Chapter 1: The Human Child

Asriel barely made it back to the garden before he collapsed. He dropped the human body he was carrying and it rolled once before coming to a stop. Through panting labored breaths he said, "I'm sorry, Chara. I… I screwed it all up. You had a plan and I ruined it. Can you ever forgive me?" He coughed, white dust covering the bare soil.

Oh Asriel. He still did not understand and there was no more time to explain. Their emotional defenses meant nothing. They could not, not when their souls were so close, but that was fine after all. Let him see what his friend was really like. Allow him to understand at long last he never should have gotten close to them. He should have left them where he found them.

Slowly, starting from their head, an electric jolt worked its way down their entire body. It exploded into thousands of jabbing knives, and it was all Chara could do to keep from screaming. Even through the haze of pain they noticed Asgore and Toriel rushing into the room. They had made it just in time to watch their son die.

They still had enough time for one act of penance. They had to tell them. They had to know, at the very least, what kind of person their son was. They took control of the mouth and as quickly as they could tried to tell a story to their parents in Asriel's voice: "Mom, Dad. Chara died. I took their soul and-"

"Hush," Asgore said, holding Asriel's head in their massive hands. "It's alright now, you're going to be fine. Just fine." His eyes flicked over to Toriel, who was pushing her healing magic to its limit with tears in her eyes. It was not working. They could see it in her hopeless eyes and feel it in their disintegrating body. Asriel was yelling, trying to ask what they were doing and what they were trying to tell them, but they shut him out. There was not much time, maybe not enough time, but if they could just stay determined a little longer…

"I wanted to bring them to the flowers they loved, the ones they wanted to see. But the humans… they must have thought I killed them and attacked. I could have destroyed them all, I know I could have, but… I didn't. Please, if nothing else, remember… I didn't fight back."

That was it. That was all the strength they had. They felt their and Asriel's body splitting and breaking apart, each individual particle exploding in pain. A pang of regret hit them and they realized it was not enough after all. So little could not make up for such a great crime. So the demon prayed for the first time in their life. If there was a god listening, please help Asriel. They deserved whatever they got but Asriel was innocent. He did not deserve death. They would accept any punishment, endure any torture, put up with anything, just please, please save Asriel…

The transition happened between blinks. One moment Chara's entire body had been in searing agony, and the next they were on their back and feeling lightheaded while staring up at the faraway roof of a cave. This was not unexpected, in fact they would have been surprised to find anything but stalactites hanging over them. They held their hand up to their face, opening and closing it a few times. There was no muscle weakness or strain or even the stiffness one would get from a long rest. Even the pain they had been feeling moments ago had vanished completely, hardly even a memory. They sat up to look at their surroundings. They were lying in a thick patch of golden flowers in the middle of a clearing, grass along the edges fading into drab gray stone and debris. Far above moonlight shone in through a very familiar hole in the cave roof. Half-destroyed columns rose into the air, the tops missing from any which had not been knocked over long ago. They were in the Ruins, in the deepest part of the underground. How had they gotten all the way here? And where had the flowers come from? These flowers had never grown down here before, they were absolutely sure of that.

As they took in the scene they noticed the flower stems poked up from beneath their hands, making it appear as though the blooms had been planted under their skin and were now growing between their joints. They waved their hand experimentally through the buds, and the petals failed to give at a touch. A brief memory of their dream of incredible pain surfaced, this time with the realization that it had probably not been a dream. So, this was the afterlife. Rather underwhelming by their opinion. But they had said "anything", even though they had no expectation someone else had upheld the other end of the bargain.

Now that they were aware of their post-life state they took stock of themself. They were wearing their usual clothes, the same ones they had died in: a one-size-too-big green sweater with a single yellow stripe across the bottom of the ribcage and dark brown shorts with long black stockings underneath. Their shoes were simple brown canvas, nothing too flashy or high-quality but given the lack of demand it was hard to find a decent cobbler anywhere in the Kingdom of Monsters. Their hands went to their throat to check if something was still there. Their fingers found a pendant on a chain; the pendant itself was a heart hung upside down with the words "Best Friends Forever" faintly etched into it. They were immeasurably relieved it had made the trip.

They heard a rustling coming from a dark shape nearby. Chara stood and walked over to get a better look but recoiled once they had gotten it. A human was lying among the flowers and beginning to stir. Judging from the size, and of course by the lilac-stripe-on-blue turtleneck, they were a child but Chara could not guess their exact age. Seven, maybe eight? Younger than Chara, definitely. They had an olive skin tone and unruly chocolate brown hair that looked like it would sooner devour a comb than be tamed by it. Their cargo shorts came to just above their knee, and Chara could have sworn one pant leg was slightly wider than the other. The back of their hand sported a bandage with cartoon characters on it, at least a day old judging from the layer of grime on the edges. "A human?!" Chara asked with clear disgust, but quickly snapped a half-smile in place. "Decided to just drop in, did you?"

The child did not pay them any mind. Instead they groaned as they sat up and looked around just as Chara had a moment before. They kept their eyes closed but glanced about as though they could see perfectly, except their gaze slid right past Chara. They knelt down and touched the flowers they had fallen on, testing the softness of the soil. Chara tried again, "The least you could do is say 'hello'." Still no response. "Are you ignoring me? Or-" Chara stopped shouting and their grin faded as a thought came to them. "… Can you really not hear me?"

The human stood up and brushed themselves off, confirming they had no serious injuries. They looked up, toward the hole they must have fallen down from, and sighed deeply. Then they walked right past Chara without noticing them, towards the hall leading to the rest of the ruins.

Chara watched the other child leave. Should they go with them? No… they still needed a moment to collect their thoughts. There was only one path to take, so they could catch up to them soon if they changed their mind. It was not as though there was a chance of getting lost.

Chara felt an invisible wall push against their back. Their feet provided no traction on the floor, so they could not put up even token resistance as they were gently but inexorably pushed into following the child. "Hey, wait!" They complained to the invisible, anonymous force. "I don't want to follow them! I don't even know who they are!" Their pleas went unheeded, and after a brief moment of defiance Chara accepted their fate with an exasperated, "Fine!" They ran to catch up, slowing to match the child's pace once they were abreast. The child had their head tilted down, a troubled expression on their face and jaw clenched. Chara briefly wondered what their story was. They must have climbed Mt. Ebott like Chara once had. That mountain with the legend, "Travelers who climb Mt. Ebott never return." There were not very many reasons why a child would be there, and none of them were pleasant. They felt a pang of sympathy for the kid, but this was tempered with a profound dread. They were still a human and that meant they were incalculably dangerous to every monster here.

In a short time they came to the next room. It was meticulously clean and free of debris, in fact it was clear of almost everything. A single flower, almost identical to the flowers in the room they just came from, sprouted from a patch of bare floor. The flower was a bit larger than normal and… was that a face on its floral disc? "Howdy!" the flower spoke, revealing it was indeed a face. Both Chara and the human leapt backward, Chara reflexively shielding their chest with their forearms. The flower continued speaking while keeping their eyes trained on the human, "My name is Flowey! Flowey the Flower! You're new to the underground, aren'tcha?" The human nodded cautiously. "Boy, you must be so confused! Someone ought to teach you how things work around here. I guess little old me will have to do!" With an almost audible click the atmosphere changed: Chara felt something like static electricity wash over them, and the human child gasped as a bright red heart appeared in the middle of their chest. They looked down and poked at the heart experimentally. That fool, did they not realize a talking flower was not normal even for the underground? And the appearance of their soul was a sure sign the monster was preparing their magic. But of course they would not know any of these things, and there was nothing Chara could do about their ignorance anyway. The flower continued, "That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being. Your SOUL is weak, but it can grow strong if you gain a lot of LOVE! You want some LOVE, don't you? Don't worry, I'll share some with you! Down here, LOVE is shared through… little white friendliness pellets." Oh, so the flower was going to play a little prank on the human. Chara chuckled as the human child watched in fascination, completely believing Flowey's outrageous lie. If the human was going to look down on monsters like this, they deserved to be taken advantage of. The flower said, "Move around! Catch as many as you can!" It threw a handful of white bullets into the air to sprinkle down from above. Chara hid a mischievous grin behind their hand and watched a single bullet slowly float toward the child. Being a ghost was bad enough, no one being able to see or hear them was worse, and being stuck with a human of all things was just insult to injury. They could really use the laugh. Besides, it was not as if a single bullet to the palm was going to seriously hurt the kid or-

At the last moment before touching the child's outstretched hand, the 'friendliness pellet" curved around and multiplied its speed tenfold, slamming into the center of the child's soul with enough force to lift them into the air. Spittle and blood flew from the child's mouth, a cry of pain and betrayal vanishing without the air needed to give it life. Chara did not have to imagine how much it hurt; at the moment of impact a geyser of pain erupted in their own chest, stealing their breath and nearly knocking them over. The child hit the floor and rolled, ending up sprawled face-down. They struggled to lift their head but only succeeded in making a pained whimper.

Chara was already running towards the fallen human, trying to grab them under the arms but of course their hands just went through their shoulder. They looked at Flowey and channeled their pain into a scream, "What the hell are you doing?! You hit them in the soul, don't you know how dangerous that is for a human?!"

The flower grinned sadistically at the pitiful child, ignoring Chara entirely. Could Flowey not hear them either? "You idiot," it mocked. "In this world, it's kill or be killed. Why would anyone pass up an opportunity like this?" Chara felt their throat close up as the flower prepared a finishing blow. Bullets materialized all around the child, leaving no place to run or hide. "Die."

The flower was really trying to kill them. A monster was seriously trying to kill a human. It was like watching a rabbit behead a full-grown tiger in one stroke, so far outside the natural order and all their life's experience they could not even process it. One thing was for certain, they could not just watch this happen. The human could die on their own time but they would not allow a monster to become a murderer. Chara tried to grab onto the human once more, but still their hands passed right through them. Would shielding them with their own body work? No way, there were too many bullets from too many angles, and Chara was unsure whether bullets could even hit them right now anyway. Fighting back was no good either, they did not have a weapon and it was very doubtful whether they could throw a single bullet. They could not even beg for mercy if the flower could not hear them. Chara bit their lip. Was there really nothing they could do?

Flames erupted from the ground all around the child, knocking the bullets out of the air. Chara looked through the fading embers to see a stream of fireballs chase Flowey away. In the direction the fireballs came from was a person, or more correctly a monster. The monster shook its head and lamented in a feminine voice, "What a miserable creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth." Chara knew that voice. It had not even been a day since they last heard her, there was no mistaking it. Their guess was proven correct as a figure of a monster with floppy ears, tiny horns, and a religious-looking dress stepped out from the shadows. "Do not be afraid, child. I am Toriel, the keeper of these ruins."

"Toriel!" Chara shouted. It was her. Toriel Dreemurr, the closest thing they had ever had to a real mother. They felt a surge of relief as they rushed towards her and said, "Toriel, I can explain. W-well, no I can't. I don't know what's going on or why I came back or-"

Toriel walked right through them to tend to the fallen child. Chara let their hands fall to their sides. So that was it. No one could see them, no one could hear them. They could not affect anything. They could not even get more than a few feet away from this human invader. They were powerless and helpless. This was one of those deeply cruel hells, they decided, one specifically tailored to the worst fears and weaknesses of its prisoner. You finally have what you wanted, Chara, they mentally berated. You are perfectly safe and nothing in the world can hurt you ever again. Is it everything you imagined? They felt the pain in their chest vanish, replaced by a cold and spiky mist like menthol or pepperminet as Toriel healed the child. Toriel and the child had a conversation, but Chara ignored most of it. They slumped against the wall and collapsed, chuckling softly even though nothing about this situation was funny.

Toriel grabbed the human by the hand and said, "Right this way, my child." Good, at least the child would be safe. Toriel would make sure nothing happened to them. No reason for them to be around at all, then. No reason for them to have come back in the first place.

The child slipped their hand loose from her grip. When Toriel looked at them they shook their head. "I… need a moment. Alone." The child spoke haltingly and quietly as though ashamed of their own voice.

Toriel paused. "My child, I do not think that flower will return. Even so, I do not like the idea of leaving you alone before I have taught you how to stay safe here in the Ruins."

The child evaded her gaze. "I have to… use the little human's room?"

Toriel blinked, either not catching the human's deception or not minding. "Oh, privacy. Of course, take a moment. I will be in the next room, just raise your voice if you need anything at all."

The human watched Toriel disappear through the archway. Once they were sure she was gone they stretched their arms over their head, their sigh split into two distinct halves like they were telling themselves, "O~kay!" The child turned to look straight at Chara and even held out their hand for a shake. "Hi."

Chara quickly rubbed their eyes, telling themselves that of course the child had not noticed they had been crying, that would have been mortifying. "How long have you been able to see me?"

The child winced as they answered, "Since the flower hit me, I guess?"

Damn it, in that case Chara probably had to let them off the hook for ignoring them earlier. They were not altogether pleased to only be able to speak with the human, but following silently while everyone else was unaware of their presence was… distinctly uncomfortable in ways they would rather not think upon. They rose to their feet, taking a breath to recover their composure. "I see. In that case, greetings. I am Chara. I… am a ghost, and I am haunting you." They did not strictly know that was true, but it was the best working theory they had so far.

"Thanks for trying to save me, Chara. I'm Frisk." Frisk flexed their fingers, their arm still extended.

Chara looked at the offered hand pensively. After a pause they asked, "Do you not know what a ghost is?" They waved their hand through Frisk's several times, passing through it like one or the other was not there. "I am incorporeal. I cannot shake your hand."

"Oh." Frisk seemed genuinely disappointed as they pulled their hand back. They rubbed their elbow as they looked for a way to keep the conversation going. They looked up at Chara and made a few odd hand gestures, but their hands fell back down at Chara's blank stare. "Um… Do you always smile like that?"

"I try to." Chara wore their smile like a mask to protect themself, and it had served them well despite its obvious shortcomings. Their mouth was thin-lipped and sarcastic, and combined with their red half-lidded eyes made them look scheming or even threatening. But as long as they had the presence of mind to keep it up no strangers ever bothered them and people who knew them well knew not to ask how they felt. The smile made it clear no honest answer would be forthcoming. "Any other questions?"

The child thought for a moment. "What are your pronouns? Ah, it's they/them for me."

Oh. They had nearly forgotten gender-neutral pronouns were not the default on the surface. Life among monsters really had spoiled them. "Understood. If you have cause to refer to me in the third person I also use they/them. For I am neither male nor female, but a demon."

Frisk tilted their head, clearly unsure if they should accept that at face value. After a moment they apparently decided to let it go. "Okay, one more. Do you know how to leave? I have to go back home. They'll be worried by now."

"There is no easy way out, so it might be some time before you can go home. You're old enough now to learn the value of delayed grotto-fication." The child made no response to the pun. Not a groan, not a chuckle, just the same deadpan expression. Did they not get it, or were they deliberately ignoring it? Either way it was troubling. "Anyway, much as I would prefer not to we should get used to each other too. I get dragged along behind you, so you can't leave me and I can't leave you. So I can only ask you to put up with my presence for a little or a long while."

Frisk made a face. "What if I really do have to… you know, use the little human's room?"

Chara waved them off. "Oh, no concern about that. Monster food is made of magic and absorbed fully by the body, so there is no waste. There are no bathrooms in the underground because nobody needs them."

The human perked up. "Really? That's… that's pretty cool." They fidgeted a bit before asking, "If you see something else I should know, could you maybe tell me? I-If it's not too much trouble."

"You mean, be your tour guide or something?" Chara was not in any way enthusiastic about doing a human favors. Still, it would not require any real effort on their part. And as long as they were being honest with themself that flower had rattled them. If it popped up again Frisk could really get killed down here. And there was obviously some connection between the two of them; Chara had to stay close to Frisk and even felt their pain when Flowey hit them. What would happen to Chara if Frisk died? The possibility of their own death did not bother them so much, after all they were more than halfway dead already, but their curiosity would not sit well if they did not figure out why they came back and what was going on before dying again. If they had to cooperate with a human for a while in order to collect more information that would be a relatively small price to pay. "Very well. On the condition you do not tell anyone about me, do not talk to me when there are other people listening, and most especially do not mention my name to anyone. I would prefer it if no one else realized I was here. I assume you also have a vested interest in not being seen as crazy."

"Okay. Um, you too. It's hard for me to listen to two people at once."

"A reasonable accommodation," Chara said. "Very well, I shall not speak to you when you're speaking with others. I will start my part of the bargain with this: monsters are not your enemy. I realize you may have some suspicions about them because of that flower. But monsters, especially Toriel, are much kinder than humans. She in particular will never, ever hurt you."

"Oh, did you know Toriel back when you were alive?" Frisk asked, sounding out her name in over-enunciated syllables, To-ri-el. "You called out to her so I thought-"

Chara flinched. The kid was awfully perceptive in all the most inconvenient ways. "I don't want to talk about that."

Frisk held their hands up apologetically and let the subject drop. "We should go. She's been waiting for us." They walked through the doorway and Chara followed close behind, subconsciously timing their pace to match. They were still confused and worried, but knowing at least one person could talk to them was better than wandering aimlessly, even if that one person was a human. Hopefully things would start making sense soon. At worst they would be back at the castle in a couple hours, they would have plenty of time then to plan their next move.

When they caught up to Toriel she was standing in front of a closed door. "As we go through the Ruins, you will notice many puzzles like this one," she said, gesturing to her left. There were several pressure plates embedded in the floor, a lightly-colored path painted over and through the center plate. "They were once a security system, but now they have become something of a tradition in the Underground. Many times your path may be blocked and you will need to solve the puzzle to proceed. Please familiarize yourself with the sight of them." Frisk winced noticeably and looked at the arrangement of switches, clearly lost.

"Oh?" Chara's smile became a bit smug. "You aren't good at puzzles? Well, it's a good thing you have me along. My skills are quite advanced, if I say so myself. I will lend my aid to solve them for you. Since I like puzzles I will not charge you extra for this service. You should be thankful." They were quite familiar with Toriel's sense of puzzles especially. She liked to utilize architecture and perspective in her puzzle design, which was a fancy way of saying 'just pay attention to the color of the floor and you're 90% of the way to solving it'.

Chara's assistance turned out to be unneeded; the puzzles placed before them were extremely simple, and even then Toriel would solve them on their behalf. Frisk would walk past the signs without stopping, though with their eyes closed it was hard to tell whether they were reading the signs as they approached or ignoring them entirely. Once a Froggit tried to approach them, but a single glare from Toriel made it inch away, head tucked into its chest. Other than that the only "fight" they had gotten into after the flower was with a training dummy Toriel convinced Frisk to try to talk to. It was not much for conversation, but Toriel seemed pleased.

After several rooms Toriel handed Frisk a cell phone. "I must leave you for a time, child. Please stay here and wait patiently for me. Do not run off ahead, there are more puzzles I have not explained yet and I would hate for you to get hurt. I will see you again soon." Then she hurried through the doorway and deeper into the ruins.

"Finally," Chara said once the sound of Toriel's footsteps faded. "Now, what do you say we do a little exploring on our own?"

Frisk toyed with the cell phone, their face unreadable. "She said to wait here."

"We've got better to do than just sit around, she's just worrying too much. I can deal with the puzzles and monsters won't hurt you. Don't be such a crybaby about it." That line had always worked well against Asriel, but it seemed strangely ineffective on Frisk. One thing was for sure, Chara was not going to wait here idly. There was nothing to do here. They would go mad from boredom, but they could not go anywhere without Frisk. They changed tactics: "You can't just do what she says. You heard her just now, she wants you to be able to take care of yourself. That means knowing when you can ignore her instructions. And trust me, this is definitely one of those times."

The human considered this before putting the phone into their pocket and nodding. Chara walked through the doorway first, Frisk following just behind.

The ruins themselves were much as Chara remembered. All the walls and floors had been repainted in purple hues but nothing had been repaired or renovated. Everything had the dank, musty smell of stale water. Chara never really liked the Ruins, and the attempted makeover failed to change their opinion. There were a few monsters hanging about, most of whom were either ignoring them or in Whimsum's case were utterly terrified of them. More could be heard shuffling from just around the next corner or just beyond the next shadow. It was impossible to tell whether they were being stalked or avoided. Odd, they thought, monsters had been incredibly curious about them when they fell down and they had never satisfied that curiosity. Shouldn't monsters be just as interested in a fallen human now as then?

A passing Froggit croaked at them and Chara translated, "He says he knows you're a human and offers some advice. If you act a certain way during a battle a monster might not want to fight anymore. He asks you to show mercy if that should happen."

"All that in one ribbit?" said Frisk.

"It was a very complex and nuanced ribbit."

The human had an expression on their face like they were unsure whether their guide was having a laugh at their expense, but they did not press the issue.

In a nearby side room they found a bowl of candy on a pedestal with a sign pasted on it. Frisk put their face close to the sign and poked at it. "Sorry, my eyes are still a little fuzzy. What does it say?"

Chara read out loud without complaint: "The sign says, 'Please take one'. Take a piece of candy?"

Frisk dutifully obeyed the sign. After a moment's thought they took a second piece. "I'm taking yours for you," they said unconvincingly.

For a moment they looked like they were about to take more. Chara stopped them with a sneer, "You took more candy. How disgusting…" It was said with a playful tone and with a twinkle in their eye, but it did little to soften the blow. The human child's hand retracted and they stowed their two candies in their shorts pocket, head down.

They had hardly taken a step out of the room when a different waist-high frog approached Frisk. "Oh, another Froggit," Chara explained. Frisk waved and opened their mouth to say hello, but stopped when the Froggit tensed and glared at them. Several flies appeared and sped towards Frisk as a bright red heart appeared in the middle of their chest. "Those are bullets," Chara said in disbelief. "It's attacking you! Get out of the way!"

Frisk was taken off guard; they stumbled to the side but just a touch too slowly as a fly crashed into the back of their left hand. It burst with a small pop on contact, and as it did so Chara felt a sympathetic twinge of pain in their own hand. Frisk nearly cried out but managed to bite it back with a grunt. They clenched and unclenched their left hand a few times, rubbing the spot the fly bullet had landed. They carefully watched the Froggit, waiting for the next attack to arrive. "You said they wouldn't hurt me," they said as a statement of fact but it still sounded like an accusation.

"Something is wrong." Their smile held but there was a concerned edge to it now. "Monsters can sometimes be dangerous by nature or carelessness, but no monster I ever met would intentionally attack a human."

"It's attacking me right now!" Frisk sidestepped another fly-shaped burst of magic which popped against the floor. It was weak and straight and slow, but for all that it would still hurt if it hit and Frisk could not dodge forever.

"You'll have to convince it to stop." They saw a sudden vision of Frisk with balled fists punching the Froggit and reducing it to dust with a single blow. "But don't hurt it!"

"Wasn't gonna. But what can I do?" They balanced themself on the balls of their feet, bouncing slightly. For someone so young they had surprisingly good combat instincts. Or maybe they were just naturally athletic.

"Threaten it?" That earned Chara a sour look. "Then do the opposite and say something nice to it."

Chara was unsure whether it was desperation or naivete which made Frisk follow that advice, but they gathered their courage and said, "Uh, hey, I think your… bullets are, neat?"

The Froggit halted in its tracks and croaked softly, getting a deep blush in its oversized cheeks. Chara translated, "You complimented Froggit. It doesn't understand what you said but it's flattered anyway. Seems like it's finally noticed you aren't firing bullets back too." The Froggit bowed once, left some money on the ground (as an apology, Chara wondered?), then hopped away.

Frisk watched the Froggit leave, then turned their head quickly from side to side. It was unclear whether they were looking for other attackers or a hidden camera. "Wh… what was that?"

Chara explained, "Monsters cannot maintain an interest in fighting with someone they do not want to hurt. If you can befriend them, or distract them, or even just bore them they will stop attacking you. You did take a hit, though. Are you alright?"

Frisk shook the feeling back in their hand. "I'll be okay. But what were those things it was shooting?"

Chara sighed. "If I had known you would be in danger I would have told you about this earlier. The short version is, monsters can communicate with each other using bullets. To do that they have to expand their personal field of magic, also called their aura, so the person they want to speak with is caught within it, like a pseudopod." Frisk gave them a blank look. Simpler, Chara, you're going to lose the kid if you insist on showing off your vocabulary. "Monsters have an invisible arm they have to touch you with to throw bullets at you. You can't see it, but you'll know when you've been touched because you'll get that tingly feeling and your soul will appear." Frisk nodded, a little more confident with this explanation than the last. "Anyway, bullets will do hardly anything to a monster but they can be dangerous to humans. Most of the time it will hurt but not be deadly unless a bullet hits your soul. Do you remember what happened when Flowey hit you at that spot?"

Frisk nodded gravely. "It… really hurt. Is hitting it bad?"

"The soul is your weak point where magic is involved. A single blast of magic there might be enough to kill you outright. But as long as it does not get hit you will survive any kind of magical attack. Even if everything else goes over your head remember that: protect your soul no matter what."

Frisk clutched at their chest and nodded. Good, thought Chara, as long as they understand that they should be safe. Frisk took a moment to shuffle through a nearby pile of leaves. It seemed to improve their mood, and Chara felt Frisk's will recover. No, something else. "Playfully crinkling through the leaves fills you with determination." They paused, unable to read Frisk's reaction to their narration. "Sorry, I'll stop doing that if it bothers you."

Frisk shook their head. "No, it's… nice. It…" They scrunched up their face and bit their lower lip. For a moment it seemed like they lost their train of thought, then they concluded, "When you talk, I memember I'm not alone."

Perhaps the human would be better off alone. Chara tamped that thought down; they were trapped together and wishing otherwise would not make it so. "Then I will continue to do so. I can do little else, so this at least will keep me from getting bored."

Frisk looked up at them and, with a tiny curl of the lips, smiled. It was the first one since they woke up in the underground. It was the weary and terrified expression of someone who was in a very strange situation that nothing in their life thus far had prepared them for but was willing to see it through to the end. Hey, you and me both, Chara thought. "Come on, we have to catch up to Toriel before someone actually dangerous finds you." Frisk was eager to comply.

Author's Notes: The Chara I write isn't quite Soft Chara, but is also a pretty far cry from the dreadfully boring murderous psychopath Chara so popular in fanfic and fanart. My Frisk is also pretty different from the endlessly patient angel they are commonly portrayed as. Both have done or are fully capable of doing some pretty heinous things, but they are struggling to do the right thing and are (hopefully) worthy of forgiveness. You know, like literally every other major character in the game.
While the plot of this fic will loosely follow the game, I plan to gloss over any content I do not change or add anything to. Partially because I can't be bothered to transcribe huge sections of the game, but mostly because I have enough respect for your time to not make you read dialogue or events you've probably seen a hundred times.
Constructive criticism is most highly prized, but any review you offer will be appreciated! Don't forget to follow or favorite; I plan to update every Monday for as long as my backlog lasts, but I can't promise precisely what time I'll update due to my rather strange working hours.
This fic is crossposted on AO3 under the same author name.
Thank you for reading!