Ghost Buddy

Summary: In your defense, the scary movies you used to watch made it seem like possession was much easier.

Disclaimer: Undertale belongs to Toby Fox

"Come on Frisk, let's go." You say, tired of watching them play in the pile of leaves. Secretly, you wish you could play in the leaves. It had been so long. You had been mad for so long you didn't remember the last time you enjoyed yourself or played like a normal kid.

"But it fills me with determination!" Frisk objects, and then a sparkling yellow object appears next to them.

You glance at it curiously. You remember having been able to do that, back when you were alive. "Determination."

Frisk curiously touches the, "save point," and creates their own save.

Frisk finally leads you both to a bowl of monster candy that Mom would always leave out for the smaller monsters. They grab two pieces.

You scowl. "Hey, sign says take one, Frisk."

Frisk looks at you and giggles.

"What's so funny?" You ask.

"You've wanted me to kill three Froggit's, and two Whimsun's, but you're mad at me for taking more than one piece of candy?" Frisk asks.

You blush, again. They had a point. However, Frisk turned around to grab two more pieces and managed to knock the bowl over in their rush.

You give them a sly grin. "See? Good job Frisk. Ten out of ten. Bet you feel like the scum of the earth."

Frisk actually looks at the mess they made, guiltily, but most of the candy had already rolled into the little pools of water at the side of the room. "Oops…"

You and the younger kid walk through the Ruins, and you don't even bother objecting to Frisk sparing the Vegetoid you encounter, because they've made it perfectly clear that they think you're wrong about the monsters being worthless. And every time they get a smile or happy noise out of the monster, they give you a smug grin.

This time though, Frisk gave you a look of…concern? Pity? Either way, it made your blood boil. "Chara," They begin, "why do you hate the monsters so much? Did they do something to you?"

You don't bother to answer them. You wouldn't know how. Maybe they didn't do anything, but they heralded you as this prophesized hero and made you think could actually be something special. And then they made you family and actually conned you into thinking that maybe you could have been something good. Something other than the demon child you were always brought up to believe. And it got you killed.

"Not as much as I hate people." You mutter in response. The answer surprises them.

"Is that why you jumped too?" Frisk answered. Then they looked embarrassed, and at first you didn't know why, but then it struck you…

"…too?" You ask them, but this time they're the ones who chose not to answer. Instead, they look around at all the switches and wonder why none of them they're hitting are lowering the spikes at the end of the room.

"Why don't you call Mom and ask her where she is? Maybe she could come help." You suggest. Yeah, Frisk was annoying, but being stuck there wasn't very fun.

Frisk turns to you slowly. "Mom? Wait, is Toriel your Mom?"

You curse at yourself internally. You hadn't wanted to let them know much about you, but you nod. No use hiding it now.

Frisk takes out the phone and calls Mom. At first they chat a bit, and you can hear Mom ask about their preference as to butterscotch or cinnamon – she's preparing a surprise pie for them. Frisk says they haven't left the room we were left in, but they cross their fingers like that makes it okay. But at the end of the call, Frisk says, "Okay, bye Mom, see you soon!"

You go cold inside. You try desperately to pick up a rock on the ground and chuck it at their head, but you can't. You can't do anything and the physical reminders don't exactly calm you down.

"Chara, what are you doing?" They ask.

"YOU DON'T CALL HER MOM!" You scream, your voice echoing louder than you can ever remember it being. You're crying, and you remember what your farther always said about crying, and it makes you feel weak. So your anger just grows. "SHE'S NOT YOUR MOM AND SHE NEVER WILL BE! I'LL KILL YOU!"

Frisk backs away from you slowly and stumbles on to the floor. You see tears well up in their eyes and for the first time since falling down they look afraid. Not of the monsters, but of you. But they take a deep breath and stand up. "I'm sorry, Chara."

You hadn't expected that answer. Usually when you yelled, someone would yell back. "You should be." You spit.

But then Frisk walks up to you, and gets close – close like you were in a battle but you aren't. They awkwardly try to put their arms around you, but obviously they can't.

"What are you doing?" You ask dryly.

"This is my attempt at hugging you." They reply, matter-of-factly.

This was the sort of behavior that baffled you. Every time you wanted to lash out, this kid, this weird un-human-like human did something supportive and comforting and you didn't know how to feel. Part of you wanted to be angry, but in a way, it felt good to have someone care. But then this disgusted you, because no one could ever actually care.

"I just said I'd kill you." You said. "What is WRONG with you?"

"Chara, I never learned how to read." Frisk states bluntly.

"I – what?" You couldn't follow this kid's line of thinking.

"My parents never sent me to school, and they never taught me." Frisk tells you this in a tone as if they were discussing the weather. "That's why I took more pieces of monster candy. I couldn't read the sign."

You did your best not to emote. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I like having you with me." Frisk says, smiling at you, making your stomach feel weird. This had never happened to you before. Your insides felt like they were doing flips, and you could feel yourself blushing. "You've read signs to me, you've helped me dodge monster attacks, and even when I don't let you fight them, you tell me the monsters names and what kind of attacks they've had."

You blink. You hadn't really thought of how you had been doing these things, but you had.

Frisk continued, as they could tell you were processing the words. "I appreciate you, Chara. Having you with me is nice. I like you." They wink and you step back, embarrassed. "But seriously. The only thing I don't like is how angry you are."

You open your mouth to tell Frisk that they'll have to deal with it, but they cut you off. "I'm not done. I'm not sure why you're so angry Chara. I wish I could do something to help you. I know you're not just going to come out and tell me what's going on with you, but…I like you. I appreciate you. I don't think you're as bad as you think you are."

Damn them. Your insides were churning, and your eyes felt like they were on fire. Respectfully, Frisk turned away from you. You were beginning to understand how they so easily got the monsters to like them. You looked to the wall and noticed a signed on the wall you missed earlier. "Hit the red switch, Frisk," you advise them through a sniffle.

Frisk looked at you, perplexed. You nodded to the sign. "I didn't see that before but it says to hit the red switch."

Frisk beamed at you, ecstatic you were still helping. They winked at you. "Thank you, my great protector."

You roll your eyes at them. "Cut that out." Still, you were blushing, and you hated it. Frisk already knew that the flirting flustered you, so they were pouring it on thick.

Frisk skips over to the switch and pressed it, causing the spike gate to go down at the end of the hall. "Come on, Chara!" They shout, charging ahead. You groan and follow after them.

As you chased after them, a Loox popped out from behind a pillar, locking you and Frisk into a battle. Frisk glanced over to you.

"It's a Loox. They get picked on a lot, don't really care for it." You explain. You left out the part where one day after Mom caught you sneaking some pie and grounded you, you snuck out into the Ruins and picked on Loox yourself. Any other day, you'd feel like these monsters deserved it, or worse, but…

You didn't bother attempting to control Frisk. They were a surprisingly agile kid, and had no problem dodging the monsters soul magic that leaked out of its giant eye. As soon as the Loox was done, Frisk gave them a big smile and shouted, "You have a very pretty eye!"

The Loox became embarrassed and ran off.

Both you and Frisk are rather quiet as you pass through the room. You feel like maybe you should apologize to them for snapping, but that thought just turns in your stomach and you feel disgusted at yourself for even considering it. Humans had never done anything but hurt you, and no one ever apologized for that.

But Frisk wasn't just any human, and it you still didn't quite wrap your head around it. Were they really a good person? They certainly thought you could be.

As you rounded the corner with them, you saw Mom come from around a tree, looking at her cell phone. But her eyes snap to Frisk and she gasps, running up to them. "My child, are you hurt?"

You look at Frisk and see that the Froggit's bullet had left a small tear in their shirt, with a small scuff mark exposed under it. It was very tiny, but that was how Mom was. You couldn't get anything past her.

Frisk smiled at Mom reassuringly. "I'm fine M…Ms. Toriel."

You felt something reminiscent of guilt pang in your chest at Frisk's hesitation. You hadn't felt guilt in so long that it was hard to remember what that was like or if that was even it.

"All the monsters are really nice and everything." Frisk added, giving Mom a big hug. You're a little jealous, but mainly because you can't.

"Well…it was irresponsible for me to leave you in the Ruins for so long. I was planning on surprising you, but no use now. Come along, my child." Mom says with her warm voice.

You follow them to Home and Toriel ushers them in. Before doing so, a SAVE Point is spawned in front of the house.

"Hey," you call to Frisk, making them stop, "You should go touch that."

Frisk notices the little yellow gleam and walks over to it, giving it a poke. They smile at the warmth it provides. "I would never think there'd be such a cute little house in the Ruins like this. I feel really good about all this!"

You can't help but smirk and shake your head. "Come on, Mom's waiting for you."

Frisk goes inside, and Toriel is waiting. She explains that Frisk can stay here for as long as they like, but the smell of burning pie is becomes present in the house, and she runs off, but not before rustling Frisk's hair. Frisk walks inside and looks around the room.

"So was this your room, Chara?"

You shake your head. "No, this is the guest room…" You still had memories of playing and coloring with Asriel in here though, making you reminisce. For as long as you had been mad at Asriel, you forgot all the good times you used to have.

Frisk examines the box filled with shoes at the foot of the bed.

"All sorts of different sizes." You point out, and look at Frisk's feet. "But none that look like they'd fit you."

"So the other kids who lived here must have been a lot younger than us, huh?" Frisk asked, a sadness in their tone.

You thought back. They were all pretty young, thinking about it. The youngest was the first one, but the oldest had to have been around eight at best. You nod.

Frisk sat down on the bed and sighed. "Chara, what do I do?"

You weren't really prepared for this question. "NOW you want my advice?"

Frisk rolled their eyes. "Well not if it's going to be, 'kill or be killed,' like Flowey said or how I should wack everything with a stick." Their tone lightened. "I mean…how do I get out of here? I need to get back to the surface."

"Why?" You can't help but ask.

They hesitate, so you continue. "There are legends about people who climb the mountain never being heard from again. Don't tell me you've never heard them."

"I don't want to talk about it." Frisk answers, and lays down. They start shaking, and you aren't sure if it's from the cold or if they're crying. But then you remember how you used to lay in bed and shake and try not to remember things, and you settle on the latter.

You contemplate, because if there's one thing you're good at after being stuck haunting a patch of flowers for years, it's sitting and thinking. You want to say something to Frisk, but what? You still hadn't forgotten your grudge against humanity but Frisk was making you feel…THINGS. When was the last time you felt any of these things?

Before you could decide, their silent cries turned into light snores. You let out a deep sigh of relief. Getting to the surface took, at minimum, the power of a human soul and a monster soul. And absorbing a monster soul was impossible, unless they were a tough boss monster like…

Mom or Dad.

You squirm. Frisk wouldn't hurt a fly, but what if they had to hurt Mom or Dad to leave? Fear and anger flew up inside you again. Humans were inherently selfish – yourself included, you had no qualms admitting – and surely Frisk would cast aside this squeaky-clean demeanor in order to get themselves home.

But you could always stop them, right? Maybe. Your control over Frisk, while in battle only, was severely limited. And, they had determination, like you did.

You would just have to worry about it when you got there.

You jumped as the door opened, and Mom walked in, carrying a slice of pie. You recognized it as butterscotch and cinnamon – not a chocolate pie, but certainly one of your favorites. She saw Frisk snoozing, and went to turn off the light. She set the slice of pie on the floor and went to leave. She hesitated for a brief moment and you swear she looked in your direction for a split second before leaving.

You lay down on the bed next to Frisk. You close your eyes and thought back to playing in this room. You must have drifted off into that sleep-like state as you're woken up to Frisk giggling at you.

"I didn't know ghosts took naps too. But I think you're being a little forward with me." Frisk said with a wink.

You snap out of the bed, blushing. "Well, what, am I supposed to just sit around while you sleep?"

"I'm just teasing Chara." Frisk replies. You notice they still sound rather sad so you decide to maybe lighten up on them. They are the only person you have right now, and they've been nothing but nice to you.

"Mom left you some pie." You blurt out. You meant to apologize to them for the mom thing, but you suck at apologies and instead diverted to food.

Frisk rolled over and grabbed the slice, taking in a big whiff and taking it with her as she left the room. "So I decided something."

You look at them.

"I'm getting out of here, no matter what." They tell you, and you recognize Determination in their voice. "And I'm hoping I can find a way to help you out too."

You're a bit surprised at this, but you're a ghost so you highly doubt they can do anything for you. "That's great. Might want to ask Mom about how to leave though."

Frisk grimaced, knowing that it wasn't going to be an easy conversation. They wandered down the hall, longingly looking at the hallways of Home. They stop and stare at themselves in the mirror for a minute. You realize it's really weird to look in a mirror and not see yourself there looking back. But still, you're worried about Frisk (and it creeps you out to worry about someone, but anyway) so you say, "It's you!"

Frisk gives you a small smile for your efforts and makes their way to the living room. Toriel gives them a warm smile. "Did you have a nice nap?"

Frisk nods and goes to speak, but instead stammers out, "Yeah just looking around."

Frisk aimlessly shambles into the kitchen and glances at things with no interest. They're stalling and you recognize it easily. At one point they open the refrigerator and pull out a chocolate bar.

You freeze. Frisk turns to you and says, "I'm surprised they get this brand down here…hey Chara, are you crying?"

You turn and hold back tears. After all this time, she kept it. She told you, when you were sick in bed, that you could have that bar when you got better. And of course, that day never came. And she kept it.

Frisk takes the hint and finally returns to the living room.

"How do I get to the surface, Ms. Toriel?" They ask, a shakiness in their voice.

You see fear and worry in Mom's eyes. "Oh dear…excuse me."

"Where is she going?" Frisk asks you quietly.

You become uneasy and shrug. You follow Mom with Frisk and she unlocks the chains to the basement. "That's the path out of here, Frisk." You advise. Frisk goes to chase after Mom but you call out, "Wait."

Frisk gives you a confused look. "Go back outside and save first." You advise cautiously.

Frisk keeps up the confused look. "Touch the little yellow thing outside from yesterday." You add.

Frisk does so, but looks confused. "What do you mean save?" They ask as you both re-enter the house and follow Mom.

You frown. "The Underground is a place filled with magic. Your Determination, if it's like mine, works a certain way…it might help out. I can't really explain."

Frisk hesitates, but they look at you and give a faint smile. "Okay Chara. I trust you."

Whoa. Those were words you never heard before. Once you made sure Asriel didn't doubt you, but this was different.

"Child, do not follow me." Mom advises them, sternly, before going forward. Frisk furrows their brow and keeps going, marching down the basement hallway after her. Mom warns them a few more times, but before you know it, you're all at the door to exit the Ruins.

Mom explains to Frisk that she intends to destroy the door. That monsters will try to steal their soul. "If you want to leave, prove to me you're strong enough."

"Wait, what?!" You stammer out, but you already feel yourself pulled to Frisk's side in battle.

"I…I don't want to fight you!" Frisk yells out, confused, hurt, and sad.

Mom doesn't say anything.

"She's looking through you…not listening at all." You exclaim to Frisk.

Mom begins to use her fire magic to attack Frisk from all sides. This is nothing that you've ever seen before, and clearly Frisk hasn't either. They do a pretty good job dodging most of the attacks, but one clubs them in the back towards the end of mom's spell. They cry out in pain and you can feel the burning heat on your own back as well.

"Toriel, please!" Frisk begs. "I need to get to the surface! I don't want this!"

There is sincerity in Frisk's voice that you believe.

But Mom replies, in the voice that always frightened you, "Fight or run away."

As Frisk dodges the next attack, they look to you for guidance. You panic a bit yourself. "I…I don't know, Frisk."

Fire washes over Frisk's side and you cry out in pain too.

Frisk hesitantly pulls out the stick you found in the Ruins. "Frisk…?" You ask.

Frisk, in tears, lashes out at Mom and strikes her across the face with the branch. Mom is clearly taken aback, but regains her composure.

You remain silent. You can't process this. Why is Mom doing this? Under any normal circumstances you'd want her to burn Frisk alive, but Mom isn't leaving them with much of a choice.

This continues, and you barely feel the burns from Mom's attack, as you feel numb inside watching the pair fight. Frisk had tears streaming down their face, and at one point they raised the stick far above their head, leapt up, and brought it down on Mom's head.

Mom collapsed to one knee.

"N…no…" You mutter. You're crying and you don't remember when that started, but you became very aware that it happened sometime earlier in the fight.

Frisk immediately dropped the branch and began sobbing. Mom, ever the maternal type, began comforting them. She was instructing Frisk on how to get to the Core. She warned them of Asgore, but you barely heard her.

"Please….be good." Mom said sweetly before turning to dust.

There was a silence for a brief few seconds as millions of things flew through your mind. You were mad at Frisk, mad at Mom, mad at your own powerlessness. But you were pulled from this as Frisk dropped to the floor and sobbed onto the dust, futilely trying to pull the dust piles together as if they could fix Mom.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." They sobbed into the stone floors. Then they turn and look at you. "Chara, Chara I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, I thought that they'd stop me."

You stayed silent as Frisk pulled their knees to their chest. "This can't be happening." They say, "I never wanted this, she was so sweet, she was your Mom and you loved her and you must hate me and I'm a terrible person…"

Frisk was beginning to hyperventilate as they rambled. You couldn't find it in your heart to be mad at them. They were just so Determined to get home...

Oh right. Determination.

"We're going to RESET." You tell Frisk as the tears on your face stop.

Frisk looks at you. "Wh-what?"

"The thing I had you touch. We can try it again." You advise.

Frisk looks baffled. "How…?"

"Do you trust me?" You ask.

Frisk pauses, and the pause hurts you, but they nod.

"I…I need control for a minute, and I'll show you how to do it." You request.

Frisk stands up, wipes there eyes, and nods.

You look inside Frisk's soul, red like yours had been. Deep inside, you find a small, button-like mark. You press it.

RESETting was always disorienting, but this time you were thrown from Frisk's body. You looked around and made sure it worked, and breathed a sigh of relief as you recognized the outside of Home.

Frisk was confused. "So…so this is the save point? This is what it does…it's like time travel."

You nod. "Kind of. Down here, having Determination allows you to create save points and RESET to try things again…or even if you get killed."

Frisk caught a deer-in-the-headlights type look in their eyes. "Then…your mom is…?"

They don't wait for you to finish as they run off to the basement. You follow and watch them nearly fall on their face in surprise as they see Toriel heading to the exit to block the Ruins.

Frisk stops in front of Mom, who begins her speech, but stops when they see Frisk's face. "My child, you look like you've seen a ghost. Do you know something that I do not? No, that is not possible."

The battle begins, and as you're pulled in close to Frisk, you tell them, "see. Told you."

"Should I tell her what happened?" Frisk asks as they dodge a fireball.

You consider it for a moment before shaking your head. "No. That's creepy."

"Then…I know what to do." Frisk replies. Abruptly, they stop dodging attacks.

"What are you doing?!" You yell, trying to take control to get them out of the way of a wave of fire. But their resolve is steadfast and you both take the hit.

"I'm not fighting you!" Frisk yells. This time, they aren't crying, scared, or confused. They are determined.

Mom says nothing and attacks. Frisk stands there and takes every blow. You wince in pain, and Mom looks shocked. Frisk folds their arms, and remains expressionless despite the fact that they had to be feeling this way worse than you were.

"I'm not fighting. Not you, not anyone." Frisk declares with an authority in their voice.

Mom attacks again, but this is a much shorter attack. Each attack hits Frisk and they're cringing, but they hold their ground. You have to admit, you really admire them right now; facing fire magic and enduring every hit.

"Fight or run away!" Mom screams.

"NO!" Frisk thunders back.

Mom's demeanor changes. She begins throwing attacks that go nowhere near Frisk. You raise your eyebrows in surprise. Frisk is calling her bluff.

"I promise I'll be okay!" Frisk reassures her. "You can let me go!"

Mom begins to crack.

"You're doing it!" You cheer for Frisk, and flush a bit as you catch yourself doing so.

Mom finally stops attacking. "Oh…I know you want to go home. But…we could have a good life here."

You glance at Frisk. Their façade cracks for only a second before they keep themselves stone-faced. You wonder how long they've been so good at hiding their emotions.

"Please, go upstairs." Mom says, a begging in her voice.

There is a sadness in Frisk's eyes, and you can tell that they would love to, but they stay put and shake their head firmly.

Mom begins to laugh. "Pathetic, is it not? I cannot save even a single child."

Mom relents and begins to explain to Frisk that she understands, but you breathe a big sigh of relief.

Mom asks Frisk not to come back to the Ruins after she's done talking, and Frisk looks crushed. But, they nod. Mom kneels down and hugs them, but Frisk looks right at you as she does. It's a look of sorrow. They mouth, "I'm sorry," to you, and you aren't entirely sure why.

Mom leaves to go upstairs. As she goes, Frisk runs up to you and tries to hug you again, which is incredibly awkward. "Thank you Chara!"

"F-for what?" You stutter, and it's embarrassing.

"For teaching me about the RESET! I'm so glad she's okay now! " Frisk is absolutely beaming at you, and you can't remember someone ever looking at you this way before. Despite yourself, you give them a big smile back.

"Hey, let's get going, okay?" You suggest, blushing.

As you both leave the Ruins, you jump as Flowey pops out of the ground and laughs.

"Well done. Looks like you figured out how to save her…"

But then the flower narrows it's eyebrows and glares evilly.

"The second time around."

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