Chara Chapter 2

There wasn't any pain. Chara opened his eyes a crack but saw only brown, aware he was lying on his front, his arms splayed out, his hair fallen into a mess over his face. He had the distinct memory of the sensation of falling suddenly being interrupted by a feeling as if he were gently caught by something like a trampoline, that stretched downward but then let him pass through instead of bouncing back up; then he'd fallen asleep or something.

He smelled dirt. He was lying on plain, ordinary dirt, not the clouds of Heaven or the fires of Hell. Was Purgatory composed of dirt? Chara had no idea. He only knew that falling as far as he did onto dirt was deadly, so he must be dead... except for that strange thing he fell through.

A hesitant voice from behind him. "Oh! You've...  ff—fallen down, haven't you...?"

From the dire way he said the last part, Chara got the impression that "falling down" seemed to be to whoever was speaking much worse than just tripping and landing on your face. Had he seen him fall all the way down and crash onto the ground like a shooting star, and was as confused as he was that the boy was not dead? As Chara glanced upwards, still avoiding looking at the source of the voice, he could see he was in some kind of Roman-like ruin of columns and arches, above which was the hole. It seemed very far up, indeed, and yet masked by that same weird, shimmering light. Had that light caught him? It didn't matter. He stood up, brushing some of the mess from his shirt and pants. Dirt, drying mud, leaves from the trees he'd brushed up against on his way up Mt. Ebott; he left quite a pile of debris around his feet.

Chara turned to face the person who spoke, and he could feel his fears crawling up his back because any conversation, any interaction could turn into a confrontation. That the voice was that of a child didn't matter; other children beat him more often than adults did. His legs trembled and itched with the desire to run. But the fear was eclipsed in an instant, overwhelmed by a swooping incredulity at what he was looking at. His mouth hung open a little.

A goat. A small, white-furred goat. Oh sure, he was wearing a striped shirt just like Chara's own, and pants, but it was a goat nonetheless. Just like the animals he saw at Mister Fredrikson's farm next to the Home, the only significant difference was that it stood on two legs. Err, paws. Chara couldn't really read his expression because of the unfamiliarly-structured face, only thinking he was probably as confused as Chara was.

This left his mind quickly, though. He MUST be dead, because of the size of that fall, and because talking-goat-monsters did not exist in the real world. And yet, he was still ALIVE, in a sense. He still felt a lingering shame in his heart, still felt a tiny fear that he might end up in a fight with this being even if he did nothing, and especially if he took any action at all. As if even his most private thoughts could turn someone against him. He was dead and yet hadn't gained the feelinglessness that he had sought. He slumped downward, morose — having failed even at ending himself — and stared at the dirt.

"Are you okay? Here, get up," said the goat-boy, who suddenly approached him.

Chara tensed up, fully expecting an attack, but the touch from the other's hands were not violent. They reached under his arms to support him, as if he were about to collapse back onto the dirt and just lie there forever.

"Oh! You're all dirty. Gosh, y— you're even bleeding!" he said to Chara.

He was all but carried by the child down a path through the ruins. Pulled along, though with not much force, Chara just let his feet keep moving alongside the paws of the other. He was still numb from what had happened, from his failure, from the lingering confusion at being touched in a way that wasn't painful or humiliating or both. He barely even registered when the goat told him that his mother would "fix you right up".

As they walked, the child asked, "What's your name? I've never seen you here before."

On reflex, he responded slowly: "Chara—" and was about to add his last name.

"Chara, huh? That's a nice name. My name is Asriel! Asriel Dreemurr."

But Chara had stopped walking, frozen in place. Tears, unimpeded, ran down his cheeks.

Asriel looked down, blinked, and said: "Please don't cry. It must hurt a lot 'cause you fell. I'm sorry. But we'll get you a Bicicle and you'll feel much better."

Chara had no idea how Asriel had spare bicycles lying around to distribute to kids he just met just because they had a scraped knee. Was his family rich? He found himself once again being ushered along, and he wondered what this strange feeling was in his heart, this feeling of having his name being said without it being followed by punches. Without knowing why, he pressed himself closer to Asriel as they went on.

"It's okay," Asriel said after a time. "I'm a crybaby, too."

                                                                             * * *

The path the two of them walked through was a strange one, with lots of twists and turns. Several times they even went through doors or had to crawl through short tunnels. Asriel told Chara that it was a shortcut that the "smart guy" once showed him that let him get from New Home to the ruins without having to go places that were "always too hot or too wet or too cold". He went on to explain that he didn't get to go out much because his parents were so protective, so this person was one of his only real friends. Chara got the distinct impression that they seemed like they might be an imaginary friend. He didn't care. He kept holding onto Asriel's arm.

When they arrived to the home (which was rather plain and small considering it was in the center of an actual CASTLE) he was introduced to Asriel's parents, who seemed surprised to see Chara, but accepted him anyway. The woman was Toriel, and the large man was Asgore; they were the King and Queen, which made sense considering the castle. Chara's first thought was an odd feeling of joy at thinking, 'Asriel is a prince!' but this was pushed aside by a smug verification that they must, indeed, be very rich if they were royalty.

Toriel didn't give him a bicycle, but she did note his injuries and carefully bandaged them, and then suggested a bite of pie. Chara had no idea what pie was, having never so much as looked at something resembling a dessert before. Sometimes in classes the teachers demonstrated a graph that they called a "pie chart", but he had no idea how one could eat math. In either case, he had no intention of touching this offered pie, because it was full of a variety of multicolored snails. Shells still on and all! Chara had to fight back vomit and turned away when Asriel happily grabbed a fork and started munching away.

"Well, my child," said Toriel, "perhaps you would prefer something more hu—, err... something differently flavored? I will bake a new pie with your favorite flavor. Which do you prefer?"

Chara couldn't choose. The most delicious thing he had ever tasted was either a pack of unopened cinnamon gum someone had dropped in the playground, or a butterscotch hard candy he once got from the Home's headmistress for going a whole week not getting in any fights (which only happened that once due to coincidence). Compared to the usual stale bread or bone broth the boys usually had, these had been fireworks of flavor and delight.

In the end, Toriel said she would try to bake a pie with both flavors, and told Asriel to show Chara to their room. Asgore was tasked with going into town to buy a new bed. Before he followed the goat child, Chara considered asking how he could go home, before realizing that he didn't want to go back. Turning away, he slunk unhappily down the hall.

                                                                             * * *

Asriel had some simple toys in a box at the foot of his bed, like building blocks and dolls and wooden cars. Had he encountered them at the Boys' Home, Chara would have welcomed the distraction from the usual pace, which was akin to waiting quietly for death to come. Here, though, he had too much on his mind to do much more than submissively go along with whatever Asriel was doing. It was all too sudden: thrust into a new world, failing to die, meeting a new friend and a family that took him in too quickly. Being at the butt-end of many a bad time, Chara had learned to be enormously suspicious at any sort of kindness. He'd been on edge expecting it to all turn to violence for hours now, and he was getting exhausted from it. At least, being only around Asriel, he could relax a little bit. He was starting to forget already about how the other boy looked like a goat and how that was supposed to be strange.

"When I become King," Asriel said as he set up some blocks. "I'm gonna make the castle much bigger. It's too short right now." He set another block on top of the tower, and it collapsed. Undaunted, he started to immediately reconstruct it.

Chara watched this happen with mild interest at his perseverance.

"What are you gonna do when you grow up?" Asriel asked.

Chara shrugged. He'd not given this much thought, having spent most years quite certain he'd never live to see the next. "I don't know."
"Well, gee... you're still a kid so you have lots of time to figure it out!" Asriel flashed such a sincere smile that Chara couldn't help but smile back, just a bit.

"What about you?" Chara asked. "Anything else beside just being King and fixing the castle?"

He didn't answer. Chara didn't press it. Abruptly, Asriel got up and looked up at the clock, saying it was naptime. He crawled on top of his bed. After a minute or two, Chara, wary of defying any unsaid rules about "naptime" climbed up and laid down next to Asriel, politely leaving a few inches of space between them.

Asriel said: "When I grow up, I'm gonna be stronger than anyone. I'll break the barrier and free all the monsters. Everyone." And Chara could see from the look on his face that he meant it.

"Stronger," Chara said. "I want power, too. So nobody can hurt me."

Asriel reached over and squeezed Chara's hand, and he quickly fell asleep. Chara lay there for a few minutes, his mind spinning and unable to rest. When his friend rolled over in his sleep and let go of his hand, he took that opportunity to climb off the bed and walk silently to the kitchen. Even on an old, creaky wooden floor, the boy was as quiet as a cockroach. Getting out of bed at night at the Home resulted in a severe paddling, if you were caught, but sometimes you just had to pee, and sometimes you just needed answers.
He reached the kitchen and peered around the corner. Toriel was standing at the counter facing away from him, a recipe book open, bowls and containers of various foods also present. The smells of heat and cinnamon and butter wafted around.

"Do all humans like the taste of cinnamon and butterscotch, I wonder?" she mused to herself. "I cannot say if—" She paused. "Come out now, Chara. I can feel that you are there."

Chara turned around and with no hesitation ran as fast as he could to the front door. In less than a few seconds, he was overtaken by Toriel, who blocked his way to the outside. Unable to stop, he all but crashed into her, and was scooped up in a tight hug before he could even think to struggle. All he could do was cry.

"Oh, it's alright, my child," Toriel said warmly, sort of patting him like a cat. "I will never hurt you. But we do need to have a talk about things. I am sure you have questions, and I will do my best to reassure you."

They sat down at the table and she talked for a long time. Chara mostly listened. Toriel told him about how she knew he was a human, and how everyone else in the Underground was a monster and unlike him. She told Chara about the war between the humans and monsters in ancient times, and how it was thus of great importance that nobody ever find out that he is a human. When Chara asked about the barrier and why the monsters couldn't leave, she told him how no being had a SOUL strong enough to pass through it, not even him. Finally, she promised that she would protect and raise Chara like her own son, that Asriel would be his brother, and they would be a family together for forever. Chara would attend school like all the other monster kids, and nobody would be the wiser. The Underground was vast, she said, and people traveled a lot, so new faces were common, but always welcome.

The last thing Chara asked about was how she had heard him from inside the kitchen.

She just smiled and said: "A mother knows these things." When Chara seemed unconvinced, she added, "...and I can feel your SOUL through magic. When you're in school you'll learn a bit more about it."

Chara watched as she produced a small fireball between her furry hands, and the warm light that danced across his face was an uninhibited stare of wonder. It was about then that the butterscotch-cinnamon pie was finished baking. Chara had a small slice, and if its incredible deliciousness was not enough, he felt the wounds under his bandages stop hurting completely. When he went back to Asriel's bed, he pushed a bit closer to his new brother and fell asleep, content at last.