Chara Chapter 3

Weeks passed. Chara began to settle into his new life in the Underground, in his new home with his new parents and new little brother ("little" because Asriel was about a half-inch shorter than Chara, not counting his floofy headfur), and for the most part, he was content.

There were some difficulties, of course, because Chara was a human. He quickly came to realize that monster food was made half of food and half of magic, in such a way that everything to eat or drink disappeared completely as soon as it hit the stomach. This meant that its healing properties took effect immediately, as nothing ever needed to be digested in order to gain its energy. However, it took Chara a couple of days to figure that out, and it was only on his first night — trying to sleep securely in his own bed across the room from Asriel — that he found the practical problem with this. Underground was completely devoid of toilets, as nobody ever needed to use one, but he needed to use one... right now.

Too embarrassed to wake Toriel or Asgore to ask them what could be done about this, he snuck out of his room and relieved himself behind the backyard bushes, using some newspaper to wipe. He hoped, somehow, nobody would discover this.

But that problem resolved itself after a few days, as the last of the human food left Chara's body. It was a bit odd never having to pee, but dealing with always having an empty stomach was easy; he was used to being hungry all the time. At least, here, it was just "there's no food in me", and not "I'm starving". The magic monster food kept his stomach from hurting.

The more obvious problem to everyone else was monster school. Chara was a bit behind others his age (and thus, he never got any classes with Asriel, which pained him for some reason) but it wasn't like he was stupid. He knew his three so-called "R's", which meant he could read, could write, and knew basic mathematics. However, his parents tactfully explained that away as being that he was from a distant corner of Underground, and hadn't attended a school that was so good before. It was a half-truth, which is always the most believable type of lie. The thing they couldn't really explain was Chara's complete inability to use magic. Monsters were practically born able to perform magic, and by Asriel's age could conjure small solid objects, imbue food with restorative power (if not yet make it taste very good), sense the presence of others, and do other simple tricks.

One day late in the evening, the boys were playing in their room when Asriel brought it up.

"I don't get it, Chara," he said, as he doodled on a piece of paper. "All you have to do is hold your hands in front of you and bring out a little bit of your SOUL. Then just think about what you want it to do, and it does it."

"I just can't. I'm sorry."

"Don't say you're sorry," Asriel said, looking hurt. "It's not like it's your fault. You just haven't been taught right yet."
Chara didn't say anything, and instead focused on his own drawing. He couldn't remember if those flowers in the school garden had five petals or six.

"Here, let me show you!" Asriel put down his crayon and scooted over to Chara, grabbing his hands.

"Wh— wait, what are you doing??"

Asriel's hands were very soft and warm, and Chara didn't pull away like he wanted to. The feeling of closeness, of the goatboy's heat and smell started to make Chara feel tingles of odd feelings in his whole body.

"Okay," said Asriel. "Now imagine your SOUL as a big ball of bright light. Imagine it going into your hands."

Chara tried, but nothing happened. He tried harder, until his hands shook, but nothing happened.

Asriel paused. "Um... maybe I should show you, first." He pulled his hands away and then brought them close together so his fingers were almost touching, and carefully formed a tiny flicker of fire between them.

"You can make fireballs, too?" Chara was amazed. "You're great, Azzy!"

"Aheh, well, golly Chara, thanks. Fire magic just kinda runs in the family." He tried to hide his blush, before shaking it off and walking back to his brother. "Now, put your hands on mine and try to add some magic to it to make it bigger!"

Chara put his hands over the top of Asriel's, and tried again. He tried as hard as he could, while imagining his SOUL as a bright light flowing to his hands. But nothing happened.

"Try harder."

Chara tried as hard as he could, and when nothing happened for a few seconds, gave it all his will. When there was still nothing, he started to get frustrated, and then he became angry.

"O—OW! STOP, PLEASE!" Asriel screamed.

Jumping backwards, Chara bumped into his own bed, trying to scrabble as far back as he could, horrified and confused, his eyes wide, his mouth open. He couldn't find the words to say, couldn't understand what had happened. Asriel was starting to cry, gently touching at the back of his hands and moaning in pain.  The door flew open and Toriel burst inside the room.

"What has happened?" she asked.

Asriel tried to explain through his tears and running nose, disjointed mumbles about magic. Toriel scooped him up in a hug. "Oh, my child. I have told you before how dangerous it is to practice fire magic in the house. Come, I will help."

Only just able to manage to follow them into the kitchen, Chara looked on, worried about his brother. Toriel treated Asriel's hands with an ointment and gave each of them a slice of pie. Snail pie for Asriel, chocolate pie for Chara, as chocolate was quickly becoming his new favorite flavor. While he ate it, though, Chara was thinking. When Asgore came home from his kingly duties, he fussed over Asriel as well (and hugged both boys, happy neither were badly hurt and they hadn't burned the house down), but Chara was still thinking. He knew that, for some reason, his anger had been what had hurt Asriel. He NEVER wanted to hurt his little brother again, never wanted to hear him cry out again, but it was still interesting. Was his version of magic only able to hurt people? It seemed terrible, and he wanted no part of it. He wished he could make happy magic like all the monsters could.

But it was still interesting, and the thought of this power refused to leave his mind. Maybe, if he ever got back to the Home, he could hurt those who had hurt him. Chara had never been the type to doubt God, to doubt his Fate or his path. He wouldn't say no to the power he had been given just because it was "bad". Power was power, and he wanted it. Asriel wanted it. Everyone wanted it. But maybe only Chara had it.

He almost forgot completely about it when they went back to their room.

Asriel picked up the drawing Chara had been working on and beamed at it. "Wow, that's a cool flower! I've never seen one like it before. It's yellow like a buttercup but shaped different. Is this the kinda flowers that grow in Heaven?"

"I don't know what's in Heaven."

"Huh?" Asriel cocked his head to one side, saying without reservation: "But you fell from Heaven so you must know what it's like, right...?"

Chara tried not to laugh. He had no idea what monsters thought of the place, but the human concept of it must be something very different. "Why the heck d'ya think I'm from there?!"

"Because of this," Asriel said, pointing to the back of one hand, prompting Chara to nearly collapse into himself in guilt. Asriel shook his head. "No, it's not just that, it's also THAT," and he pointed to a framed picture above the bedroom door.

He looked at it. He'd been in school long enough to recognize it as the Delta Rune, which was some kind of symbol for the Underground, for the monsters, and also a kind of family crest for the Dreemurrs. Both Toriel and Asgore had it on their nicest clothing, though Asriel preferred striped shirts. Chara hadn't yet learned about the myth surrounding it though, so Asriel quickly explained about how it was a prophecy about an angel who had been to the above, who would break the barrier and free everyone.

"And I just know that angel has to be you, Chara!" he said, fists clenched in joy. "Maybe you can't control your power yet, but I felt it, and you're really strong! You're something special."

Chara wasn't quite sure, but he blushed brightly all the same and smiled a bit. "Well, maybe it's s'posed to be you. It's your dream, and you ARE the one in the Royal Family."

Asriel grabbed Chara's hands again. "You're part of my family, now, too."

The smile slid off Chara's face when he looked at Asriel's hands. "D— does it... still hurt?"

"Nah, not at all," Asriel said. "I was just being a crybaby. Big kids don't cry, right?"

"...right," Chara said slowly. He'd heard that sort of thing before, from the headmistress at the Home, but she had probably been right about that. Unconsciously, he pushed closer to Asriel until they were hugging. "Uh, maybe we'll break the barrier together," he said.
"Yeah!"

It was time to sleep, but before then Asriel carefully tacked Chara's drawing to the wall, because he said it was really good and once all the monsters were freed, he wanted to go to where Chara came from and see those flowers. They kissed their mom and dad goodnight (Chara trying not to sneeze from getting fur in his nose) and went to bed. Before he fell asleep, though, Chara was again thinking about his power. He didn't really think he was supposed to be the angel in the prophecy, but it would be pretty cool if he were.

                                                                             * * *

Days later, the boys went to school as usual. Chara, Asriel, and all the other monster kids went together on a field trip to Waterfall. It was wet and miserable, especially to Asriel as his fur got all soaked, so he stayed close to Chara, who had found an umbrella to keep them both mostly out of the rain. Everyone was introduced to the shopkeeper, who supposedly knew a great deal of history since he was the eldest monster in the Underground, except he just couldn't remember any of it. He did entertain everyone with stories about how Asgore was when he had been "the Prince's age", which made Asriel squirm because everyone was looking at him. Chara was looking at him, too, with a cute smile of affection, which made him squirm even MORE. They ate lunch (thankfully, Toriel always packed Chara food that wasn't snail-based) and then toured Blook Acres.

They all went back to class and had just a bit more time left before dismissal, so the teachers let all the kids work on art. Chara was always happy about this, since he did like to draw, especially drawing flowers. He wanted to make a better version of the Golden Flower he did the previous night so he selected the best yellow crayons and got to work. About five minutes into this little project, a shadow fell over him.

"It's Chara, right?" said someone.

He looked up. The kid that spoke to him looked like his mother was a fish and his father smelt also of fish, but Chara didn't care. He'd instinctively tensed up when he heard his name, and was just barely able to keep from crying. Barely.

"Why do YOU get the best crayons, huh?" said the fishboy.

"I... I just grabbed them."

"I bet it's because you're the new Prince, huh. You think you're better 'cause your daddy is the King, huh? But you can't even do magic. You're pathetic."

Chara started to get upset, started to feel like crying, and it was showing on his face.

The other boy laughed at him. "You're just a crybaby, aren't you. I knew it."

Deciding to listen to his instinct and just leave, Chara grabbed his unfinished drawing and started to walk away. He didn't care about the damn crayons.

"You're just a crybaby like your brother."

Everything he saw seemed to flash into fiery redness. Chara had never had this feeling before, of unbridled anger over someone else's pride being hurt other than his own. He'd never been close to anyone like he was close to Asriel, so he didn't let that feeling go; he let it grow and grow inside his heart until it was ready to burst.

"What was that?" he said flatly, turning around, teeth gritted.

"Prince Asriel's nothing but a stinkin' crybaby!"

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" Chara yelled, and the rage inside him just exploded, boiled out of his heart and filled his entire body. Without completely realizing what he was doing, he put that feeling into his fist and punched the other kid in the stomach.
All the windows in the classroom exploded. Papers and crayons flew like confetti. The shirt the fishkid was wearing all but disintegrated, and he lifted up off his feet and flew backwards like he'd been shot out of a cannon. He crashed into one desk, two desks, and then tumbled completely across the room, hitting the opposite wall with a resounding BANG, several pictures falling down.
The teachers covered their mouths. All the monster kids had been knocked to the ground by the sudden burst of wind, and showed no desire to get up; they all just stared.

Chara stood there, looking at his fist, his open-mouthed smile gaping. That was it! That was his power unleashed. He knocked that stupid kid clear across the room. He could only imagine what it would be like if his strength might increase even more. There would be no bully, no kid or adult that could challenge him. He'd be able to protect Asriel from all the evil things in the world and nobody could stop them! When people spoke his name, they would RESPECT it!

And he started to laugh.

                                                                             * * *

The parent-teacher conference was over fairly quickly. The kid Chara had punched survived no worse for wear, though he'd sustained a few broken ribs and a good life-lesson to beware the quiet ones. Chara was given a bunch of extra math problems as punishment from the school, and was then spanked until his butt was red by Toriel as his punishment at home. Of course, once done she hugged him and gave him pie, telling him to "never do anything like that again".

Although none of the other monsters had seen magic that could do such physical damage to a person, they accepted it as some type of magic nonetheless. After all, Chara had come from a very, VERY distant corner of the Underground where they must have very strange magic, indeed.

This didn't satisfy Chara, though. He knew it was something other than magic. Something about his human SOUL made pain instead of magic, and he had no idea why. Asriel didn't know why, either, but he knew someone that might know.

"'Cause this guy knows about everything," Asriel said. "And tomorrow I'll take you to see him. Tomorrow I'll take you to see Gaster."

                                                                             * * *

As they descended down in the elevator to the lowest floor of the lab, Chara pretended to be afraid so he had an excuse to cling to Asriel's arm again. Real fear seemed to have gone away from him; after all, he'd already "died" and was newly filled with confidence about his ability to punch away any threats. But the hall they walked down did seem rather creepy: dimly lit, filled with strange haze and smelly gas, occasionally making strange creaks or mechanical bangs and clicks from every direction. He had no idea what he would find, since he still thought Asriel was taking him to some kind of imaginary friend.

Asriel opened a big metal door, and Chara saw someone. Maybe a someone. It looked more like a black cloak hanging on a pole than a person, near a table with some kind of whirring machine on it.

"Oh, he's busy," Asriel said. "But if you close your eyes, you can see him talk!"

"See... talk? What??"

"Trust me, do it!"

Chara decided to humor his brother, and closed his eyes. Rising into the blackness, unbidden, came white symbols floating before his eyes:

👎✌☼😐 👎✌☼😐☜☼ ✡☜❄ 👎✌☼😐☜☼
❄☟☜ 👎✌☼😐☠☜💧💧 😐☜☜⚑💧 ☝☼⚐♱✋☠☝

He cried out and his eyes flew open. The man had turned around and was bent over right above them, his face a skull-like mask with a murderer's grin. Chara felt that familiar terror climb up his back like a prickle of a thorny vine. So much for not feeling fear! About to start running straight back out the door, he felt a perfect calm wash over him when Asriel gently touched his hand.

Asriel said: "It's okay. I didn't get it at first, either. But it's just a word puzzle 'cause this guy likes puzzles. He's just talking about darkness and shadows. Uh, wait there's more." Asriel closed his eyes again. Chara dared not. "He says 'this next experiment seems very interesting.' Oh! I'm sorry, Mister Gaster! ...'very, VERY interesting.' And close your eyes, Chara; it doesn't hurt!"

Chara did so. As before, symbols appeared, and he tried not to be afraid of them:

♱☟✌❄ 👎⚐ ✡⚐✞ ❄♱⚐ ❄☟✋☠😐?

A question mark; well at least Chara knew what THAT meant.

"He asked us what we think," Asriel said.

The man was gesturing to the machine in front of him. Guided by Asriel's hand, Chara walked a few steps closer to look. The box-like object on the table connected to a doorway via a series of cables, and had a television mounted on it. The screen was darkened as if off, filled with a bizarre color that didn't actually look black but rather a color that didn't seem to make sense. The longer Chara stared at it, the more the color seemed to be pulling him into it, a whirl of dazzling hues, yet that all seemed to be the darkest color possible. Just when Chara seemed to be on the verge of discerning something inside there, Asriel poked him with his elbow, prompting a response.

"It's... it's, uh, very dark," Chara couldn't find any better words.

"Where's this one go?" asked Asriel

The man called Gaster spoke again (Chara figuring out by now that he was "talking" when he soundlessly opened his mouth) and the boys closed their eyes. Chara began to feel stupid for doing so, as he still needed Asriel to translate, but guessed he should just do it to be polite.

✋❄ ☝⚐☜💧 ☜✞☜☼✡♱☟☜☼☜
✋❄ ☝⚐☜💧 ☠⚐♱☟☜☼☜
⚑✌💧❄ ☞♱❄✞☼☜ ⚐❄☟☜☼ ✞☠✋✞☜☼💧☜💧
✞☜☼✡ ✞☜☼✡ ✋☠❄☜☼☜💧❄✋☠☝

When there was only blank black for a few seconds, Chara opened his eyes. "What did he say...?"

"Weird stuff. He doesn't seem to know for sure where it goes."

The three of them talked for a while like this. Asriel told Chara a bit more about Mister Gaster, how he was the Royal Scientist, how he "made shortcuts", how he built the big machine that made all the lights Underground work, and how he knew more about SOULs than anyone else. He scanned Chara with some kind of device, and said it seemed he had a much stronger SOUL than normal. He said he would work on trying to understand what this mysterious power was and why it was present in Chara but nobody else. Chara knew it had something to do with him being a human, but also knew that he couldn't tell either of them that because of what Toriel had said.

Asriel was too busy being excited, "See, Chara? You really are something special!"

When they went to see Gaster the next day, he was too busy to talk long. He was attempting to build a new machine that could pull that incredible power from Chara without harming him, so he could study it more closely, but it needed more work. He said he had at least decided on a name for this power:

"👎☜❄☜☼💣✋☠✌❄✋⚐☠"

The next day, Gaster vanished from the Underground.

Also on that day, Chara — preoccupied with this event — thought again when he was in bed about what he had seen inside that television's darkness. After a while, he could just recall it. It had been a face. A face like a toothy smiley face with red eyes.