At this point, Chara learned how to not flinch every single time Asriel did something. Chara sat in their shared bedroom as the same furred monster, in typical fashion, slammed the door shut behind him. However, today, Asriel looked much more angry than ever; Chara almost expected Asriel to walk up hit them. Asriel's clenched hands and shoulders relaxed slightly as he let out a long breath.
His apparent anger had dissipated, leaving him looking more shaken than anything. He was absent-mindedly tapping door behind him with his finger, lost in thought. It somehow reminded Chara of their aching shoulder.
It had happened one day when Asriel was taking Chara somewhere. He was running so fast, pulling Chara by their arm. He then "accidentally" yanked hard, causing Chara to fall at a bad angle and dislocate their shoulder. Asriel needed three tries to set it back in its' place. The painful thought still makes them shiver. Chara shouldn't have let that happen. They should have stayed back so they couldn't have gotten grabbed in the first place. Asriel caused Chara a lot of accidents.
Now they were alone, in the room of the same person, who is now noticeably distressed. They didn't realize they were backing up until the dresser cabinet met their back. A noise, however slight, was just enough to pull Asriel from his thoughts. Chara tensed.
"We need to go," Asriel said, struggling to keep something out of his voice.
"Can't we just stay here?" Responded Chara with a similar attempt at concealing their growing discomfort.
"No," he said as he looked away, thinking about something .He was either angry or he wasn't. This bizarre mix was starting to make Chara more and more nervous.
"Uh..." Chara tried to think of a way out. "What about-"
"Look, we need to go," he said, looking back, his face almost impassive, "Dad's orders." Chara didn't move. Asriel sighed. "I don't like this either, trust me, but we can't do anything about it. Remember the part about him being, ya know... the King?" Chara really didn't like the sound of this. They pressed their back into the dresser, hoping that somehow they would magically slip through it and be gone from this. Asriel held out his hand, "Well?"
"Okay, fine. I'm sorry." Chara began to force themselves forward. It was very slow.
"Hey," Asriel said in voice that sounded almost a bit sympathetic, "Dad said it's not too bad. So don't worry." He flashed a smile but it quickly faded.
At this point neither of them cared how uncanny the out-of-place giant metal cube of a laboratory looked. They were inside now, the door was closed. The cold air poured over Chara's hot, sweat drenched skin; their sleeves rolled up a long time ago.
The lights were so dim, there were practically none at all. They welcomed the restful darkness after being exposed to constant strain that the lava-covered landscape left on their eyes. They only walked for about twenty minutes from the river to the lab, but it quite literally felt like a trek through hell itself. Chara didn't even want to think about how they would have to do the same thing again, at the end of the day.
They looked at Asriel. He wasn't moving and his eyes were closed. Chara waved their hand in front of him. Nothing.
"Asriel," Chara said, through exhausted panting. Still nothing happened. "Asirel," Chara repeated louder. They nudged his shoulder. Chara didn't know...
"I see that you've made it," a voice said, cutting straight through to Chara's brain. They frantically looked around, looking for the source of the sound that made them flinch. The looked down the long dark corridor and saw a form that made them shudder. It didn't even move its legs, it just sort of glided along the ground like a ghost. This was like no monster Chara had ever seen.
"I wouldn't worry about the prince," the voice continued, "He's passed out from heat exhaustion, likely because fur can absorb and store heat much more efficiently than human tissue. With my help he'll be fine." The monster was now close enough for Chara to make out its' face. The unnerving imitation of a face was enough for Chara to rip their eyes away and never want look at it again. Even though they still felt like they were burning up, they were shivering.
They heard a snapping sound. Like a bunch of stones being jostled around. They cautiously looked back to see a floating skeletal hand in front of their face. Chara pressed themselves against the door, their hand groping for the switch to open it. "Do not be afraid. My name is Doctor W.D. Gatser. We will be working together. I am pleased to meet your acquaintance." The hand, aside from the lack of skin and odd hole cut into the palm, looked like any normal one searching for a handshake.
Chara slowly reached up in an attempt to shake the floating hand, for fear that something bad would happen to them if they did not. Suddenly they were pulled to their feet. They were about to fall back down when another hand, combined with the previous, grabbed Chara by the shoulders and steadied them. Their heart was pounding. They couldn't help feel that this this monster, this… Gaster, was trying to play some sick joke on them.
Chara's gaze slowly drifted up Gaster's lab coat to as far as they could bare. In their peripheral vision, it looked like the Doctor wasn't even look at them, or at anything really. Like their imitation-like face really just was an imitation. Another thing caught their eye. It was Asriel, floating into the air. How did… more hands were grabbing him under the shoulder and carrying him off.
Before Chara's mind could imagine the worst, Gaster's omnipotent voice spoke, "I need to get him looked at. Heat exhaustion isn't fatal but It shouldn't be taken lightly. I think you should get looked at as well." The last part was said almost hungrily.
Just as quick as their introduction was, Gaster and Asriel were already gliding away down the hall. "Come along." Chara hesitated a second before following.
Chara saw the many things on the walls while following the two down the spacious corridor. There were endless chalkboards all packed with equations, graphs, and strange symbols they have never even seen before. Cabinets, drawers and shelves, all labeled with similar symbols, lined the walls from floor to the ceiling.
The contents varied wildly. It ranged from a few white, plastic bottles to some jars containing strange things, suspended in liquid. Those… whatever they are... resembled mutilated pieces of meat. For a second, it looked like something moved.
Gaster suddenly halted. Asriel was set down on some sort of operating table, various hanging machinery loomed above. One of the two hands holding him let go, reached up and pressed a button on one of the machines. Chara felt a nice, cool air fall over them. The other hand quickly disappeared back towards the entrance. It came back holding a clear plastic bottle with some kind of blue solution in it. The two hands worked together and unscrewed the bottle, opened Asriel's mouth slightly, and slowly poured some of the liquid in. Chara didn't know what this all was for, but they assumed it would all be fine. They hoped at least. They still didn't know why they were here.
They let their gaze wander around. It was apparent they somehow missed something. On the wall, opposite where Asriel was resting, was a giant blueprint for some giant machine. The blue paper extended from floor, to the dim lights on the faraway ceiling. It made Chara realize just how small they were compared to this place.
"A prototype," Gaster's voice cut in, as if reading their mind, "for 'The Core.' A machine that provides electricity to the entire Underground." His blank face was staring off again while the hands remained stationary around Asriel. Part of Chara, the part that wasn't consumed with unease, wondered why the lights were so dim if this gargantuan machine existed. Again Gaster responded almost telepathically, "The geothermal generator extracts lava from what is now known to be 'Hotland,' and uses its' heat to generate usable energy. Unfortunately it is less efficient than predicted. Some… upgrades will be required in time."
Asriel's suddenly jolted awake. He looked around frantically before his eyes settled on the Doctor. Gaster's face wasn't pointed anywhere near him, so he wasn't getting the full first impression.
"Who are-" Asriel started before being cut off.
"I am the one your father informed you about. Doctor W.D. Gaster. Pleased to meet you." One of the hands shot out in front of Asriel, intending to shake hands. Chara could recognize his hesitancy to shake the seemingly impossible and erratic thing.
"Where-"
"My laboratory. You passed out on your way here. You'll be fine."
"Uh…" Asriel looked around nervously, "No, I think you're wrong. I would never-"
"Don't worry, there is nothing to be embarrassed about, young prince. Every body has its' limits. It is a fact."
"Shut it, okay?" It almost looked like Asriel blushing. Then again it was completely possible that Chara too was suffering from heat-induced hallucinations. As if on cue, one of Gaster's hand's flew at Chara's face. They almost fell backwards, the hand held the bottle with the same liquid as before.
"Drink," prompted Gaster. Chara looked at the bottle, then at Gaster, than the bottle again. They took it and drank a small sip. The extreme bitterness made Chara double over. "Don't spit it out." Chara forced it down, letting out an 'uhg.' They realized they were feeling lightheaded only after it disappeared. When they looked up, the hand and the bottle were gone.
"Now, we are all ready to begin the tests," Gaster said. He turned so his face was generally pointing toward Asriel, causing the 'young prince' to physically draw back from the sight. The doctor did something resembling a bow. "My prince, the subject and I will now begin our tests. The liquid you drank will regulate your body heat so you may leave without fear of losing consciousness again, if you wish."
"Well," Asriel said, glancing at Asriel, "I think I'll stay." Chara wasn't sure how they felt about Asriel leaving versus staying.
It looked like he regretted that decision before long. The tests were not interesting at all, mostly more of an inconvenience. Height, weight, length of each limb, and samples. A lot of samples. Hair samples, saliva sample, a hand even swabbed Chara's nose.
Every time something was measured or taken, a hand would put it under the microscope while another would fly down the hall to an almost random looking chalkboard and record some small detail. It even looked liked observations were being recorded from things under the microscope, even though Gaster never moved to actually look at it.
The obsessive attention to detail was a bit odd, but nothing hurt. Most everything reminded Chara of their one single visit to the doctor's. Their so-called guardians, at the time, made sure the ordeal didn't end well…
They noticed Asriel's failing attempts to sit still. His frustration is never a good sign. However the presence of Gaster actually made them feel a bit less tense. Gaster, and his helping hands would stop anything out of the ordinary from happening.
When it came time for a blood sample, Chara managed to not cry as the needle drew a steady stream of the red fluid. They were a bit worried that Gaster would draw too much, but the doctor knew when exactly to stop. When the small bit of gauze and bandages were wrapped over their arm, it felt like nothing happened to them at all.
In fact, it was Asriel who had the biggest problem with the whole thing. Chara caught him staring at the red liquid. It made them wonder how much of his toughness was just an act.
"Monsters don't bleed," Gaster answered their not-question yet again, "So it seems the young prince is not used to the sight of such fluids and tissues. Asriel didn't even argue and that was a bit unsettling. Did he like seeing it or not? "When monster are injured, a gap is simply left where the damage was dealt."
"Mister Gaster," Chara Interjected, "How do you know what I'm always thinking?"
"It's easy to spot and interpret your glances and expressions. Don't mistake me for some sort of mystic." Even though the doctor obviously possessed great intelligence, its' face barely ever moved, so how could all these things possibly be seen? The responses were too oddly specific. "We have concluded for today, you two may leave. Unless you would like to stay to watch me perform tests on the gathered samples, however I think that is not the case. Don't forget to come back everyday, as planned."Everyday? Why did Asriel not mention this? Was this part of some plan of his?
"Finally," Asriel let out with a sigh, "Let's get out of here." Chara slowly walked over to follow him. They let Asriel go first, always making sure to keep their distance for whatever will inevitably happen. It felt like it didn't take as long to get to the entrance now that they had taken everything in. Asriel, on the other hand, was looking around at the endless amount of everything.
When the two of them got outside, the intense heat wasn't nearly as bad. The doctor's medicine more than making up for the terrible taste. Chara kinda liked Gaster. His figure and the way he moved were some of the most unnerving things they had ever seen, but the doctor couldn't exactly do anything about it. He was polite and gentle in a way. He made them feel almost… safe.
This was when Chara realized they had been standing still. Why hadn't Asriel moved? He was scanning the glowing, cavernous surroundings intently.
"Asriel?" Chara said.
"Did you see that?" he asked, a dangerous caution in his voice.
"See what?" They responded with a hint of anxiety.
"Nothing, we should go," he said very quickly, grabbing Chara by the arm and pulled hard as Asriel began to walk quickly. Too hard, Chara was pulled off their feet and landed hard on the hot stone ground. A shock jolted them as they felt skin break upon impact. Automatically, a small yelp escaped them at the burning sensation.
Their eyes teared up; unlike the blood test, they couldn't prepare themselves for it. Asriel offered a hand with the words, "Oh my god, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it." Chara got up by themselves, feeling a trickle of liquid move down their legs and arms. Chara knew Asriel wasn't sorry, it was just to put them off guard.
It was too sudden to be an accident. Chara said nothing, keeping their head turned away from him. They didn't want to let him get a reaction out of them. Chara started walking before Asriel could say anything else. They didn't want to hear his justifications.
The next day, the heat-resistant medicine that the doctor gave them and Asriel had worn off. They made sure to wear much lighter clothing, their brown shorts and a typically black tee shirt. Asriel did the same; both of them made sure to drink a lot of water before leaving. Chara immediately regretted not bringing more with them.
They had bandaged their scrapes but they felt a bit sick. Chara and Asriel were in the lab once again, having just entered. The Doctor would be to there to greet them any moment.
"Hey Chara," said Asriel. They looked at him. "I think I'll get going. I'll be back when it's time, is that cool?" Chara nodded, still saying nothing. Asriel frowned. "Okay... well, I'll see you later."
"Bye," was all Chara responded with. Asriel pushed a button on the wall's control panel and the door slid open. He looked at them one last time before walking outside. Chara stood in silence for a few minutes before the Doctor came into view.
"I'm terribly sorry for being late, I was preparing for your arrival," The voice said into Chara's mind.
"It was only a few minutes." They said, trying and failing to resist the urge to look away.
"I see you're alone." said Gaster, in a tone that somehow sounded more serious. While Chara wasn't looking directly, they thought they saw something that made their skin crawl. It was only for a second, but it looked like Gaster's face had… changed. It was elongated, the mouth stretched into an eerie grin, the eyes an uncanny ovular shape. He had… pupils. Chara turned to look instinctively but the thing in their peripheral vision was gone, the normally creepy Gaster looking off into the distance.
"Uh…" Chara let out absentmindedly, already deeply unsettled.
"It seems you got a scrape yesterday. Come, I need to heal it. You have an infection."
"...Okay." Gaster seemed much more intense when Asriel wasn't there. Chara followed as Gaster glided off toward some part of the lab.
"You seem bothered by something."
"Oh, it's nothing."
"Actually it is something. You looked like you have seen a phantom. Would you by chance happen to feel a bit queasy?"
"Actually… yes."
"Ah. You see, when you cut yourself, macroscopic pieces of rock entered your bloodstream. They have been known to cause the feeling of an upset stomach, decrease in energy, dryness of mouth, and very mild hallucinations and optical anomalies."
"Really?" This accurately described how they felt. Actually, It described how they felt exactly.
"Of course." Gaster stopped, it was by the same operating table. Chara sat down while a pair of hands flew out from down the corridor. One held a piece of pauge, the other holding a different bottle than the one from yesterday. The bottles contents were poured onto the gauze. "Be warned, this may sting, but it's important,"
"Thank you for telling me." The hand pulled off the bandaid on Chara's right knee and applied the gauze to a cut. Chara winced. It burned, but it was over quickly. A fresh band aid was applied from a third hand. This process was repeated with all of their cuts. It stung, but they felt a bit better knowing the infection was gone.
"Come," Gaster said without any further prompt or explanation. Chara followed the doctor to an elevator. One of the hands moved up to a control panel and pressed buttons faster than Chara could even comprehend. It looked like a blur. A red light shown at the top of the elevator's entrance and the doors slid opened.
Hesitantly, Chara followed the doctor inside. When the doors had closed, a series of buttons were pressed. The elevator moved… oddly. There was the normal sensation of losing and gaining weight when the elevator started on its' path, but Chara also felt they were pushed to the sides, backward and forwards, even strange combinations of all of them. Chara had to keep their hands on the walls. Gaster never moved despite the strange bombardment of forces. Chara's dwindling sense of safety was dwindling.
When the doors opened, there was a small room with a desk and a work table with various machine parts resting on it. The walls covered in papers, aside from a chalkboard, all full of writing. There was a window, but the other side had some sort of metal covering it. There was a door on the same wall, it was closed.
Gaster walked into the room and Chara eventually followed. They found a chair, the only chair, and sat down. Their eyes widened when they saw Gaster turn around, one of his assistant hands holding some sort of metal device with a large needle at the end. Before Chara's thoughts could fill them with worst-case-scenarios, Gaster spoke.
"Don't be afraid. I can assure you that this will not hurt in the slightest. In fact, if I am correct, this shouldn't feel like anything, so long as you try not to move."
"Oh… okay..." Chara said meekly. This whole thing was a bad Idea. They wanted to leave but the elevator had closed.
"Would you like to hold my hand?" Chara froze. What did he say?
"Sure?" Chara said in an almost trance, then immediately regretting the words. Gaster extended his real hand and Chara, although they wanted to do anything but, slowly took it. It was cool and smooth. Like porcelain. They did actually feel a bit better, until they noticed the object approaching, there was a small red light emanating from the needle.
Now the gentle touch of the doctor's hand felt like it was there to hold Chara down so they couldn't escape. They shut their eyes as they felt metal touch their wrist. There was no pain, they slowly opened their eyes to look back. The metal was resting harmlessly against their skin.
"When… are you going to do it?" Chara asked cautiously.
"It's happening right now. See, I told you it would be fine." Gaster responded. "Do you want me to let go now?"
"S-sure." The hand retracted. The face was still a bit too close for Chara's liking. For the next few hours the metal needle was pressed harmlessly against various parts of Chara's body. None were too invasive, or pushing into sensitive areas. Occasionally, a hand would snap together and turn various knobs and dials on the strange machine at a speed that hurt Chara's eyes when they looked at.
Chara glanced at the empty glass of water they were given at some point. Sitting in a chair for so long somehow left them feeling exhausted. When was this over? After another rapidfire change was added to the device, it was slowly pushed against Chara's chest and something odd happened. They felt very tingly, uncomfortably so.
"Tell me," Gaster's voice spoke after what felt like an eternity of silence, "how does this feel?"
"Uh… uh, f-funny?" Chara managed, finding it difficult to concentrace.
"Tell me more."
"C- could you please stop?"
"I'm sorry, I will soon, but are you feeling a tingling sensation."
"Y-yeah!" Chara said louder, finding it difficult to control their speech, "It f-feels... like a lot of small needles." The device was pulled away and the sensation subsided.
"I'm sorry for putting you through that. Just know that you were very useful." Gaster pulled back, and it made Chara release some kind of tension that had built up while the doctor was so close. Then a swarm of white stones suddenly popped into existence. They filled the room, all snapping together rapidly. The endless snapping made Chara cover their ears.
Each new hand grabbed a piece of chalk and or an eraser. They quickly converged on the chalkboard like a swarm of bees. Rapidly purging the original symbols and equations and replacing them with others. In only a few seconds, the room had gone from just the two of them, to a swarm of hands all attacking a board, then back to the two again.
Sudden outbursts of incomprehensible things seemed to be the norm with Doctor Gaster. It made Chara want to leave. Yet still, the doctor never lied about anything. Things the doctor described happened as mentioned; even the tingling sensation, while quite uncomfortable wasn't actually painful. Maybe their urge to leave wasn't as much as they thought.
"We are done for today, and perfect timing, the young prince will be here soon." Gaster concluded.
Chara was escorted to the entrance and stepped outside. Asriel could be seen at a distance walking in their direction. As they waited, they realized they were in a good mood, or rather, had been. Now it was another game of trying to figure out the game Asriel was playing. What was he going to do? How was he going to do it? Was there anything Chara could do about it?
After the sort time spent waiting, Chara was already sweating from the heat. They should have asked for that blue liquid stuff. However, they didn't want to inconvenience the Doctor. Besides, Asriel was right in front of them now.
"Chara, look, uh… I think we're being watched," Said Asriel, exasperated. Chara wasn't in a great mood from the unsettling tests. Now Asriel was trying to make up some narrative to the things he did. Chara could see it, he wanted to hurt them, and they weren't having any of it. Without saying anything, they walked straight past him, toward the spot where the River Person would be.
They felt a furry hand grab their wrist, his sharp nails digging in more than needed. Before whatever Asriel was about to do, Chara pulled hard and ripped their arm out of his grip. Still not even looking at him.
"I'm serious!" He insisted.
"If you're so sure, then why don't you call a guard." Chara responded indifferently.
"N-no."
"Why?" They turned to look at him.
"I don't need a guard," he said defensively, "we'll be fine. Just... trust me okay?" Chara was feeling that sensation from earlier. When they wanted to choke him to death. Was this the best he had? Any doubt that Asriel wasn't actually trying to trick them into hurting them right now had been completely stamped out. But… they couldn't move. Why wouldn't their body do anything?
They wanted to do something about it, but when the thought of what to do, they hesitated. Then hesitation turned to something that washed over their anger, dampening it out completely. It left them feeling weak. They finally turned away and walked.
Asriel was asking more questions than usual today. Chara refused to say anything to him after yesterday. It would have been great to be wrong, just this once, but no. All they could do was to try to take two steps back for every step Asriel took toward them. Just pad the blows as best they could when it inevitably comes. Like always.
There did come a time when Chara spoke. They had walked through the door of the lab, Asriel still standing outside. "You can go now." They said in a monotone voice.
"Chara? Are you okay? You've been acting really weird recently." Asriel said with mock-concern.
"I'm fine." They had considered shutting the door on him, but making Asriel angry would not be wise.
The tests for that day were in line with the senseless tasks with obsessive attention to detail. It was a bit more unpleasant this time, but It could have been far worse. It took place in the same small room, however, this time, the doctor wasn't so claustrophobically close.
Some sort of electrodes were stuck to various parts of Chara's body. Another, much larger device with a needle, similar in some ways to the one from yesterday was pointed at their chest. The doctor would flip a switch every once in awhile. For a short time of only a few seconds, Chara felt a slight sensation of vertigo, followed by a bit of nausea when the device was deactivated.
Chara left the lab feeling a bit dizzy with a small headache. Again, nothing major was done. In fact the best description for the the day was just boring. Having something so simple to describe a day was wonderful in a way. They met Asriel just outside the door. He looked very shaken by something.
"We need to go," he said before Chara could even react, "Now. Right now." Already ignoring his rambling, Chara started to walk the same route as normal. "No, we can't go that way. Something is following us. I know it! We need to go another way, through waterfall. You were right, I should have brought a guard with us."
He was playing the game. Very well in fact. Give some credibility to the victim; apologize to reassure them so one can get close. Chara felt a bit sad that they still had to go through this song and dance after so long. They never really realized it, but it had been a very, very long time. They started walking again.
"Im telling you, something really is following us! We need to go, now!" Asriel implored, no doubt faking his terror. His actual emotions were likely full of eagerness for what he wanted to come. Chara quickly descended some rocky steps that looked like they had been carved centuries ago. Asriel was running after them, shouting his fake words. Chara was starting to feel regret for not killing him.
They were on a flatter piece of terrain with many rocks that obscured the view of the landscape. Something move and chara almost ran into it. They froze at the sight. Its' dark brown form walked on four pointed, stick-like legs. The head had no features besides a large jagged crack running vertically down it.
Chara started to back up, slowly at first; faster when the crack spit the head open into a huge maw of teeth. At the back of the mouth was a single giant eye that looked into Chara's own. It started to move forward, and Chara turned to run. Their pulse was speeding up.
Something swiped at their legs. They landed hard on the rocky ground, they rolled themselves over, only to have something sharp bite into their shoulder. Chara screamed as the creature's sharp leg pinned them into the ground, the head snapping and drawing close. Chara was hyperventilating.
Then an flaming explosion rocked them to their core. The creature, looking completely unaffected turned its' head. Chara was too stunned to follow its gaze.
"Get away from them!" Asriel's wild voice yelled. The creature removed the limb that pinned Chara and started to charge away. The wound in Chara's shoulder was deep, it was saturated in a coat of fresh blood. Through a daze, they wadded up their shirt as best they could and held it there in attempt to stop the bleeding.
They looked, and saw the creature ascending the stairs, being bombarded by explosions, intent on reaching Asriel who stood at the top. If this creature lived in a world of fire, then Asriel's attacks were doing nothing but slow it down. Chara forgot to breath as the fireworks stopped and the view of the creature and Asriel were obscured by the top of the incline. The last thing they glimpsed was the creature pouncing on him.
They saw Asriel be thrown through the air, his back landed hard on a rock not to far away from Chara; so hard that the rock actually cracked. Chara felt like their heart has stopped. His eyes were closed. For a moment, Chara thought he was dead, and would disintegrate any second, then they would die soon after.
His eyes flew open, full of rage. He quickly pushed himself up as the creature became visible again, bounding down the stairs. Without looking away, Asriel reached back and grabbed a sharp piece of rock that had broken off.
He screamed and charged. Asriel slashed with his makeshift weapon but the head swiveled out of the way. Chara flinched when they saw the head open and bite down on his arm. Asriel screamed, but the scream quickly turned into a furious grunt through clenched teeth.
The mouth of the creature exploded open in a shower of flames and dust. Stumbling around aimlessly, It did a poor job trying to cover the burned, sensitive eye with its leg. Asriel picked up the rock with his other hand and stabbed it in the neck over and over again. The creature tried to back up and run but Asriel relentlessly kept stabbing. Dust poured out everywhere. Then Asriel's opponent collapsed onto the ground. It started to turn gray and break down.
Chara was shivering at the sight. Asriel was very slowly walking backward toward Chara, still refusing to take his dead target. They could see the arm that was bitten was trickling its own stream of dust where deep gashes were. He kneeled down besides Chara, head turning to face them; eyes still full of rage. His breathing was rapid and heavy. He held his makeshift knife. Chara thought that this was the end. They he had had enough playing the game and was going to end it himself here and now. He held up the rock, but not to stab, the threw it away.
Eventually, he looked like was beginning to relax, despite his injury. The look in his eyes changed, the rage disappearing. He pulled them close with his good arm. This time Chara didn't try to fight it. However, they remembered their own wound and the accompanying pain. They closed their eyes, gritted their teeth and tried not to yelp.
"Hey," Asriel's concerned voice said, "Hey, look at me." Chara opened one eye. "You're okay. You're okay. You're okay..." He repeated, as if for himself too. Chara clung to him. "We need to get you to the doctor. He can heal you."
"W-what about you?" Chara asked, still shocked. He seemed almost surprised, like he was completely unaware of his own wound. He looked at the damage.
"I'll be fine."
As Asriel pulled both of them to their feet and started the slow journey up the steps, Chara's mind swam. They should have been dead. Why were they not dead? Asriel didn't need to distract the monster unless… Well, why else would he have fought so hard? Chara clung to him a little tighter.
They were on the verge of tears. Not because of the pain, but because of the realization that maybe Asriel was never doing anything to them on purpose. Maybe he wasn't lying about things just to get close. Maybe he wasn't trying to intentionally make things happen. When he said he wasn't going to hurt them, maybe he was telling the truth and was just trying his best.
It seemed almost impossible. They had been so certain that this was just another phase of the endless game. They wanted to scream. They wanted to hate him for everything, it felt almost natural to do so. Were they the one creating the narrative?
Everything they had learned strained against this idea, but maybe… Asriel did care. The Idea terrified them. To think they had been wrong the whole time. To think that they had been through so much to have this terrible cautiousness hammered into their skull. For one last time, Chara told themselves that they would believe in him.
"Asriel?" Chara said.
"What is it?" he said tenderly. There was so much they wanted to say to him. Too much to put into words. So they decided on something simple. Something that needed to be said. For everything.
"Thank you."