Author's Note: I started this chapter in the summer of 2016. Talk about writer's block...

Anyway, I hope you enjoy :)

3

"How big is it going to be?"

"dunno."

"Well, what kind of animals will it have?"

"dunno."

"Any predatory cats?"

"Why would they have cats? Everybody has cats."

"I mean like panthers and tigers. Not house cats, you goof."

"I'm not a goof!"

"dunno."

"Tell me. What do you know?"

"as much as that billboard."

Sans pulled off the highway with a lazy, one-handed turn and gestured at the billboard beside the exit. "ZOO", in giant shadowed font, crawled across its length. Childish depictions of safari animals framed its edges, with lions and zebras and hippos all grinning out of a white backdrop. A big red arrow pointed to the right, with a street address emblazoned under it.

Asriel Dreemurr sat in the passenger seat of Sans' car and glanced at the streaking landscape. Trees, parks, houses, and grocery stores all zipped by before he could get a good look.

A foreign compulsion worked its way into Asriel's body. He felt his right arm reach out the open window and grasp at the air. The wind whipped through his fur, eliciting a wisp of pleasure.

I've always liked cars.

An errant thought echoed through Asriel's head, one that wasn't his own. He glanced down at Chara's soul floating over his t-shirt and smiled.

Sans' is pretty cool, huh?

The powder-blue convertible had been a 'discovery' of Sans' some months ago. It had simply appeared in the driveway one day, gleaming in the summer sun and practically begging to be driven. Sans never explained precisely where he'd gotten it, opting to skirt the question or just grin and shrug.

Yeah, it's cool, as long as it doesn't bug you that he stole it.

What? No way. Sans would never do that.

Don't be so sure. How else do you explain it?

He bought it, of course.

Asriel, on the surface it costs money to buy things—

I know, but—

And that requires a job—

Yeah, I—

And NO job pays you for sleeping and lying around.

Asriel was silent.

Got it? Sans is up to something. I know it.

You always say that...

"what are you two talking about?" Sans shifted in his leather seat and glanced at Asriel out of the corner of his eye. "you've got that thousand-mile stare going on. wanna fill me in?"

"I was explaining cat species to Asriel." Chara said, the lie flowing easily over Asriel's lips. Chara said it in such a casual way that even Asriel half-believed it.

"oh really? what's your favorite, asriel?"

"Um, it's uh..."

House.

"—the house cat!"

Sans' smile widened the slightest bit. "i see."

The car took another turn, pulling onto a long stretch of asphalt that led to a cul-de-sac. At the end, behind red brick walls and iron filigree stood the zoo.

We've got to work on your poker face, Asriel. Sans saw right through you.

I wouldn't have to work on anything if you didn't lie all the time.

The whole secret rests in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent.

What?

Sun Tzu said it.

Who?

Never mind.

Asriel felt a tap on the top of his head. He looked back to see Frisk, crouched on the convertible's cramped back seat, displaying a smile and a new set of braces. "What do you want to look at first?"

"I'm not sure." He pondered. "Do they have goats? I wanna finally see some. They don't really look like me, do they?"

Frisk made an evasive noise. "Yeah, well, I think there's a petting zoo. It'll definitely have them."

Sans pulled the car into the parking lot, tottering over speed bumps and pausing before pedestrians. He was an unexpectedly safe driver, despite the lack of experience and obvious height issue.

"alright, you three set?"

"Where're Pap and Asgore?" Chara asked. "Weren't they coming?"

Sans looked ruefully at the car's tiny chairs and tight frame.

"...Fair enough."

The group piled out of the car, stretched their legs, and set out across the parking lot.

"tori told me we'd be having bone meal for dinner if anything happened to you kids, so no jumping into bear cages, capiche?"

A huge, porcelain elephant statue adorned a pedestal in the center of the cul-de-sac. It was rearing back on its hind legs, trunk high in the air. People swarmed around its base, some stopping for pictures, most moving to and from the zoo.

The sheer number of humans was staggering. Asriel felt a tremor in his chest.

Don't be scared.

I'm not!

Where's all this fear coming from, then?

I don't know. Maybe you're scared.

Something like a snicker warbled through Asriel's head, but quickly stifled itself.

Everything'll be fine. We're all here. Nobody's going to hurt you.

Asriel took a breath.

And besides, you should be way more afraid of the animals. If anything's going to attack you, it'll be the tigers.

What?!

"alright, stay close," Sans said, in an oddly protective voice. "let's get some tickets."

The ticket booths were spaced out at regular intervals on the brick wall that marked the boundary of the zoo. They were cylindrical with multi-colored, conical roofs and archways linking them together. Attendants stood inside, each one wearing a silly animal hat.

Sans parked the group before a red-roofed booth attended by a blue-eyed woman in a lion hood. The hood made it appear as if her face was emerging from its open mouth. She smiled at Frisk through the smudged glass, but her expression wavered as she caught sight of Sans and Asriel.

"Welcome to the City Zoo!" she said, tremulously. "Can I help you?"

Sans returned her smile. "yeah, i'm gonna need three—no, four day-passes for the zoo." He drew out his wallet and flipped clumsily through the bills.

"Four?" the woman ventured. "Are you expecting another member to your group?"

"nah, that one counts as two." Sans jerked a bony thumb over his shoulder at Asriel.

The woman's gaze shifted, and the smile dipped another few millimeters. "I'm sorry, I don't quite understand."

Asriel fidgeted under the scrutiny. "There's uh, two of us in here." He pointed at Chara's soul hovering over his chest.

The woman's eyes grew wide once they locked on the pulsing red heart. "I'm sorry?" she repeated, this time with a tone that sounded more offended than apologetic. "We haven't had m-monsters visit the zoo yet. Is this something special about your—" She swallowed the word and shuffled some papers on her desk.

'Kind'? Chara sneered in Asriel's head.

Sans held up a greasy fistful of money and cleared his throat. "yeah, something like that. but, uh, lady do you mind if we..."

The woman's hand lingered over an office phone speckled in flashing buttons. A deep furrow creased her features.

"...get those tickets?"

This is so stupid. She's more scared than you are. You can almost smell it in the air.

But what's the matter? I don't—

Chara seized control of Asriel's body as one would snatch a toy from a child's hand. He stomped forward and slammed Asriel's paws painfully against the counter. "I ATE a human, so now his soul's trapped inside me!" He bared Asriel's fangs. "So, you'd better give us those tickets before I eat you too!"

The woman made a panicked noise and retreated from the counter, but not before grabbing the phone and pounding out a few numbers on the keypad. Her shaking fingers stumbled over the buttons, eliciting garbled beeps.

"haha, great joke there, you're a real kidder!" Sans hauled Asriel out of the woman's field of vision by the back of his t-shirt, shoving him off to the side and grinning a private, unspoken threat. He leaned back over the counter and warped the grin into something more pleasant. "he's a real class act. taught him everything i know." Sans placed the money beside the ticket dispenser and tapped an emphatic finger. "but all laughs aside, do ya' mind if we get those tickets? so we can get out of your hair?"

Frisk sidled up beside Sans and fixed the woman with pleading, liquid eyes.

It took a few moments for the woman to compose herself, but she slinked back to her station, typed something out on the computer, and dispensed the tickets. Not a single word passed through the hard, white line of her lips.

Sans thanked her before ushering the group off into the zoo as quickly as their stubby legs would allow.

What the heck was that? Asriel shrieked in his thoughts. He tugged back the reins of his own body.

Chara chuckled and released his hold. They're such scaredy-cats. Every single one.

That was so... so... Asriel hunted for a word. Cruel! Why'd you do that?

Chara's thoughts grew cold, as if a sheet of ice had settled inside Asriel's head. Did you not see the way she looked at you? Or at Sans?

The group didn't pause until the red brick of the entrance had disappeared over their shoulders. Once they found a secluded spot beside an untended pretzel stall, Sans wheeled around and fixed Asriel with a withering look.

"nice performance there, kiddo, but do you wanna explain what you were thinking? chara?" His last word was pointed and brittle like a sliver of coral.

A twinge of relief ran down Asriel's back.

"What?" Chara asked with a shrug. "It was a joke. Like you said. I was just having some fun."

"i doubt that lady got much of a kick out of it. now, don't get me wrong, pranks are pranks, all well and good. but that… that was something else. you better watch yourself."

"Or what? I'll run everyone out of the zoo? Fine by me. Asriel doesn't like the crowds anyway."

Frisk planted a hand on Asriel's shoulder. "I'm supposed to be the Emissary to the Underground, remember? That means you're like a… sub-emissary. We're here to make friends, not scare people."

Chara jerked the shoulder away. "Fine, I get it, whatever. Let's just go look at the animals already."

Sans held his ground for a tick, skeletal fists in pockets, eyeing Asriel in his cryptic way. "alright, then. let's find a kiosk."

Though it entailed some wandering, they discovered an information kiosk near the center of the park. It was a rectangular, one-room hut with a novelty roof shaped like a sombrero. A smear of multi-colored pamphlets was arranged on display racks atop the front counter. It was unmanned, so Sans helped himself, passing the pamphlets out to the kids.

As soon as a one entered his paws, Asriel unfurled it, stretching his arms wide to get a full view. This was almost the best part: the map. With eager eyes, he devoured every detail, from the cute animal heads denoting the location of exhibits, to the crossed forks marking the cafeteria. Already, his mind was alight devising the best route to follow so they wouldn't miss a single thing.

He looked forward to pinning this on his bedroom wall beside the similar pamphlets of the city's amusement park and nature preserve. Now all he needed was one for the aquarium and his collection would be complete.

Grinning, Asriel ran a digit along the optimal path. He started to speak up to Sans and Frisk but stopped himself. There was a presence close by, not physically but within. It was Chara, hanging over him, peeking in on his thoughts like a cheater on a math test.

What? Asriel veiled his mind, hiding the merriment behind a wall of suspicion.

Nothing, only watching.

The veil remained. Chara had a habit of raining on Asriel's parades. Any second now, there'd come some sour comment calling Asriel childish for getting worked up over lines on a piece of paper.

It's nothing, honest. Just… you've really gotten into maps lately. That's kind of fun.

Asriel's defenses slackened.

I've always liked them, remember? I made colored pencil maps of the Ruins all the time when we were little.

Something warm radiated from Chara. Right, I'd forgotten. It's good you haven't.

Huh? Asriel's brow furrowed.

"Tough choice, right?"

Asriel blinked, and reality flooded back in. Frisk was beside him, arms crossed in sagely contemplation.

"Deciding where to start is always so hard."

Chara claimed the throat, not missing a beat. "Anywhere is fine. We've got the whole day, don't we?"

"sure do," Sans said, stuffing his own pamphlet into his pocket. "at least until they kick us out at closing time. but we should get a move on either way, turns out they've got an exhibit of my favorite animal."

"Do you even know enough about animals to have a favorite?"

"i know plenty. now c'mon, we've got places to be." With that, Sans sauntered off.

Frisk gave Asriel a metal-studded smile. "What do you think is his favorite? I bet its penguins or something."

"No," Asriel said after a thoughtful pause. "It has to be something lazy."

They set off in pursuit of Sans as he wound his way through the zoo, passing food stalls and gift shops, every one swarming with humans. Asriel kept a safe distance and did his best not to notice the stares.

As they passed beneath the vine-strewn archway that marked the bounds of the mammalian quadrant of the zoo, Chara let out a long, low groan. "One point for Asriel."

The sloth exhibit stood right before them.

"a thing of beauty, huh?" Sans asked. "relaxation down to an art form. did you know they sleep twenty hours a day?" He leaned on the guardrail of the exhibit, planting his elbows and cupping his chin. "what a way to live."

"As if that qualifies as living."

"it does in my book."

The exhibit was an open-air pavilion composed of logs and metal cables. At its center stood a microcosm of the jungle, complete with tropical trees, fern-speckled soil, and one dangling sloth. The animal watched them with placid disinterest, as one would watch a blank wall or a patch of dirt. Though nothing separated it from them save for a waist-high guardrail and a warning sign, the sloth didn't show the slightest concern at their presence.

Frisk leaned over the railing and cooed, trying to coax the sloth closer. It considered the offer for a moment but thought better of it and instead settled down for a nap.

They stared at the inert creature.

"When I said anywhere is fine, I wasn't imagining this. Let's go look at something that actually, you know, moves."

Sans waved a limp hand. "cut me some slack here. i'm gonna be herding you cats all day. you can let me have my fun for just a bit, right?"

Chara made a small noise of displeasure but didn't press the matter. He withdrew from the body, leaving Asriel in full control.

Tell me when we get to something worth looking at.

Don't pout. The sloth is kinda cute. Look at his little nose.

I'm not pouting, just need to take a breather.

Chara did this from time to time, vanishing from their shared mind-space like a magic act. Though Chara didn't sleep in a usual sense, Asriel inferred this served a similar purpose. It was always a peculiar sensation, the sudden vacancy in a place usually so full. It hearkened to a darker age…

Asriel pushed the feeling aside and immersed himself in the sounds of summer: the sigh of trees, the drone of insects, the laughter of children.

Time flowed its viscous course, long enough that even Frisk began to tap a little melody on the guardrail. Sans continued to stare, his attention set on a point far away. After some internal trigger, Sans pushed off the guardrail. "alright, kids, lead on. i got my minute's peace."

"Okay!" Asriel said, brandishing his pamphlet. "I know just where to go."

Author's Note: At least one more to come, I promise!

Throw me some feedback if you're so inclined. It's always a treat for me.