~ ❀ Frisk ❀ ~
"H- huh?! You wanna see the monster history archives?! W- what exactly are you looking for?!" Alphys blinked over her computer, staring at me with wide eyes.
"Just wanna check something involving the Dreemurr family. I'll be really quick, I swear!" I exclaimed, walking around Alphys' desk until I was standing beside her. She sighed, turing her chair to face me.
"What exactly? There isn't much else you don't already know as far as I've been told."
I squinted at the mini fridge on her desk in nervousness. -Well, I'm always squinting, but that's besides the point. "I just wanted to find out something about Asriel's other younger sibling..."
The human boy in question, currently poised on Alphys' other side, glanced over and rose an eyebrow at me. "You are aware that you can just ask me, right?"
Alphys' brows furrowed. "'Other' younger sibling? Asriel had another younger sibling?"
Chara huffed, dramatically. "Honestly, if we come across one more monster that refuses to admit to my existence I'm not going to be very happy. And you and I both know what happens when I'm upset."
'You force me to eat a whole bunch of spicy chocolate?' I asked in my thoughts. Chara nodded, grinning mischievously.
He's joking. Mostly.
"Yeah, the first fallen human. His name was Chara Dreemurr." I subconsciously gestured to where Chara was standing, forgetting that I was the only one who could see him. At least for now.
"Sounds kind of ominous. 'At least for now.' What in Asgore's name are you planning, dear Frisk?" He watched me, amused.
"I don't think I've heard of him... But to be fair, I didn't know who Dr. Gaster was up until recently so I'm not that surprised we forgot someone else." Alphys sighed, and pushed her glasses back up her nose.
"Forgotten?! Excuse me, ma'am, but-"
'Shut up, I can't hear what she's saying!' I sent a quick glare to Chara before Alphys noticed. Chara scowled at me, but stayed quiet. Thankfully.
"Come over my shoulder and we'll see if I can pull up the Dreemurr family on the files." Alphys waved me over before she turned back to her computer and began pecking away at the keyboard. Chara sighed and glanced at the screen. I followed suit, placing a hand on Alphys' chair arm to keep my balance.
"Since when did they have all these stories and stuff on the computer? I thought they were all on those screens scattered about the Underground?" Chara asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. I repeated this to Alphys.
"Well, during the moving process to the surface, a couple of monsters, Dr. Gaster, and I downloaded all the files to chips so we could preserve our history. We combined all of them onto one particular drive that we dubbed 'The Monster History Archives'. Asgore came up with the name." She clicked on a file with the name she mentioned and started scrolling through a long list of old entries made by her ancestors.
Chara rolled his eyes. "Not surprised. Dad always was gifted in his name giving. Heh, did you know Asriel's name is just a mix of Asgore and Toriel? I have no idea how dad got that passed mom."
I stifled a chuckle. 'I thought they named him Asriel because that was the name of an angel, granted it's spelled slightly different.'
"It would fit honestly. With Azrael being the Archangel of death or something like that."
'Don't say that to Asriel or he might get upset.' I warned, knowing he would probably do it anyways.
Chara scoffed."Please. If that is what gets him upset, we really need to worry about him. Even so, I think he's good. Have you seen how much he jokes around with all the monsters he killed not so long ago? I think you're more traumatized then he is."
'It may be a coping mechanism. You deal with everything that happened to you by throwing around snarky remarks and acting perverted. Sans cracks jokes and comes up with puns. Alphys watches a ton of anime and follows everything Dr. Gaster says. Mr. Asgore does gardening and invites all the other fallen humans to tea parties. Asriel's extremely sarcastic and eats a whole lot of Temmie Flakes.' I stopped to think for a second. 'Ok, maybe the one about the Temmie Flakes is just Asriel being weird, but you get my point.'
Chara looked over at me with an unreadable expression. Er, wait I think it's horror...?
"You think I'm a pervert?"
'A little bit. You seem to like hanging out in my room even when I'm changing, not to mention all the suggestive comments you keep pelting me with. Which also reminds me: you are aware you don't have a physical body right?' I thought I saw a little extra shade of pink appear on his naturally rosy cheeks, but I shrugged it off.
"I only hang out in your room because you insist upon carrying on a conversation while changing and I can't hear you in your closet or outside the door. It's not like I sit there and stare at you. Seriously, I can quote that weird poster you've got hanging on your wall word for word now." He shuffled a little. "Also those comments are just because I find it funny for you to react to it in a really awkward situation."
Before I could reply in my thoughts, Alphys made a little triumphant squeak and pulled something up on her screen.
"Found it! You said his name was Chara Dreemurr, right?" She somewhat turned her head in my direction, keeping her eyes on the document she had just pulled up.
I nodded. "Mhmm. Oh- That's him!" I pointed to the screen at a picture that Alphys almost scrolled past.
It was a sepia-toned picture of two little boys running along a faded path of beige flowers. A few tan waterways flowed past them, frozen in time. The boy in the front was a young goat monster carrying an old fashioned video camera, his face lit up with excitement and laughter. The boy behind him was a slightly shorter human child, looking as if he was about to trip over a rock in the path. A huge smile was on his face, anyway.
Chara's face lit up immediately. "I remember that day. We were running through Waterfall to Snowdin to hang out with some old friends. Heh, in case you're wondering, yes, I did end up face planting. I have no idea how Gerson managed to catch this picture just before I landed, though." He studied the picture with a distant look on his face. "I wouldn't be surprised if one of the echo flowers caught my cursing and Asriel and Gerson's laughter. Too bad you didn't find it."
"Is he the one about to trip over that rock?" Alphys asked, giggling thoughtfully. Chara sighed and shook his head.
"Yup, that's him in all his glory," I smiled and giggled a little to myself.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Chara exclaimed, leaning on the desk to glare past Alphys at me.
"The two of them were certainly very energetic." Alphys smiled and scrolled down a little bit further. "So, what exactly do you want to find out?"
"I feel the need to bring to your attention just how weird this is for me. It's like reading my own obituary. Which, I suppose, it is technically, but still."
'Then don't read it.' I heard a loud sigh come from the boy beside Alphys. I ignored him and prepared myself for what I was about to ask.
"Does it mention anything about where Toriel took his body after his death?"
Silence. Er, psychically, I mean. Chara looked off to the side while Alphys' mouse went to work as she started scrolling through the page once more. Unlike the quiet ghost, she had started chatting away again.
"I don't see anything, but I'm not too sure why you'd want to learn that anyways," Alphys remarked. She stopped a couple of times to skim some paragraphs, but ended up scrolling again soon after.
"The ruins. Where you had first fallen. You remember the spotlighted flower garden? There." Chara spoke up, seemingly hiding behind Alphys so I couldn't see him.
"You might have to ask the queen about this, Frisk. Why do you want to know anyways?" Alphys finally looked up from her computer after reaching the bottom of the page with no luck.
"I'm just wondering if it could be a scenario like the other humans, you know? To possibly rejoin his soul with his body." I asked, trying to sound as serious as possible. I am serious about this.
Alphys' eyes widened behind her glasses and she started fidgeting with the hem of her lab coat. "I don't know if that would work, Frisk. The other souls were able to return to their bodies after being seperated from Asriel, but I don't know if Chara's was amongst the souls. His could be gone for good. Of course, that depends on the circumstances of his death and how his body was treated afterwards, but it's still highly unlikely it would stick around without anywhere else to go," she rambled, anxiously.
"So that is what you are doing. Look, I appreciate the thought, Frisk, but my soul is gone. The only reason I'm standing here right now is because you woke up my consciousness with your determination when you landed above my body. My soul? It was broken when Asriel was running back to the mountain and sustaining damage from the humans. I am literally just a self-aware memory." Chara finally looked over at me, a look of slight despondence and pity in his expression. The despondence for himself, more-than-likely, and the pity for me, I guessed.
So... here's the thing I get told a lot. Sure, I've got a boat load of determination I'm lugging around, but I'm often told that it can morph into stubbornness. Right now is a prime example of this.
Ignoring the both of them, I grabbed the mouse from where Alphys had left it next to her coffee. I pulled the little grey bar on the right side of the screen back to the top, before beginning to thoroughly read my way down. There has to be something in this horrifically vague article about what exactly happened after his body and Asriel's dust were found in the throne room!
"Er, Frisk, you are not going to find anything. Why don't we just go look for some chocolate? Of course, I can only stare at you eating it, but it's the thought that counts, you know?" Chara watched me, chuckling nervously.
"F-frisk? I didn't really see anything, but I guess a fresh set of eyes could work!" Alphys stated, clearly trying her best to sound optimistic. Chara glared at her, reaching over in an attempt to block the screen with his hand.
"You're not helping, Sid the Science Kid reject! Look, Frisk, please don't bother with it; you're not going to find anything! Even Asriel's accepted that I cannot come back properly - which he seemed to have a hard time doing after getting confirmation that I actually was still around!" Chara exclaimed, feverishly waving his hand in front of the screen to try and block my view.
Unfortunately for him, ghosts are notoriously translucent.
"Hey, Alphys, read this!" I circled the cursor around a particular paragraph that caught my eye. "Think this might help us a little?" I asked, as she leaned forward to read the paragraph.
A loud groan came from the ghost boy on the other side of Alphys. I ignored it.
The passage read like this:
'After the king declared war against humans, the queen left in disgust. The young human's body was gone from the throne room afterward, so it was assumed she took it with her to the ruins. It was quite a shame, really. The boy died in vain. From what I've gathered about his and his older brother's actions leading up to this tragic event, he may have tried to set us free. That's why Asriel went to the surface. After all, as few know, we only need one soul to pass through the barrier. I just wonder if he's even truly dead. After all, humans do persist after death. And this human? He was tougher than the others of his kind I studied on the surface. I seriously doubt only flowers could take our youngest prince down.'
"S-sorry, Frisk, this isn't really something to base this on. It's only someone's opinion. We need concrete evidence to move forward with reuniting his soul to his body. Besides, this doesn't really tell us where his soul might be. Or his body for that matter," Alphys stated, once more fidgeting around with her coat's hem. "Aside from it potentially being somewhere in the ruins."
Chara peered at the screen for a second before looking back up at me and shaking his head. "As she said. Although I am quite flattered by how they described me." A weak, seemingly forced self-satisfied smirk crossed his face before shifting to a slightly perturbed expression. "I do wonder who wrote this article, however... There weren't many monsters aside from the Dreemurrs I knew that well."
I pursed my lips and began scrolling through the page again. "Surely they must have provided an explanation as to why they said what they did. It's probably just buried somewhere..."
Alphys sighed and gently placed a hand on top of mine that was currently fiddling with the mouse. "Frisk, you helped all of us and his brother into freedom. I think he's happy wherever he is... So, why don't we stop for now, ok?"
"Not really. I could seriously go for some spicy chocolate right about now," Chara chirped up, crossing his arms over his chest.
"But..."
"Frisk, don't stress over this, ok?" Alphys' phone started ringing, startling her. "Oh! The queen is calling; Frisk, I think you should head home for now."
I huffed, irritated. "Have you noticed that you haven't been stuttering as much anymore? You sound a lot more confident."
Chara gave me a weird look. "And just how is that related...?"
Alphys looked off to the side, nervously. "T-thank you? Not sure where that came from, hehe..."
"Just something I noticed," I stated blankly, already turning toward the door. In case you're wondering why I pointed that out, although I'm glad she has a lot more confidence in herself, I'll admit it's a little irritating that she's also able to be stern now.
"Wow. So much for the progress you, Papyrus, and Undyne pushed for, hmm? As soon as you find inconvenience with her change, you grumble about it. Honestly, you need to get your priorities straight." Chara commented, trailing along behind me as I started toward the exit.
'And, what made you feel the need to comment on that?' I asked, pulling open the door to Alphys' office.
"Oh, you know, just something I noticed," Chara waved dismissively, a sly grin on his face as he slipped by me and out into the hall.
"Bye, Frisk! Walk home safely!" Alphys called after me, already typing away at her computer once more.
"Bye, Alphys!" I called back, trying to sound optimistic despite my annoyance towards the ghost currently grinning at me from down the hall.
~ ❀ Chara ❀ ~
I followed behind as Frisk made her way down the stairs, talking away with mom on the phone. We had just left Alphys' lab and were now heading back to mom's house. I don't really know why, though, since Frisk lives with the dimwitted skeletons these days. -Actually, I don't really mind Papyrus so I'll re-word that. Papyrus and his dimwitted family's place.
And, in case you're wondering, no, Sans doesn't know I exist - mostly -, I just think some of his life choices are a little questionable.
Frisk might be going to mom's place for dinner or something like that. I'm not fully sure, I can't hear mom's side of their conversation and it sounds boring anyways. Instead, I just see how many stairs I can skip over without falling. And no, I can't fly. Which sucks, too, because I could just skip this whole thing.
'I know you're dead already, but please stop jumping over the stairs. You're making me nervous.' I looked up a couple stairs behind, eventually finding Frisk staring at me with a nervous look. I only grinned back. She is aware that only motivates me to do it more, right?
Sure enough, as I jumped another set of stairs, I heard a frustrated grumble come from my female companion. I grinned triumphantly and began walking down the stairs normally once more. What? My ankles hurt. Well they don't actually hurt, but I imagined them hurting and that was enough to get me to stop. Weird logic, I know.
"...so pick up some Ibuprofen for Azzy? ...Will do. ...Hey! You make it sound like him stupidly choosing to blast music in his headphones is my fault. Sure, I suggest the music he listens to, but- ...That's exactly what I mean. ...Pfft. Yeah, I'm not in the least bit surprised he did that. I still have no idea how you guys can even comfortably wear headphones." Frisk continued loudly talking away into her phone as she climbed down the last set of stairs and into the lobby.
Why am I not the least bit surprised about Asriel blasting music like an idiot. I sighed, chuckling quietly to myself. Him and his rock music, I swear.
'...maybe if I talked to Asriel about this he could help somehow... Or maybe one of the fallen humans.' Unfortunately for me, it wasn't just Frisk's conversation on the phone that was loud. Her thoughts were too. Great perk of being a ghost currently stuck to her soul. I get to hear her thoughts and darkest secrets. Even better, it only works one way so she can't hear mine.
Right now, however, I wish I couldn't hear them. Why is she so insistent on bringing me back, all of a sudden? She really shouldn't be wasting her Determination on somebody like me. I'm the reason a lot of stuff happened and are still happening, really.
'Are you ok? You got really quiet all of a sudden,' Frisk spoke up in her head, turning it towards where I was walking beside her. To other people, it appeared as if she was simply admiring the flowers planted in the lobby.
How the heck does she manage to hold a conversation with a living person and me at the same time-? Wait, that's getting sidetracked. Nevermind.
"Living my best dead life." I gave her a thumbs up and a cheesy grin. Given the context of her thoughts that followed that statement, that probably wasn't the greatest thing to say.
'He's being sarcastic...Man, I've got to figure this out soon. Maybe I could- Wait, crap, he can hear my thoughts. Screw you, Chara.'
Love you, too, Frisky.
"...can't we just eat pizza or something? I'm not really all that hungry. ...You can still eat pie with pizza! I've had it before. ...Huh- Hey! Kris, give Miss Toriel the phone back before I murderize you! ...Yes, that's a word. You wanna know how? Because I said so. ...Please, just because I live with Sans and Papyrus doesn't mean I'm not still like your big sister. I could pick you up easily. ...You're what?" Frisk gasped, exaggeratedly. "You need to stop growing, I swear."
Oh. Right. I forgot to mention. I've got a little brother now. His name is Kris. He's human. He also has a minor crush on Frisk. I side-glared Frisk's phone before huffing quietly to myself.
In all honesty, though, I really do like the kid. He's a fellow chocolate connoisseur, after all. Besides, he seems to have a habit of pranking his friends and Asriel which I am obviously rather proud of. I really do wish I could've officially met him, but I enjoy just getting to see him grow up. He's got these little devil horns, you know? Dad got them for him because he asked when his horns were gonna grow in. So freaking adorable. I think he's about sevenish? They adopted him about two years ago when he was five.
And before you say anything regarding certain opinions of mine, everyone's already determined him as more of an alien than a human. Including me. Believe me, this kid is out there.
'Either brace yourself, or move.' Frisk glared at me as I stood in her way in front of the exit-door.
"Oh, please touch me, dear." I stood planted where I was, wearing my most innocent grin. The girl currently standing in front of me just shook her head and pulled open the door next to me. "Hey, that's the entrance door! Surely, that must be against the law or something?!"
"Yeah, I'm on my way to Dollar General, want a Kitkat or something? Is Noelle over? I can get her some candy canes there. ...Oh, sup, Asriel. ...What do you expect? It's almost Christmas. ...I know it's not even Halloween yet, that's just how stores work. Sans, and I were at Walmart last August and they already had full blown Christmas lawn decorations out." Frisk carried on, evidently talking to Azzy now.
'Asriel says howdy.' Frisk seemingly glanced at me, still talking away as she began walking down the lamplit side-street.
I smiled and looked forward to the setting sun sliding down the sky like a blazing fire on the horizon.
"Tell him I said greetings back."