AN: This fic takes place immediately after the events of How to Save a Soul. Reading that fic is recommended but not required; though some events and lore from that fic will be reintroduced or expanded upon, they will be presented in a way so that a first-time reader will still be able to enjoy the story.

It should be clear from the premise but I will be introducing a large number of original characters and at bare minimum seven of them are going to be dead by the end of the fic. I will not use warnings on chapters where a major original character dies, but I will use warnings if anything else happens during a chapter which may be disturbing to some readers.

The woods surrounding Mount Ebott were not a popular tourist attraction. Smokey Forest Campgrounds had been losing money since it opened, being too close for Weymouth residents to feel like they were "getting away from it all" and too far away for out-of-towners to easily reach. The only reason it was still open at all is that its current owner could not be bothered to figure out something else to do with the land.

Silas was fairly sure he and his three friends from his high school days were the only people there at all this night, a single campfire in the dark expanse. He had been out of the state for nearly seven years so he expected nobody to welcome him back to his hometown. He was starting to think he might have preferred that. He never was much of a camper; he preferred to appreciate the outdoors from a distance, preferably through a screen of some kind, while surrounded by modern comfort. But, now as before, Susan was a hard person to say "no" to. That was how he ended up spending the last Friday before his Bar membership was transferred back to his home state sitting by a campfire with a cooler of cheap beer on one side of him and plastic grocery bags of foods to be served at room temperature on the other. He could not help but feel out of place; his posture was too stiff and he could not feel comfortable in a hoodie and sweatpants. Marty had remarked earlier that it seemed to cause Silas physical pain to be outside of formal attire. His short blond hair in an Ivy League cut only added to how out-of-place he looked at night among the trees. He shuffled in his fold-away chair, eschewing its built-in cupholder to hold his beer can in the ever-so-slightly more convenient cupholder of "his left hand". He crinkled his nose as he popped it open and the scent of hops wafted up his nose. "Leave it to Marty to get the swill," he complained.

Marty thumped a hand against his chest with an expression of mock hurt. "But I got that special, just for you! C'mon, if you tried it you'd like the cheap stuff more than the fruity drinks they serve at the hotshot lawyer bars." Marty was a thin and lanky man, his t-shirt and jeans having those day-old wrinkles that only occur when you wear the same clothing multiple days in a row. His sideburns were kept trim and his face was clean of facial hair, with a lingering cut on his chin from a few days prior when he finally gave up on growing a goatee and tearfully sliced the five lovingly tended hairs there. His cheeks were sunken slightly, a look which served him well during his high school days when other people's parents would assume he was starving and offer him free food.

"Do you really think lawyers drink thirty dollar cocktails?" Silas pulled the tab back and rotated it to the side, otherwise it would bump against his long nose and irritate him every time he took a sip. "Young lawyers need too much energy on too little sleep to risk hangovers. They tend to prefer cocaine." He said it lightly but was only half-joking. It was actually something of a problem in the industry. Not that he ever indulged in that or even considered it. He and his father had disagreements but he did not hate the man nearly enough to commit suicide in such a shameful way.

"So," Susan said as she stuck the marshmallow on her stick directly into the flames. "What really happened down there in Texas? I didn't hear you were moving back until you got here. Was the real world of practice too much for you?" She removed the marshmallow, now on fire, and watched with interest as it browned and blackened. Susan was a tiny woman, standing only five feet tall on tiptoe and with a frame to match. If she told someone she was a high-schooler no one would bat an eye, and she always got carded at bars and liquor stores. Her thick black hair was done up in a ponytail, and her dark eyes reflected the firelight. Despite her Anglicized nickname she was born in China and came to far-flung New Hampshire when she was still a child. To some she would forever be an outsider.

Silas shrugged as he swallowed his beer, staring into the campfire. He was wearing more clothing than any of his friends but still huddled close to the flames; it was a warm night for mid-September but he got cold easily. He wore a hoodie from his alma mater and khakis, both a little large to disguise the curves of his frame. "I don't take kindly to bullies, and judges and prosecutors have a way of doing things down there. They don't want some out-of-town public defender messing up their system. Is that enough for you to get the picture?"

"Maybe," Chad said, easing himself onto his own chair with a soda in his hand. "Doesn't mean we don't want to hear you admit your temper got you in trouble." Chad had a square face and a heavy brow, only his small chin saving him from looking like a linebacker or someone on the box art of a shooter game. His smile was the kind that made him appear to be mocking you even when he was completely sincere. It made him few friends, so it was a sign of how comfortable he was in this group that he displayed it freely.

Silas gave him a dirty look but Chad's grin was unshakable. "I didn't like how the system was set up. Like… here's one example. New Hampshire has a death penalty but we haven't used it in years. Not out of any sympathy for the accused, but most people in this state don't trust the government to make the call about ending someone's life. But life is cheap down there; a man walks onto your property uninvited and you can shoot him no problem. But a man so mentally challenged he can't even defend himself, let alone plan and commit a murder, and the jury executes him without a second thought. I couldn't stand it, and let everyone know. That's probably where I screwed up; if I'd kept quiet about it the whole thing would have never happened. But… well, you know."

"Your own fault for going all the way to Texas," Marty said. "Even the smart ones are still crazy stupid rednecks."

"That's classist," Silas insisted with a frown. "They're good people, really. They love their families, they have their daily struggles. So what if they don't trust what they don't know, that's not so different from us. I was a poor fit for the culture, that's all." But that was not all, or at least it was not so minor a thing as he claimed. The solutions to iniquities always seem so simple to the young. If a different path is better, why not take it? And the elders smile and shake their heads, because a youth could not understand why things were the way they were and how delicately it all balanced to make something that worked. An outsider looking to improve things was like a toddler confronted with a Jenga tower, making everyone else nervous every time they extended a hand.

Susan pulled him out of his reverie. "So what now?"

"Dad's letting me stay at his spare condo. I've submitted the paperwork to transfer over to the New Hampshire Bar, but I don't think I'll be staying forever. I'm going to keep my head down and do just enough work that I can't be called a freeloader. I'll move again when I feel up to it. After that, who knows."

Marty laughed and clapped Silas on the back, poking through his personal bubble without a care in the world. "And that's what we're here for, man! Just sit back, relax, take a load off. Get plastered with your high school buddies and forget about it! And hey, look on the bright side, you're still not as much of a screw-up as your brother."

Silas glared dangerously. "Remind me again why you're here? I don't remember us ever being very good friends."

"Hey, go easy on him," Susan said as she carefully laid out her carbonized mess on a graham cracker. Molten white goo oozed between the cracks as she pushed a piece of chocolate and another graham cracker on top to complete the s'more. "We just thought you might like to know what your family's been up to since you've been gone."

"My brother and I are not on speaking terms."

Chad was not smiling anymore. Susan moved closer to the fire in an attempt to dispel the chill which had come over her. Marty coughed, "Sorry. I didn't mean-"

"It's fine," Silas said, exhaling with a great breath. "I don't want to talk about him, so can we-"

The sound of rustling leaves in a rhythmic shuff-shuff-shuff broke out and a hush fell over them. Animals did not make those kinds of sounds; only a human would be so careless. "Hellooooo?" Marty called out in the vague direction of the shuffling. The sound stopped abruptly. "Can we help you?" There was no immediate reply. After a moment a single shape advanced into the ring of light created by the campfire. Silas was expecting many things; a psychopath with a knife, teenagers looking for a quiet place to canoodle, an illegal trash dumper. They did not expect a child, four feet tall if that and dressed in a striped shirt and cargo shorts. The child was either a thin boy or a rough-looking girl, with a flat nose and small jaw which defied attempts to gender them by looks. They kept their eyes closed, but their head moved from one of them to the other like they were expecting someone to jump at them. They were not reacting to the sounds the group was making so that ruled out the kid being blind. So could they see after all?

Silas set his can down in the chair's cupholder and stood up, brushing off his pants. "Hey kid, how'd you get out here?" he asked. He took a tentative step forward; the child responded by stepping back and Silas stopped. "Don't be afraid. I'm even weaker than I look."

Marty cupped his hands around his mouth to shout out, "Silas, go home! You're drunk!"

Silas rolled his eyes. His friends laughed but the child did not. Still, they looked a little less tense. He stepped forward gingerly, hands off to his sides and open so the child could see he was unarmed. This time they did not retreat. "I don't know what you're doing alone in the woods at night, but you don't have to talk about it now. We won't hurt you, we just want to make sure you're okay."

Behind him Chad offered, "If you like you can sit by the fire and warm up a bit, and we have the stuff for s'mores and some other snacks if you're hungry. I caught some fish earlier if you need something more substantial. Up to you, of course."

Silas held out his hand for a shake, still two or three paces away from them. "My name is Silas Pembrooke. What's yours?"

The child did not move right away. It was hard to tell where their attention lay or even whether they heard him at all. The child's head cocked to the side as though looking at something over Silas' shoulder, then they put their hand in Silas'. Their handshake was tentative and limp. "Frisk," they introduced themselves. Then more quickly they added, "Holder."

Silas pumped his handshake once. "Nice to meet you, Frisk."

"Hey, their shirt," Susan said, pointing with her free hand at the child's blue-and-lilac striped shirt. She sucked the sticky marshmallow off her fingers before standing up and walking toward the child. "Aren't you that missing kid?" The child tilted their head in her direction and slowly, cautiously nodded. Frisk's hair was unkempt but clean. Their clothes looked worn but not three-days-in-the-wilderness worn. They did not have the sunken cheeks or the manic desperation of a child who had not eaten well. They looked like a kid who was checking out a strange noise in their backyard rather than one who had been missing and presumed dead. "Oh geez, isn't that something! You're alive! Think we'll end up in the papers for finding you?"

Frisk's head turned toward each of the adults in turn, taking an extra moment to look Chad up and down. Silas realized they were sizing Chad up as a threat. This was not surprising: Marty was lanky but otherwise average, Silas was visually unimpressive, and Susan was downright tiny. By comparison Chad's broad shoulders, thick neck, and square face would have put him on the short list for the most dangerous person of any room he found himself in. After a moment they looked back at Silas. "I'm not alone," they admitted the obvious. "Some people helped me. They're my friends, and they wanna meet you."

Silas almost hoped this was a trick of some kind, if only because the setup was so outlandish that the scheme had to be good one. "Are they hiding in the woods there? Well, ask them to come up. It's a bit much to ask us to step into the dark."

The child shook their head. "Um!" they said with a trembling lower lip. "They aren't bad! They're really nice so don't be scared!"

Marty shrugged with a grin. Susan licked a bit of marshmallow off her finger, looking wary but hopeful before looking to Chad. For his part Chad looked from Susan to Frisk before agreeing, "Alright, tell them to come up, but slowly and one at a time."

The child turned away to address the darkness. "Okay, you can come out now." Almost immediately they saw someone carefully approaching the campfire. The newcomer's skin must have been very pale, perhaps even albino, to show up this well in the dark despite still being a fair distance away. As they came closer Silas felt his stomach seize. What he had thought was skin was actually a layer of dense white fur covering every visible surface of the bipedal creature's body. It was wearing a purple robe with a simple design of three triangles under a circle with wings, but no gloves or even shoes. Its hands ended in claws and its feet were wide paws. The creature's face was a muzzle, oversized canines protruding from its upper lip. But the eyes… the eyes flashed with intelligence and a warm if wary friendliness. The creature put a hand against a tree to steady itself as it stepped into the light of the fire, moving with deliberate carefulness. Silas heard his companions draw a sharp breath and saw Frisk stiffen like a rod. Nobody moved. Silas hardly dared to breathe. He looked over to Chad, and the fear in his eyes revealed this was not a hallucination or a trick of the alcohol. Silas' attention returned to the creature just as the corners of its mouth upturned in a smile and it bent at the waist to bow. "Greetings," the creature said in impeccable if oddly accented English, its facial muscles conforming to its skull perfectly enough to make Industrial Light & Magic jealous. "I am Toriel."

Silas wobbled on his feet and stumbled backward. His vision swam. His head felt light and his chest felt heavy, like his torso was sucking his skull into it. He did not look to his friends this time, he could not tear his eyes away from the creature in front of him. Two hands grabbed his shoulders from behind to steady him, judging by the size of the hands it was probably Chad. Silas replanted his feet and the hands released him once he was on more solid footing. "H-Hello," he said, a bit shakier than he did with Frisk. "My… I am… That is…"

The creature, Toriel, smiled but her eyes looked misty. "This is not a costume, no. It is a question I have heard more than once. I am not offended. But please, there is no reason to be afraid. We only wish peace."

"We?" he coughed. There were more of them?

"Yes. This child's closest friends among our kind are with us just a short distance away. The rest of us wait underneath Mt. Ebott, eagerly awaiting the day they can walk upon the surface once more. Oh, forgive me, my introduction was incomplete. I am, we all are, monsters. We thought it best if we introduced ourselves one at a time to avoid overwhelming you all."

"That's fair," Silas said, feeling dizzy again. "That was a very good idea." The hands at his shoulders disappeared and someone dragged his chair behind him. Silas took the hint and sat down roughly, exhaling.

Chad stepped out from behind Silas' back. His expression was severe and he kept his right arm behind his back. "Hold on a minute. Before you go calling your friends, I got a couple questions. Like, why now? And what are you all doing wandering the woods in the middle of the night?"

"Woah!" Marty hopped up and put himself between them. "Easy, easy big guy. We're all friends here, right? She came greeting us, no reason to be-"

He was interrupted by a flash of light behind him. Everyone turned to look at Susan, brandishing her phone with a manic grin. "This! Is the coolest! Thing! EVER!" She put her phone down to stare, eyes twinkling, at Toriel. "And there are more of you? C'mon, what's there to think about? Bring 'em on!"

Marty winced. "Sorry about her, Toriel, she's kind of excitable." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Though I don't think she's wrong. I'd really like to see the rest of you, too."

Chad realized he was outvoted and made a face. "… Fine. Call the rest of your buddies. We won't start anything. Just… slowly, so there's no surprises. Something about creatures coming out of the darkness makes us humans a little jumpy." Toriel nodded, apparently missing his sarcasm, and walked back into the woods to confer with her fellows.

Marty walked over and put a hand on Silas' shoulder. "You sure you're okay, man? You want to hit the hay early, or at least have another beer?"

"I am-" Silas squeezed his eyes shut and took a calming breath. He had expected for Marty to make some kind of biting comment, so the genuine concern coming from the old class clown rattled him. Clearly Silas was not the only one who'd changed in the last seven years. "I'm fine. More alcohol won't help, I don't think. But I might… need a moment."

"Just stay seated," Chad said. He glanced around and whispered in his ear "Don't worry, I'll be keeping an eye out in case anybody tries to come from behind while we're distracted."

Silas did not have the chance to ask what Chad meant by that. Toriel was already coming back, her white fur standing out even on the night of a crescent moon. She stopped at the edge of the clearing and gestured to someone behind her. A small creature, who would barely have come past Toriel's waist even if they were not slouching, stepped into the light of the fire. They wore glasses and a white labcoat, and shuffled forward while keeping their eyes trained on their clawed feet.

"Oh you're adorable!" Susan cooed. She looked up to Toriel. "Why didn't you start with this one?"

The answer became apparent when the yellow monster averted their gaze. "Oh! Well, um, thank you, but I-I-I don't like being, you know, the center of attention. I'm more of a behind-the-scenes type. I'm Doctor Alphys, the uh, the former Royal Scientist. Yoru- I mean, nice to meet you, heh heh! Heh." She swallowed and looked at Toriel with a look which asked if she was done and if she could please disappear now.

"Izzat so?" Marty said, scratching his chin. "Well, I won't put you on the spot then Alphys. Welcome aboard." He gestured toward the fire. Alphys scuffed over to it, kicking up loose dirt while wringing her hands. Toriel and Frisk exhaled and looked at each other before Toriel bade the next come forward.

Marty's jaw dropped. Chad gripped the pistol tucked behind his back tightly, ready to draw in a split-second. Even Susan paled a bit at seeing what came forth next. It was a skeleton. A walking, talking, six-foot-eight skeleton. The undead creature was oblivious to their distress and waved exuberantly. "Greetings humans!" His voice echoed off the trees and silenced the wildlife in the area. "I am the Great Papyrus! I shall be the ambassador for monster/human relations. I would also like to count you all as my super-cool friends outside of my official duties, so feel free to bend my ear anytime on any subject!"

There was a pause as the humans tried to connect the terrifying thing in front of them with the incredibly friendly greeting they received from it. Marty's face froze in a grin as his eyes darted from one corner to the other. "Am… am I supposed to laugh? I really seriously don't know how I'm supposed to respond to this."

Silas let out a shaky breath, choosing his words carefully so he would not lose control of his voice. "I believe we should respond in kind. Greetings, Papyrus. It certainly is a pleasure to meet you. Now that his panic response was fading, Silas thought Papyrus did not look much like a skeleton at all. The jaw was fused to the rest of the skull in a way that should have made it impossible for him to speak, the pelvis was too thin compared to his shoulders and was the completely wrong shape to fit into those shorts, and the bones themselves were much too smooth and reflective to be actual bone. Ignoring how none of him should have held together without muscle, the bones themselves were blockier shapes and in a much simpler configuration compared to an actual human skeleton. He looked more like what a first-year art student might create if you asked them to sculpt a skeleton from memory.

Marty laughed, but it was a short one with little breath to it. "Geez, and he's the third least scary? I'm really curious about what the others will look like." His tone indicated 'curious' was not the word he actually meant.

"I think… he's only scary because he looks too similar to us," Susan explained, recovering herself. "It's called the Uncanny Valley. Basically, he looks similar to someone you might see on the street but very slightly off. Your brain focuses on the differences and rejects them as inhuman. It's the same thing with clowns or CGI. So I think the rest of them will be okay if they look more like Toriel and Alphys."

Case in point: the next monster to arrive was heard before she was seen, shouting "I'm neeeext!" before Toriel had even waved her forward. Papyrus hurriedly sidled out of the way while Frisk shouted, "Slow! She said slow!" into the darkness. The unseen owner of the voice responded, "Oh, right!" before stomping into the clearing. Like the others she was humanoid, wearing casual slacks and a black tank top over bluish-green skin which reflected the light oddly. An eyepatch covered her left eye, and her right eye was slit like a cat's with yellow sclera. She grinned widely, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth, as she looked over each of the humans before focusing her attention on Chad. "I'm Undyne, captain of the Royal Guard! Uh, I mean, I used to be… we were disbanded this afternoon. But it wasn't 'cause of anything I did! Anyway, you, big guy! You look pretty tough, how about you and me-"

She was interrupted as Alphys started pulling at her pant leg while placating, "Undyne, we're j-j-just introducing everyone! You shouldn't… I mean, please don't start any fights before everyone arrives…"

Undyne blinked at the lizard and rubbed the back of her head. "Tch… yeah, I guess so. Anyway, I hope you're all good humans like Frisk! Because if you aren't, you'll have to answer to me!" She allowed the lizard to drag her over to the fire while continuing to grin with vague menace. As soon as she looked away Chad sneered for a moment but said nothing. Apparently he didn't like being singled out.

Silas appended his early assessment; now that she was closer he could tell that was not skin on Undyne, those were scales. He swallowed, thinking of the bucket of fish Chad had stowed nearby. Were they about to cause an trans-species international incident already? He resolved not to think about it. Instead he noticed the fire was starting to get a bit crowded and asked Toriel, "How many of you are there? We'll make what room we can, but this is starting to push our limits."

"Just one more," Toriel said, gesturing behind her with a more curt and forceful motion than the others.

At first Silas thought it was another creature like Toriel. Then he realized it was, and most emphatically was not. Toriel was tall (but then nearly everybody was taller than Silas), but the last of the monsters towered. He must have easily cleared eight feet, not even counting the curved horns on the top of his head. He wore a long cloak which hung down long enough to cover his feet, picking up twigs and debris no matter how small and careful his steps were. Silas felt his vision darken but he managed to stay upright. Chad made no move for his pistol; would it even work against something like this?

"Howdy!" the creature said with a smile. For the third time tonight Silas felt dizzy. Oh, they were having another Papyrus moment so soon. "Thank you for being so open-minded towards us. I am King Asgore, ruler of the monsters. I hope this is the beginning of a long and fruitful dialogue between our races and a new era for all of us." He allowed a brief pause for any questions or reactions and frowned when silence continued its reign. "Erm… is this a good sign or a bad one?" His tongue darted out of his mouth and curved upward to wet the tip of his nose.

"Omigod…" Susan gasped, cupping her hands over her mouth. The corners of a smile peeked out from behind her fingers. "Did… did you just mlem?"

Asgore blinked. "Did I… what?" He licked his nose again in confusion.

"That! That thing! Hee hee hee!" She spun in place, squealing and giggling. Even her friends were looking at her strangely. "You're so cu~te!"

"Hey Shu, that's kinda rude," Marty said. Then he looked to Asgore for confirmation, "Er, is it?"

"Golly," the giant said. "I never thought it was notable. I suppose it's alright if she is enjoying herself."

Toriel rolled her eyes. "There you go taking things too lightly again…"

"Anyway, our turn, right?" Marty stood up and coughed to bring attention to himself and move the conversation along. "I'm Martin, but that's a dorky name so call me Marty instead. I've lived in this area my whole life, so I know all the best places to eat and all the tourist traps. I'll help you all get settled in, so treat me nicely." Ah, there was that shit-eating grin Silas had grown to loathe. If Marty had put that back on he must have found his rhythm again.

Susan stepped up next, walking up to each monster and shaking their hand individually, even Papyrus. Seemed she got over whatever fear she held when she first saw him. "It is soooo nice to meet you all! I can't believe how awesome it is that you're such great people! You can call me Susan, everyone does, and I hope you all have a wonderful time on the surface!"

Silas lifted himself out of the chair. He would not show weakness. Yes, he had been taken off-guard, but he was not an invalid! He cleared his throat and said, "I am Silas Pembrooke. Please don't take my reserved manners to mean I am not as welcoming as Marty and Susan. I look forward to learning more about you all."

Everyone looked toward the only person who had yet to introduce themself. Chad had to have noticed everyone looking at him but he showed no sign of discomfort. "Chad Nelson," he said simply before turning his attention toward the fire. That was it? He knew Chad did not like speaking, but Silas had not remembered him being this surly. Had something happened while he was away?

"Well!" Marty said, clapping his hands to move past the awkward moment. "So now the million dollar question: Who. Wants. Weenies?"

The first step had gone well. They had found adults who were open-minded and friendly, people who would be able to help the monsters more than a child could. Whatever happened next, there was little Frisk could do to change the outcome. It should have felt good to dump the responsibility, but Frisk was still incredibly anxious. There was still a lot that could go wrong, and if the people they found were not as nice as they seemed, or if they were not as competent as they needed to be…

No, don't think about that. If they did they would start crying and there would be no way to explain it to the people who might understand without letting everyone who did not understand in on all the secrets they were carrying. They could not do this alone. They needed to speak with their confidant.

"I gotta go to the bathroom," Frisk said suddenly.

"Don't go off alone," the man called Silas said without looking at them. His demeanor was strict and harsh but his face was full of soft curves save for the long nose coming almost to a point. He was kind underneath it all, they could tell. He had the same furrowed brow and narrowed eyes Chara sometimes got when they were mulling over a difficult thought, looking from one of the monsters to another and asking them questions about who they were and what their life was like underground and how all any of it worked. Of all the people here they liked him best with Susan a distant second. "Nobody wants to see you vanish again. Someone else should go with you."

Frisk made a show of looking everybody over before pointing at Papyrus. "I have been chosen!" Papyrus shouted with a blush. "Never fear, Frisk! I, the Great Papyrus, will make sure no harm comes to you!" They were warned not to stray too far from the fire, as it would be easy to get lost again in the woods at night. Frisk did not need to be told that; it had taken them an embarrassing amount of time to find Mount Ebott in the darkness when they first came here and had no desire to repeat the experience.

Once they were away from the group Frisk looked over to their side and sighed. "Sorry I've been quiet," they said into the empty air. "With so many people around it's hard to talk to you."

"I do not find any fault with you," the ghost replied, strafing to float directly in front of Frisk. "It is only to be expected; most people would not let a child wander unaccompanied and part of our deal was that you would not talk to me when others were around. I suppose I will have to get used to less conversation with you than I have become accustomed to." The ghost was a human child, a little older than Frisk but not much taller and wearing a green sweater with a single yellow stripe. While their words and tone were friendly their eyes were half-closed and their smile was disarming; someone who did not know them as well as Frisk did would say they looked suspicious and distrustful.

Frisk shook their head. "It's still not fair."

"Aha!" Papyrus said. "So this is what you were really after! You did not have human things to do, you had ghost things!"

"That's right," Chara said, rolling their eyes. "And that's why Frisk asked you to come with them. Because you're one of the few people who can actually see me."

Frisk tilted their head. "There's others?"

Chara counted off on their fingers, "Papyrus. Napstablook. Mettaton. I think Undyne's training dummy and Tsunderplane can, but I'm not a hundred percent sure about them. Oh yeah, and Sans too. I don't think you were awake for that. Meant to tell you earlier but things got a little weird."

Papyrus glowered at Chara. "I think he wanted you to keep that a secret."

"He didn't ask me to keep quiet about it and he had to assume I was going to tell Frisk at least. Besides, he's playing way too many cards too close to his chest. If I have the opportunity to spill some of his secrets I'm taking it." Evidently they were still a little sore about Sans pretending not to be able to see them for so long. "Anyway, this all is going better than I expected, but probably not as well as you'd hoped."

Frisk frowned. "You thought they'd all get killed when they first met humans." Chara shrugged and made an "eh" sound to indicate Frisk had guessed more or less correctly. "I'm glad it's working out."

"So far. Though we have you to thank for that."

There was an awkward pause. Usually Frisk would happily suck up any praise offered to them, but Chara had misunderstood something very important. Or rather, they were ignorant about the rules of the game having changed. It caused the adulation to curdle before they could enjoy it, like lemon juice being poured into milk. "Papyrus?" Frisk asked. "You're still my friend, so can you give Chara and me a minute? I hafta talk to them about… stuff."

"Private discussions?" Papyrus asked. "No problem! Secrets are the glue that hold friendships together, and you two must be very good friends indeed! I will go out of earshot, so as long as you two keep quiet I will not overhear you. But! I will stay close, so if you need me for anything I will be in easy reach!" With that he retreated about twenty feet, far enough so Frisk and Chara could whisper without him hearing but close enough to make out their shapes even in the darkness.

Chara leaned in closer, guessing what Frisk wanted to talk about without Papyrus there. "So, be honest with me. How many tries did it take you to get those humans to listen?" The fingernails of Frisk's right hand dug into their palms to leave little crescent moons. "I imagine it wasn't too many, you wouldn't have been so nervous if you'd had this conversation a dozen times."

"Only once." Frisk licked their lips and drew a shaky breath. "One try… is all we'll ever get anymore."

What do you mean? Why would- They cut themself off as the full implications of what Frisk just said hit them. "Oh." Chara rubbed at their forehead. "Oh. Crap."

Frisk nodded. "I can't Load, I can't Save, I can't even Reset."

Chara paused. "Reset? I don't know that one."

"It's like…" Frisk opened and closed their fist a couple times as they ran through how they were going to explain this. "If Load means I go back to my Save, a Reset takes me all the way back. I would wake up in the flowers again, and what I had done since then would be gone. It would let me start over. I knew I could do it, but I never did. Part of that was 'cause… you wouldn't memember anything. Nothing at all. If I did that we wouldn't be friends anymore. But now I can't do anything."

Chara began rubbing their upside-down-heart shaped locket between their thumb and forefinger. "Okay, okay, this… this is really bad, isn't it? I was sort of hoping to use that as insurance. That way if anything went wrong we could plan for it, we could mitigate the damage or get ahead of a scandal. But if your powers are gone… then we only have the one chance."

"We can't mess up. Not at all. If there's another war it's over. I can't go back and do it again. I'm sorry," Frisk sniffed. "My powers were the only things I was good for. Without them I'm useless…"

"That is not true!" Chara floated directly in front of their face and said it loud enough to catch Papyrus' attention. "You might not be eloquent but you're earnest, and that counts for a lot. You're good at easing people's minds, you saw it with that Chad guy. Come on, angst isn't a good look on you, let me handle that." They had intended it as a joke but Frisk's deepening frown convinced them it was not received that way. "You worked really hard to get this far. I think it's a good thing if there's less for you to do. Someone once told me I grew up too fast and I owed it to myself to be a kid for a while. I didn't take the lesson to heart then but I think he was right. I'm not saying I trust these humans because I don't, but I don't think it's wrong to take some of the pressure off yourself."

Frisk picked off a loose piece of bark from a nearby oak, brow furrowed. "Maybe you're right. I'll do what I can, but making peace between monsters and humans… I can't do much about that. And there's stuff only we can do. We can't just ignore it." They looked up at Chara. "Like Asriel."

Chara inhaled through their nose. "Yeah. We're the only people that know about him. We have to save him ourselves, because no one else will do it for us. I've been thinking a lot about that, actually. About how to do it. But it's a tough problem. If I could bring him back just by sacrificing myself I'd do it in a second. I wouldn't even care that killing myself is what started this whole mess in the first place, which really goes to show I haven't learned a thing." They were thinking out loud again, something they had started doing once they realized only Frisk could hear them and Frisk did not judge them for it. "Of course, the last time I gave him my soul worked out oh so well for everyone. Not to mention I don't have a full soul so it probably wouldn't be any good. And even if it did he'd probably reject it."

Frisk wanted to be mad but forced their expression back to neutral. "He doesn't hate you."

"You asked if he would forgive me and he changed the subject rather than give you an answer."

"That doesn't-"

"I know him, Frisk. Even after everything he went through he's still the same boy I spent two wonderful years with. I know what he meant by that. And he has every right to hate me." Chara's eyes had become large and completely black, but they were not leaking that sickly-sweet black tar yet. Not very long ago Chara would have chosen to erase themself rather than let Frisk see this. Now they would only turn their face away if they felt Frisk staring at them, choosing not to hide even their darker emotions from Frisk. Frisk knew it was Chara's way of showing they liked and trusted Frisk; for all their skill at wordplay Chara was reticent concerning how they felt about other people. Which would not be a problem if they were not also bad at showing how they felt, but they were.

"We'll find a way," Frisk said with a smile, trying to bring them back to the topic.

Chara, however, shrunk into themself a bit more. "That's the thing. I already have one idea, but you aren't going to like it. Heck, I don't like it. I've been desperately trying to think of a better plan, but I don't know much about his soulless condition or souls or Determination. I didn't even know I would still be me after being absorbed and not just a big battery of magic for Asriel to use. I'm flying blind here. I can only go off what I know, and the only thing I know will work is human souls." Frisk had a bad feeling about this. Anything to do with souls was risky territory. They took a deep breath and nodded for Chara to go on. "But don't think about giving him your soul. There are limits to what you can sacrifice for other people. More importantly I don't think it would work. You told me about the timeline where Flowey absorbed the other six souls. He didn't turn into Asriel, did he? Frisk shook their head. "I thought not. One soul won't work if even six souls didn't. He only regained his true form when he had power equal to seven. In order to let him live his life as Asriel, we'd need no less than seven human souls."

"Seven…" Frisk felt a little dizzy. They had not thought about it that far. Seven? Wouldn't that mean seven people would have to…?

Chara continued, "And remember, those seven souls would all have their owner's personality and emotions. Those souls could take over Asriel's body, or simply rebel and abandon him if his control slipped for even a single moment. Do you get it? We couldn't steal, or lie, or trick anyone out of their souls. The humans would have to know exactly what was going on and accept their role of enabling Asriel's life and keep him under control. Seven human souls, given willingly and with full knowledge of what that entails." They looked at Frisk evenly. "We would have to go out into the writhing sea of humanity to find these people. They would have to be compassionate, self-sacrificing, and have a love for monsters just like we do. Seven of the best people we've ever known or could ever hope to meet." They snorted. "And then we'd have to hope they die."

Frisk hugged themself and shivered. It had nothing to do with the cold. "Is… is that really the only way?"

"You don't like it either, huh? I suspect things are going to be crazy enough for the next week or so while everyone figures out the first crucial steps to let monsters live on the surface. We would not be able to do anything even if we were inclined to start right away. We have some time and I haven't better to do. So just enjoy your life, take a load off. I'm sure I'll think of something else."

Frisk was not convinced. They were acting without perfect information but Chara's reasoning made sense. The problem would not solve itself, they were sure; Flowey was not about to spontaneously generate a soul on his own nor was a convenient solution going to appear from the void. If it were easy Flowey would have done it already when he had control of the timeline. That alone told them the way to save Asriel would be hard, maybe much harder than freeing the monsters. But it was something they owed to him. It was the right thing to do. And more important to Frisk than any of that, it was something Chara needed. As long as Asriel remained underground and all alone Chara would never be able to move on or forgive themself. That alone was all the reason they needed.

"I should head back," Frisk said. "Don't want people to get worried about me. I'll talk to you again as soon as I can, okay?" Chara nodded but they continued gazing into the middle distance, rubbing their upside-down heart locket between their thumb and forefinger. "I'll try to think of something too. It's not fair for you to do it all by yourself either." With that they waved to Papyrus and began walking toward him. But Frisk was already thinking not of an alternate plan but how they were going to get and keep seven human souls. It was a big project, likely to take years. But they could not delay forever hoping a better solution would fall into their laps. They would need more of those containers to start with. Maybe Alphys had some or knew how to make them. Then they would have to find good people… once monsters were introduced to the rest of the world that would not be so hard. They doubted people in the area could stay neutral for long, what with magic and souls and everything else the existence of monsters meant. Those who supported monsters would be the good people, the ones who might consider giving up their soul. Then…

By this time Frisk and Papyrus had returned to the campsite. Frisk filched a single small block of chocolate from an opened bar and stuffed it in their mouth. When Chara whirled they flashed their ghost friend a tiny grin. Chara chuckled, knowing exactly what Frisk meant by that. Then Chara thought for a moment and gestured upward. Once they had Frisk's attention they floated up in the air and spoke, knowing Frisk could not respond. "These stars here," they pointed to a group, "make up Ursa Major, the great bear. These ones here represent Boötes, the herdsman. Between them is a group of stars that make up Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs. Only two of them are bright enough to be seen this close to the city, though. This one here…" They pointed to a non-descript yellowish light, just barely visible to the naked eye. "… is Beta Canum Venaticorum, but it's common name is 'Chara'." They blushed slightly as they cast a sheepish look down. "I know it doesn't look like much, but… I never really cared about standing out."

It was true, without having it pointed out to them Frisk would not have paid the star much mind. So easy to overlook, even though it was trying its hardest. They wanted to ask what drew Chara to that star so much that they took its name for their own, but they were among others now and could not speak freely. They resolved to ask them about it next time. For now they chewed on the little square of chocolate as they stared up into the sky, imagining they felt warmth shining down on them from the twin Charas.

AN: This story takes place in 204X, 31 years after Chara's death. I'm not going to bother guessing what the United States will look like in thirty years (or the way this presidential administration is going whether there's even going to be a United States in thirty years), so out of sheer laziness I'm going to assume the world is pretty much the same as it is now. So don't get too mad at me if you're reading this thirty years from now and I didn't predict quantum computers or Skynet or whatever. For this fic Mt. Ebott is part of the White Mountains in western New Hampshire, and just a few miles away is the picturesque city of Weymouth where the majority of this story will take place. While there are some vague hints in the game that Mt. Ebott resides somewhere close to the Greater Boston area, my decision to place it where I did has everything to do with me personally living in the area. See again, laziness.