream much, but tonight was an exception. Random images, events and emotions from the past few days played in his head. Some of them were nightmarish and made Asriel quiver in his sleep, but something about this was different from most other nightmares. It could have been worse.