Chara Chapter 4

Chara did not sleep well that night.

After a couple hours or so of tossing and turning and having recurrent nightmares about unknown evils and his future going horribly wrong, he decided this wasn't working. Chara first considered waking Asriel, but realized that he didn't know what to say, and didn't know how it could help. So he stopped right where he was, standing barefoot next to Asriel's bed in the darkness, feeling like an idiot.

Finally, he made up his mind that what he really wanted was to not be alone. Being alone sucked. He was tired of being alone, and now that he had a real family, he didn't have to be anymore. Lifting the blankets carefully, he climbed into the bed and cuddled up to Asriel, covering them both up again and settling his head onto the pillow.

He was asleep before he finish thinking about how comforting and familiar Asriel's scent was.

From that day forward, Chara would climb into Asriel's bed shortly after they were put to bed, and his little brother didn't mind sleeping together at all. In fact, he seemed to enjoy it as much as Chara did.

                                                                             * * *

The boys were playing in a wooded area just outside the city, chasing each other with sticks and trying not to fall and scrape their knees too many times. Asriel was coming up with lavish and ridiculous fantasy names involving rainbow bullets and magical lightning for the "enemies" they were fighting, while Chara was mostly looking at the plants and flowers, and "dodging" Asriel's imaginary things. In between, Asriel brought out a small video camera and filmed himself doing various stunts and poses.

By the time Asriel was exhausted enough from running around, both of them had gotten a bit hungry. Chara was hoping for something related to chocolate, but Asriel had other plans.

"I want a hamburger. Let's go to Grillby's, okay?"

Chara shook his head: "It'll take us all day to get there, and I don't want to walk that far."

"It's okay," Asriel said. "We can just take a shortcut! I know one that goes right in through the back door of the place. It'll take us five minutes, and since I'm the Prince I even had a tab so—"

"We shouldn't use Gaster's shortcuts," Chara said sadly. "Not after he died. What if someone thinks it's our fault? We could get in so much trouble."

Asriel scratched his cheek: "Gee, Chara. Nobody uses those shortcuts except for us. Nobody will find out. We'll be okay. You can't just stay out here all day playing with the flowers."

"I am NOT playing with them. I just LIKE them." He stuck out his tongue.

"Yeah, and all you do is draw them."

"I don't JUST draw them. I made one out of macaroni, too. So there!"

"And you would have put them all~lll over that sweater you knitted for dad, too, if I hadn't told you not to! So... double there!"

Chara just gritted his teeth and made a noise of frustration in the back of his throat, but it was enough to change the mood of the entire forest immediately. All manner of wildlife that had wandered in close to the arguing kids scurried back to their burrows, birds flew off scattering leaves about, and everything even seemed to grow darker and grimmer.

Asriel stepped backwards and fell onto his rear, shaking. "W-wow. That look on your face is incredible! Is that the one you made when you hit that bully at school?"

"I—, s-sorry," he looked down at his feet. "Did I scare you? That wasn't nice. I'm just not the nicest person, I guess."

"Don't be silly. I want to catch that face on video and scare away ALL the bullies," Asriel said while laughing, rummaging through his backpack. "I bet you could even make the barrier run away."

He walked back to Chara — who this time actually was playing with a flower — and held up the camera. "Now make the face." Chara tried but he just came out looking a bit sick. "No, that's not it. Do the other face. C'mon!"

Chara knew it didn't just come whenever he wanted. The face, the feeling, his power, what Gaster called "Determination", was all related to how mad he was at things. Whenever he got really upset, it just bubbled out of him like a bottle of soda shaken and then opened up without waiting for the fizz to go down. He had to remember bad things in order to make the emotions rise up in him, and that wasn't easy or very fun. But, if Asriel wanted it... just thinking about him made Chara so happy and fluffy inside. It was worth it.

He thought on how it felt to be hit, to cry, to be powerless and alone, but it didn't help. He looked at Asriel, about to admit that it wasn't going to work, but something rose into his mind all by itself. He saw Asriel crying, hurting, being hit by the same kids at his old home like had happened to him. What if it had been Asriel at that place, instead? He felt it coming, like a gust of wind inside of his small body. The forest held its breath in fear.

"Okay, Chara, are you ready? Do your creepy face."

Chara thought about what he would do. What would happen if he could just get his HANDS ON those kids should they ever hurt Asriel. Every single one of them would just... die! This was true justice. He smiled wide, laughed, and looked up at Asriel.

"AHHHHH!!" Asriel cried out purely on reflex, like a small animal caught in the sights of a hungry predator, but he quickly laughed it off, knowing his brother would never hurt him.

"Was that okay?" Chara felt the power leave him as soon as he became concerned for Asriel. "Did you get it on tape?"

Asriel looked down at the camera, and said: "Oh! Wait! I had the lens cap on..."

Chara said: "Well, I can't do it anymore."

"What!? You're not gonna do it again...? Come on, quit tricking me!"

But Chara just shook his head. Asriel put the camera away and started to run off, laughing about how he'd get Chara to do it next time, and that he'd better catch up or he'd eat both their hamburgers. Chara was about to start after him when he noticed the flower he'd had in his hand was crushed, and more than that: burned as if it caught fire. He tossed it aside and chased after Asriel.

                                                                             * * *

The trip to Grillby's went without incident. The two princes ate their hamburgers mostly unbothered, as the folks of Snowdin were talking about other things. There were always new monsters arriving in the area because it had a lot of extra homes and other amenities (like the best bar in the Underground, of course). This week, it was a different couple of brothers on their lips, a strange pair that walked in and immediately asserted themselves. Neither of the boys thought anything about it, as strange monsters were a daily sight.

It had almost gotten to the point that Chara was perfectly comfortable going through those shortcuts, but it still made him uneasy. It always involved going through doors in strange places and coming out a different door somewhere very far away. Although the time between doors was instantaneous, it was at the same time... not so. Chara always got the impression that he was being launched at impossible speed through some black vortex-like tunnel, surrounded by those same dark-and-yet-darker colors he'd seen in Gaster's television. The memories of having done so always came after he'd already arrived. And it always felt as if something could reach out and grab him if he so much as flinched to one side.

Of course, this never happened. Except this time. Chara felt something, some strange sensation as if he ran into someone else, and he dropped the backpack he was carrying. When he and Asriel stepped out of the door in the forest outside New Home, this somehow resulted in it getting stuck in a tree nearby, ten feet off the ground. Asriel looked at it forlornly, then looked at Chara cheekily.

"What?"

"You know I can't climb up there," Asriel said, grinning.

Chara sighed. Toys of theirs seemed to always find their way up into the trees, and even though Asriel had claws, he sucked at climbing. It was up to Chara to fetch the objects every time, practiced though he was scaling trees to escape beatings in his past life.

"Go on ahead. I'll get it," Chara said. Asriel ran off.

He climbed up easily, grabbed the backpack, and put it on before working his way back down, and then jumping the last few feet to the soft ground. He stood the rest of the way up, and noticed the feet of a monster had suddenly appeared there, wearing slippers of all things. Chara looked at him. The guy wasn't much taller than he was, and his appearance made Chara smile. Just a few months ago, seeing a walking skeleton would have terrified him, but in this new world of monsters and magic, such "scary" things were commonplace.

"Nice day, huh kiddo," said the skeleton, unprovoked. "Birds are chirping, flowers are blooming. On days like this... kids like you should be inside instead of going where they shouldn't be."

Chara blinked. There was something oddly familiar about this person, about his persistent smile and empty eyes. The only other monster he'd seen like that had been...

"Gaster?" he said out loud without really meaning to.

"Whoa, there. Don't you know it's not nice to talk about someone while they're listening?" he said, and he winked with his right eye.

The boy didn't know what to say.

"Well, anyway. Put 'er there, pal." He held out his hand amicably.

Now Chara was getting really freaked out, but he shook the skeleton's hand anyway. It made a pathetic farting noise, and Chara blushed with shock and pulled his hand away.

"Hah. The old whoopie-cushion-in-the-hand trick. I use it on everyone. Nothing's better for defusing a sour mood, eh kiddo? My name's Sans, by the way."

"Chara," he said slowly.

"Chara, huh? That's a NICE name!" His eyes made him seem to be smiling even wider.

"How did...?"

"Don't you worry about that, kiddo. Just don't go playing with my 'shortcuts' too much. It's not safe." He winked again. "'Cause we're all linked to him, now. Me, you, my brother... and..."

A voice drifted in on the breeze; it was Asriel calling for Chara, and he turned to look in that direction. "I think I should go," he said.

"Sure thing," said Sans. "Just remember, time is an illusion, and—

"W h a t  y o u  s e e  i s  n o t  a l w a y s  j u s t  a  d r e a m."

Chara spun around, but Sans had gone. Probably back to one of those shortcuts. The boy snorted. What was this character going on about? "His" shortcuts? Those shortcuts belonged to Gaster, and nobody else. He heard Asriel calling again, and headed off that way. The only thing that lingered was a curiosity about whether Sans' brother was equally as much of a drag. He hoped not.