Chapter 42

"Nya, nya, nya," Mew Mew chanted as she dug through the trash. After everything that had happened and all the stressors that continued to pile themselves onto her shoulders, she needed some way to help keep herself sane. Unfortunately, acting like an anime cat girl was what made everything easier to bear.

She's dead. She's dead. You saw her die. Chara killed her. You know she's dead.

Mew Mew thought on a loop just as she muttered "nya" nonstop. Her best friend from her life as Darcy the dancing doll had been dead for one hundred years, yet Mew Mew saw her as alive and well that day in the remains of Snowdin Two. The bruise that later formed on Mew Mew's arm where she had been grabbed was further proof that this monster appeared in the flesh and vanished again without a trace.

But what if she's not really dead? Or at least not in the typical sense? Mew Mew sometimes caught herself wondering and wished she dared not think the thoughts. What if she's no different than—

"Ghaaa!" Mew Mew nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone – not her cell phone, which could be tracked, but one of the disposable phones she found in Alphys's old lab – began to ring. Pulling it out of her skirt pocket and flipping it open, Mew Mew growled, "The next time you make we wait three days before you call me back, I'm ripping off your arms one by one."

"Sorry, dearie," Muffet's voice said from the other line. "I . . . have been through a lot lately."

"I know," Mew Mew replied, her tone softening, "but you can't ignore me like this. I'm worried about you."

"I know you're not going to believe this, but there really is nothing to worry about."

"You're right, I don't believe it."

"Mew Mew, sweetie . . ." Muffet must have been trying to find the words, because it took her a moment to say, "We both know I have been going through a rough time since Mettaton . . . I guess what I'm trying to say is, you don't need to worry about me."

"Your lover has been brutally murdered, and you're going to tell me to not worry about you?" Mew Mew shook her head. "Muffet, you have been incredibly distant lately. How am I supposed to know how you're doing if you won't tell me?"

"There's a lot I can't tell you right now." Then, as if an afterthought, Muffet added, "I'm not ready yet."

Groaning, Mew Mew said, "Fine, but try to call me back sooner. When I don't hear from you like that, I start to worry the worst has happened."

"Nothing like that is going to happen," Muffet promised. "Now, I need to go. I only wanted to take the time to let you know I'm still alive. Next time I will answer the phone when you call. Just be careful, okay?"

"Trust me, I don't want to have my head torn off my body again," Mew Mew replied. After the two exchanged farewells, Mew Mew hung up and tossed the phone into the water.

With a grunt, Mew Mew resumed searching through the trash. She wasn't sure what she was trying to find, but something to give her any idea what to do next had to turn up sometime. It wasn't as if the dump filled with trash from the human world ever lacked anything of interest.

After tossing aside a large cooler, Mew Mew did a double take when she saw wet, matted fur peeking through old newspapers and broken toys. She threw the other items off the fur only to realize that the furry object was much bigger than she initially thought. As she picked items off the figure and tossed them aside, Mew Mew realized this was a wax figure, possibly one used inside a Halloween store.

Mew Mew picked the figure up, observed it for a moment or two, and muttered to herself, "Looks like it's time I finally called someone back."

"She knows what?!" Frisk really wanted to shout, but she dared not raise her voice above a whisper. Even now, after Chara revealed to her that every moment she thought was spent in private was never private at all, Frisk was unsure if talking to Chara was a good idea.

What if there's someone outside my tent right now, listening to me talk to myself like some sort of crazy person?!

"Calm down," Chara whispered, his palms facing towards Frisk. It didn't make sense for him to keep quiet. Nobody but Frisk would hear Chara if he shouted. She was the one who had to watch when she replied to Chara and how loudly she responded.

"Calm down?" Frisk hissed. "Suzy and Ms. Sizzle know about you, and you're telling me to calm down?!"

"Giving yourself an aneurism will not be any more helpful, will it?"

Fingers tangling in her hair and digging into her scalp, Frisk squeezed her eyes shut and tried to count to ten. She barely made it to seven before she groaned. "We're screwed, Chara. Neither of them may know anything specific about you, but they still know about you. That's already more than anyone needs to know!"

"Not so loud," Chara replied, still whispering. "Even normal volume can be overheard by a monster with really good hearing."

Without thinking, Frisk ran out of the tent. She ignored Chara's protests as she marched forward. There was no destination in mind, but Frisk's feet knew where they were taking her.

"Hey," Sans, slamming something shut, turned around from whatever it was he was doing when Frisk threw open the flap and stormed into his tent, "what's going on—"

"They know about Chara," Frisk said quietly, feeling even more exposed in Sans's tent than her own.

For a moment, human and monster stared at each other. As usual, Frisk could read nothing in Sans's eye sockets. The skeleton monster's thoughts were a thing created in a dark, unseen place, hidden from all unless Sans took a hold of it and shared it with those he deemed worth knowing what it was happening inside his head. Most of the time, only he knew what they were and what they meant. Every once in a while, he would tell Frisk the deep thoughts he deemed necessary to share with her.

"Welp, that sucks."

Trying to not collapse onto the ground, Frisk muttered, "You're telling me."

"Are you sure?"

"Chara spied on Ms. Sizzle and Suzy's conversation, remember?"

"They said it plain as day, too," Chara added, and Frisk jumped a little where she stood. She had completely forgotten that Chara was there.

After Frisk repeated what Chara said, Sans closed his eye sockets and took a deep breath. A moment passed. Looking at Frisk again, Sans replied, "You can't give away that you know. Right now, The Snake thinks she has an advantage over you. However, now you're the one with the advantage. Don't give it away. She thinks she can blackmail you with the information if you get out of line. Don't get out of line. Play by her rules so she can continue to think she has something over you."

"But she does," Frisk argued. "We don't need all of the Underground knowing about Chara."

"Especially King Asgore," Chara mumbled. When Frisk looked at him, Chara muttered, "I don't know what exactly King Asgore would have in mind for me if he ever got a hold of my soul, but I do know he would stop at nothing to get it back."

Frisk swallowed. Although he did nothing more than cross his arms and stare at a corner of the tent, Chara had more thoughts on the matter than he showed. It was obvious in the way he held himself, and Frisk knew Chara well enough by this point to read his body language like a book.

Neither of them knew if King Asgore still viewed Chara as a son or as a traitor. To the king, Chara could have been the only family he had left or the very reason he had lost his family. One way could result in an emotional reunion, and the other could result in the king doing whatever it took to destroy Chara's soul. Chara had suggested once that if King Asgore felt that strongly in his negative feelings, he might not even absorb Chara's soul to help destroy the barrier. For all of them could guess, King Asgore could deem it was more important to erase what was left of Chara's existence than to free everyone from their prison underneath Mt. Ebott.

"Then don't give The Snake reason to tell anyone," Sans ordered, dragging Frisk's attention back to him. "If she knows you know, she will look for something else to hold over your head."

Bile rose in Frisk's throat. The Reds believed it was Frisk who killed Mettaton. It went without saying that the Blues didn't need to confirm it along with themselves and the rest of the Underground.

"Play by her rules, but remember to not look happy about it while you do, which I'm sure won't be that hard," Sans continued. "Even suddenly becoming too agreeable will give something away."

Not having any better suggestions, Frisk crossed her arms and nodded. "Are you sure there isn't anything else we can do?"

"Look, if you have any better ideas, I'm all ears – figuratively speaking, of course."

For a while, nobody said anything. Frisk took a deep breath, and she felt her shoulders drop. It was in moments such as this Sans's ability to think rationally made all the difference. It was as if the skeleton monster always knew what to say to calm her down. When Sans was around, it was easier to breathe and not stress too much over everything that happened in the world around them.

"Perhaps we can get Suzy on our side," Chara suggested a few minutes later. Frisk looked at him, and her fellow human explained, "I don't think she's as loyal to her godmother as she presents in public. There's something about the way they interacted in private that suggests that maybe Suzy and The Snake don't see eye to eye. By befriending Suzy, we might be able to win her loyalty away from The Snake. Besides, all things considered, Suzy could be a rather powerful ally."

After repeating Chara's plan to Sans, Frisk stated, "But I don't think Suzy would want to be friends with me. From what you said, she doesn't even want to pretend to be friends with me. Not to mention how odd it would seem for me to suddenly start acting all buddy-buddy with a monster who will probably chew my face off if she so desired."

"I wasn't suggesting you try to be Suzy's friend," Chara stated. Before Frisk could respond, he clarified, "Mon can try to be her friend. They're both reptilian monsters, act tough, and like to fight. They would make perfect friends."

"I would rather chew on broken glass than be friends with Suzy," Mon said after Frisk explained Chara's plan to her.

Sometimes Chara really did not like Mon's blunt responses.

"But why?" Frisk asked. The three of them were eating lunch on the outskirts of the camp. They were still close enough to remain in sight of the other monsters, but they hoped they were far enough away to talk without being overheard. "Of you, me, Chara, and Sans, you're the only one Suzy might actually want to interact with. She will have to pretend to be friends with me, but she could actually like you enough to be friends with you. Or something like it, at least."

"No way, dude. Suzy scares me."

"Please, Mon."

"Nuh-uh."

"Do it for me."

"In that case, definitely not."

Chuckling, Chara watched the exchange. Frisk wore the locket, so he wasn't able to talk to Mon to try to convince her. When Frisk turned around to glare at Chara for laughing, he merely shrugged and said, "Any argument I could make would fall on Mon's unknowingly deaf ears."

"This was all your idea."

"Yes, but I am sure someone could think of something else if Mon really insists on not helping us in this."

"Wait, this is Chara's idea?" Mon narrowed her eyes. "Chara, why do you hate me so much?"

Chara thought he had the perfect answer to Mon's questions, but Frisk rolled her eyes and told Chara that she was not repeating that to Mon.

"I'll tell you what," Mon said after a moment of thought, "maybe later today I'll try to find an opportunity to talk to Suzy, but on one condition: Chara has to join me."

"What?" Frisk questioned just as Chara said, "Deal."

Spinning her head around so fast Chara was surprised it didn't fly off her shoulders, Frisk asked, "You want to be there, around Suzy, witnessing this whole thing?"

"It's not fair to make Mon try to be friends with a monster I myself won't go near," Chara answered. "Besides, you know my talent for checking monsters is beyond what most others can do. If I really pay attention to Suzy's soul, I will know when she's going to attack before even Suzy knows what she's going to do."

Unable to resist huffing, Frisk muttered, "All this time you could check souls, and never once did you think to tell me about it."

"You never asked for a check. I'm not going to waste my breath telling you something you didn't ask to hear."

"Look," Mon began, drawing their attention back to her, "I don't know what you chicken shins are talking about, but I'm serious on my condition. If this is Chara's grand idea, then he needs to be present so he can watch it fail horribly."

"It's definitely going to fail with that attitude," Chara muttered, shaking his head.

Frisk repeated what Chara said before stating, "He has a point. If Suzy can tell you're talking to her and trying to be her friend when you don't want to, you're not going to get anywhere with this plan. Besides, we're not asking you two to become besties. Just establishing a sense of loyalty from her will be enough. If what Chara thinks about Suzy not being as loyal to Ms. Sizzle as it appears is true, then we only need to get her to like us a little more than her godmother, which shouldn't be that hard a task to accomplish."

For a moment, nobody said anything. Then Mon groaned. Shaking her head, she said, "I'll do it, and I'll make even you two believe I really want to be Suzy's friend, but you both owe me big time."

Throwing her arms around Mon, Frisk replied, "Thank you so much! We will definitely owe you for this."

"Hey, let go of me. You know I'm not a hugger." After Frisk broke the hug, Mon stood to her feet. "Keep in mind I will actually cash that favor in at some point, and it's going to be a big one."

Frisk stood as well, and Chara listened in as the girls used what was left of their lunch to briefly discuss a plan. Mon had training with Suzy after mealtime ended, so that would be the best opportunity to try making some sort of connection with the monster. Chara, of course, would be with Mon to help in any way he could. When they had finished eating, Frisk gave Mon the locket. The transition caused Chara minor distortion, but otherwise it was as if nothing happened as the person who wore the locket changed.

"I'll see you later," Frisk said as their lunch ended, her words meant for both Mon and Chara.

"See you tonight, Stripes," Chara replied as Mon said, "Have fun with your own training."

"I'll be having something all right, but I doubt it will be fun." Rolling her eyes, Frisk picked up her pack, waved, and began walking away.

As the human retreated, Mon dragged her feet to the training ring. Chara followed behind. Mon groaned with every step she took.

"I take it you are not interested in training today," he said. Mon replied with another groan, and Chara added, "And I suppose trying to be friendly towards Suzy is another item on your list of things that do not excite you."

"Mmm-hmmm," Mon hummed, the closest to a verbal answer she could give.

Whereas Frisk had strength training scheduled for that day, Mon had combat training. Being armless, Mon was considered disabled by many of the monsters. Chara often heard how Mon had to figuratively fight tooth and nail just to receive something close to respect as a fellow fighter in this little army of sorts.

When they arrived at the training ring, most of the others were already present. Amongst the others was Suzy. With a barely audible sigh, Mon crept to stand besides Suzy.

Arms crossed, Suzy stared into the distance. Or Chara assumed she was staring. With her hair covering her eyes, it was hard to tell if Suzy was looking at anything or had her eyes closed in a sorry attempt to take a nap.

"You're going to have to say something at some point," Chara said after Mon had stood next to Suzy for the past few minutes. The instructor had already called training into order, and he was pairing up monsters who were going to fight each other.

Mon gave Chara the side eye as if to say, "I know."

"Start small," Chara encouraged. "Say hi or something."

"Hi or something," Mon muttered as she rolled her eyes.

Chara's attempt to facepalm was stopped when he heard Suzy say, "Most people just say hi, not hi or something."

Recovering quickly, Mon replied, "Yeah, but just plain hi is so boring."

"So adding 'or something' makes it cool now?"

"When you put it like that, I sound like a total nerd."

Suzy didn't respond, and Mon shifted her gaze towards Chara as if she was pleading. Not knowing what to do, Chara held his palms upwards and shrugged. Mon bit her lower lip and turned her attention towards the instructor.

"And finally," a large, red monster instructor with forearms bigger than his face finished, "we have Mon vs. Suzy."

"Hey, wait a minute here." Mon looked at Suzy, then at Chara, then at Suzy again. Suzy, all the while, did not react.

"Well," Chara drawled, "this is an excellent start to making friends."

Chara tried to watch as pair after pair fought each other, but Mon's constantly shifting her weight distracted him. He told her to stop acting so nervous, which only succeeded in making Mon bounce from foot to foot even more. All the while, Suzy still had yet to react.

These combat trainings consisted of a pair fighting and the instructor evaluating each monster in the fight and telling them how they can improve in the future. The fights themselves were not long, but there were enough pairs to last for the two hours these training sessions were scheduled. It was a long wait before Mon and Suzy were called for their turn, and Chara watched as Mon grew more and more uncomfortable.

"Hey," he tried, reaching out as if to put a hand on her shoulder, "everything is going to be okay. Just take a deep breath."

Doing as Chara said, Mon inhaled deeply. After a moment, Chara saw Mon's reddening face and exclaimed, "Don't hold your breath! Breathe, Mon, breathe!"

It was as Mon began coughing as she tried to refill her lungs that Suzy leaned over and whispered, "Hey, your friends with the human, right?"

Mon's brows furrowed. "Uhh, yeah."

Without another word, Suzy nodded and stood upright again. Before anyone else could react, the instructor called the two over. Gulping, Mon stepped forward as Suzy marched alongside her.

"Suzy," Chara checked as Mon and Suzy took their places in the fighting ring, "attack fourteen and defense two. Does damage using dark energy."

"Dark energy?" Mon mouthed, but before Chara could explain, the instructor signaled the fight to begin.

As fast as Chara could blink, Suzy charged towards Mon and punched her in the stomach. Wincing, Chara watched as the stunned Mon doubled over. Before Mon could recover, Suzy brought her forearm down on the back of Mon's neck. Mon dropped to the ground. Suzy then raised her leg, preparing to land the finishing blow.

"Don't just lie there!" Chara shouted. "Use your magic!"

"Uh? Oh, yeah!" Mon looked up and saw Suzy's boot coming down. Rolling out of the way just in time, Mon lashed out her tail, wrapped the tip around the ankle Suzy just stomped down, and yanked it out from under her.

Suzy cursed as she fell backwards. She had begun threatening Mon but stopped midsentence when she pushed herself up and saw nobody else in the ring with her. The onlookers, who had been mostly quiet already, went deathly silent.

It appeared Mon had vanished into thin air, but Chara knew better.

Unlike most monsters, who had attack magic, Mon had defensive magic. Despite her bright yellow scales that made her easy to spot in most environments, Mon had the ability to camouflage herself and go unnoticed in most situations.

"Where are you, you little freak?" Chara heard Suzy mutter as the monster rose to her feet. She looked around, unable to locate her opponent.

Chara, however, could see Mon. It was the strangest thing: when Mon wore the locket and camouflaged, Chara could see her, but he could never see a cloaked Mon if anyone else wore the locket. Whatever the reason this was the case, Chara was able to watch as Mon slowly backed away from Suzy, her wide eyes locked on the other monster.

"Her guard is down!" Chara shouted, startling Mon. "Now's your chance!"

Mon's fearful expression melted away. Narrowing her eyes, Mon focused on her target. Little orbs of light manifested around Mon, and when she was ready, she broke the camouflage just as she sent her bullets towards Suzy.

"What the—" Suzy barely had time to react. With no opportunity to jump out of the way, Suzy brought her forearms up to guard herself against the attack. She growled as the bullets made contact, but she stood her ground.

Taking advantage of Suzy's blocked vision, Mon charged forward, slid to the ground, and again used her tail to knock Suzy's legs from behind. This time, Mon was on her feet again in a heartbeat. Bullets formed around her, their target clear.

Suzy growled in her throat but made no attempt to flee. Instead she dug her nails into the dirt as she glared at Mon. Chara thought Suzy would try to throw dirt at Mon's face or try to break free through some other forceful method, but she did neither of those things.

"Finish it!" Suzy snapped.

In response, Mon rained the bullets down. Dirt flew upwards like a dusty cloud, the cloud so thick it was hard to see the monsters within. When the dirt fell, Mon still stood over Suzy, and there were bullets holes all around Suzy.

"You missed," Suzy said after a moment, as if unimpressed.

"I didn't," Mon corrected before taking her foot off Suzy's chest and walking away.

However, Mon did not make it two steps before the instructor shouted her name. Mon froze mid step, her spine going rigid. Slowly turning around, Mon looked at the instructor and whimpered, "Yes, sir?"

The instructor answered her question with one of his own. "You could camouflage this whole time, and you couldn't have been bothered to show us till now?"

"I, uh, kind of forget I can do that."

Other monsters snickered while the instructor looked at Mon in disbelief. Shaking his head, he told the group, "All right, training dismissed."

"Great job," Chara said, giving Mon a thumbs up. Mon beamed at the praise.

Then Mon went tense a second time when another monster called her name. Suzy approached Mon from behind, her fingers curled into tight fists. Mon mouthed "help" before slowly turning around to face Suzy.

"You, um," Suzy tried, speaking as if the words in her mouth tasted bitter. "Good fight today."

"Er, thanks?" It was as Suzy nodded and walked away that Mon remembered to shout, "You, too!"

As Suzy and the others dispersed, Mon sagged and told Chara, "Man, I was supposed to try to be her friend today, and I totally blew it!"

"What are you talking about?" Chara raised a brow. "I think that was a good start."

"You really think so?" Mon and Chara began walking back to the tents. "Because I don't think kicking Suzy's butt is the best way to make friends with Suzy."

"She let you win."

"What?" Mon didn't look surprised by the news. It appeared she suspected as much already, and Chara merely confirmed it.

"The Snake wants Suzy to get close to Frisk, right?" Mon nodded, and Chara continued, "I wouldn't be surprised if Suzy decided to try getting to Frisk through you."

"Man, everyone wants to use me. Great."

"You really are a great help, Mon. Besides, if Suzy has her own agenda for interacting with you, that means you don't have to work as hard to befriend her."

"I miss being kids when you were just friends with someone because you could," Mon muttered. "This whole pretending to be friends thing for our own gain kinda sucks."

"Agreed, but I don't know what else we can do at this point."

Before Mon could respond, laughter interrupted the two. Both Chara and Mon looked ahead to see Frisk and Sans hanging outside of Frisk's tent. They were standing close to each other, smiling and laughing at something Chara could not hear. Frisk leaned in close as she whispered something to Sans. In response, the laughing Sans put a hand on Frisk's shoulder and let it linger there.

Screwing up her face, Mon exclaimed. "Ew, gross! Looks like somebody's been catching feels. It's disgusting, isn't it, Chara?"

Chara, however, did not respond. His tight fists were pressed against his thighs. Although there was no physical feeling to be had, the emotional pain was enough for Chara to feel an ache in his chest. It surprised him the first time he felt his chest constrict as if he could not breathe, not that he had any need for air. Now the pain was as familiar to him as his own name.

"Yo." Mon walked in front of Chara, her brows knit in concern. "You caught feels, didn't you?"

Shocked back into himself, Chara looked this way and that as if he had any reason to fear anyone overhearing him, pointed his finger at Mon, and said, "If you tell anyone, I swear I will—"

"You'll what?" Mon snorted. "You can't hurt me."

"True, but I can still call you a really mean name."

"Relax, ghost boy, I ain't telling nobody nothing."

"That's three negatives."

"Which still equals a negative, if my math is right." Mon shook her head. "I'm sorry, dude. This must really suck."

"Nothing beyond what I deserve," Chara said, and he meant that to be the end of the conversation. However, Mon had a response for him. A response that left Chara speechless.

As if there was no reason Underground to not suggest it, Mon asked, "But don't you think you finally deserve to be happy?"

Chara had intended to answer no, but as the two of them met up with their friends, parts of him wanted that answer to be yes.