Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"SANS!! DID YOU REMEMBER TO PACK YOUR SOCK THAT YOU FAILED TO MOVE?!" Papyrus shouts to his brother as they unpack their belongings with Toriel and Frisk.

* hmm... let me check.

Sans looks in a box, then back to his brother.

* no.

"URRGH, HOW COULD YOU FORGET TO PACK IT?! I TELL YOU TO MOVE IT EVERY SINGLE DAY!!"

* not my fault you failed to remind me the day that frisk dropped by.

"YES, I DID! I SPECIFICALLY SAID “SANS, REMEMBER TO PICK YOUR SOCK UP BECAUSE WE'RE LEAVING FOR THE LAST TIME”, BUT YOU DIDN'T LISTEN!! AGAIN!!!"

Toriel, who'd moved in with the skeleton brothers, hoists a large box from the table and sets it on the ground neatly.

"To be fair to Sans, he has only checked one box, Papyrus." Toriel admits kindly.

"SO LAZY, AM I RIGHT?!" Papyrus scoffs, shaking his head dismissively.

* chill your spine, bro. i'll look at another box later. all this moving stuff is making me tired.

"YOU'RE ALWAYS TIRED, SANS!!" Papyrus shouts. "WE NEED TO GET ALL OF THIS DONE BY TONIGHT, SO THAT FRISK CAN GO TO SCHOOL SOON!"

The area suddenly flashes pitch black, and when it isn't pitch black anymore, everything is packed up, set up, and put away, with Sans laying down on the couch, asleep. Dumbfounded, Papyrus looks around and huffs, arms crossed.

"IF I KNEW WHAT JUST HAPPENED, I WOULD ASSUME THAT SANS HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT." Papyrus admits. "GOOD ON HIM!"

"He certainly works hard, for the amount of work he actually does." Toriel giggles.

Frisk smiles and nods. Papyrus claps his hands once, getting everyone's attention.

"SO! WHO WANTS SPAGHETTI??" Papyrus asks, with Frisk happily raising their hand. "NYEH HEH HEH!!! THEN AWAY I, MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS, GO!"

Papyrus runs off, with Toriel following at her own pace. Frisk exhales silently while Chara, as a red spirit, fades into view next to them, arms crossed and floating in the air.

"He seems happy." Chara chuckles.

Frisk nods and smiles widely at Chara, who smirks.

"Yeah yeah, thanks for freeing the monsters. You're a better person than I am, Frisk. That's for sure." Chara admits. "To be honest with you, while I WANTED to free the monsters, that was while they still hated the humans for the war. So I thought they would just eradicate humanity, and I could be the only one that would survive."

Frisk tilts their head to the side. Frisk begins making hand signs, while Chara blushes, disgusted.

"D-don't look at me like that!! I don't even wanna know how reproduction works with monsters anyways!" Chara whines while Frisk silently laughs. "Urgh, you're lucky I'm bound to your SOUL, otherwise I wouldn't want to be anywhere near you."

Frisk points to themself, then to Chara.

"I know I'm a human too, but I jumped for a REASON. I HATED humanity, and I wanted to run away before anything worse happened to me than what had already happened." Chara snaps. "I respect you, but that doesn't mean I like you. Yet."

Frisk pats Chara's head, but their hand phases right through, as Chara is a spirit.

"Don't touch me." Chara barks.

Frisk keeps their hands to themselves, and the two eventually sit down on the floor in front of each other, playing patty-cake. Sans opens an eye socket and spots this, smiling a little wider.

* havin' fun?

Frisk nods, but misses Chara's hand, so Chara flicks them on the forehead, and Frisk puffs their cheeks out at the taunting Chara.

* that's nice.

Sans yawns and adjusts himself on the couch, scratching his skull with his mittened hand.

* still though, it's kinda odd. chara's around, the flower is in frisk's room, most of our friends are farther away than a simple walk through snow or damp areas, or even a literal giant volcano.

Chara crosses her arms, glaring.

"What's your point?" Chara asks.

* nothin'. except for the fact that it's weird you're here.

"For your information, I didn't have a choice." Chara scoffs. "And no matter how hard I try, I can't use Frisk's SOUL to make me... me."

* 'cuz they aren't letting you yet. or your trust isn't strong enough. give it time, you'll get there.

Frisk looks at Chara, then down at themselves. Frisk then shrugs and smiles again, moving about to a song in their head.

* you two crazy kids go do whatever just as long as it doesn't break anything, alright? i'm gonna lay down and take a well-deserved nap.

Frisk walks over and hugs Sans, who chuckles, rubbing Frisk's head.

* why not go check on the trouble twins in the kitchen, frisk?

Frisk smiles widely and runs off, slipping on a sock, but not falling down. Frisk enters the kitchen, spotting Toriel and Papyrus hard at work in the kitchen, with Papyrus failing to follow the instructions that the chef in the video on his phone explains.

"HOW CAN THIS ONE HUMAN COOK AS WELL AS HE DOES?? THIS GUY MUST BE A MASTER OF HIS CRAFT!" Papyrus admits as he drains the excess water from the bowl containing the cooked noodles into a strainer.

"According to his many books and the internet, he has been cooking for more than 40 or so years, so this man is expected to be exceptional at cooking!" Toriel chimes. "Perhaps even better than yourself!"

"HA! THAT'S A CLEVER JOKE, LADY ASGORE!" Papyrus chimes.

"I tell you, my name is Toriel." Toriel mutters.

"LADY TORIEL!" Papyrus reiterates.

Frisk tugs on Papyrus's tattered scarf, causing him to look down at them.

"AH, HUMAN! JUST IN TIME!! THE PASTA IS ALMOST READY!" Papyrus chimes. "I MIGHT NOT EVEN NEED TO LOOK FOR THIS MEAL!"

"But you probably should." Toriel quickly interjects.

"RIGHT, OF COURSE." Papyrus nods, slightly embarrassed.

Frisk looks at the food and back to Papyrus before smiling yet again.

"Frisk, how about you walk around town and interact with everyone? While we get dinner ready?" Toriel asks, and Frisk nods.

Frisk heads over to the door, getting their boots on, then opening the door to a bright, sunny day. Stepping out of the house, Frisk looks left, then right, spotting houses and trees and grass, and cars driving past. Frisk runs their hands through their long-ish hair, then places their hands on their hips, smiling and nodding to themselves, then walking off.

Chara appears next to Frisk, travelling with them.

"You OK?" Chara asks. "You're being kinda quiet."

Frisk gives Chara a dead stare, with Chara laughing.

"Bad joke, bad joke, haha! But for real though, you haven't really talked to me since we left the Underground." Chara admits. "I know you legit can't, and nobody we know knows human sign language so you never learned, but... we used to talk. And I guess I missed that."

Frisk exhales and makes some hand motions, with Chara understanding.

"I know I taught you monster sign language but I assume it's very different from human sign language, Frisk. Thank God you can speak some type of language, though." Chara chuckles, with Frisk laughing as well, only silently.

Frisk continues to walk on before stopping as soon as they spot a glowing cyan spot on the ground. Then three. Then 16, before spears shoot up from the ground, and Undyne drops from the sky, landing in a superhero landing while the spears fade away, and Undyne stands up, her hair flowing in the wind.

"Hey, Frisk! You headin' around town?" Undyne asks, and Frisk nods, using hand movements. "Toriel told you to? Man, she's a nice lady. I already got myself a nice lady, so..."

Undyne smiles to herself, but shakes it off briefly and places a hand on her hip.

"Well, I'll leave ya alone. I just wanted to see what was up." Undyne admits before taking off running, then leaping from rooftop to rooftop, careful to not break anything.

Frisk continues walking down the sidewalk, exploring the area around them. After a bit of exploration, Frisk finds a few kids, around their age and a bit older too, in an alley, minding their own business. Thinking nothing of it, Frisk moves on, but they're grabbed by the shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going?" A boy's voice asks aggressively.

Frisk takes a deep breath and removes the boy's hand from their shoulder without looking at him, then continuing to walk away.

"HEY! Don't you run from us!" The boy scoffs. "You're Frisk, am I right? That chick who freed the monsters?"

Frisk stops walking and turns around, spotting that the boy has brown, messy hair with sharp green eyes, and he's moderately tall, with a skinny body to boot. Him and the other kids have a devious energy about them, almost a red haze misting over their eyes.

"Frisk, these guys are hooligans. Just go." Chara snaps. "They misgendered you, big whoop. People do that all the time with others. It's just how humans are."

Frisk crosses their arms, and the boy approaches with his gang of mostly males, with one or two females; Frisk can't really tell, due to haircuts and facial structure. The fact that they were misgendered suddenly makes sense to Frisk, who huffs through their nose.

"Why would you bring those freaks back up here?!" The boy shouts.

Frisk exhales with exasperation and shakes their head in disapproval, frowning. With a condescending finger wag and a tsk tsk tsk, Frisk earns the boy's ire rather quickly, seeing as he thwacks Frisk upside their head.

Chara immediately eyes this, almost like a robot sensing danger.

"They're MONSTERS! They deserve to stay under that volcano for all eternity!" The boy continues.

Frisk, realizing they cannot speak, atempts to, only making a quiet, airy croak, before stopping, and Chara shrugs.

"I can't help you here." Chara admits. "...unless... you let me take over your body?"

"Well?! Answer me!!" The boy orders.

Frisk nods, and Chara smiles.

"I understand, no other options." Chara nods.

Chara slowly fades into Frisk, with Frisk's eyes opening, and glowing red irises are in place of their rather wide eyes. This fact does not escape the boy, however, who makes a mental note of this.

"OK, listen." Chara begins, lightening their voice to be almost sweeter, and adding the slight, slight, slightest hint of some sort of accent, unknown to even themself. "I freed them all because they were miserable. They made jokes to keep hope alive that they didn't even know they still had. And the monsters I've come to accept as my family are all wonderful people, with actual lives. Even though most tried to kill me to start out with, they came to trust and love over time, and in turn, I ended up helping them in a majorly big way."

Sneaking up behind them, a member of the gang with a lead pipe is at the ready, silent.

"So... yeah. If that's all, I'll be on my way." Chara adds. "And to add onto that, it's just like humans. There are black humans, and white humans. Arabic humans, and English humans. And so on and so forth. Why judge monsters based on appearance for something they can't help?"

"Just because they're nice to you doesn't mean that they deserve to go free. What about the other six kids that fell down there?!" The boy asks. "And why bring up race theory when they are not even of the human race?"

"The six humans were killed, sadly, as seven human SOULS were needed to break the barrier. I was the last one they needed, but a little flower monster took them all, including all of the SOULS of the monsters in the underground, and... it's a lot to take in, and to explain." Chara explains. "And about that race theory thing."

The kid behind them swings the pipe, and Chara avoids it easily without looking, shocking the other kids.

"King Asgore wanted seven human SOULS to break the barrier when he really only could have used one to pass through, then gotten six more to break the barrier." Chara continues. "And, let's be honest here. If there were a monster that looked enough like a human as to where everything about them was human except for, like, a tail or something, you wouldn't give a god-damn. Anime has tons of those, right?"

The boy struggles to argue because Chara is right, in his mind.

"Well!! I...! You!! Shut up!! You're just defending them based on your experience with them!" The boy shouts. "If it were any of US, they would have hated us!"

"Because at least I have the decency to judge people based on personality and actions, and not just appearance or how scary they are." Chara snaps. "I gave them a chance to be nice. Because you hate them, they'd probably be dust on your palms."

Chara suddenly leaves Frisk's body, with Frisk's eyes closing, and their throat suddenly feels parched. The boy looks to the kid with the pipe, and the kid nods before swinging again, but Frisk avoids it, turns around and grabs the pipe from the kid, tossing it into the alley.

Frisk attempts to speak, but this only causes their throat more torment. Chara, saddened by this, feels their own chest.

That feeling... I was about to take Frisk's body from them. I shouldn't rob them of their happy future. Chara thinks before one of the kids swings at Frisk, who easily avoids it.

"...l... lea...v..." Frisk manages to say before they cough violently, getting on their hands and knees while blood comes out of their mouth.

The gang all smile at each other before grabbing a weapon each (be it a metal pipe, a stick, a shard of broken glass, etc.) and brandishing them. Chara looks worried as they all manage to shove Frisk into the alley.

"Now, let's try and clear this up, OK? What hurts more?" The boy asks with a wicked smile, lifting the knife in his hand to strike Frisk. "A, or B?"

The boy slashes Frisk's back with the knife first, causing blood to spill, then he stabs them in the back, ripping it out afterwards.

"A." Frisk answers, their voice still croaky and hoarse.

This earns the boy's ire.

"Alright, gang. Have your way with her." The boy scoffs.

The gang all chuckle and begin to harshly beat Frisk, blood spilling, bones snapping, ears ringing, eyes fading. Chara repeats apologies left and right, beginning to cry, and the boy steps forward.

"I'm finished with her now. Kill her." the boy orders.

The members of the group all look to the boy with utter shock, as if this is completely new.

"You.. you want us to kill her?? Anthony, I thought we were just gonna rough her up a little..." another member of the group states.

"Jason, if you wanna be a little bitch, then let ME do it and save me the trouble of having to listen to you whine." Anthony orders, taking the metal pipe from his hand.

Chara, upon hearing these words, has an epiphany, and remembers something long repressed that causes them to scream in rage, and Chara shines brightly, causing the gang to look directly at them, and Frisk's heart begins to beat harder in their chest.

Realizing that they can be seen, Chara instantly swirls around them all and stops in front of the boy.

"Your name. Now."

"A... A-Anthony."

"Anthony. Let me tell you something." Chara begins.

Chara then puts on their creepy face, a black liquid escaping their mouth and eyes.

"If you or any of your little gang members here lay another grubby little mitt on Frisk again, or misgender them again, I will PERSONALLY show you Hell..."

"Pfft, and who the hell do you think YOU are? Casper the Menstrual Cyclist?" Anthony asks, getting a laugh from his gang while Frisk attempts to stand.

One of the other members stomps on Frisk's back, keeping them on the ground as they wheeze once more.

"I am the demon that comes when people call its name. It doesn't matter when. It doesn't matter where. Time after time, I will appear. Especially in your case. You manage to attack a helpless child, who only wanted to free those they befriended. You are SCUM." Chara monologues. "WORTHLESS scum. Not worth the blood off of your stepfather's boots."

Anthony turns pale at this accusation, and Chara, though they don't show it, is surprised.

I actually hit that on the money? Huh. Chara thinks to themselves, keeping up the act.

"I will give you one chance to turn away now. Or I WILL kill you."

Anthony looks to his friends, then back to Chara, and they begin to laugh their heads off, greatly angering Chara, who begins to laugh maniacally. This silences the members of the gang, who look confused or horrified. It instantly stops after about ten seconds, and they go to Anthony's ear.

"Tell Klarense I said “hi”."

Anthony, absolutely horrified at the fact that Chara knows his stepfather's name, runs off, and the other kids follow him as Chara instantly tends to Frisk.

"Are you alright?!" Chara asks, and Frisk collapses. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God... no no no no no no no, come on... don't pass out now! I can barely go 20 feet away from you!"

Frisk doesn't say anything, or do anything. Chara begins to cry, shaking Frisk, as they can touch them now.

"Get up, get up! Please!" Chara sobs, sniffling. "You're the only good thing I have left!"

Upon hearing those words, Frisk's wounds begin to glow red, and they slowly fade away, along with their shirt recovering from the injury. Frisk slowly stands up to spot Chara crying with their hands on their face. Frisk smiles and hugs Chara tightly, with Chara hugging back.

"I... I thought you were really hurt..."

Frisk steps back and makes hand motions for a moment.

"It hurt for a minute, but when you heard me say what I said, you had the determination to see me smile again?" Chara asks, and Frisk shoots finger guns at Chara, who crosses their arms. "Whatever. Don't even flirt with me either, I didn't mean what I said."

Frisk smiles smugly.

"DON'T YOU GIVE ME THAT LOOK!! I... I was just, uh... practicing Shakespeare!" Chara argues.

Frisk snorts, and Chara flicks Frisk's forehead again, causing Frisk to flick Chara's forehead, and Chara winces.

"Fri~isk!!" Chara whines petulantly. "Ow!!"

Frisk giggles silently and heads out of the alley, walking along while Chara follows, being a brighter shade of red, even in the sunlight. Chara begins to him a 13 note melody to themself, with Frisk smiling and sitting on a bench so they can listen to Chara. Chara then begins to sing to themselves.

"♫It's not fair to be alone, after what you've been through. So let me just ease your pain, please let me stay with you.♫"

Chara stops and suddenly fades away, a sad expression on their face. Frisk, however, brings their SOUL out, touches it, and Chara fades into view again. Sniffling, Chara sits next to Frisk.

"We... we can talk about it." Chara admits. "I was thinking about Asriel again."

Frisk smiles and wraps an arm around Chara's shoulder.

"Th...thanks for, uh... being s-so nice to... to me."

Frisk nods and leans their head onto Chara's shoulder, who allows this. Chara then begins to smile widely, closing their eyes. Chara mutters something, but because of the blush on their face, Frisk chooses not to ask about it. Frisk exhales, and Chara looks at them, blushing as well.

"Are... are we having a moment?" Chara asks.

Frisk pauses, but shyly nods. The two look at each other, and Chara begins to shine brightly, their hearts beating as one. Frisk quickly realizes what's happening and sits up, quickly signing "sorry".

"You're OK, Frisk! It's fine!" Chara admits. "...I kinda enjoyed being comfy like that."

Frisk's squinted eyes go a bit wider before they smile a bit, and they adjust themselves on the bench.

"...if you want me to lay my head on your lap, you can forget it." Chara snaps, arms crossed.

Frisk pats their own lap with a smug smile, and Chara groans.

"FINE." Chara snaps, laying down.

Frisk smiles and begins to stroke Chara's head. They look down at Chara, who goes wide-eyed in surprise at this before quickly looking away, eyes shut tightly. Frisk taps Chara's shoulder and gets their attention before making hand movements.

"I-I AM NOT ACTING LIKE AN ANIME CHARACTER!!" Chara whines, punching Frisk's arm.

Frisk holds up one finger, and Chara scoffs.

"I'm done." Chara grumbles, going to sit up, but Frisk makes frantic signs. "Relax, we can do this back at the house where it's comfortable and not, like, a thousand degrees and we're sticking to each other."

Chara sits up, and Frisk stands up.

"We still have to walk around town some more until mom calls us and says dinner's ready."

Frisk looks at Chara with a troubled expression.

"If those kids come back, I'll show them pain. Count on that."

Frisk smiles and turns around, walking off. Chara follows, hands in their pockets. Yawning, Frisk stretches with their arms above their head.

"Tired already?" Chara asks, with Frisk looking at them and making signs. "Almost forgot about those little brats."

Frisk makes a few hand signs and movements again.

"I KNOW they look the same ages as us!" Chara snaps. "I just... I really hate it when people bully others! ...reminds me of what happened with me in MY past."

Frisk makes horns on their head with their fingers.

"No, the Dreemurrs were the best parents I ever had." Chara admits. "It was my OLD parents that made me feel that way."

Frisk nods and yawns again before cracking their neck to the sides. They accidentally bump into someone, who looks at Frisk.

The person they bumped into is taller than Frisk and Chara, with messy dark maroon hair and a golden-yellow skin tone. They wear a long-sleeved lime shirt with a single horizontal yellow stripe, and nondescript pants and shoes. The upper half of their face is overshadowed, which blocks visibility of their eyes.

Frisk quickly tries to sign "sorry", but the person chuckles and pats Frisk's head.

"You're fine." The person chimes, their voice being too deep to be a female's and too light to be a male's, but also mumbley and monotonous.

Chara crosses their arms.

"Frisk, if you're done talking with this creep, let's get a move on." Chara snaps.

The person looks right at Chara, which spooks them a bit.

"...can you see me?"

"Yep." The person nods. "Name's Kris."

Frisk smiles.

"That's an... interesting name. As you know, this is Frisk, and I'm Chara."

"Nice to meet you. Also, what are you? 12? 14?"

"We're 12, yeah."

"16. And Toriel has us in the same class, since students of all ages are in the same classes rather than in specialized learning groups like how schools are supposed to be." Kris exhales, rubbing their face.

Chara blinks, and after a double take with Frisk, they look back at Kris.

"You know mama too??"

"Yeah-huh. How can I explain this... I'm not from here. It's kinda the same as this, but... a bit different. Where I'm from, I was adopted by Toriel and Asgore, before they split. Now I'm here with a few of my friends, and the youngest's legal guardian after some fucky-wucky bullshit." 

Frisk, listening in, feels like they're being watched, so they look around.

"Something up?" Kris asks.

Frisk signs, and Kris hums.

"I don't think anyone could be near us, bud." Kris mutters, looking around.

"Move all that hair out of your face and find out for yourself." Chara scoffs.

"Nah." Kris replies.

"KRIS!" A gruff female voice barks, causing Frisk to jolt, and they look behind themselves.

They spot what looks to be a tall, purple, vaguely reptilian monster with freckles at the sides of her face and yellow teeth, being followed by a short creature wearing a wizard's outfit, complete with pastel-green tints on his clothes.

He also has a long magenta scarf wrapped around his neck and dons a pair of green colored glasses, and the purple girl has messy aubergine hair that hangs over her eyes, a long purple jacket, a white shirt with blue trims, a pair of torn jeans and a pair of black shoes.

The wizard has no hat and pink antlers, and he looks very similar to a Boss Monster. So much so that Chara can't stop staring at him.

"Thank goodness we found you! Why did you run off like that??" The wizard asks, his voice being strangely feminine for being a male, yet it's posh, elegant, and polite.

"I tried to find something to eat and I didn't wanna interrupt Susie's flirting with Noelle, OK?" Kris retorts.

The purple girl blushes at the accusation and puts Kris in a headlock.

"Shut up! It wasn't flirting! I was just asking her how the weather was!" Susie snarls, giving Kris a noogie.

Kris, however, gets out of her grip and flicks their hair back into place.

"And conversations lead to--" Kris argues before the wizard stands between them.

"Enough, you guys! We're scaring them!" The wizard complains, and Frisk, standing next to Kris, is not afraid whatsoever.

Looking down at them, Susie exhales roughly.

"Ah, jeez... I am NOT good with kids.." Susie grumbles, scratching behind her head. "this is a real pain in the neck..."

Susie then turns to the wizard.

"Ralsei, aren't you good at being friendly? Why don't YOU try and cheer them up??" Susie asks, arms crossed.

"M-me??" the wizard, named Ralsei, asks, incredulous, before he smiles. "I'd say you've gotten much better at being a friend!"

"They're fine, actually." Kris states simply.

Ralsei and Susie turn to Kris, and then look at Frisk, who's looking up at them. Ralsei smiles and claps his hands a bit.

"Well, that's even better! Now NONE of us have to try! Everyone wins!!" Ralsei cheers.

Chara, bored aleeady, groans.

"This guy reminds me so much of Asriel, it's not even funny." Chara scoffs. "But if he were even more of a weenie than usual."

"Did you tell 'em why we're here, Kris?" Susie mutters, and Kris nods. "Good."

Frisk walks over and hugs Ralsei, and Ralsei, surprised at this, hugs back awkwardly before they stand up and separate.

"Kris, Frisk seems like such a nice young... uh.. human! I hope we get to meet them again!" Ralsei chimes.

Ralsei whispers something to Kris, who nods at Ralsei, and Ralsei exhales in relief. Chara, having overheard them and inquisitive upon what a “Lightner” is, pockets this information for later use.

"We'll see 'em again. They'll be at that new school soon." Kris admits, with Ralsei smiling.

"Hooray!" Ralsei cheers, clapping his hands quietly.

"Anyways, we gotta bounce. Rouxls, that legal guardian, told us to find Lancer a while ago, and we haven't had even a trace of him yet. We've been looking all over town, and haven't found him." Kris explains.

Frisk attempts to use their words, but they just manage to croak, coughing again. They then clear their throat and attempt to sign.

"The reason we lost him is because he got on his bike a few hours ago and proceeded to ride off, the fire at the back if it actually propelling it into the air, and we figured he has to land somewhere by now." Kris explains before a small shadow casts upon the middle of them all.

A short and rotund black, blue and white creature with a teardrop-shaped head suddenly falls onto the ground, a cartoonish splat coming out of his landing. The upper half of his face is hidden by a large, spade-shaped shadow that light cannot pierce. He has a large mouth and a prominent blue tongue that he sticks out.

"Owchies."

"Lancer?! How the hell did you get that high into the air?!" Susie asks as she helps the creature, presumably “Lancer”, up.

Once Lancer stands up, he spins around and hits a pose.

"I dunno! I actually landed a while ago, but I climbed on top of a house and rode off, but I landed here!" Lancer explains. "I don't know where my bike is though, but—"

Lancer is interrupted by his bike landing on the street, and it's run over by a car passing by.

"Found it." Kris chuckles.

Lancer sulks at this, and Frisk slowly backs away before turning around and walking off. Chara follows, and Frisk's phone buzzes. They check it to see that it's a text from Papyrus.

' GREETINGS, HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE FINISHED COOKING!

FEEL FREE TO COME BY AT ANY TIME!

...WELL, NOT ANY TIME. IT'S GOING TO GET COLD IF YOU COME BACK TOO LATE.

COME BACK IMMEDIATELY!!! >:D

NYEHFULLY YOURS, PAPYRUS'

"Did he type that as he was thinking and didn't bother to hit the backspace button?" Chara thinks out loud.

Frisk smiles and starts running, with Chara following again, placing their hands on their spine to try and crack it, cursing themselves out when they fail to. When they arrive at the house, they step inside, getting their boots off at the front door.

"Ah, my child! Welcome back!" Toriel cheers. "How was your little adventure around town?"

Frisk, remembering the kids in the alley, suddenly frowns, and scratches their arm nervously. Toriel, immediately realizing something is wrong, looks worried.

"Is something the matter, my child?" Toriel asks.

Sans simply appears next to Toriel, hands in his pockets.

* yeah, what's eatin' ya, kid? i haven't seen you this worked up since you got done fighting mettaton.

Frisk exhales and attempts to explain, but shakes their head.

"DID SOMETHING BAD HAPPEN WHILE YOU WERE AWAY??" Papyrus asks from the kitchen.

Frisk looks at Chara, who crosses their arms.

"I... I don't want to talk as you again. I'm not taking over your body."

Frisk rubs their face, but is comforted by a nice warm soft hug from Toriel.

"Relax, my child. Allow me to make everything better." Toriel coos, with Frisk hugging back. "I do so very much enjoy hugs, tee hee."

Papyrus comes out of the kitchen, a plate of spaghetti in both hands.

"PERHAPS THIS STORY CAN BEGIN ONCE WE BEGIN OUR FEAST!" Papyrus chimes.

Toriel turns to him and nods, smiling.

"An excellent idea, Papyrus." Toriel replies softly.

Everyone takes their seats, and Papyrus leaves to get the cheesy garlic bread he managed to bake and not burn. Frisk takes this opportunity to try to explain everything that happened, but their monster sign language isn't the most advanced, nor do they know many words. The main idea gets across, however, and Toriel gasps, placing her hands over her mouth, and Sans' pupils disappear for a moment.

"Oh my goodness! Are you harmed?" Toriel asks.

Frisk shakes their head, and Sans exhales.

* i'm just glad that YOU didn't start anything this time.

* come to think of it, you never really do, huh?

Frisk nods, resting their chin on the table with their folded arms under it. They jolt and frantically sign, causing Sans to laugh a bit.

* hey, relax. undyne won't know until you're ready to tell her yourself. lord knows we need THAT headache right now.

Frisk exhales deeply as Chara pats Frisk's shoulder, and Sans smiles wider at this.

They're trying, that's for sure. Sans thinks, chuckling.

"What is so funny, Sans?" Toriel asks.

* heh heh, my bad. just thinkin' to myself.

Frisk looks at Sans, whose pupils shift to Chara for a moment, then back to where he was looking prior. Papyrus returns with more plates, and sets them down in front of those who don't have a plate yet before sitting down himself.

* bone appétit.

Toriel, Chara and Frisk all laugh at the joke, and Papyrus' extremely dramatic and negative reaction.

"SANS!! DO NOT RUIN THIS AMAZING MEAL WITH YOUR JOKES!!" Papyrus snaps.

* c'mon bro, you can't be mad at me for making bad jokes when you made more jokes than i did when frisk was underground. count 'em.

Realizing this, Papyrus chuckles.

"YOU FAIL TO REALIZE THAT BAD PUNS AND CLEVER WORDPLAY ARE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT BEASTS TO CONQUER, SANS!! THE VERY ESSENCE OF HUMOR IS COOKED MUCH LIKE A PLATE OF THE FINEST BOLOGNESE YOU CAN GET FROM THE LOCAL SUPERMARKET!" Papyrus begins, standing up on his chair and posing about dramatically. "IT TAKES WIT! TIMING!! INTELLIGENCE!! AND A DECENT SENSE OF HUMOR, TO EXECUTE PROPERLY! AND YOU, DEAR BROTHER OF MINE, LACK ALL OF THAT, SAVE FOR INTELLIGENCE!!"

* puns ARE wordplay, bro.

"SILENCE!!" Papyrus immediately shouts, bending down considerably to poke Sans on the head.

"Papyrus, please calm yourself, hee hee." Toriel chimes. "Sans is correct, and as are you. Humor, though subjective, is an artform. Like cooking."

Papyrus plops back down in his seat, smoothing his nonexistent hair back with a flippant sigh.

"I HOPE YOU'RE RIGHT... AS MUCH AS I DISLIKE SANS' PUNS, HE SIMPLY MAKES TOO MANY FOR THEM TO TRULY BE ENJOYABLE." Papyrus explains. "...SOMETIMES."

* "sometimes"?

"WELL, WHENEVER I, PAPYRUS, AM HAVING A BAD DAY, SHOCKING, I KNOW, I SIMPLY REMEMBER THE FUNNIEST THING YOU SAID IN RECENT MEMORY, AND IT MAKES ME FEEL A LITTLE BIT BETTER. JUST DON'T PUSH YOUR LUCK WHEN IT COMES TO MORE AFTER THIS STATEMENT." Papyrus explains.

Sans pats Papyrus on the shoulder of his battle body, smiling wider than usual.

* don't worry, bro. i'm not gonna torment you anymore, as you would put it.

"I NEVER SAID YOU HAD TO STOP FOREVER! JUST, TONE IT DOWN A BIT! WE'RE ON THE SURFACE NOW, SANS!!" Papyrus admits. "AND BESIDES, NOW YOU CAN PURCHASE A BOOK OF JOKES TO ENHANCE YOUR HUMOR!"

* that's a good point. let's eat, then discuss this later. frisk had a bad day today walkin' around town, and i figure they just wanna hit the hay.

Papyrus gasps, his hands flying to his skull immediately.

"OH NO! WHAT HAPPENED?!" Papyrus asks frantically.

* apparently, a few brats recognized them, misgendered them, and got a lucky shot in trying to attack them. all because they didn't like monsters too much. it's called "racism".

"I KNOW WHAT RACISM IS, SANS. AND I WOULD LIKE TO DECLARE THAT IT IS THE TRUE ROOT OF ALL EVIL!! I HOPE THE GUARDIAN ANGELS SENT ONE FOR YOU!!" Papyrus exclaims. "WE ALL NEED ONE IN THESE TRYING TIMES, AM I RIGHT?"

Chara smiles and begins to shine brightly, unbeknownst to them, and all eyes (or eyesockets) are on them. Toriel's eyes widen significantly at this, and Papyrus smiles.

"WOWIE! THEY DID SEND YOU ONE!!" Papyrus chimes, and Chara realizes they're being seen, and they instantly fly off. "MUST BE SHY."

Toriel freezes in place. "Was it me, or did that spirit look... awfully familiar?"

* it's probably you. i mean, it could just be frisk's determination manifest.

Toriel, suspicious, sadly puts a hand to her chin and looks down.

"I.. suppose..." Toriel admits.

"IF I KNEW WE WERE GOING TO HAVE COMPANY, I WOULD HAVE MADE MORE SPAGHETTI!" Papyrus chimes.

* you need to ask undyne to teach you more pasta to make, bro.

"LIKE WHAT? MACARONI AND CHEESE?" Papyrus asks. "YOU KNOW WHY I SWORE OFF LASAGNA."

* nah, nevermind. don't need you past-ing away from overeggsertion.

"WHAT DID WE JUST TALK ABOUT?!" Papyrus groans in agony as Sans, Toriel and Frisk chuckle.

After they finish eating, Frisk walks upstairs to find Chara in the corner.

"Go away."

Frisk smiles and pats Chara's shoulder.

"Leave me alone."

Frisk hugs Chara from behind, and Chara exhales, crying.

"FRISK. Toriel SAW me. I can't go back down there. She didn't even recognize me, which is a start. But the fact stands that she SAW ME." Chara snaps. "She could remember the genocide runs via timeline fuckery."

Frisk rubs Chara's shoulders, and Chara allows this.

"I just... I just want her to forget I existed. I wasn't a good person. I'm still not a good person. If she ever finds out I am who she thought I was when she saw me, I don't know what's gonna happen."

* little too late for that.

Frisk and Chara turn around, and Toriel and Papyrus are with Sans, while Toriel has her hands over her mouth.

"...my child? Is.. is that truly you?"

Chara explains everything they did, why they exist, and how they're connected to Frisk. Toriel and Papyrus listen intently, as Sans already knew this, and more.

"I... I cannot believe that you exist... in some way..." Toriel sobs.

Chara exhales, rubbing their face.

"I understand why you're crying, but please don't. I don't deserve them. I made dad sick. I made monsters hate humans as much as I do until Frisk came along." Chara explains. "I made that stupid plan for Asriel to absorb my SOUL. I made that stupid mistake of asking him to take me back to the flowers in my village."

Chara then tearfully begins to blabber, their words becoming unintelligible. Toriel approaches, kneels down and opens her arms for a hug, which Chara accepts in a heartbeat.

"It is alright, my child. I am here." Toriel utters.

Chara, unable to hold her tears back, merely continues to sob. Toriel smiles and chuckles pathetically, shaking her head.

"I see." Toriel says in a soothing voice. "You do not need to shed any more tears, my darling Chara."

"...OK."

"It is getting late. And you have school in a few months. Go to bed, and we will discuss this at a later date." Toriel orders calmly.

"OK, mama."

Frisk enters their room, and lays down on their bed.

"Welcome back. After not talking to me all day." Flowey grumbles.

Frisk ignores Flowey and closes their eyes to sleep.

"Don't you ignore me!" Flowey shouts.

Chara enters the room next.

"Shut up, Asriel. They've had a long day." Chara snaps.

"Like I care." Flowey snaps. "Sleep if you want, just don't bother dragging me to school with you."

Chara crosses their arms.

"You're going."

"Says who?"

"Says ME."

Flowey begins to laugh hysterically until Chara grabs Flowey's stem (the closest thing to his neck) roughly, and Flowey winces in pain.

"OK, OK! Jeez, I don't have a lot of HP as a flower, you know!" Flowey growls.

"That's better. Sleep tight, Azzy."

"No."

Chara fades away, and Flowey looks outside the window, his eyes fixated on the moon.

"The surface..." Flowey says to himself. "...at least everyone's free now."

END OF CHAPTER ONE

Chapter Text

It's been a few months since the first chapter; the two haven't seen Kris, Susie, Ralsei, or Lancer since, and over time, Chara's ghostly form has grown more corporeal; more visible. They still are a red ghost floating around, but now the average person or monster can see them clearly.

Frisk, sound asleep, doesn't hear their door opening.

"Frisk, sweetie? It is time to wake up!" Toriel chirps.

No reaction. Toriel exhales.

"Child, do not fight this." Toriel grumbles. "You are going to school, young one."

No response. Toriel takes a deep breath.

"FRISK!" Toriel shouts, causing Frisk to jolt awake, and they groggily look to Toriel after they realize their surroundings. "There you are. Come along now, we must hurry if we are to make it on time!"

Toriel leaves the room, and Frisk flops right back onto their bed. Chara fades into view and clicks their tongue at Frisk.

"Bad move, Frisk. Mom has, like, a sensor for that shit." Chara admits, crossing their arms. "Don't try to pull the “I'm going back to sleep” thing on goat mom."

Papyrus enters the room next, and Chara honestly looks afraid.

"Frisk, get up. Get up. Get up." Chara orders. "Papyrus is here. GET UP."

Papyrus clears his throat.

"HUMAN!!! TORIEL HAS TOLD ME TO TRY TO WAKE YOU UP! FORTUNATELY, I KNOW JUST THE TRICK!!" Papyrus chirps before he starts to sing Christmas carols horribly, and loudly, on purpose.

After a cry of groggy annoyance, Frisk throws a pillow at him, making him stop singing as he catches the pillow.

"THERE! I SHALL AWAIT YOU DOWNSTAIRS! AND IF YOU FAIL THIS TIME, SANS WILL BE UP HERE NEXT TIME. AND I'M ALLOWING HIM TO USE THE WATER GUN JUST THIS ONCE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE."

Papyrus throws the pillow back and exits the room, and Frisk sits up, yawning.

"That's all it took?" Chara chuckles. "I mean, I feel sorry for you that you had to endure Papyrus' purposefully awful singing, but seriously."

Frisk hits Chara with their pillow, and Chara yelps.

"MOOMM!! Frisk is picking on me!!" Chara whines loudly.

"No roughhousing, you two!! Get down here, now! And bring Flowey with you!" Toriel shouts from downstairs. "I am NOT going to be late for our first day of school!!"

Frisk gets up and grabs Flowey from the windowsill as he's still in his pot.

"If I get plucked, I'm blaming you." Flowey snarls.

"Learn to live with it." Chara snaps.

"I'll fight you." Flowey scoffs.

"And lose." Chara admits.

Flowey grumbles angrily as Frisk gets ready for their day; washing their hair quickly, brushing their teeth, brushing up on basic sign language with Chara, and since they feel feminine for the day, they fix their eyelashes to fit the part, but leave the makeup for later, aside from slight lip gloss.

They head downstairs and get their boots on as Toriel looks at the new Frisk.

"Ooh~, how adorable!!" Toriel chimes. "I did not know I had such a beautiful child!"

Frisk smiles widely as Flowey looks away, and Chara crosses their arms. The bunch are led to Papyrus' cool red sports car, which revs a few times before he pulls out of the driveway, and makes for the school, sounding like a race car in the process.

* so kid. tell us what those bullies looked like.

"One of them, a girl, had vitiligo, I know that much. It's a one in a million chance skin disease where you get, like, blotches of dead skin all over your body, and it's virtually incurable at the moment, but it's harmless unless you wanna go tanning." Chara explains. "There was also their leader, Anthony. A little- jerk, with brown hair and dark green eyes. And then there's Jason, a kid with heterochromia, which is basically different eye colors; I remember he had blue and purple. Then there was a black kid, don't know his name, and a boy who looks like the girl with vilitigo, only he doesn't have it."

After a moment, Toriel nods and looks back at Chara in the backseat.

"Photographic memory serves you well, does it not?" Toriel asks.

"Please, YOU were the one who taught me everything." Chara chirps.

Toriel blushes at this before giving a warm smile. "Goodness! You are being such a sweetheart lately!"

Chara smirks, then looks down at the floor of the car.

"..yeah."

After the rest of the car ride there, they arrive at the school, where the group of kids who harassed Frisk are sitting at the front entrance. Once one of them points at Toriel, they stand up and escape inside of the building. Realizing this, Chara stays next to Frisk, holding their hand, which Frisk takes, gripping Chara's hand tightly.

"You OK, Frisk?" Chara asks to Frisk, who nods slightly and regrets feeling feminine for the day, but they can't help that.

After entering the building, all of the students are sat in the bleachers for role call, and Frisk exhales, nervous.

"I'll keep an eye out for the brats. You just stay there and be calm. Toriel has Asriel, and she's taking him to a special class because... obviously." Chara explains.

Frisk nods and calms down, thinking of a glass cup slowly being filled with one drop of water at a time while the human teacher calls out names, and the named child responds with "here!", "yeah?", or a snide remark, laughter coming from most other kids.

"...Frisk!"

Realizing their name has been called, Frisk raises their hand. The teacher notices this and sucks in air through her teeth.

"I've been informed of your inability to speak, so I suppose that will have to do." The teacher mutters.

Chara waves at the teacher.

"Hiya! I'm kinda connected to them, so the two of us are one student. My name is Chara. Spelled with a C H, not a K." Chara explains, and the teacher rolls her eyes before writing "+ Chara" next to Frisk's name.

Chara notes the teacher's sour attitude and scoffs at her to themselves.

After role call, the kids all spread around the room to mingle and meet with the monsters while Frisk easily makes new friends with their charisma alone (and Chara being their translator), be them humans or monsters.

Alas, it isn't long before they meet up with the gang of kids who harassed them months prior minus two kids, and Frisk loses their smile while Anthony grins.

Anthony has changed a bit in the few months since Frisk last saw him. His messy hair is now even messier and longer, styled to spike up in the back. His hair is covering his right eye, and his hair is somewhat shaded in a slight yellow coloring.

He's wearing a blank white sleeveless jersey, with a black neck hole. He's wearing a pair of red sweatpants that have a black stripe going down the sides, and purple tennishoes. The hair covering his eye seems to be hiding something, as his skin is darkened around the eye.

On his arms are a pair of tattoos, almost like tribal fire. They don't mean anything in particular, they're just aesthetically “badass”.

"Nice to see ya again, Frisk. Name's Anthony Smith." Anthony chimes, his usually casual voice noticeably shot. "Sorry for the scrap we had a while back. I wasn't really feeling like myself."

"Obviously." Chara muses.

Anthony refuses to look at Chara and ignores them. Frisk, however, crosses their arms.

"Come on, can't we let bygones be bygones?" Anthony asks.

"No. Fuck off." Chara snaps.

Frisk thinks for a moment, and crosses their arms at Anthony, giving him a dirty look. Anthony, sensing the hostility, holds his hands out a bit.

"Alright, I can take the hint, bud." Anthony chuckles.

Jason, the other boy in the group, clears his throat, with all eyes on him now.

"...anyways. My name is Jason Curt." Jason utters. "It... it's n-nice to meet you."

Frisk waves at him, giving him a kind smile, and Jason, somewhat shy, looks away. Anthony notices Frisk is nicer to Jason than him and makes a mental note of this for future use.

Jason has rather long golden blonde hair that fades to dirty blonde, reaching to his shoulders in the back. His bangs spike down to his eyes, but a longer spike reaches to his nose. The sides of his head have a small tuft of hair that sticks up somewhat, almost like a pair of animal ears, but they're too small to actually be a pair of ears.

He has freckles on his pale skin, and his soft and kind eyes are differently colored. Jason's right eye is a blue color, and his left eye is a light green color. He's wearing a dark button-up shirt with his sleeves rolled up to the forearm, and jeans, with a belt that has a golden seatbelt-like buckle. His shoes are completely black, and have Velcro straps.

He has a watch on his right wrist, and a wool orange scarf with red accents around his neck, which he tugs at nervously. His scarf looks somewhat homemade, as if there was help making it.

The African-American boy in the three man group scoffs and shoves his hands in his white and black jacket's pocket. His sleeves have a fire decal at the ends, and he has fingerless gloves. A blue necklace with a sharp canine tooth on it is around his neck, and he has a pair of dark crimson sweatpants. His sneakers are black with white laces and soles.

He looks to Frisk with a stern expression, his narrow, amber eyes seemingly going right through them.

"Name's Cyrus Jackson." Cyrus speaks, his voice being rather light and somewhat animated, but he sounds threatening in the current moment.

Frisk, undeterred, offers a fist bump, and Cyrus, smirking just a tad, bumps fists with Frisk, and Frisk smiles a bit wider.

"You're cool, little man." Cyrus states.

Frisk scratches their head and shakes their head, attempting to sign, but remembering that monster sign language doesn't exist on the surface.

"Frisk doesn't have a gender." Chara speaks up.

Cyrus shrugs.

"Makes no difference to me, bruh. But my bad. I call everyone “little man” if they younger than me." Cyrus replies with a grin.

Frisk nods and gives a thumbs-up.

"Then there are the two kids who were with us when... y'know. Their names are Jessie and James, but, they got grounded when their parents found out they.. participated." Jason admits. "Their last names are Morrow. They're homeschooled."

"And needless to say, we cut ties with 'em. Their anger issues come from the state of their house." Cyrus admits. "Poor life is hard, man. Havin' to scrape by with a single slice of bread for dinner 'n shit."

Frisk exhales and nods.

"They know the feeling. They were an orphan, so they never even knew their parents before being adopted by Toriel." Chara admits. "Which begs the question; why do you punks hate monsters so much?"

Jason pokes his fingers together for a moment and crosses his arms.

"I just follow whatever Anthony says." Jason states, looking down at the floor ashamedly.

"That's really all Anthony." Cyrus admits. "As long as I get paid, I'll shoot the President."

Frisk and Chara look at Anthony, who exhales.

"Alright fine, I'll spill. In that war all that time ago, the only good members of my family all lost their lives except for the woman who would become my great grandmother. And after that, a long series of survival came by, with my great grandma losing custody of my grandmother, my mom turning to alcoholism after being stillborn, my step dad being abusive, the list goes on. And if it weren't for the monsters killing my other family, then the survivors wouldn't have had to suffer as much as they did." Anthony monologues. "And when the news came by that you brought them back, I guess it kind of triggered something inside me that just made me want to drive them back down into the Underground, or die trying."

Frisk, ever the empath, walks over to hug Anthony, but Chara grabs the collar of Frisk's sweater and drags them backwards, glaring at Anthony.

"Your story's sad, but it doesn't excuse your actions." Chara admits. "The monsters weren't the ones who started that war, it was humans. It's ALWAYS humans starting wars."

"Would you just drop that whole situation already?? Sure, Frisk got hurt bad, whoopty-doo, but it doesn't even matter since she's completely fine now!" Anthony argues. "Besides, Benjamin told us to attack her the second we saw her BECAUSE of what she did!"

"Frisk isn't a girl, you jackass! Stop calling them a she! And who the heck is Benjamin?!" Chara asks.

The entire room slowly goes silent as a few footsteps sound in the room, and everyone looks at where the footsteps are coming from to see a taller individual with long black hair that has slight red streaks in it. His irises are red, and his sclera are as black as his pupils.

He wears a blue-purple shirt with the sleeves reaching his forearms, along with a pair of grey puffy jeans, and reddish pink shoes that hug the pant legs. His skin is a sickly pale color, and along his hands are several scars. Even though some are fresh, blood doesn't spill from them. 

He smiles kindly, and yet Frisk can't help but feel scared.

"Hello there." his soothingly raspy voice chuckles. "Benjamin Bone. How are ya?"

Chara chuckles, a hand on their face.

"Your last name is Bone?" Chara asks.

"Stupid, right?" Benjamin asks with a smirk. "Anyways. I can't help but notice you were about to fight one of my colleagues."

"I was, until you showed up." Chara admits.

Frisk looks over at Benjamin, who instantly locks eyes with them, and Frisk's eyes widen greatly, their skin paling. Everyone around them can see Frisk's irises being a slightly yellow-ish amber.

Anthony remembers that he last saw their eyes being red and looks to Chara, then to Frisk, thinking to himself with a hand to his chin.

"Good..." Benjamin nods, his grin widening considerably.

Frisk, using the hairbands on their wrist, ties their hair into a ponytail, or as much of one as there can be with their length of hair. Their eyes squint again, and they back up a step.

Benjamin's SOUL appears for a moment, beating and shining a faded maroon color.

"Catch ya later." Benjamin chirps, walking away, hands behind his back, with his crew as his SOUL disappears.

Chara and Frisk watch them walk away, and once they're gone, the two look at each other.

"What a weirdo." Chara utters. "And we know Snowdrake."

Frisk nods, shuddering. For some reason, they feel their heartbeat. Yet they feel nothing.

Which frightens Frisk.

It's math class, and since it's in the middle of the semester and Frisk hasn't done anything since they fell into the Underground, they have to do a mountain's worth of work, which Chara helps them fly through. The teacher and the other students, however, are working on the current subject; dividing fractions.

The teacher, a woman in her early 30's with shining purple eyes, is at the whiteboard. Her black hair is in a bob haircut, with purple streaks in it. She's moderately average in her body shape, and her tone of voice is stern; restrained and scratchy while still having a sort of authority.

She's wearing a periwinkle tube top over a sleeveless black leotard. She's wearing long white rubber gloves almost like what a superhero would wear, along with dark indigo leggings and blue shoes. They're nothing special, just a pair of loafers with a black spot on the tops of them.

"Frisk!" the teacher suddenly calls, with Frisk looking up from their work.

The teacher notices Frisk looks a bit spooked, so she smiles warmly and tries to speak in a soothing voice.

"Can you answer this question, sweetie?" the teacher asks.

The teacher is pointing to a question on the board, which reads "5/10 ÷ 2/6".

"And no help from your friend either." The teacher interjects while Chara, about to whisper the answer in Frisk's ear, turns away, whistling a tune with their hands behind their back. "Since you can't speak, you can come up here and write your answer on the board."

This oughta be good. Anthony thinks, smiling, as Frisk stands up, walks to the board, and grabs a marker.

After a moment of thinking, Frisk writes their answer, of "1½", but it's barely readable.

"...what is this." the teacher asks, honestly confused and squinting at it.

"It's one and a half, ma'am." Chara answers for Frisk.

"How did you find this answer, Frisk?" The teacher asks.

Frisk exhales and tries to write the answer, but they stop, and hear their heart in their ears. The teacher quickly realizes this and places a hand on Frisk's shoulder. It's surprisingly firm with a soft grip.

"I understand, Frisk. You can't exactly write or read, so you had your friend help you. Let's have them write the answer then." The teacher orders with a soft, yet stern tone.

Frisk nods and tosses the marker to Chara, who fumbles the catch, but grabs it after a moment. After Chara floats over to the board, they then proceed to do the work for the answer, and after writing, sets the marker down and smiles at the teacher, who is just as astounded as the rest of the class.

"That friend of yours is.. quite the tutor..." the teacher chimes.

Anthony looks to the few people in the class who are a part of his group and wordlessly makes an agreement with them as Frisk goes to sit down. When Frisk does sit down, Chara continues to help Frisk with their work, even finishing some of it themself.

By the final minutes of the class, the two finish the homework, and Frisk's brain is hurting immensely.

"You feeling OK, Frisk?" Chara asks, with Frisk nodding slightly.

Chara looks around for a moment and smiles before assembling all the papers in order, and picking all of them up with no effort, due to them being a spirit of pure determination. Chara then floats over to the teacher's desk and puts the papers down in front of her. The nametag at the teacher's desk says "Parr".

"Finished." Chara chirps.

Ms. Parr looks at the stack of papers and back to Chara.

"Full disclosure; I applied for the gym teacher position when I first got here." Ms. Parr explains. "Not that you asked, but, I just wanted to get that out there. I'm just gonna give Frisk full credit for everything done here so I don't have an omega load of work to get into my meditation time."

"Works for me." Chara chimes as they head back to Frisk, who smiles weakly at Chara.

Chara then slightly records in realization.

"Wait, meditation?" Chara utters, looking back at Ms. Parr.

Ms. Parr nods. "Mm. I have one of those SOUL things, so... I have to train my body physically and mentally."

Her SOUL appears as a purple color, beating, and larger than Frisk's red one.

"Wow. Didn't know we had a 90's cartoon monk as a math teacher." Chara jokes, with Ms. Parr snorting.

Frisk makes a noise of discomfort, and Chara immediately looks to them, rubbing their head.

"It's OK." Chara says quietly to Frisk, snuggling into their side to keep them calm, which is what happens.

The bell rings, and Frisk covers their ears in dismay as the other kids pack their stuff and leave the room, while Chara begins to get their stuff into the bag.

"Come on, Frisk! We're gonna be late! I know your head hurts, but we can go to the nurse after we check in!" Chara scoffs, dragging Frisk out of the room.

Frisk walks on their own to the next class, which is language arts. Suddenly feeling insecure, Frisk gains a weak stomach as well as a splitting headache. The teacher notices Frisk in the classroom and smiles warmly.

"Good morning, class!" The teacher chimes, with everyone but Frisk responding with a good morning. "Before we begin, I would like to speak about Frisk, our new human classmate."

Frisk looks up at the teacher once their name is called.

"As you might or might not know, Frisk cannot speak, read, or write. Not because they were not taught, but because of a certain mental disability that allows them unable to learn how."

Frisk nods, their stomach churning, and the teacher looks to them, with the rest of the class having their eyes on Frisk.

"I can tell you are nervous." The teacher admits, approaching Frisk with a kind smile.

Once she's next to Frisk, she bends down a bit and smiles.

"My name is Miss Flaversham."

Frisk looks up at the teacher and spots that, aside from her skinny physique, she has long ginger hair that curls down to her knees, and vibrant green eyes that seem to shine. She also has a green tuft of hair that curls to the left and stops at her forehead.

Glasses fit her warm face neatly, and freckles adorn her cheeks. She's wearing a long-sleeved light red cotton shirt with a pair of skinny jeans and dark magenta heeled boots. Her skinny jeans are held up by a black studded belt.

Frisk can't help but smile as well when they see her kind smile.

"There's a cute smile." Ms. Flaversham chirps.

Ms. Flaversham pats Frisk's head once, and Frisk giggles silently.

"Now, is your illiteracy completely unable to write or read, or is it a few words?" Ms. Flaversham asks.

"It's dysgraphia. And illiteracy. Unfortunately, they can't talk much either, and their eyes are squinted because... I'm not sure." Chara explains. "I'm connected to them, but that doesn't mean I'm affected by that, so I read and write for them."

Frisk attempts to speak, but an airy croak comes out yet again.

"You are a very blessed child to be doing this for them, Chara." Ms. Flaversham chimes, smiling at Chara.

"I would thank you, but I'm not too fond of other people." Chara admits. "Frisk is different because they proved themselves to me. I have extreme trust issues, so that kind of thing isn't easy for me."

Ms. Flaversham blinks at this, yet titters.

"We have a great therapist here." Ms. Flaversham chimes.

"Human or monster?" Chara asks.

"One of them is a human, and we have a monster alternative. A tall skeleton with a red scarf made to be a cape, if I remember correctly." Ms. Flaversham admits.

"Papyrus became a therapist." Chara chimes. "If that isn't putting a scarf on a mouse, I'm not quite sure what is."

Ms. Flaversham smiles and stands up, going back to the front of the class.

"Anyways, class! So sorry about the interruption. Due to the longevity of our discussion which will continue during lunch time, you all can have a study hall." Ms. Flaversham admits. "And please, do not abuse this time given. I'll inform Frisk and Chara of the project we're working on tomorrow."

Frisk raises their hand, and Ms. Flaversham looks to them, nodding. Frisk stands up and approaches Ms. Flaversham.

"Frisk wants to know if they can go to the nurse. Their head is aching and their stomach is uneasy because of the stress they've been feeling recently." Chara explains.

"Oh, of course! If you need a pass for the next class, please be sure to ask for one."

Chara nods, and Frisk walks off, Chara floating next to Frisk.

"Are you feeling OK? Despite... y'know... your head?" Chara asks.

Frisk shakes their head and attempts to speak, only giving another airy croak. Frisk stops walking and stamps their foot on the ground angrily.

"I understand you wanna talk, but you can't. You're mute." Chara admits bluntly.

Frisk sniffles, hiding their face from Chara, who instantly comforts Frisk, rubbing light circles on Frisk's back.

"Hey hey hey hey, what's wrong?" Chara asks softly.

Frisk, tears rolling down their cheeks, hugs Chara tightly, shuddering and shaking violently, and Chara hugs back. Frisk retches, and Chara immediately stops hugging them.

"OK, don't hurl on me. We should go talk to the nurse and see what medicine you need for now, then talk to Papyrus about what's been bothering you all day long." Chara utters. "Understand?"

Frisk nods, then kicks the ground sheepishly. Chara becomes bland in the face.

"You want me to carry you there, don't you?" Chara asks.

Frisk nods with a wide smile.

"Hmmm... I dunno..." Chara grins before they turn around, with Frisk getting on Chara's back. "attention, passengers; thank you for choosing Dreemurr Airlines. We'll have you at your destination faster than you can say literally anything."

Frisk slaps Chara on the head, with Chara laughing at this.

"Can't you take a joke, O' Master of the Flirt?" Chara teases.

Chara then races down the hallway at top speed, with Frisk enjoying the ride. After a moment or two, they stop at the office, where an elderly lady is sitting at a desk. She has short white hair and is wearing a purple shirt, as well as a pair of spectacles and black leggings. She has slip-on shoes on, and a wedding ring on her finger. Her fingernails are painted black.

"Excuse me?" Chara asks, with the lady looking at them. "Do you know where the nurse is?"

"Right next door, honey." the old woman replies with a soft tone of voice.

Chara thanks the woman before going next door and spotting Ralsei at the desk, humming a song to himself.

"Hey. Ralsei, right?" Chara asks, and Ralsei looks at them.

"Oh, hello! Is Frisk OK?" Ralsei asks, standing up.

"No. They have a stress headache and a stomach bug." Chara admits. "They almost threw up down the hall."

"Oh no! That's the worst!! I can help this!" Ralsei cheers before standing up.

Once he stands, he places his hands together and lifts the magic in his hands up, where it rains down on Frisk, curing them of their sickness almost instantly 

"There you go! Do you need a pass for the next class, you two?" Ralsei asks.

"No thank you. We were about to head to the therapist after this." Chara explains. "Directions?"

"Go down the hallway and to the left. Then, take a right, and it should be straight ahead!" Ralsei chimes.

"Gotcha. Thanks, Asriel!" Chara chirps before Frisk waves, and Chara dashes away.

Ralsei looks down at his desk.

"Okay." Ralsei utters.

When the two arrive at the therapist's lounge, there are two doors before them with no windows. Just some text. One door has "Office of Chuck Sullivan". The other reads "THIS OFFICE BELONGS TO EXPERT THERAPIST PAPYRUS!!!" in chicken scratch handwriting, so the two open that door to see Papyrus adjusting a picture of him and Sans posing in front of their snow creations.

"AHH, A CLASSIC. PAPYRUS AND SANS; BONE BROTHERS FOREVER. CIRCA 20XX. SUCH FOND MEMORIES..." Papyrus monologues to himself.

Chara clears their throat, and Papyrus looks back before smiling his widest.

"OH-HO! IT'S THE HUMANS!!! NICE TO SEE YOU!" Papyrus chimes. "UNFORTUNATELY, I HAVE TO DO MY JOB, SO I CANNOT CHAT UNTIL LUNCH TIME!"

"That's what we're here for." Chara admits.

"OH. SORRY!! GO AHEAD, YOU TWO! WHAT ARE YOUR PROBLEMS? AND WHO WILL START FIRST??" Papyrus asks.

"I'll start, if that's OK with you, Frisk." Chara mutters, with Frisk nodding.

Chara takes a deep breath, and Papyrus grabs a notebook and pen.

"I guess... we can start with why I ended up in the Underground to begin with." Chara admits.

Papyrus begins to write. "NOW, DO TAKE YOUR TIME AND EXPLAIN YOURSELF IN A CALM AND PRECISE MANNER! IT, ERM... TAKES ME A MOMENT TO WRITE."

"I... didn't have the best life when I was alive." Chara explains. "Asriel told Frisk that I jumped for a not happy reason, and I never explained why because I wasn't comfortable with telling anyone."

Chara waits for a moment, and Frisk wraps an arm around Chara's shoulders.

"I'M SORRY TO INTERRUPT, BUT.. WHO IS ASRIEL? I THINK I HAVE FORGOTTEN." Papyrus admits.

"Toriel and Asgore's son. The one who died due to... my actions." Chara utters.

"IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN YOUR FAULT!" Papyrus responds.

"But it WAS! I wanted him to bring me back to the village once he absorbed my SOUL. I wanted him to fight back once the humans started attacking him. I wanted Asriel to stay strong. But... he died. And so did I." Chara snaps. "Right in front of mom and dad, too..."

Papyrus, regretting asking, has a somber expression on his normally chipper face. This gets Frisk worked up, who curls into a safety ball. Papyrus wordlessly hands Chara a tissue box, and they take some to use for later. Papyrus sets the box down and gives it a pat before clearing his throat and smiling.

"OK. DEEP BREATHS. IN..." Papyrus utters, breathing in, and Chara copies. "OUT."

Chara and Papyrus exhale.

"GOOD!" Papyrus chimes. "FRISK? DEEP BREATHS?"

Frisk peeks out and sees that Papyrus is happy again. They take a deep breath in, and Papyrus does as well. They wait for a moment, and Papyrus' skull comedically turns red.

"I DIDN'T SAY “BREATHE OUT” YET." Papyrus utters, his voice strained and his skull blue.

After a moment more, Papyrus exhales deeply, and so does Frisk. Papyrus is out of breath, but he's chuckling to himself.

"FEEL BETTER?" Papyrus asks.

Frisk gives him a thumbs-up, and Papyrus cackles.

"NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEYN, SUCCESS!!" Papyrus cheers, fist-pumping the air.

"Can I continue with what I was saying before you asked who Asriel is, please?" Chara asks.

"OH. RIGHT." Papyrus utters, going back to his notes and grabbing a pair of glasses without the lenses, taping them to the sides of his head and adjusting them so they fit on his anatomically incorrect face.

"GO ON." Papyrus replies, deepening his voice to sound more “professional”.

Chara snorts at this, but takes a breath.

"...I jumped down the mountain because I hated my miserable life. My real parents abused me and set me up with some... GUY... the Dreemurrs pitied me because I was hurt and Asriel found me... but. The only one who really cares about me is..." Chara stutters. "Frisk."

Frisk keeps their hands to themselves, but Chara grabs one of Frisk's hands, locking fingers.

"...Frisk is the only person who cares about me. ...and the only person I care about. They understand me. They've spent the most time with me. Even my own parents didn't spend as much time because they wanted what I wasn't." Chara explains.

"HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? FOR YOUR PARENTS NOT TO SPEND, SAY... SIX AND A HALF HOURS WITH YOU?" Papyrus asks. "FRISK WAS ONLY IN THE UNDERGROUND FOR AROUND SIX HOURS, THAT I KNOW OF, AND YOUR PARENTS WERE THERE AT YOUR BIRTH."

"We were in the ruins since Frisk was, what, six?" Chara utters, looking at Frisk, who nods. "Yeah, six. And we're twelve now."

"MAKES SENSE." Papyrus answers simply, writing more things down.

He looks to the desk he normally sits down at, noting the different pictures; one of Sans wearing sunglasses, one of Papyrus wearing sunglasses, one of a small white dog running away with the sunglasses as Sans sleeps and Papyrus runs after it, the aforementioned snow picture, and a photo of everyone just outside the barrier, Frisk included. Chara is absent from the photo.

DARN, I DON'T HAVE ANYMORE GLITTER PENS. I THINK THIS ONE'S RUNNING OUT OF INK. Papyrus replies, looking at the words on his paper written with red glitter ink.

Frisk smiles and looks at Chara, who keeps looking down at their own lap.

"...if I wasn't what I am... what I'm comfortable identifying myself as... maybe I would have been loved." Chara continues.

"WELL, WHAT ARE YOU?" Papyrus asks happily.

"That isn't something that can be answered as easy as “hey, how are you doing today”. Even though what I am is always gonna be a part of me, I never really think about what I am, rather than what I say I am." Chara explains. "I don't see myself as a male or a female. I'm just... me. Just Chara."

Frisk suddenly gains memories of a yellow room, before it immediately flashes white, and Frisk jolts.

"...just Chara." Chara adds softly, gripping Frisk's hand tighter.

Frisk realizes this and holds tighter as well. Exhaling, Frisk also looks at a clock on the wall to see that little to no time passes.

"ARE YOU LOOKING AT MY CLOCK, FRISK? AS IT TURNS OUT, TIME DOES NOT PASS IN THESE ROOMS!! NIFTY, HUH??" Papyrus asks. "THIS MEANS THAT WE DO NOT HAVE SHIFTS!! JUST A SIGN THAT SAYS “IN SESSION WITH A TROUBLED YOUTH” THAT MAGICALLY APPEARS. IN MY PROFESSIONAL OPINION, IT'S A MIRACLE HOW TIME MAGIC EVEN WORKS."

Chara notices the walls' colors of light blue and cyan polka dots on a black background before looking back down at themselves and covering their eyes with an arm. Frisk goes to comfort Chara, but Chara pushes Frisk back a bit, with Frisk understanding to leave Chara alone.

"DO YOU NEED A MOMENT OF SILENCE, CHARA?" Papyrus asks, finishing writing.

Chara nods, and Papyrus remains quiet to let Chara compose themselves. But it doesn't work. Chara begins crying into Frisk's chest, shocking Frisk and worrying Papyrus. Frisk hugs Chara, and the crying just gets worse.

"WOWIE... I FEEL.. SO SORRY FOR THEM..." Papyrus admits in a low tone of voice.

Frisk nuzzles Chara's head, and Chara slows their crying down to sniffles, but they're still sad, and they cling onto Frisk tightly.

"REMEMBER, TIME DOESN'T PASS IN THIS ROOM. TAKE AS LONG AS YOU NEED TO FEEL BETTER." Papyrus chimes. "I'M ALSO HERE IF YOU WANT SKELETON HUGS."

Chara sits back in their seat and sniffles, looking down. "...I'm good."

Frisk holds their hand out, and Chara grabs it. Frisk gives a kind smile, but Chara doesn't even look at Frisk, continuing to look down.

"ANYWHOZIN! NOW THAT CHARA IS FINISHED, WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO AHEAD AND SPEAK YOUR CONCERNS, FRISK?" Papyrus asks, and Frisk gives him a dead stare. "ERR... POOR CHOICE OF WORDING, HEH HEH..."

Chara looks at Papyrus. "They wanna talk and be normal, but because of the way people are, Frisk will just end up being bullied because they can't communicate."

"AHH, I SEE." Papyrus replies. "I'M JUST CONFUSED ON ONE THING."

"And that is?"

"IF FRISK KNOWS MONSTER SIGN LANGUAGE, HOW CAN THEY NOT COMMUNICATE WITH ANYONE ELSE? HASN'T MONSTER SIGN LANGUAGE BEEN LEARNED BY THE HUMANS AT THIS SCHOOL?"

"I would hope so. But unfortunately, people are veeerry ignorant." Chara admits. "Plus, sign language is harder to learn than a spoken language by default."

"OF WHICH I UNDERSTAND!! BUT, THE WAY I SEE IT, IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO LEARN." Papyrus explains. "THE MORE YOU APPRECIATE THE NICE THINGS IN LIFE, THE MORE--"

"The way you see it isn't the way the humans here see it, and they don't WANT to learn it, bonehead." Chara snaps back, causing Papyrus to jolt a small bit. "And if they had it their way, Frisk would be in that alleyway gasping for air on their own BLOOD!!"

Frisk immediately places a hand on Chara's shoulder with a harsh grip.

"WHAT?! THAT'S WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!! If it weren't for me, you would have gotten... hurt that day, and that's exactly how those people are. They're NEVER satisfied, Frisk." Chara snaps, beginning to cry heavily again.

Papyrus blinks, confused.

ARE THEY REFERRING TO THAT ONE DAY FRISK TOOK A WALK AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD? Papyrus thinks to himself as he writes "very foul mouth" next to Chara's profile.

Papyrus notes Chara's expression, and the way they flinch when Frisk hugs them as of now, nodding to himself and writing more things down on the page.

PERHAPS THEY SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE. AND THAT IS THE CAUSE FOR THEIR DISTRUST OF HUMANITY. Papyrus thinks as he writes what he's thinking down, looking to Frisk and Chara for a moment, then down to his writing again.

"Frisk... I'm sorry." Chara mumbles, still sad.

Frisk gives a sympathetic double tap on Chara's shoulder.

"HARSH LANGUAGE AND TEARS ASIDE..." Papyrus utters, removing the glasses from his face. "IF THAT IS EVERYTHING YOU NEEDED, FEEL FREE TO MAKE YOUR WAY BACK TO CLASS, CHARA AND FRISK."

Chara takes a second, and looks at Papyrus' neutral face. He isn't smiling. And this honestly frightens Chara just a little bit. Frisk begins to move their body softly as if they were listening to a song.

"I'd... like to apologize for snapping at you." Chara admits. "It was wrong of me to do so, and..."

Chara looks at Frisk. "Stop thinking about the Sonic Underground theme song, I'm trying to apologize."

Frisk signs something.

"How did I know? It's the only song you have a ten hour loop of in your liked videos on your YouTube account." Chara retorts.

"OH! I LOVE THAT SHOW!!" Papyrus exclaims giddily.

Frisk smiles at Papyrus, who clears his throat to sing, but Chara rolls their eyes.

"Yes, it's a good song. Can we talk more?" Chara retorts.

Papyrus chuckles nervously.

"ISN'T THIS EVERYTHING ON YOUR MINDS AT THE MOMENT?" Papyrus asks.

"...yeah." Chara replies, upset.

"WE CAN SIT TOGETHER DURING LUNCH HOURS IF YOU WISH!! I MADE LASAGNA THIS TIME!" Papyrus chimes before getting annoyed. "...AFTER SWEARING OFF IT DUE TO THAT MEDDLING MUTT. I DON'T THINK THEY ALLOW DOGS AT SCHOOL."

"Thanks. We'll be heading off now." Chara nods, standing up out of the chair and floating.

Frisk stands up as well and, nervous, taps their fingers together.

"WHAT IS IT?" Papyrus asks.

Frisk looks at him and opens their arms, and Papyrus hugs Frisk tightly.

"I AM ALWAYS AVAILABLE IF YOU NEED A HUG, MY FRIEND!" Papyrus cheers.

Frisk looks to Chara.

"CHAARRAAAA. COME OOONNNN!" Papyrus coaxes.

Chara hums, thinking, before smiling and hugging Papyrus and Frisk.

"Yay!" Frisk cheers, their voice a very quiet whisper.

"Wait, did you just speak?" Chara utters, looking at Frisk.

Frisk stops the hug and makes some hand motions.

"...only for a little bit, huh? And you get winded just with one word?" Chara utters.

Frisk nods. Chara exhales and rustles Frisk's head.

"Don't hurt yourself trying to do something you can't." Chara chuckles. "I'd say just don't try to talk anymore."

Frisk laughs quietly and slaps Chara's hands away.

"Ciao, Paps." Chara chimes, heading out of the room with Frisk.

"DO PROMISE TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES, HUMANS!! BECAUSE SOMEONE TRULY CARES FOR YOU!" Papyrus responds before he closes the door.

Frisk remembers when Sans said roughly the same thing and feels a sense of warmth and comfort envelop them.

Everything quickly goes back to normal speed from being stuck in time. Frisk looks at a piece of paper in their pocket, showing the schedule.

After failing to read it, they then hand it to Chara, who takes it and looks at it.

"Looks like we have P.E. next hour. Then it's lunch, social studies, music and theater, study hall, then we get to go home." Chara explains.

Frisk feels on edge for some reason, and their SOUL appears before them. Chara looks at Frisk.

"What's going on?" Chara asks, and Frisk, unsure, shrugs at Chara.

Frisk attempts to move their SOUL by pushing it back into their chest, but it's like it's made of stone; it doesn't budge. The SOUL then turns blue, and Frisk is whisked down the hallway, stopping in front of a door.

Frisk looks behind them, jolting once they see Sans standing there, smiling.

* hey. decided to drop by and take you to your next stop. ya looked kinda lost.

Frisk thanks Sans, and uses sign language.

* how did i know which class was next? believe it or not, this isn't the first time i've seen this ending play out, kid.

Frisk, understanding what this means, hangs their head, but Sans chuckles.

* nothing bad happens, i swear. the frisks from those timelines just get, eh... bored, is all.

Sans shrugs, apathetically flippant with his answers as he usually is. He puts a hand on Frisk's shoulder, still wearing his mittens from Snowdin.

* and hey. if those kids mess with you again today, go tell undyne. i'd get involved, but... not really feelin' it.

* i'd rather get comfy on the surface before i pick a fight with a few punks who wanna pick a fight with you for no reason.

After a moment of searching, Chara finally manages to find them.

"Sans?!" Chara utters.

* heya.

"How the hell..?!"

* you can read frisk's mind, right?

"Jackass."

Chara's arms are folded, and Sans looks at the clock on the wall.

* welp, i'll see you crazy kids later. i'm late for my regularly scheduled ten and a half hour nap on the couch.

Once the bell rings, Sans is missing in a blink, and all of the students go to their next class. The teacher of this class is a male, with a very tall stature.

He looks Asian, with black hair set in a ponytail. His irises are orange, and so are the streaks on the sides of his head. He has a black trench coat on over grey yoga attire; a tank top and yoga pants. He has kung-fu slippers on, and his face is kind while his body is toned and slim-muscular.

Once he sees Frisk and Chara, he smiles wider.

"Ahh, the new students. Allow me to introduce myself." the teacher chimes before bowing respectfully. "Nínhǎo! Wǒ de míngzì shì Yao Ling. Hěn gāoxìng jiàn dào nín!"

"...huh?" Chara utters, causing the class, and Lao, to laugh a bit.

"I see you have not learned Chinese." Yao utters.

"Sorry. I only really know some parts of Japanese, and Frisk only understands English." Chara explains.

"No trouble at all." Yao states. "To begin today's class, let us begin with ten laps around the gym of running. There is no competition."

Frisk notices Anthony and his group are in the same class, but Benjamin is nowhere to be found. Frisk nudges Chara, who looks, and nods at Frisk.

"I see 'em." Chara utters quietly.

"Line up right here." Lao orders.

Everyone goes to where he is, and prepares to run. Yao stands in the middle of the gym, and waits for a moment. He takes a deep breath, then opens his eyes.

"Kāishǐ!" Yao shouts, with everyone taking off running.

Frisk is easily in the lead, passing the other children with only a little bit of effort, due to being in the Underground for as long as they were. Yao is astonished at this, as are some of the kids in the class.

Frisk's SOUL appears, and they enter a FIGHT unbeknownst to them until they look around and spot that Anthony and his group are about to attack them, going to trip them. Frisk, however, acrobatically leaps over them. Once they land, they keep running, and the FIGHT ends.

The running ends after ten laps, and Frisk isn't even tired, only taking slight breaths. Chara floats over to them and smiles.

"Very well done, Frisk!" Chara cheers.

Frisk smiles back, and Yao approaches them all.

"Good. How about for today, we welcome our new student with a game?" Yao asks, and all of the kids in the room clamor for what they wanna play.

Yao quietly shushes them all, and they quiet down.

"I meant, we should ask Frisk what she wants to play." Yao responds.

"They." Chara blurts.

Yao looks at Chara. "Apologies."

"Frisk can't talk." Anthony speaks up.

"They can't?" Yao utters, looking at Anthony.

"Birth defect." Chara adds. "It renders them unable to talk, and mental disorder has them unable to read or write. But they know sign language."

Yao nods, and Frisk signs something to Chara.

"Are you sure? Frisk, if these guys manage to actually hurt you..." Chara complains quietly, but Frisk signs something else. "I-I do NOT worry too much...!"

Frisk signs the same thing as before, and with an exasperated groan, Chara turns to Yao.

"They choose dodgeball." Chara explains, annoyed.

The kids in the class all cheer loudly, and Yao smiles calmly.

"Dodgeball it is, then."

Anthony immediately smiles. "I'll be a captain and Frisk is the other one!"

"If that's OK with Frisk." Yao replies, looking to Frisk, who nods and smiles.

Everyone lines up side by side, and Frisk and Anthony stand on both sides of Yao.

"Um... Mr. Yao?" a voice calls out from the line.

"Yes, Monster Kid?" Yao asks.

Frisk immediately looks to them and smiles.

"Can I sit out? I don't have arms to throw anything with." Monster Kid laughs, with the rest of the class laughing a bit as well.

"Of course." Yao replies.

Monster Kid runs off, and just before he makes it to the other side of the gym, falls right on his face. He stands back up, and goes to the side. Anthony looks to everyone and thinks. He then smirks and points.

"My main man Cyrus." Anthony chuckles.

Cyrus smirks and approaches.

"You already know what it is." Cyrus replies, with him and Anthony performing a secret handshake.

Chara looks at everyone in the line-up and points to a green fire elemental. She approaches and looks pleased, turning back to the others.

"Jason, my boi; get up here!" Anthony chimes.

Jason exhales in relief and approaches, smiling widely. Frisk then immediately points to a purple squid-like monster wearing a red baseball cap backwards and the same school uniform as the fire elemental. She hops onto the skateboard she's holding and rolls over, smirking at the fire elemental, who claps happily.

"Fuku Fire and that girl with the skateboard?" Chara asks Frisk. "You sure?"

Frisk nods, smiling.

"Are you saying we can't do this, ghostie?" the skateboard girl asks.

"Fuku Fire is made out of fire. She could burn the ball." Chara utters. "And you don't even LIKE school."

"You were the one who picked me." Fuku Fire responds.

Chara realizes this and laughs a small bit.

"Also, I can tone down my fire. How do you think I can do this?" Fuku Fire utters before poking the skateboard girl's face.

She doesn't get hurt by it at all, and the skateboard girl sticks her tongue out at Chara, who rolls their eyes.

Anthony picks the final person; Benjamin. He ties his hair back as he walks towards Anthony, and everyone is deathly quiet as he does.

He then turns to Frisk and the others.

"I hope to have a good match with you today." Benjamin utters with a kind smile.

His voice causes uneasiness in Frisk, but this isn't the first time they've been scared by the way someone sounds. The dodgeballs are lined up in the middle, and both teams are on opposite sides of the gym. Yao walks next to Monster Kid, and he hands Monster Kid a whistle.

"Care to do the honors?" Yao asks.

Monster Kid smiles and inhales before blowing the whistle, with both teams rushing the dodgeballs, but Benjamin is waiting, hands behind his back.

Frisk enters a FIGHT, and notices the enemies. Frisk grabs a ball and quickly knocks Jason in the stomach with one, sending him to his back.

"Nice one, Frisk!" Fuku Fire praises as Frisk leaps back to avoid getting hit by an incoming ball.

Chara, used to being in action, immediately tenses up and prepares to fight back. Chara catches a ball thrown by Cyrus, and he scoffs.

"Man, this some bullshit." Cyrus snaps, walking off.

Chara chucks the ball at Anthony, who knocks it out of the way with his own, and throws his at the skateboard girl, who dodges with flamboyant acrobatics.

"Show off." Fuku Fire giggles.

"Babe, if you've got no bones, flaunt it." the skateboard girl replies.

Benjamin approaches.

"Then allow me." Benjamin replies, picking a ball up with one hand.

At almost light speed, he chucks the ball, barely hitting Frisk as they dodge it. It hits the wall and bounces back quickly, with the skateboard girl picking it up and throwing it at Anthony, who catches it. The skateboard girl then cries out in pain and falls backwards, landing on their skateboard.

"Vanquished, I be!" The skateboard girl exclaims. "Aaaaauuugghhhhh.....!"

Frisk gently rolls them away by nudging the skateboard with their hands. While Frisk is distracted, Anthony throws the ball, and Fuku Fire catches it with her arms, as she doesn't exactly have hands.

Anthony scowls and throws his hands in the air before storming off and sitting down next to Cyrus.

"Homie, they whoopin' our asses." Cyrus replies.

"It's annoying. Just one more reason to hate monsters and that stupid girl." Anthony snaps quietly.

Cyrus swats the back of Anthony's head roughly, with Anthony wincing a bit.

"Bro, stop hating on monsters. Frisk's cool too. Ben just got in yo' head, gettin' you in yo' feelin's, man." Cyrus responds. "This renegade rebel act was hot for a bit, but you've gone way outta pocket since Frisk showed up."

Anthony rubs the back of his head in pain, and glares a bit, but ultimately closes his eyes.

"I understand that dude, but..." Anthony retorts before exhaling. "I dunno. Something about Frisk just rubs me the wrong way, know what I mean? And especially with that ghost following her."

Cyrus nods. He then looks out at Benjamin, still dodging with ease and throwing dodgeballs.

"You sure it doesn't have anything to do with Ben, Anthony?" Cyrus asks.

Anthony is silent for a brief moment.

"Hey. You know me. ..if it did, I'd have let you know." Anthony replies.

Jason clears his throat, shuffling over to sit closer to Anthony.

"Maybe that ghost is a human representation of their SOUL?" Jason suggests as Fuku Fire gets hit by a ball that Benjamin threw. "Magic WAS a thing back in the day."

"Yeah, “back in the day”. You know that whole SOUL magic thing is just a myth, right?" Anthony snaps. "Magic was gone when humans sealed monsters underground, remember?"

"Dude, are you blind? Look in front-a Frisk right now." Cyrus retorts.

He looks, and there's Frisk's SOUL, shining a radiant red.

"...fuck you guys." Anthony snaps.

"Oh, so NOW you finally wanna put out?" Cyrus chuckles, rubbing Anthony's thigh.

Anthony flushes pink and crosses his arms. "Maybe if you never backed out every chance we had an opportunity to do anything while we were alone, I'd put out more."

"Can we please look back at what Ben is doing?" Jason pleads, covering his lap with his hands.

Everyone looks back at the court, seeing that only Frisk and Benjamin are left. The stage is set, and everyone is tense. Aside from Benjamin.

"It appears we are the only participants left." Benjamin admits. "This next move decides it. Good luck."

Frisk huffs and picks up a ball, narrowly dodging one, which almost hits Chara.

"You don't get it, do you?" Benjamin asks. "Your struggle is pointless. I've already won."

Benjamin's maroon SOUL comes out, and when he chucks a ball this time, it whizzes past Frisk, with Frisk quickly jolting at it hitting the wall.

Frisk analyzes everything as best they can, with Chara's assistance. A FIGHT is not triggered, however, and Frisk begins to shiver a little bit. Chara notices this and goes wide-eyed.

They're... afraid...? Chara thinks, concerned. This is bad.

Chara glares at Benjamin, who looks at them for a split-second, then back at Frisk with the same expression. Benjamin smiles at Frisk, who backs up a step, and Chara fades in and out a little bit. Noticing this, Chara looks at themselves in shock.

"I'm fading..." Chara mumbles.

Not wanting this to happen, Chara goes next to Frisk.

"Snap out of it!! Just pick up a ball and throw it!" Chara orders.

Frisk jolts at Chara's harsh tone and immediately runs towards a ball, leaping over one that's thrown at them, picking one up off the floor, and chucking it at Benjamin, who almost dodges it, being hit on the leg.

Once this happens, Benjamin scowls only for a moment, before his confident smile returns.

"It seems I've lost." Benjamin utters. "Very well done, Frisk."

Frisk nods, officially creeped out. Chara becomes brighter, and Frisk's heart is in their own ears, beating away as the fear finally sets in. Benjamin looks away, and Frisk falls to their hands and knees, with Chara, Fuku Fire, and the skateboard girl supporting them.

"Are you OK?" Chara asks, hugging Frisk tightly. "You're not doing so well..."

Frisk begins taking some deep breaths, ragged by their naturally scratchy throat and the extreme aerobics they've just performed. Frisk begins to cry, Benjamin's voice echoing in their ears.

Once Benjamin approaches Anthony and the others, he chuckles and sits down with them.

"You've nothing to fear, gentlemen. I'm going to break Frisk's mentality." Benjamin explains quietly. "They will rue the day the monsters returned to the surface."

Jason, slightly perturbed, looks down at the floor.

"Why do you hate monsters so much?" Jason utters. "Why do you hate Frisk so much?"

Benjamin chuckles and reaches out, placing his hand on Jason's shoulder.

"Oh, my sweet and innocent little Jason... I hate everything. Frisk and the monsters are just the first to be exterminated." Benjamin explains. "After that? It will be just us four, and a handful of women for repopulation. If everything goes according to plan, that is."

Anthony and Cyrus chuckle at this, being the perverted individuals they are, but Jason is not so willing, concerned for the lives of billions of people. Of course, this goes unsaid, since he likes his life where it is, and knows Benjamin would take it from him of he ever spoke out of line.

...but something about standing up for himself in this moment... changes something within him. A green flash comes across his eyes, and he broadens his shoulders a little bit more.

Chara then approaches the boys, and they all stand up.

"Hey. I can tell you're fucking with Frisk. Stop it." Chara orders to Benjamin.

"I'm doing no such thing, my friend." Benjamin replies with a friendly smile.

Chara places their hands on their hips.

"Well, “my friend”, I'm connected to Frisk's SOUL. I can feel everything they feel. Including immense fear." Chara explains. "They are scared of you, and I want to know why."

Benjamin blinks. "Afraid? Ha ha, what have they to be afraid of??"

"Apparently from what I can gather, it's your staring." Chara admits. "And that weird dark SOUL of yours."

"Mother always said I had a problem with that. You would know about a staring problem, right Chara?" Benjamin chuckles.

Chara quickly gets in Benjamin's face, glaring intensely.

"OK, listen here you little bitch. I'm not about to be lectured by someone who looks like they kin Gene Simmons with Tokyo Ghoul eyes." Chara snarls, their scary face beginning to come out. "Either you tell me what's going on, or I'll show you why you shouldn't fuck with the one human who showed me my life was worth saving."

Benjamin's smile turns into a smug and evil grin.

"I can tell you will be fun to talk to. Good day, parasite of the Dreemurrs." Benjamin replies before he walks off. "Come along, boys."

Anthony and Cyrus walk off after Benjamin, but Jason stays behind. He looks to his friends, then at Chara, before exhaling roughly.

"Um... I'm sorry in advance for everything that might happen." Jason utters. "Anthony and Cyrus aren't bad people, they're following everything Ben does... please don't hate us."

Chara tilts their head to the side.

"What are you talking about? If they follow his lead, then what are YOU doing?" Chara asks.

"Well--"

"JASON! LET'S GO!" Anthony shouts, causing Jason to jolt and run off.

Chara huffs, not believing Jason, and floats over to Frisk, who hugs Chara as tight as they can. Once the two pull away from each other, Chara notes the hopeless look on Frisk's face. They then glare at the door that Benjamin, Anthony, Cyrus, and Jason exited from and let out a harsh growl, supremely pissed off.

In the hallway to the lunch room, Benjamin, Anthony, Cyrus, and Jason are walking alone, and silently. Not a moment later, everything slows to a crawl, and Benjamin stops moving.

"Jason." Benjamin begins, his voice low.

"Y-yes, Benjamin?" Jason asks.

Benjamin turns to look at him, and his smile is still on his face.

"I heard what you said to Chara. About how you're sorry for anything in advance. And that these two simply “follow my lead”?" Benjamin admits. "Your sympathy is going to lead to our downfall."

Jason's eyes shrink and he stammers.

"I-I'm so sorry! I.. I just... I can't bear to see anyone get... hurt because of my actions!" Jason exclaims.

Cyrus and Anthony actually look concerned for Jason as Benjamin's smile fades to a frown.

"Not even a monster?"

"N...no. Not even a monster."

Benjamin's face becomes one of horrified disgust, and both Anthony and Cyrus are currently terrified at the moment, though Anthony is more obvious about it.

"They're living creatures. Like you and me. Everyone deserves Kindness." Jason admits. "I don't care if you beat me anymore. I'm not gonna... g-gonna... follow someone who... only uses their “friends” for their own... personal g-gain."

Seeing Jason stand up for himself gives Anthony and Cyrus a newfound respect for their naturally shy friend, but Benjamin doesn't like this at all. He approaches Jason, who stands his ground. Then he smirks, and glares into Jason's eyes.

"So be it." Benjamin responds, his voice going to a raspy depth only heard of in cartoons.

His fist rams into Jason's stomach, but nothing happens. Confused, Benjamin looks to see that Jason is covered in a green shield, and that both of his eyes are glowing green as well. He has a green beating heart in front of him, and Anthony and Cyrus are trying everything they can to not show their excitement.

"Go away." Jason orders. "And leave my friends alone, too. We are FINISHED."

Benjamin scoffs and attempts to punch Jason again, but Jason is shielded by Kindness, and shoves Benjamin back, sending him to the ground. Anthony and Cyrus are frozen, not knowing what to do in this current moment.

Benjamin stands up, slicks his hair back, and rushes Jason, throwing a kick to his knee, which is deflected by another shield. Benjamin's maroon SOUL appears, but Jason stays determined, his green SOUL shining brighter. Benjamin's hair begins to rise like sickly tendrils as he glares at Jason, his skin seemingly becoming more and more pale.

"Get lost." Jason snarls. "And don't you ever bother my boys AGAIN."

Benjamin scowls at Jason for a moment longer, but shrugs. "Fine. I never needed you three anyhow."

Benjamin flicks his hair to the side as it returns to how it usually is set and walks off, hands behind his back. He then turns around, and smiles.

"If anything, my master plan is even further to completion. Losing you fools was a part of it. I wish you luck in telling Frisk about my monster extinction plan with their belief." Benjamin chuckles. "One king... to rule them all..."

Benjamin walks off, and time resumes as Jason goes to his knees, the green fading away as he breathes heavily. Anthony and Cyrus go to Jason's aid, helping him stand.

"You good?" Cyrus asks, concerned.

"Yeah... I'm OK... Kindness heals wounds and shields the body. Are you guys OK?" Jason asks.

Cyrus and Anthony look at each other, then back at Jason.

"Dude, we're more than OK." Anthony chimes, smiling widely. "That was AMAZING!"

"I'll say. You saved our skin, dawg." Cyrus admits. "Ben had us looped around his finger like a wedding ring made of thorns, and you pulled us off."

Jason smiles and looks away. "Thank you..."

Anthony rubs his eyes a bit, the red haze fading away, and he looks to the boys.

"You know what?" Anthony asks.

"Wassup?" Cyrus replies.

Anthony grins.

"...let's try and do things our way. Let Jessie and James live their lives without being influenced by our bad nature. Try to make friends with that Frisk kid. And most of all, stop Benjamin's extinction plans." Anthony admits. "Enact some Justice, y'know?"

As happy as Cyrus is at hearing Anthony talk like this, his face falls in confusion.

"...did you hit your head or somethin' during dodgeball, dude?" Cyrus asks.

Anthony blinks a bit and looks at his hands, then knocks on his own head.

"No, I'm.. I'm pretty sure I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Anthony asks.

Jason puts a hand to his chin.

"..I think Benjamin had us all under some kind of... reverse SOUL thing, sapping our traits and making them... negative." Jason explains. "His behavior has to be studied so he doesn't get the drop on us in the future."

Cyrus remains silent for a little bit, but he then shakes his head quickly.

"“Studied”?? Are BOTH of y'all OK??" Cyrus asks, beyond confused. "You're both actin' like how y'all did when we first met."

Anthony crosses his arms.

"To be perfectly honest, and this is just an assumption; maybe Benjamin is afraid of your Bravery, so, he chose not to fuck with your mind like he did to us." Anthony explains bluntly. "...or maybe he tried to but it didn't work because.... I dunno. I'm not smart enough for this gobbledygook."

Cyrus hums in response and puts his hands in his hoodie's pockets.

"That DOES make sense. I remember ever since you met Ben, you've been actin' all edgy 'n shit. I was into it for a bit, since it was new, but, then things went this far." Cyrus explains. "I'm glad you're back to the man I fell for, but, how the hell are we gonna explain this to that kid we beat the shit out of under Ben's influence?"

As Anthony thinks, Jason struggles, and his heart begins to beat heavily, and audibly.

"Maybe we should just be honest and upfront about it. Like, “Hey, I'm sorry we fucked you up, Benjamin's SOUL has the power to rewrite emotions to suit his desires”." Anthony states.

"Like they'd believe that." Cyrus scoffs.

"Well, we gotta try SOMETHING." Anthony grumbles. "Misgendering someone and beating them to mush? Frisk is a kid... and we almost killed them... and for what? Doing the right thing?!"

Anthony, suddenly realizing the weight of his actions, sits down on the ground, crying out of his visible eye. Cyrus sits down as well, and Jason follows suit.

"I can't believe we almost killed an innocent kid.." Anthony sobs, sitting in a fetal position so no one can see his face. "oh my God... I.. I'm gonna be sick... wh.. what have I done..."

Cyrus puts a hand on his head, and jolts when Anthony flinches.

"Annie, listen to me. Just calm down. We're gonna find a way. Aight?" Cyrus states with a serious tone of voice. "We WILL see to it that Benjamin gets what's comin' to him. Jason, back me up here."

Jason flinches a bit and nods.

"I, uh.. OK. I get a lot more confident around you guys. Cuz... I feel safe around you. And I get all warm and fuzzy." Jason coos. "Like, I can just imagine us chilling by a nice warm fire. Sharing stories and laughing about something really stupid."

As Jason speaks, his face begins to blush and his body glows green.

"And.. we just have a nice time. Existing by each other. Being good friends. Good boy, friends. If that's... OK." Jason continues to ramble, looking down at his hands, watching his thumbs fumble with his scarf. "Maybe it'll snow outside, and we'll have the hot chocolate and marshmallow trope happen."

Anthony and Cyrus notice he's glowing again and look intently at him. His hair is shining green, and is sticking up like he'd submerged in water. He also has a trench coat on, created by his SOUL.

"And then maybe.. we... could.. k...kiss and... stuff?"

Once Jason realizes he's been talking for a while, he exhales and rubs his face with his hands, the glow going away, the trench coat disappearing, and his hair returning to normal.

"I'm sorry." Jason whines. "I went so off topic..."

Anthony puts a hand on his shoulder. Jason looks up and spots his smiling face.

"Don't be sorry. That honestly sounds really nice." Anthony admits. "Even though it wasn't what the conversation was about, it made me feel better knowing you think of us doing that stuff."

"You had me at “chillin'” and it just kept gettiin' better." Cyrus chimes in. "Also, you callin' us “my boys” didn't escape me."

Jason smiles widely and hugs the two boys, who hug back.

"I love you guys..." Jason sobs. "you're the best."

"Aw." Cyrus laughs, embarrassed. "Cute thang."

"We love you too, Jason." Anthony chirps.

But just when Jason goes to kiss Cyrus on the cheek, the bell rings, causing Jason to jolt and squeal, frightened. A moment later, all three of the boys double over in laughter, getting red in the face from laughing too hard.

In the lunch room, which is a rather large room to accommodate for the monsters joining the humans, people are already sat down with food once Frisk and Chara enter. They step in line, and Chara keeps watch as it advances.

Once it's Frisk's turn to get their food, they smell sushi coming from the kitchen area and immediately look with joy. Undyne is in the kitchen with Papyrus, along with a few humans.

"PUT YOUR BACKS INTO IT!!" Undyne shouts.

"YES, MA'AM!!!" Papyrus and the other humans respond.

Undyne looks at Frisk and smiles widely.

"Hey, Frisk! Red-Eyes! What're ya gonna eat??" Undyne asks.

"Whatever's available, probably." Chara states.

"Well, you better be hungry, cause we made lasagna!! AND LOTS OF IT!!!!" Undyne cheers.

Frisk holds out their metal tray expectantly, with Undyne and Papyrus dumping a pile of steaming hot pasta onto the tray. Frisk notices some parts of the cheese is bubbling and looks to Undyne, confused. Especially when it begins melting the tray.

"What? Does it have mold on it or something?" Undyne asks.

"It's literally boiling." Chara admits, looking at it.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Undyne asks.

Frisk looks at Chara, who nods, and looks at Undyne.

"No." Chara replies.

"Oh." Undyne replies before clearing her throat and turning away. "IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BUBBLE!! COOL IT DOWN!!!"

"YES, MA'AM!"

Frisk walks off quickly, spotting some of the teachers and Toriel, sitting down next to Toriel.

"Ah, there you are!" Miss Flaversham chimes.

Frisk smiles and waves. Ms. Parr's food is missing off of her plate, and she's wiping her mouth off.

"Tell the chef her food is fantastic for me, please." Ms. Parr chuckles.

"I see you like it hot then?" Toriel giggles mirthfully.

"You could say that." Ms. Parr replies, steam coming from her mouth when she speaks due to eating the boiling hot lasagna.

Ms. Flaversham giggles at this, and Yao takes a seat next to Toriel.

"Greetings." Yao utters with a kind smile.

"Hello, Mr. Ling! How has your day been?" Toriel asks kindly.

"Eventful. I have Benjamin Bone in the same class as Anthony Smith and his friends." Yao answers.

"Those troublemakers, hm?" Ms. Parr utters. "I swear, they've gotten worse since the monsters were freed."

Ms. Parr then immediately jolts and looks at Toriel. "No offense."

"It is of no concern to me, since they are only children." Toriel admits, thinking to herself out loud. "Of course, children are rather impressionable. Do you suppose they get their brash personalities from Benjamin?"

"Indeed." Yao states, trying to find the best angle to begin eating with using his fork to peek at the pasta at his tray.

Frisk pats their stomach a bit and feels it growling, but due to the lasagna boiling, they push their tray to Ms. Parr.

"No no Frisk, honey, that is yours..!" Toriel utters, flustered.

"It's boiling." Chara responds, pointing to it. "Ms. Parr likes it hot, as you just said."

"I could use some seconds." Ms. Parr replies, smiling at Frisk. "You're a good kid."

Frisk looks away, smiling. A tray is put down in front of them with not-boiling lasagna, and Frisk looks to who put it there to spot Undyne.

"This better?" Undyne asks.

Frisk nods, and Undyne rustles Frisk's hair.

"Alright then!" Undyne chimes before walking off.

"Such a nice young lady." Toriel chimes.

Frisk begins to eat, and since Chara can feel everything Frisk does if they so choose to, Chara can also taste the lagasna, smiling.

It's not bad. For something made by Papyrus and Undyne. Chara thinks to themselves.

"Now then, Frisk. I called you here to the teacher's table to focus on how you're going to learn." Ms. Flaversham explains, with Frisk stopping eating to pay attention. "You are in my language arts class, but you cannot speak, read, or write, which are necessities to pass my class."

Frisk swallows the food in their mouth and exhales, looking to Chara.

"Don't look at ME, I can't help you with a disability." Chara replies.

Frisk looks down, then at a concerned Ms. Flaversham. Frisk attempts to speak, but again, another airy croak comes out.

"...sorry." Frisk manages to whisper quietly.

Toriel, hearing and seeing this, cannot express her joy enough past a genuine motherly smile. The excitement will come after school. Unfortunately, this quiet whisper causes Frisk's face to turn pale, and they wheeze blood into a napkin on their tray.

Due to having a speech impediment as well, their R sounds are more like a W sound, being “sowey” instead of “sorry”.

"It's quite alright." Ms. Flaversham nods. "I understand it's a struggle for you. If you cannot speak or read or write, perhaps Chara should take your place. You two ARE considered to be the same student."

Frisk perks up and smiles at Chara.

"Well... I guess I can." Chara smirks back at Frisk.

"Wonderful!" Ms. Flaversham chimes.

"Aight, let's talk shop now." Ms. Parr replies, her face turning red.

Toriel's eyes widen a fair bit upon seeing this.

"Um... dear, your face..." Toriel utters.

"What? Do I have anything left over?" Ms. Parr asks.

"Your face is more red than Chara is." Ms. Flaversham giggles.

"Oh. Yea, must be from how hot the food is." Ms. Parr admits before blowing, and more steam comes out.

Yao looks to Ms. Parr.

"I would like to apologize again, Sel Parr." Yao admits while Ms. Parr drinks her Thai iced tea.

"And I would like to say to you, Yao, it's fine." Ms. Parr admits. "I'm not mad anymore."

Ignoring the awkward conversation, Toriel looks over at Ms. Flaversham.

"Did you happen to see Alphys, Chuck, Diego, and Blake anywhere?" Toriel asks.

Ms. Flaversham nods.

"They have lunch next hour, which means Frisk has study hall next hour AND at the end of the day." Ms. Flaversham explains.

Frisk goes back to eating as someone sits next to them.

* room for one more?

"Sans?" Chara utters. "What are you doing here?"

* i scored a job as the janitor.

"Makes sense. You always do a crappy job." Chara chuckles, with Toriel stifling a laugh and Sans looking at Chara.

* hey..!

Sans, playful as ever, says this in a jokingly offended manner.

Frisk smiles and notices he has a hot dog on his plate rather than the lasagna, as well as a few bottles of condiments. Frisk tugs on his sweater to get his attention.

* what's up, buddo?

Frisk points to the hot dog.

* what? can't a guy have options?

"They weren't serving hot dogs, though." Ms. Parr replies. "Even if they did, I wouldn't take any."

* that's fair. i can see why though, with how close you're sittin' to, uh... flamhammer.

"Flaversham." Ms. Flaversham corrects in a soft tone of voice.

Ms. Parr, her red face disguising her blush, huffs.

* my bad.

"It's fine. My name is often mistaken." Ms. Flaversham replies. "Which is why the students call me Miss F sometimes."

Sans' smile gets a bit wider, and his eyesockets get softer as he looks down at the food.

* y'know something? the lasagna isn't too bad for something my brother made. he's really improved since we came out of the underground.

* then again, he's got help from undyne and some humans right now, so it isn't exactly fair to call it entirely HIS.

Ms. Parr, about to take another bite, slowly sets her fork back onto her plate.

"Is his food... usually bad?" Ms. Parr asks carefully.

* since skeletons don't have taste buds, or tongues in general, he can't taste test the food to make sure it's actually food and not just toxic pasta in a poison broth.

* thankfully though, he's warmed up to criticism and since undyne is there with him, he follows her lead.

* ...or maybe it's BECAUSE of undyne that his cooking is bad. hell if i know.

Sans looks at the kitchen as his smile grows wider watching Papyrus interact with the other human chefs happily, and Undyne is tending to taking orders from the monsters too big or small to wait in line earlier.

Papyrus and a human share a high five, and the group all laugh heartily together upon seeing that Papyrus' hand has become limp. Especially Papyrus himself.

* it's nice seein' him happy.

"You must care deeply for your brother, Sans." Yao states. "Your admiration for him is honorable."

Sans looks at Yao and nods.

* well yeah, of course. he's the coolest.

* each other was all we had growing up. my memory's a bit fuzzy on everything else.

Sans points to his skull when he talks about memory just as Frisk finishes eating their meal, and they smile in satisfaction. Chara scans the room to try and find Anthony or anyone of their group, finding nothing among the humans and monsters talking to one other.

"Chara, dear? What are you looking for?" Toriel asks.

"Tryna look for Anthony and his squad of punks to see if they're gonna keep messing with Frisk." Chara replies. "I don't want them to get harassed by these guys all throughout school."

* i can guarantee that if they were here, they would have done something.

* or maybe not, because they're scared of undyne, asgore, and tori.

"“Scared” is a strong word, no?" Toriel giggles.

* yeah, you're right. it is kinda strong. but you gotta remember something.

Sans takes a deep breath, and his pupils are missing as he stares into space.

"You're the Queen, as well as a Boss Monster. Only ASGORE rivals you in terms of strength. Who WOULDN'T be a little scared?"

The serious tone Sans gives off rather than his laid-back demeanor puts the entire table on edge and silences them in a heartbeat.

After a brief moment of this silence, Sans stands up, shakes his head, and quickly leaves the table without another word. What he said causes uneasiness in Toriel, because he's right. And she knows it. Frisk watches him walk off, and exhales to themselves.

Toriel looks down into her lap, then at her large paws. She notices that the claws on her fingers are rather sharp. She realizes she has fangs that hang out of her mouth, and thinks to cover her mouth, but doesn't want to look like she's crying.

Toriel notes that she has reddish colored eyes and that she's rather tall, furthering her thoughts of profound sadness. The bell rings, and everyone heads off to their next class; study hall.

Frisk has study hall with Toriel, and Chara places Flowey's pot onto Frisk's desk. Once the hour begins, Toriel stands up.

"Would you all excuse me for one moment, please? I must go and speak with a teacher about something." Toriel explains.

The class responds with a general "alright" before Toriel walks off.

"I place Chara and Frisk in charge." Toriel says as she leaves the room.

Toriel exhales and looks around a bit, thinking. After a moment of walking, she finds Sans sitting in the custodian's room on a stool.

"Ah, there you are, Sans." Toriel utters.

* what's up, tori?

Toriel enters the room and closes the door behind her, sitting on the stool across from Sans.

"Tell me truthfully. Am I... frightening?" Toriel asks. "As you said earlier?"

Sans blinks before he fails to stifle a laugh.

* are you serious?

Toriel glares, and Sans calms down.

* ok, let's say you ARE serious.

* just relax. this is about what i said at lunch, i was mostly joking around.

"Your pupils were missing, and your voice did not sound as if it were a joke." Toriel explains. "You meant what you said."

Sans exhales, looking off to the side as his smile fades a little.

"My sharp claws... my fangs coming from my mouth... my hellish red eyes... my fire magic..." Toriel utters.

* toriel.

"All of these qualities are things I have only come to terms with now."

* toriel...

"And to make matters worse, I--"

"Toriel."

Toriel looks at Sans, and he's looking directly at her.

* relax. you're fine. sure, you're a little intimidating. what monster isn't?

* but, monsters are physically weaker.

* to a human, all monsters are weak by comparison.

* and while you might be a boss monster, doesn't that kinda mean something if a human CAN'T harm you?

Toriel still looks distraught. "That does not help."

* ...sorry.

* it wasn't my intention to make you self-conscious about yourself.

* you're a good mom, and a better person than the scary parts of your physical appearance might make you out to be.

* and besides, isn't one of your biggest lessons in your class "do not judge based on appearance, for they could have the potential to become a good friend", or something like that?

Toriel looks up at Sans' continuously smiling face, and smiles a small bit herself.

"Thank you, Sans. I just... am not well, mentally, at the moment." Toriel admits.

* hey, welcome to the club. we got drinks.

"I believe I said “at the moment”, Sans." Toriel chides playfully.

* ah, damn. ya got me there, hahaha.

Toriel giggles a bit before standing up.

"Oh, there is one last thing I would like your assistance with, Sans." Toriel utters.

* shoot.

Sans grabs a ketchup bottle from his jacket and begins drinking the contents.

"Could you explain to me what a “MILF” is, and why Flowey insists you believe I am one?" Toriel asks, confusedly while Sans immediately is taken aback by this, his pupils shrinking.

He stops drinking and puts it down on a table next to him.

* ...run that by me again?

"A “MILF”. He said it was an acronym for something you had the answer to." Toriel admits.

Sans clears his throat and begins to sweat, scratching the side of his head with his mittened hand.

* welp.

* lemme just begin with the fact that, as of right now, i don't think you are one.

* and it could only be bad so long as it doesn't...

* pertain to your...

* interests.

* or something.

A small bit confused, Toriel begins to glare.

* strap yourself in, tori. because "milf" is an acronym for a "mother i'd like to fornicate".

"I beg your finest pardon??" Toriel utters, taken aback by this information.

Sans remains deathly silent as Toriel continues to stare in bewilderment, blinking once.

* the little parasite likes making me out to be really freaking weird and tries to embarrass me at every turn.

* like that time with the blue popsicles?

Toriel shudders. "Please do not remind me."

* no clue why he does that stuff though. i'm just an apathetic lazybones.

* i mean, you don't look bad at all; you're a pretty lady, but i wouldn't go THAT far. too much work to commit to something for that long unless it's family.

Toriel takes a breath, and tilts her head a bit.

"Where does the “to” fall into the acronym?" Toriel asks, her age showing more than her surprise.

* oh, it's just there to have the statement make sense.

* wouldn't be proper english otherwise, y'know?

Toriel removes her glasses and rubs the space between her eyes, then takes a deep breath. Heat waves begin to form around her.

"I see. Thank you for telling me what a “MILF” is, Sans, and I apologize profusely upon Flowey's behalf." Toriel begins.

* eh, don't be sorry for him.

* i'm sure he got exactly what he was looking for.

Toriel nods.

"I will now go and have a nice long chat with Flowey. Do not interfere." Toriel utters calmly and carefully before leaving the room.

Sans grabs the ketchup, then drinks all of it and puts it back in his jacket pocket.

* may god have mercy on whatever sliver of a soul he might have.

* i'm kind of upset i don't get to see it this time around. heh heh heh.

"Frisk, why the hell did you let that kid scare you just by staring at you?" Flowey asks. "It's almost sad how pathetic you've gotten up here on the Surface."

Frisk makes hand motions.

"What do you mean “his SOUL is different from the others”? There are only seven human SOULS." Flowey explains. "How is it different?"

Frisk looks at Chara.

"It was a faded maroon color rather than red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, a white monster SOUL, or whatever Mettaton's pink SOUL is." Chara explains.

Frisk makes hand signs.

"Artificial, yes." Chara mutters.

"Maroon? That weird brownish red brick color?" Flowey asks, and both Frisk and Chara nod. "Why would it be maroon?"

"Well, Determination is red, and Frisk thinks it might be the opposite of that, considering how I started to fade as soon as Frisk saw his SOUL." Chara explains. "A FIGHT wasn't even triggered."

Flowey looks at the table.

"Hm. Maybe. I'll have to see this guy myself." Flowey admits. "But for now just stay outta his--"

The door opens, and everyone looks to see Toriel is back.

"Hello, children! I am only here for a moment to speak to Flowey." Toriel explains, approaching Frisk's desk.

"Pray for me." Flowey utters, looking at Chara with pleading eyes.

Chara nods and finishes making The Lord's Cross with their hand while Frisk puts their hands together as Toriel grabs the pot with both hands.

She picks it up and smiles.

"I shall only be a minute." Toriel adds as she walks to the door, glaring at Flowey with the last word, and leaves the room again, closing the door behind her softly.

She then walks down the hallway, not looking at him. He doesn't say a word. They arrive at the counselor's rooms, and Toriel knocks on Papyrus' door. He opens it, smiling.

"NYEESSS?" Papyrus greets.

"Hello, Papyrus. May I use your room for a moment? I need to talk to Flowey, and it will require a bit of time." Toriel explains.

"OH, GO RIGHT AHEAD!" Papyrus chimes, allowing her inside.

Once she steps in, he goes out, and the door is shut. She sets him down on the desk, she sits down in the chair, and she glares at Flowey.

"I cannot believe you would have Sans humiliate himself like that!" Toriel snaps.

"He humiliates himself all the time, I don't know what you're talking about." Flowey responds with a cheeky grin.

"Do not even think of getting smart with me, flower. You said to me that he believed I was a “MILF”, and yet when I asked him about what it meant, he said you set him up to be, as he had said, “really freaking weird”."

"Don't lie to yourself, Toriel." Flowey snaps, his face contorting to its demonic one. "If I hadn't said anything, you'd still be stuck wondering about the pros and cons of being a scary-looking monster among humans."

Toriel, aghast, looks at the potted plant carefully as his face morphs into its regular one.

"How...?" Toriel utters.

"Intuition." Flowey explains with a cheeky wink.

Toriel scoffs. "You are a detestable vermin."

"Keep throwing insults at me all you want. Not like I haven't heard 'em before." Flowey snaps back.

"Why are you like this, Flowey? Why?" Toriel asks. "I have done nothing to you! And yet you treat me like I am... just an object sometimes!"

Flowey, feeling some form of regret, looks away, his face morphing several times.

"There are some nights where I lose sleep wondering what inane request you could want next. Sometimes it is just to be moved an inch to the left while Frisk and Chara are sleeping...!" Toriel complains. "I am an old woman, Flowey... do you not understand I cannot do as I have done for my own son anymore?"

Silence. Flowey exhales.

"...yeah. I totally understand." Flowey responds. "After all..."

Flowey looks at Toriel, whose face immediately becomes mortified. Flowey's face has morphed into Asriel's.

"Why WOULD you care about me anymore?" Flowey asks, his voice slowly becoming Asriel's as he cries.

Toriel's hands fly to her mouth, and she begins to cry.

"My... child?" Toriel utters.

"...hi, mom." Asriel responds.

Toriel hugs the potted plant carefully. Once she stops, Asriel is crying still, but happy.

"Flowey doesn't let me out a lot, and this is kind of the only chance I have to say this, so, here goes." Asriel explains. "Flowey likes seeing people suffer. He's had... insults thrown at him, and death threats, and.. all kinds of nasty stuff. He tunes all of it out and sends it to me instead."

Toriel, feeling grief beyond grief, feels her heart shatter when hearing this, and her bottom lip quivers.

"I'm even allowed out because he still feels regret and sympathy. I guess that's me." Asriel explains. "Due to Determination, he could reset timelines over and over, so he's done everything there is to do in the world. Like a video game with a save file, until Frisk showed up."

Toriel begins to pay attention now as Asriel speaks tearfully.

"I wanna say I'm so sorry, mom... I just need some SOULS and I'll be free..." Asriel begins to sob hard.

"I wanna be free..."

"Let me be free..."

"I don't wanna be a flower anymore..."

These phrases repeat themselves as Asriel's voice distorts and mumbles, his face morphing into a puddle on the table, with Toriel being sad, disgusted, confused, and slightly elated. After a moment, the face of Asriel returns.

"Well... I have to go now. Please don't be mad at Flowey for the whole... um... thing. He just likes to embarrass or prank Sans since he knows he can't win against him in a fight." Asriel explains. "Also, I'm pretty sure Sans likes you, but is just too afraid or lazy to say anything. There are too many timelines to count anything as fact or fiction anymore."

Toriel, after thinking for a moment, nods, and Flowey's face morphs back into itself, and he's not happy. The two sit there in silence for about an hour straight.

"...so there. Ya happy now?" Flowey snaps.

"...it is a start, Asriel." Toriel nods.

Flowey grumbles.

"I don't have a SOUL. I'm incapable of feeling anything other than schadenfreude." Flowey explains. "Just as long as I get more than seven human SOULS... I can become Asriel again. And then no one will have to see... ME, again. As this flower."

Toriel thinks for another moment, then slowly looks back at him.

"...do what you must." Toriel utters quietly. "Just do not..."

Toriel takes a moment to consider what she's saying.

"...do not take the lives of humans. Seek out a graveyard from the already deceased." Toriel finishes.

"That's smart." Flowey admits. "Can we go now? I want this day to be over already."

Toriel nods.

"As do I." Toriel replies, picking the pot up as she stands.

"Don't tell anyone who I am, either." Flowey snarls.

"I will not." Toriel utters.

"Good. I wanna be the one to do it as soon as the time is right." Flowey responds.

Toriel nods, and opens the door to see Papyrus turning.

"OH! I HAD ALMOST FORGOTTEN NO TIME PASSES! HEH HEH, WHOOPSY-DOOPSY!" Papyrus chimes. "ALSO, HELLO, FLOWERY!"

"Hi." Flowey replies.

"WHAT DID YOU TWO TALK ABOUT IN THERE?" Papyrus asks.

"Flowey just played a cruel yet harmless prank on Sans and it involved me." Toriel explains.

"OH? A PRANK ON SANS??? AND IT WORKED???" Papyrus asks, genuinely incredulous.

"No." Toriel responds.

She walks away without another word, and Papyrus, curious, heads back to his room.

It's time for the next class, with another male teacher. This one has messy brown hair slicked to the back, but also sort of up in the air, not pushed to his neck. His bangs are a vibrant yellow, and as is his right eye.

His left has a scar over it, and the iris and pupil are a milky white. He has a pair of cowboy boots with spurs, jeans, a grey vest, a pink shirt underneath, and a belt that has a holster for a revolver. He has stubble on his chin and smiles widely as the bell for class to begin rings.

"Well howdy, there. My name's Blake Quartermaine." Blake begins, his thick Southern accent oozing from his dulcet tones. "But y'all can just call me “Mr. Q”. That alright wit'ch ya?"

"Yes, Mr. Q." the whole class (minus Frisk) respond at once.

"Alrighty then. Now, this is social studies and world history. Which means we're gonna learn about all the dif'rent kinds of wars in human history, as well as monster history." Mr. Q explains. "If y'all have any kinds of fears of blood and/or gunshots, or loud sounds in general, or even excessive gore, raise yer hands so I know who to escort out of the room once we get to talkin'."

A few select people raise their hands, except for the Monster Kid, who raises his tail.

"I'm gonna point to ya, and you say your name." Mr. Q responds. "You, in the yellow striped shirt."

"Kid!" Monster Kid answers.

Mr. Q looks at his list and hums to himself a bit.

"Gotcha in there." Mr. Q nods before pointing and talking again.

As he does, Chara looks at Frisk.

"Should we raise our hands too?" Chara utters to Frisk. "It might give some bad memories of... when we went... genocide."

Frisk shudders and raises their hand as well. Mr. Q lands on them last and smirks.

"Well well. If it ain't Frisk! Never thought I'd see the day where I met the monster ambassador." Mr. Q jokes, with the class chuckling a bit. "I'm just pullin' yer leg, Frisk. Come up here a sec, wouldja?"

Frisk, confused, obeys, getting out of their desk and standing right next to Mr. Q.

"Wanted to personally thank ya. It was my late wife's dream ta' see the monsters go free, and you made it a reality. Posthumously." Mr. Q explains after kneeling to meet Frisk face to face.

Frisk smiles.

"They hope she rested easily." Chara states.

Mr. Q's contagious smile fades to a frown.

"Unfortunately... that's not how her story ended at all." Mr. Q utters.

"Your voice is cool." Chara admits openly. "It reminds me of.. dad, in a weird way."

Mr. Q smiles again.

"Thanks, kiddo. Was your daddy a Southern boy too?" Mr. Q asks.

"Nope. King Asgore." Chara explains.

Mr. Q's eyes widen, and he fights back a laugh.

"I see." Mr. Q admits. "Fergive me, I just ain't expect that."

Chara nods, and Frisk goes to sit down. Mr. Q clears his throat.

"Now then. Let's say we learn somethin', hm?" Mr. Q utters, grabbing a stack of papers from his desk. "Which one-a you wants ta' help out and pass summa these papers around fer the class?"

A girl stands up, and Frisk looks at them. The girl is a reindeer-like monster with short brown fur, a red nose, freckled cheeks, and prominent front teeth, as well as a pair of small antlers atop her head. She has long golden blonde hair.

She wears a red and green checkered sweater with dark grey sleeves and a dark grey skirt. Her legs are bent backwards like an actual reindeer, and she has hooves in place of feet. Her tail has a small wreath around it. The tips of her fingers are small hoof stubs.

"Um, I-I can do it!" the girl chimes, her voice being light and sweet. "If it's, OK."

"Alrighty then, Noelle." Mr. Q states. "You take half 'n pass it around. Then we can get ta' learnin'."

"OK!" Noelle responds, approaching.

Her hooves clack on the ground as she walks, and a purple monster is eyeing her. So is Anthony, who just stares at her. Blushing. Chara notices this and looks to Noelle, who kindly smiles as she takes her half of the papers.

"Oh my God." Chara utters, smiling profusely and trying not to laugh.

Frisk looks up at Chara, confused. Chara points at Anthony.

"Look at him." Chara orders.

Frisk obeys.

"Then look at the reindeer girl."

Frisk obeys, then looks between the two and gasps, hands over their mouth.

"Yes way, Frisk." Chara chimes.

Noelle passes Frisk's desk and smiles at them.

"Here you go!" Noelle chirps, handing out the last piece of paper she has.

Frisk takes the paper and looks up at Noelle, who tilts her head to the side ever so slightly.

"You sorta remind me of my friend, Kris." Noelle admits, blinking. "It's almost uncanny..."

Frisk smiles at this, and Chara clears their throat.

"Excuse me, can I tell you something?" Chara asks.

"Sure! What's up?" Noelle asks.

Chara floats over to Noelle and whispers something in one of her floppy ears. Her expression changes quite a bit; confused, scared, sad, happy, and then confident.

"I understand. I'll get Susie to rough him up if he messes with you guys again!" Noelle utters.

She then walks back to her seat, sitting down and conversing with the group around her. Frisk looks at Chara.

"Don't worry, I just told her the cliffnotes." Chara responds. "Trust me. No one's gonna know unless you tell 'em. I told her that he was being a bit rude and that I scared them off."

Frisk holds out their pinky, and Chara wraps theirs around Frisk's.

"Promise." Chara states, holding up their other hand to Frisk's face.

The two then pay attention as Mr. Q begins to speak.

"Long ago, two races ruled over Earth. Humans, and Monsters." Mr. Q explains, showing an image of a prehistoric human with a Boss Monster on his whiteboard via projector. "Life was peaceful for 'em until a war broke out between them. What the war was about, no one knows."

Chara raises their hand at the same time someone else does, so Mr. Q points to the other person.

"Yes, Berdly?"

Chara looks over at who "Berdly" might be to spot that he resembles a large avian creature with blue feathers, a yellow beak, and yellow legs. He wears black framed glasses, a collared white button-up shirt with striped sleeves, and a black shirt layered underneath.

He stands up from his desk, showing that he has tail feathers as well.

"May I give out a theory of mine as to why the war began, Mr. Quartermaine?" Berdly speaks, his voice sounding egotistical and cocky, but also like a typical nerd.

"...save the theories until after the lecture, if that's OK." Mr. Q replies.

Berdly looks dejected, but sits down and nods quietly. Mr. Q looks at Chara.

"Now for you." Mr. Q states.

"I was born around the time of the war and travelled with Frisk through all of the Underground, so, I can give the reason." Chara admits.

Mr. Q looks skeptical. "Alright, then. Tell us."

"The monsters became afraid of what would happen if a monster obtained the power of a human SOUL, which would make them have the strength of a god." Chara explains, with some of the class reacting accordingly. "Some say the humans attacked first, some say the monsters did, blah blah blah."

Mr. Q hums in response. "Seems clear enough... now then. After that war, the humans became victorious, and sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell."

The next slide shows prehistoric wizards trapping angered and hopeless-looking monsters underground with a flash of light.

"But, everything changed when a human fell underground years later." Mr. Q explains. "Which, I suppose, is Frisk."

"Me." Chara retorts. "That's me. Frisk fell down a little over six years ago."

"Really, now?" Mr. Q asks.

"Yeah. And I didn't fall for a happy reason, I'll tell you that much." Chara snaps.

"Why don't you come up here and tell your story?" Mr. Q asks before the bell rings. "Tomorrow."

The students stand up and walk to the door.

"We'll do them papers for homework tomorrow after the lecture, y'hear?" Mr. Q calls out.

Frisk and Chara approach Mr. Q, and he smirks at them.

"What'cha need?" Mr. Q asks.

"They want to thank you for being calm and patient with them so far." Chara admits. "After getting creeped out by some kid in P.E., they could have used your charisma earlier."

"Mighty kind way of ya to tell me I'm doin' my job right." Mr. Q chuckles. "Head onto yer next class. You don't wanna be late, now do ya?"

Frisk nods and runs off, but Chara stays and looks at Mr. Q.

"...that kid who fell? In that old photograph? ...it really was me, Mr. Blake." Chara utters.

Chara then floats off, and Mr. Q simply scoffs.

"Shoot..." Mr. Q utters. "Tanya, gimme some strength..."

The next class features a room filled with clothing, costumes, props, real weapons, instruments, and desks in front of a whiteboard. The teacher's desk is empty. Everyone sits in their desks, and the door opens, with the teacher walking in.

He's quite tall, and has black fluffy/spiky hair, blue streaks in the bangs. He also has blue eyes that shine, with beautiful bishounen eyes that have thick, dark and long eyelashes. His long sleeved shirt is striped with teal and dark red, he has aubergine pants, and tall leather boots that have heels on them.

Once he looks at the students in the class, he nods to himself before smiling and crossing his arms.

"So! As the teachers have said through every class, we have a new student. Frisk!" the teacher explains, their accent being Hispanic. "And Chara, as their eyes and moral support, from what I could tell."

Chara looks at the teacher, who locks eyes with Chara.

He's like a Hispanic Mettaton if he liked blue more than hot pink. Chara thinks, looking away out of embarrassment.

"What were we learning yesterday, students??" the teacher asks.

"Slapstick comedy!" the class responds minus Frisk, Chara, and a few select students who didn't respond.

"Sí, ¡muy bien!" the teacher chimes.

Frisk smiles at the teacher, who hits his head in realization.

"Oh, where are my manners? I am Diego Nico." Diego announces to Frisk. "But, call me Señor Nico, por favor."

Frisk nods, and Chara realizes what class they're in.

"Um, Sr. Nico?" Chara asks.

"¿Qué pasa?" Sr. Nico asks.

"Frisk cannot speak." Chara admits.

Sr. Nico claps his hands once and smiles wider.

"Ahh, yes! I've heard that!" Sr. Nico chimes. "But, they can surely act! There are plenty of silent roles, and comedy has a handful."

Sr. Nico then snaps his fingers flamboyantly.

"I promise you, no one shall be called upon any less, unless they cause problems." Sr. Nico adds. "This includes you, Susie."

A gruff scoff is heard behind Frisk, and once they look, they spot the purple monster from the previous class. They look familiar.

Bulky build, purple skin, reptilian appearance, torn clothing, and their leg crossed over their knee, an elbow on their ankle to prop their head up.

They grin at Frisk, but it comes off more creepy than kindhearted, and Frisk smiles back. They look forward to not bother the monster anymore as Sr. Nico begins to pace the room.

"Yea. Got it." Susie replies, her almost hoarse gruff voice immediately reminding Frisk of who she is.

Frisk looks back at her, beaming, and Susie moves her hair out of her eyes to wink, before pointing forward. Frisk understands and sits forward, excited.

"So! Does anyone have any buenas ideas about what to do first? We have plenty of opportunities due to the new faces!" Sr. Nico chimes.

Susie raises her hand.

"No, we will not do “Susiezilla”, for the tenth time. I am aware that you have done something similar, as you have told me, but demeaning monsters would not be the aim we are going for here." Sr. Nico replies.

Susie puts her hand down and grumbles, tapping her arm with one of her fingers almost impatiently.

"Oh, oh, I have a good idea!" Noelle exclaims, holding her hand up.

"I'm all ears!" Sr. Nico replies.

"Maybe we could do a skit about a superhero whose power is slapstick comedy!" Noelle chirps.

"Ooh, muy bien, Noelle!" Sr. Nico applauds, with Susie and the others clapping as well.

Noelle laughs nervously, embarrassed.

"Does anyone want to volunteer to play as the hero?" Sr. Nico asks, already anticipating the response.

Everyone's hands go up, except for Frisk, who sits neatly, not confident in this role, and a few others.

"As expected." Sr. Nico utters.

"Frisk, normally everyone would jump at the chance to do this role! Is there any reason you feel uncomfortable?" a monster next to them asks.

Frisk exhales and scratches a scab on their arm, still uncomfortable. Sr. Nico notices Frisk's apprehension and smiles at them.

"Frisk, how about you choose who the hero will be! And I get to choose the villain of this tale." Sr. Nico explains.

Frisk immediately perks up and smiles, much more comfortable with this option, leaping out of their seat and looking back at the class.

Frisk can spot several monsters; Susie, Berdly, Noelle, Snowdrake, the Monster Kid, a green snake wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, a Temmie, Fuku Fire, the skateboard girl, and, strangely enough, Muffet. There are slightly less humans in the class than monsters, but Frisk sees that Anthony, Cyrus, and Jason are in the very back of the room.

Frisk scans the room, but points to Susie, who smiles and stands, being about six feet tall.

"Thanks for pickin' me, Frisk. Any reason?" Susie asks.

Frisk motions muscles, with Susie laughing at this, a hand on her forehead, and nearly everyone in the room jolts at how guttural and visceral her laughter is.

"With that laugh, I'd assume you'd make a great villain." Chara admits with a sly expression.

Susie looks back at Kris, and gives a somewhat sentimental smile.

"Nah. The villain life isn't for me anymore." Susie admits.

After a genuine smile from Kris makes her grin wider, Susie then walks to the front of the class, and looks to Sr. Nico.

"Who's gonna be my mortal enemy, teach?" Susie asks.

"That's a very good question." Sr. Nico replies, looking back at the class, whose hands are all down. "Any volunteers?"

Noelle jitters a bit with a smiling embarrassed face, and Kris, bored, doesn't respond. Berdly remains silent, and the other students are scared. Except for one.

Cyrus stands, and grins. "I'll do it. It's all fake punches 'n stuff, right?"

"¡Correcto!" Sr. Nico praises as Cyrus advances.

"Coolio." Cyrus exhales.

He stands next to Susie, being only an inch shorter than her, and meanwhile Frisk is up to Susie's bicep.

"Now then, do you know how to knap?" Sr. Nico asks.

Susie pauses for a moment.

"Uh, yeah. I nap all the time after school." Susie admits.

This gets a laugh from most of the class, Sr. Nico included.

"Me topé con esa." Sr. Nico mutters to himself.

Sr. Nico then looks at Frisk.

"Frisk, ¿puedes venir conmigo un momento, por favor?" Sr. Nico asks. "I'm going to teach knapping while also reminding Susie of what it is."

Frisk, unable to understand Spanish, simply nods, and both Susie and Cyrus move so Sr. Nico and Frisk can be in the front of the class.

"Now then, a knap is the impact noise made when an actor strikes another actor in a theatre. It must not be seen, since the action is happening where you're facing the actor, and not the fourth wall, where the audience is." Sr. Nico explains. "So, when you strike..."

Sr. Nico throws a punch, and a thud is heard, and though it LOOKS like Sr. Nico just socked Frisk in the jaw, Frisk wasn't hit by a punch. Sr. Nico then shows the class that his other hand is locked onto his chest.

"...is when you do a knap."

Frisk beams at this and nods frantically, smiling.

"You must be sure never to actually harm another student, or to harm yourself with a rough knap." Sr. Nico states. "It may be far more realistic, but it would jumble the mind and render some scenes incapable of being completed. Especially if an actor is more sensitive to being attacked, or if the other is physically stronger."

"Got it. Bet Susie could take it though, huh?" Cyrus asks, with Susie side-eyeing him.

A veil of silence is immediately present, and everyone looks either terrified or at least cautious.

"...are you hitting on me?" Susie asks, genuinely confused.

And just like that, the silence is immediately broken by uproarious laughter from everyone, with Frisk coughing as a result of straining their voice.

"OK, OK, hee hee! Who would like to be the hostages that Susie saves?" Sr. Nico asks. "We need about four."

Susie thinks for a moment, then rests her hands behind her head.

"Actually. D'ya think I could be the villain? It'd make sense." Susie admits. "Unconventional heroes are never really that popular."

"True, Susan!" Berdly pipes up from his seat.

"NO ONE ASKED YOU!" Susie retorts, looking back at him.

Berdly promptly quiets up, grinning smugly.

"Oh. If Cyrus is OK with it, then I'll accept that!" Sr. Nico replies.

"Aight. I don't really mind either way." Cyrus admits with a light shrug. "This theater shit's fun for me."

Sr. Nico nods briefly, then crosses his arms.

"With that in mind, who would like to be one of Susie's hostages?" Sr. Nico asks.

Noelle immediately stands up out of her seat.

"I-I'LL DO IT!!" Noelle states loudly, smiling and blushing, her nose glowing bright red.

The room goes quiet, and Noelle clears her throat.

"If it's.. OK..."

"I love how passionate you are about this!" Sr. Nico chimes, clapping quickly. "Three more, now."

Berdly stands next.

"I, too, shall attend in this play!" Berdly announces. "I shall give the performance of a lifetime... such is the way of the theater kid."

"Do you even know what a hostage IS?" Susie asks.

"Of course I do!" Berdly retorts.

Kris remains sitting down, still looking bored, and no one else bothers to stand up. Noelle and Berdly head over by Susie and Cyrus.

"Frisk. You go ahead and pick our last two." Sr. Nico replies.

Frisk nods, and looks to everyone left in the class. Thinking a bit, Frisk points to Anthony first.

"Me?" Anthony asks, with Frisk nodding. "Well, I guess I do need some credits..."

Anthony stands, and with his hands in his pockets, shuffles over to where Noelle and Berdly are. Frisk looks over the others, and points to Kris.

"No." Kris replies.

Frisk clicks their tongue in irritation as Chara floats over.

"Why not?" Chara asks, arms crossed.

"I don't really feel like it. And besides, this is the one time I get to make my own choices without some outside force influencing them." Kris explains. "I'd like to keep that privilege." 

Cryptic message aside, Frisk exhales and nods while Sr. Nico looks at Kris with a somber expression. Frisk pats Kris' head a bit, causing Kris to snort a little bit, smirking.

Frisk looks around, until they hear some quiet voices coming from Kris.

"NO."

"COME ON, WHY NOT?? IT COULD BE FUN, FUN!"

"DON'T YOU [[Decieve]] M e, [[Clown Around Town]]!! [[I know your game.]] I WILL       NOT BE YOUR [Puppet] [on] [Silly Strings!]"

"YOU'RE SUCH A PARTY POOPER, SPAMTON! YOU USED TO BE SO MUCH MORE, MORE!"

"I'D RATHER      KEEP MY [[Hyperlink Blocked]] [in tact], [Thank you, come again.]"

Kris hits their pant leg to stop the tiny voices, and when Frisk looks at them, Kris doesn't react at all. Frisk looks away and points at a human member of the class that they don't recognize.

The human is a dark-skinned female with dreadlocks tied into a ponytail that reaches her knees. Her hair is black, and has about 34 blue-colored dread beads all spread out around her. She has three gold earrings on each ear; two small ear cuffs on the helix, and a small spherical one on the earlobe.

Her long eyelashes are a deep indigo color, and her eyes are a faded sky blue color. Her clothing consists of a dark grey dress shirt with a high-rising collar and tie, halfway tucked into her belt, which has a golden buckle. The shirt's accents, cuffs, and tie are all a dark magenta. She has jeans and grey nondescript tennishoes as well, with no laces. Her fingernails are painted black.

She stands and walks on over, smiling kindly, and stopping next to Noelle.

"¡Muy bien! Now, all we need, is for the action to begin. You may sit in your seat now, Frisk." Sr. Nico chirps.

Frisk goes and sits down, with Chara floating next to them, eager to see how this goes down. Susie looks at Sr. Nico and puts her hands in her jacket's pockets.

"Hey, teach? How far can I go with the whole “villain intimidation” thing? I know I can't touch 'em, but, in terms of wording." Susie asks.

"Keep things school-appropriate, please." Sr. Nico replies nervously, smiling.

"Figured. Just wanted to ask first, is all." Susie replies before she rustles her hair with two hands.

This gives Cyrus the sign to walk off, per to being the hero in this situation. Susie looks to the new girl.

"What's your name, by the way? Kinda maybe need to know it for the act." Susie replies.

"My name's Jabari Okoro. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Jabari chimes.

Susie looks Jabari up and down before grinning.

"Heh. I like your hair." Susie admits.

"Oh, thank you! I like your.. err... scales?" Jabari utters, laughing after. "Sorry, that was stupid."

Susie snorts at this, smirking. Susie then looks to Sr. Nico.

"When do we start?" Susie asks.

"Whenever you'd please." Sr. Nico replies, looking at the clock. "...just make sure it's soon. We've got five minutes to spare."

"Gotcha." Susie states.

Susie clears her throat, and makes guttural noises for a moment before a reptillian/big-cat-like growl escapes her throat.

"There it is." Susie mumbles before she takes a deep breath. "Alright, let's get this started."

"Beginning in three, two, one!" Sr. Nico counts down, and once he claps his hands, Susie smiles as wide as she can, revealing her many many sharp teeth.

She then enters a pose and begins laughing like an evil villain, as her “hostages” bunker down and cower in fear.

"Please, Susiezilla..! Have mercy!!" Berdly cries out, selling his cowardice a bit too much.

"I know there's some good in you... just try..!" Noelle adds, genuine sincerity in her voice.

Susie looks back at them all, growling again.

"Mercy...? Since when have I ever shown mercy? Kidnapping you was only the beginning of my hellish rampage... and now it's time for LUNCH..." Susie replies, her voice hitting levels of grit unheard of by any human.

When Noelle looks up at her, she sees nothing but hatred and despair in her glowing golden eyes. She looks almost feral, with her scruffy hair, her gaping, drooling maw, and her bulky figure looming over her. Noelle feels small, and almost insignificant in front of Susie, and because of that, Noelle can't help but blush at this, her nose glowing its brightest, and she quickly tries to cover it up, appearing as though she's crying.

"D-don't cry, Noelle! I'm sure someone will save us..!" Anthony utters, his delivery being a bit messy, like it's part of a 90's anime dub.

However, it isn't long before Cyrus enters the scene. He puts his hood up, and clears his throat.

"Before you have lunch there, Susiezilla, you'd best hold your tongue when speaking down to innocent civilians!" Cyrus retorts, imitating a sort of regal and heroic voice, getting Susie's attention.

"What's this? Another hero come to die?" Susie asks, smiling still.

"The name is Urban Flow, miscreant. And you're about to face the music!" Cyrus retorts, pointing at her dramatically.

"Funny wordplay won't save you from me!" Susie snarls.

Cyrus smirks and rushes her, before winding back, and “striking” her across the face, remembering to knap, and this causes Susie to spin like a top. Once she's done, she struggles to stand.

"Curse... you..."

And falls flat on her face, sticking her tongue out.

"I am vanquished. Bleh."

This causes the whole class to laugh and applaud, including Sr. Nico himself, and Susie stands up, dusting herself off and fixing her hair a small bit.

"Susie. You're actually pretty cool. Here's hopin' we can hang out sometime." Cyrus admits, holding his fist out.

Susie moves the hair out of her eyes and looks at him.

"You're part of that group that harassed Frisk, right? If so, there's no way in hell." Susie retorts.

Cyrus huffs, and Anthony stands up.

"We can talk about that next hour. We've kinda been meaning to explain all of that." Anthony states.

Susie looks at him and glares.

"You'd better." Susie snaps.

It's the final hour of the day; study hall. In a room filled with things to do, and bean bag chairs, which are currently occupied by Frisk, Kris, Susie, Noelle, Anthony, Jason, Cyrus, and Jabari, who just wanted to join in on the conversation. Chara is floating next to Frisk, so they don't need one. The other students in the room are doing their own thing and not associating with the bean bag bunch.

The teacher in the room, which is Sans, is sleeping at his desk. Some younger kids are writing on his skull with a collection of dry-erase markers.

"You've got some nerve trying to have a peaceful talk after the shit you put Frisk through." Chara states, already not trusting this.

"Relax, kid. I know you don't trust us, and you have every reason not to." Anthony replies, smoothing his hair back, with his usually-covered eye having a massive purple spot around it.

It looks heavily bruised, and he can't even open his eye if he wanted to.

"But ya gotta believe us when we say this--" Anthony continues.

"It was Benjamin's SOUL trait. He calls it “Cruelty”. It manipulated our thoughts and actions to do his bidding." Jason blurts out.

Kris, Susie, Noelle, and Jabari look confused while Frisk and Chara are concerned.

"Soul... trait? Souls have traits now?" Kris asks, just as confused as everyone else.

"That makes sense... his SOUL is a different color than the others!" Chara deduces, sitting down in the air. "No WONDER..."

"You can see the color of a soul?" Kris asks, confused.

Frisk nods, and their SOUL appears. Jabari and Noelle eye this in awe, while Kris' eyes widen to the point that they can be seen behind his hair. Susie, seeing this, recognizes it and looks at Kris, noticing their innate fear.

Kris immediately covers their own chest, an expression of sheer panic all over their face.

"Get that thing the fuck away from me, right now." Kris orders sternly and in a loud voice, mortified and standing up.

The fact that Kris normally has a monotonous mumbley voice makes this moment even more shocking, with especially Noelle in shock at Kris's sudden outburst. Everyone stares at Kris for a long while, and Kris's face remains horrified for the entire time that Frisk keeps their SOUL out.

Frisk quickly makes their SOUL vanish and looks confused, yet also slightly worried. Kris slowly sits back down as everyone, even Susie, looks at Kris in either surprise or shock. After a moment, Frisk goes to say something, but Kris holds their hand up.

"...'m sorry for that." Kris admits, their voice back to its usual self. "That thing... it scares me."

Noelle, after a deep breath, pats their shoulder gently, and Kris huffs.

"Just keep talking please. Don't make this any more awkward than it already is." Kris grumbles.

Noelle nods and looks over at Jason, her ear flicking a bit.

"So, because of these soul thingies, it made you... do things you didn't wanna?" Noelle asks. "That's horrible! I can't even imagine something like that happening to someone I care about... or even myself..."

Noelle rubs her hand as she says this, looking desolate. Kris looks at her, and wraps an arm around her, also looking more depressed than they usually are.

"Play stupid games, win stupid prizes." Cyrus replies. "And we got played like he knew all the cheat codes from the get-go." 

Anthony then exhales, nodding slightly. He looks up at Frisk, who seems rather emotionless.

"What I'm trying to say is... I'm sorry, Frisk. Even though it wasn't my fault, I should have never ever hurt you, and if you hate me and my boys for the rest of your life, I completely understand." Anthony replies, looking at Frisk and crying from his good eye. "I just wish it could have never happened, and I don't know how I'll live with myself for going through it. I don't wanna ask for forgiveness, either. I just... needed to apologize. I needed closure."

As Anthony sits there, silently crying, Frisk is being looked at by everyone in the group.

"Whaddya wanna do?" Chara asks softly.

FIGHT                MERCY

FIGHT            ♥︎ MERCY

Frisk stands up and hugs Anthony as tight as they can, shocking everyone around them. Anthony hugs Frisk as well, trying his hardest not to start bawling. Understanding the situation, Susie looks out at everyone else to see if people are staring, and to her relief, no one is.

She continues to look out, as Frisk backs away from Anthony, who's sniffling and is quickly comforted by Jason and Cyrus putting their hands on his shoulders.

Jabari, not understanding what's going on, blinks and looks at the others.

"What even happened between you guys?" Jabari asks.

Chara turns to Jabari.

"Long story short, Frisk is the human who freed the monsters. And because Benjamin put them under... some weird form of.. mind control, I guess, he had them physically assault Frisk as soon as they got out of the Underground, drawing blood and breaking bones, and almost leaving them defenseless." Chara explains. "Benjamin is the real monster in this situation. His SOUL was interfering with theirs."

Jabari puts a hand over her mouth and looks to Frisk.

"I hope you're doing better since then, sweetheart." Jabari replies.

Frisk nods and smiles at her, giving Jabari some relief.

"That's good." Jabari says before looking to Anthony, Cyrus, and Jason. "I just feel bad for them now..."

Susie nods, scratching her neck.

"Yeah, me too. I know what it's like to hurt people without any remorse for how they feel. ...it isn't right. And I'm still tryna make my way up to being a better person since..." Susie explains before she clears her throat. "never mind."

"No no, go on. This is a safe space." Noelle replies, putting a hand on her arm.

Susie looks at her, and exhales, looking forward again.

"I'm trying to be a better person than I was when I told Kris I'd eat their face off. And when I said... that no one would care about them if they were gone. I was a massive dick back then, and it took me until a bit ago to.. REALLY see that. I still don't think they like or trust me at all, even with being their bes-.. ...their friend. Sure, we have Ralsei, the people of the castle town, that weird Kaard guy with the worm jar, and Lancer, but... in the real world, Kris only has me and Noelle." Susie rambles. "And Berdly too, I guess. But he's more of a tolerance than a friend."

"Right." Jason nods. "But I'm sure that if you just ask them, things will work out."

Susie looks at Kris, who looks back at her.

"You don't have to worry about me hating you, Susie. I promise. All that before is just water under the bridge." Kris responds. "We're friends. We're always gonna be friends, like your dream said. The only thing that's gonna change that is the future. I wanna live in the now." 

Susie smiles at this, and Noelle notices that Susie's small tail is wagging. She smiles at this, and begins happily bouncing in her seat. Once Anthony calms down, he wipes his eye with his arm and takes a breath.

"Would you guys wanna... hang out after school? I know this really cool arcade downtown next to a pizza place. We can just have fun and try to be friends 'n stuff." Anthony asks. "As... as an apology for what I did."

"I'd love to!" Noelle chimes.

"Sounds sick as hell, man." Susie adds.

Frisk nods, beaming at Anthony.

"Alright then." Anthony replies, smiling.

"By the way, what happened to your eye?" Jabari asks.

Anthony stops smiling for a moment, and scoffs.

"My dumbass stepdad hit me." Anthony retorts. "He keeps saying I don't do anything around the house when I'm the one who has to do everything, so he keeps the jumper cables close." 

Noelle stands up and leaves the room briskly, with Susie and Kris looking at her, confused.

"PREACH, oh my LORD." Jabari utters, putting her hands on her face. "I do all of my studies in my room before I do stuff around the house, so when I come out, I get all these passive-aggressive comments, talkin' about “look who finally decided to come out of her room today to help with the laundry that I asked her to do ten minutes ago”. But, I just take it on the chin."

"You have no idea how much I relate to you right now." Susie replies, exasperated.

Frisk hears footsteps coming from behind them, so they look to spot Toriel, holding Flowey in her hands.

"Greetings, children." Toriel chimes, with everyone but Kris looking up at her. "I have come to leave Flowey with Frisk." 

Frisk smiles and signs “thank you” before taking Flowey, and sitting back down. Toriel looks at Kris for a moment, and walks off back to the exit of the room.

"So, what's going on? You guys are the punks who hurt Frisk, right?" Flowey asks.

"They explained everything, and we're all cool." Chara states.

Flowey tilts to the side very very slowly, but exhales.

"I forgot how easy you forgive people who try to kill you." Flowey grumbles.

"A talking flower? I guess monsters come in all shapes and sizes after all." Jabari admits, laughing a bit.

Flowey looks to her and smiles before looking back at Chara.

"And what's the news on that Ben kid's SOUL?" Flowey asks.

"They said it was somethin' called Cruelty." Susie states, scratching an itch where her ear would be if it weren't covered by her hair.

"Cruelty, huh? What grimey, greasy edgelord came up with that in his parents' basement?" Flowey asks, irritated, before he gives a smug expression. "Oh wait."

This gets Anthony to laugh, and Jason wraps his arms around Anthony's as a result, enjoying his laughter. Cyrus smiles, chuckling a tiny bit.

"I dunno why, but from what I saw of the dude, he looks like a corpse. But if they cremated him and kept his complexion." Kris admits. "He always gave me some weird vibe that nothing was OK. That I should fear him."

Frisk nods, and attempts to sign, but remembers that no one else understands monster sign language and holds their head, hyperventilating. Chara grips their shoulder gently, and Frisk slowly calms down.

"What happened?" Anthony asks.

"Frisk wants to speak, but you don't know monster sign language, and they cannot use their vocal cords. Like, at all." Chara replies. "When they think of something too much, it starts to get to them until they can't handle it anymore."

Anthony only nods, disappointed in himself even more, and Frisk signs to Chara. Anthony looks at Cyrus.

"Jesus Christ, they're fucking disabled too..." Anthony whispers slightly, shuddering a bit.

Cyrus nods, keeping his hand on Anthony's back. After a moment, Chara turns to Anthony.

"Frisk says they feel the same, but a hundredfold. It may be because of Frisk's SOUL being red, like how Benjamin's is a deep maroon color." Chara explains.

Seeing as Anthony is currently in shock, Jason speaks up.

"That makes sense... maybe Cruelty is that red SOUL's direct counter?" Jason suggests. "I think I remember him saying something about collecting more SOULS to taint. Perhaps he could be finding more traits to make evil and to add to his own, starting with Frisk." 

Everyone aside from Flowey looks either worried or at the least bit concerned. Flowey groans and rolls his eyes.

"That's ridiculous. A monster can absorb a human's SOUL, no problem. I, myself, have personally absorbed six of them. As well as every single monster SOUL in the Underground. It's a long story." Flowey explains. "But a human absorbing another human's SOUL? That has never happened. Not once in every single time I've reset the world."

Pure silence.

"There's a lot to unpack there. Conversations for later aside, just because it didn't happen doesn't mean it can't happen." Jason explains.

"Too true. Things always tend to happen out of the blue whenever Frisk is involved with them." Chara admits, rubbing Frisk's head and scruffing their hair.

Frisk laughs silently and slaps Chara's hands away playfully, with Chara laughing as well. Noelle returns and sits back down on her bean bag, handing Anthony a blue sac.

"Here you go! I got you an ice pack for your eye, Anthony." Noelle chimes.

Anthony snaps out of his regret for a moment, blushes at this, and takes it.

"Um... th-thanks." Anthony replies, getting help from Jason to put it on carefully.

"You're welcome!" Noelle chirps, happy to help.

Cyrus looks at Anthony and then to Noelle.

"Anthony, do you like that Noelle girl?" Cyrus whispers to Anthony.

In response to this, Anthony looks to Cyrus, flustered.

"Not while they're literally right in front of us, dude." Anthony replies quietly.

"I'mma take that as a yes." Cyrus replies at the same volume. "I'm pretty sure she flies the orange 'n purple flag."

Anthony is silent for a moment, and simply looks away, at the floor. Cyrus pats Anthony's back a few times.

"So! Now that we got all that depressing stuff out of the way, let's talk about something that's interesting." Jabari states.

"Agreed. The tension is so thick here you could cut it with a knife and serve it with eggs." Kris responds.

"This topic only really applies to us teenagers, but... who have you guys got in your love life?" Jabari asks, suddenly giddy.

This question flusters Noelle, Jason, and Anthony while Cyrus is calm (if not a little mischievous), Susie is the exact same, and Kris groans out of boredom. Frisk, Chara, and Flowey all react with the same disgusted noise.

"I'll start. I haven't really found my “one” yet, but, I'm optimistic I can!" Jabari states. "What about you, Kris?"

"Pass." Kris retorts instantly.

"Oh, come on! I'm sure there's someone out there for you." Jabari coaxes, giving him a kind smile.

"Will you stop asking if I tell you?" Kris asks.

Their brusque tone causes Jabari's smile to fade a little bit.

"If you really aren't comfortable with telling us, you don't have to say anything." Jabari utters, feeling bad. "I'm sorry for pushing this on you."

"No, it's fine. I'm just being me, as per usual. I've never really been a “one true love” kind of person. But if I were to be with anyone, I just want them to be nice to me." Kris admits. "I don't want them to control me. And I want them to be authentic with their feelings. None of that fake “I love you, now go buy me a thousand-dollar pearl necklace to prove it” shit, y'know?"

Everyone feels at ease or warmer at Kris' confession, and Noelle especially smiles wide.

"That honestly sounds really nice, Kris! Why haven't you opened up like that before?" Noelle asks.

"Because I hate talking about myself. I'm not that interesting." Kris says with a laugh.

Their laugh sounds empty and hollow, like there's no emotion or weight to it. It disturbs Frisk, who shudders a small bit.

Jabari scans the group and looks to Noelle.

"Noelle, how about you?" Jabari asks, with Noelle's ears perking up.

"M-me..? Well, um... uhh... u-ummm..." Noelle stammers, slowly blushing and nose-glowing. "I guess... I like, um..."

Kris smiles at this, almost evilly.

"Nah, it's OK, Noelle. You don't have to say anything about Susie if you don't want to." Kris states.

Now Noelle is at full blush and her nose is like a flashlight with how bright it is.

"AGH-JIH, KRIS, THAT'S NOT..! AT ALL WHAT I WAS!!!" Noelle immediately utters, beyond flustered and covering her face.

Susie laughs at this.

"Good one, Kris." Susie continues to laugh, patting Kris on the shoulder a few times roughly. "I mean, what kinda dumbass would you have to be in order to like me?"

"Everyone's worthy of love, Susie." Jason replies.

"Jeffrey Dahmer." Susie retorts.

"Fuck." Jason scoffs, looking away. "My flawed logic was called out. How will I ever recover?"

Anthony and Cyrus laugh at this, and Jason blushes a bit.

"You are not as bad as a literal serial killer, Susie." Chara speaks up, floating over to her.

"She DID threaten to eat my face." Kris chimes in.

Anthony stifles a hearty laugh, having to struggle to keep it down as Noelle puts her hands over her mouth, in complete shock.

"KRIS!" Noelle utters, shaking them a bit.

"What?? It's not like she offered to eat my heart." Kris adds.

Anthony cackles at this, unable to keep from holding the laughter in. Susie joins in with a grim chuckle.

"KRIS!!" Noelle cries out, shaking them more.

Kris genuinely smiles at this, finally letting out a snicker that sounds like it has some emotion behind it, and Frisk is far more comfortable.

"While it's true that a majority of people are not as bad as that guy, it's just an example that not everyone is worthy of love." Susie explains.

"YOU are." Chara replies.

Susie, after a moment of silence, huffs and looks away, and Chara goes back next to Frisk. 

"I suppose that's Susie answered as well, then. What about you three?" Jabari asks, looking to Anthony, Cyrus, and Jason.

"We're together." Anthony admits, wrapping his arms around Jason and Cyrus. "All three of us."

Jason is blushing a small bit and Cyrus, surprised by Anthony's boldness, leans into Anthony and kisses his jaw.

"That's what's up, Annie..." Cyrus chuckles with a low voice.

Jabari squeals and stims in her seat, flapping her arms a bit.

"I'm so happy for you guys!!" Jabari cheers.

Frisk and Chara are left speechless at this.

"Wow. Did NOT expect that." Chara utters.

Anthony chuckles a bit, and tugs at Jason's scarf a bit.

"Y'see this scarf here? It was a gift from Cyrus and I. We actually learned how to knit for it." Anthony chirps. "He hasn't taken it off since. ...unless he has to shower." 

Noelle cups her hands together near her head.

"Aww! What was the gift for?" Noelle asks, her eyes sparkling.

Jason grumbles, somewhat embarrassed, and Anthony grins wider.

"Well... Jason here is really good at cooking. When me and Cyrus head on over to his place, he makes ALL of the food we eat there. And since he said he'd never take our money for it, we wanted to do something nice for him." Anthony explains, letting go of the scarf.

"It was hell learnin' how to make that damn scarf, but Jay likes it, so I'm not complainin'." Cyrus adds, looking fondly at Jason.

Jason smiles sheepishly, embarrassed as he looks off to the side. The bell then rings, and Sans wakes up at his desk, his face suddenly free of any marker markings.

* alright, kids. school's over. get outta here.

The students in the room all begin to pack up, and once they do, they leave the room, with Sans walking next to Frisk.

* sup?

Frisk signs to Sans excitedly, and he looks at everyone in the group.

* wow, kid. you've made a lot of new friends, huh?

Frisk smiles and nods happily.

"Aren't you the shopkeeper in town?" Susie asks Sans, who looks at her.

* uh... the only job i ever worked at as a shopkeeper was when i sold hotdogs underground.

* sorry if you were expecting someone else.

Susie thinks for a moment, but is nudged softly by Kris, who whispers to her something unheard of by anyone else. Susie's face changes from confused to neutral.

"Got it." Susie nods to Kris.

As they walk to the exit door, they're joined by Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys, who all talk with Frisk and Chara happily, and Ralsei joins Kris, Susie, and Noelle, with Berdly following soon after. Jabari walks off on her own, and Anthony spots Benjamin out of the corner of his eye, holding something.

Once he blinks, Benjamin is missing, so he tries not to think of it too much and just looks ahead. Once they get to the front door, however, Anthony taps Toriel's arm, since her shoulder is much too high for him to reach. Toriel stops to turn and look at him, smiling.

"What is it, Anthony?" Toriel asks.

"Uh.. Miss Toriel? I just wanted... to apologize. For what happened to Frisk." Anthony begins.

"Wait, what happened to Frisk?" Undyne asks defensively, a magic spear already in her hand.

Anthony, immediately scared, jolts at this, and both he and Jason stand behind Cyrus.

"We'll talk about it later." Chara replies to Undyne quickly. "This isn't really a good time."

Undyne nods and puts the spear away, looking at Anthony skeptically. Toriel smiles wider at Anthony and kneels down to his level.

"You are quite alright, child. I am very glad you have apologized." Toriel admits with a kindhearted tone of voice. "Surely there is a reason for your actions."

"There is. A big one. But it'll probably sound stupid to you." Cyrus responds.

"Oh? Let us continue this conversation outside of the school." Toriel chirps, standing up.

Once they head outside and to Papyrus' cool red sports car, Anthony, Jason, and Cyrus explain everything they can to everyone in the group about what they were forced to do by Benjamin, and once they're done explaining, Toriel has her hands over her mouth in shock, Sans' expression is mostly the same, Papyrus is frowning, Alphys is utterly mortified, and Undyne has never looked more irate.

"If there's one thing I hate more than bullies, it's mind control..." Undyne snarls, clenching her hands into fists so hard that veins begin to bulge on her muscles.

Jason, immediately fearful for his life, hides behind Anthony, tearing up. Cyrus stands in front of Anthony, who holds his arm out in front of Jason.

"I-I-I sincerely hope you don't mean us when you say you hate bullies... we had no control over it.." Jason stammers, crying.

Undyne shakes her head.

"Of course I don't mean you guys. I mean that Benjamin kid. Oh, just WAIT until I get my hands on his parents..." Undyne says, summoning two magic spears in her hands. "I'M GONNA SUPLEX THEM INTO NEXT WEEK!!! NGAAAAHHH!!!!"

"MY WORD... I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY... THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS, ISN'T IT?" Papyrus asks, scratching his head. "I'M CERTAIN THAT THERE IS SOMETHING VERY WRONG WITH BENJAMIN, BUT, IF HE WISHES TO TALK THINGS OUT..."

"He only wants genocide." Anthony interrupts. "He doesn't want to talk. He wants to kill everything that moves."

After a moment of silence, Anthony closes his eye.

"Starting with Frisk."

Anthony bends down, and Jason climbs onto Anthony's shoulders. Once he does, Anthony stands upright and looks back at everyone.

"...he mentally tortured us with that information." Anthony adds in a dejected tone of voice.

Sans' pupils flicker at this moment, and Alphys has to hug Undyne to not break down crying, as she knows how they feel. Undyne's spears vanish, and she lifts Alphys up with no effort at all, grabbing her by her sides and carrying her affectionately.

"I... there are not many things that leave me at a loss for words, but... this is definitely one of them." Berdly speaks up, flabbergasted at this knowledge. "All I can do is... wish you the best of luck going forward."

"What he said. Unless you want us to fight someone like him, we can't do much against it." Susie admits.

"Which would not be wise." Toriel interjects sternly.

Susie immediately stands up straight, her eyes wide.

"Sorry, ma'am." Susie replies as politely as she can 

Noelle immediately takes notice of this, and smiles a bit, nodding to herself, before going back to the conversation.

"Maybe what we need is something to clear our heads. What about that arcade idea you had?" Noelle asks.

"Oh yeah. Um, Miss Toriel? Would it be alright if Cyrus, Jason and I took Frisk and their friends to an arcade downtown? I have my own money from working some jobs, so, I can pay for everything." Anthony replies.

"An arcade?! I GOTTA see that!!" Undyne exclaims, immediately happy and energized again, with Alphys relieved and also happy.

"WOWIE, AN ARCADE??? I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO ONE BEFORE!! I HOPE THEY HAVE CHUTES AND LADDERS!!!" Papyrus chimes.

"Isn't that a board game?" Noelle asks, tilting her head to the side.

* i certainly get board playing it.

"SANS!!" Papyrus groans while everyone else around them laughs at the terrible joke.

"I will allow this. But only if it is OK with the parents or guardians of Kris and their friends." Toriel replies.

"We gotta go talk to Rouxls for that." Kris states. "Follow me, guys."

Frisk hugs Toriel tightly before walking away with their new group of friends, and the others get in the red sports car.

Meanwhile, the group of friends all trek the parking lot to locate the being known as “Rouxls”, being led by Kris to do so.

They eventually find a tall, blue, somewhat attractive humanoid with a diamond-shaped head. He has a gorgeous mane of fluffy snow-white hair, with his bangs parted for the left. His diamond-shaped eyes have rather long eyelashes, and his large, cartoony white mouth appears melted, having one constant string of blue skin between his lips on one side of his mouth. He's wearing a royal blue suit with epaulets.

He's holding a leash, with Lancer on the end of it and hooked up to a harness. Lancer is performing a weird dance as the man watches unenthusiastically. Once the man spots them all, he smiles, looking relieved.

"Oh, thankst the Heavens! Thou're back-eth! ...whom'stve art your Friends, though?" the man asks.

"These guys are Frisk, Chara, Anthony, Cyrus, and Jason!" Ralsei introduces, with the respective person making themselves known.

"A pleasure to maketh thine acquaintances. I amst Rouxls Kaard, the Duke of Puzzles! And, currentlie... the Guardiane of-eth these little worms." Rouxls explains, glitter flying off of his hair as he moves it.

"And I'm Lancer!!" Lancer cheers, jumping up and down repeatedly, bouncing like a rubber ball.

Anthony swallows his pride upon seeing Rouxls, and takes a step backwards.

"So, I was wondering if we could take these guys to some arcade that they know about. We'll be back in..." Kris explains before looking to Anthony.

"‘bout four hours or more." Anthony states.

"About four hours or more." Kris repeats.

"Well, I DO needeth some me-eth Time..." Rouxls thinks to himself. "oh, why not-eth? I, Rouxls Kaard, grant thou're request! As long-est as thou leaveth them with moi." 

"That's fair." Kris replies, grabbing a pair of glasses with different colored lenses and a weird-looking plastic thing shaped like a T from his pocket and handing them to Rouxls. "Here you go."

"Thanks, my good worm! Dost thou require a Ride-eth there?" Rouxls asks.

"You have a car?" Cyrus asks, confused. "And it can hold all of us?" 

"I assume he has a horse and chariot." Anthony laughs, with Cyrus chuckling at this.

"Deadass Julius Caesar type shit." Cyrus mutters back.

"I DO have a Mode of Transportintentination!" Rouxls replies. "Followeth, children!"

Rouxls turns around and walks off briskly, with Kris and the others following.

"This guy's a nutjob." Anthony admits.

"Just wait until you meet Queen. She should be in the car waiting." Noelle says apprehensively, almost as if she doesn't want to say anything negative about this “Queen” person.

Once they make it to the car, which is a sleek black mini-limo, they hear muffled pop music coming from inside, and a figure inside dancing along. Rouxls knocks on the window, and the song ends. The figure stops moving, and the window rolls down slowly.

Inside of the car is a robotic... person? When they step out of the car, they're taller than Rouxls is, and is mostly an azure color, with white and black parts. She's wearing a sleeveless black top with an azure masonic collar that has slightly spiked shoulders and a large white medici-styled collar, white pants with the right-half being azure, black high-heeled calf-length boots, azure gloves, a beauty spot at the right of her eyes, azure lipstick, and an azure cap with black marks on each side that sweeps significantly behind her head. Her eyes are a dark screen with a heart-like shape with eyelashes, and the screen says “HI” in red text.

"Hey, Queen. We're back." Kris greets.

"Welcome Back To: The Car"

Their voice is immediately known to everyone as feminine, and robotic in nature, but emotion can be heard. They notice the others, and their screen's text changes to “WHAR”.

"Oh Hello, Who Are You?"

"The new guys are Frisk, Chara, Anthony, Cyrus, and Jason. We're going to an arcade." Susie explains.

"Request Acknowledged, Get In The Car"

"We're Gonna F@#& That Place: Up"

Everyone does as they're told, with Kris in the driver's seat, and they drive out of the parking lot, going as fast as the speed limit will allow.

END OF CHAPTER TWO

Chapter Text

After a very long and mostly silent car ride, the black mini-limo pulls up outside of the arcade, with Kris behind the wheel.

"Alright. This the place?" Kris asks, looking back at Anthony in the backseat.

The backseat of which is sort of stuffy, due to nine people being back there. Queen was spared this fate, sitting shotgun.

"It is, thank God. We can FINALLY get out of this cramped box." Anthony exhales. "It smells like rotting meat and a flowerless gingerbread garden back here. Bugs included."

Kris looks over at Queen, almost bored.

"We really need to get this car upgraded." Kris says to Queen.

"Lmao You Right Kris, You Right" Queen replies, her screen changing to “TRUE”.

"Alright-eth worms, out of thine Limousine-eth." Rouxls orders, opening his door.

Everyone quickly vacates the car, stretching their bodies, and Kris approaches Rouxls.

"Rouxls, I gotta talk to you about... them." Kris says in a quiet voice.

Rouxls, understanding, nods, and he clears his throat.

"Kris would like-eth to Speake to me about something-e. Please, go forth and playeth your useless videos gameths!" Rouxls chimes, posing dramatically.

"Whatever, ya hot weirdo." Cyrus utters.

Everyone except for Rouxls, Queen, and Kris walk off, and both Kris and Rouxls look at Queen.

"Why art THOU still standing here-eth?" Rouxls asks.

"I Don't Know" Queen chimes. "Lmao"

"...do you wanna wait in the car, or do you wanna go in the arcade?" Kris asks, already done with this.

"I Would Overheat If I Were In The Car, But I Would Also Wreck Some Fools If I Were To Go In The Arcade" Queen explains, her screen saying “HELP”.

"So"

"I Cannot Compute Any Results"

Kris takes a deep breath, and looks to Rouxls.

"I was gonna ask for Jevil and Spamton back. If we're all going in together, then they'd be a lot safer with me." Kris states. "And I don't trust them alone with Queen. Spamton maybe, but Spamton AND Jevil?"

"Lmao Fair"

"You Right" 

Rouxls, apprehensive, struggles for a bit before groaning, handing the glasses and plastic back to Kris, who pockets them.

"I sweareth, if those two Menaces decidedesteth to--"

"Rouxls. Relax." Kris retorts. "I got this."

Kris walks off, with Rouxls and Queen following at their own pace. And since the others decided to wait outside of the building for them, they all walk inside at the same time, revealing that the arcade is a gigantic room filled with all sorts of fun things to do, not just arcade games.

On one side, there are physical games like skee-ball, basketball, several scam games, and a laser tag arena. On the other are bouncy castles, trampolines, and obstacle courses so large and confusing that it would give Ronald McDonald new ideas for the PlayPlaces.

But all between those two sides, are arcade games, as far as the eye can see. Old and new arcade games, from the first to exist to the latest to come out.

"Ladies, gents, those of unspecified genders, and Queen; welcome, to Freakazoid Kingdom." Anthony announces. "The biggest arcade in the country. And there's a pizza place right next door. Doesn't get much better than this, I tell ya."

"Oh my g-goodness...!" Noelle chirps, in absolute wonder. "This place is amazing!"

"Heh, can't wait to see how fast I get kicked outta here." Susie jokes, placing her hands behind her head.

Lancer immediately bolts for the bouncy castles, so Rouxls and Queen run after him, and Anthony grumbles.

"There he goes..." Anthony scoffs. "we need tokens to do anything here, and we need money for those tokens. So he can't go on the bouncy castles unless he has tokens."

"Do we have the money for anything?" Chara asks.

"Yea. They need to come back, like.. now." Anthony retorts.

"I got this." Susie replies before heading over there herself.

After a moment, she comes back, carrying Rouxls and Queen on one arm, and Lancer with her free hand.

"Thou knoweth, this doesn't Reallie seem like a safe mode of-st transportation..." Rouxls replies.

Susie places everyone down except for Lancer, who's still trying to run off to the bouncy castles.

"Susie, lemme go!! Do you not SEE how big those castles are?? I could be the king of bouncy kingdom!!" Lancer whines.

"We need tokens for it." Susie scoffs.

"Tokens??? I thought those were for the arcade machines." Lancer states.

Anthony thinks for a moment, and snaps his fingers.

"Right, yeah yeah yeah. For the bouncy castles, he just needs an adult watching him. Sorry." Anthony states. "It's been a while since I was here of my own free will." 

"Felt that." Kris responds.

"I Volunteer As Tribute To: Watch Lancer" Queen replies, her screen saying “FUN”.

Susie sets Lancer down, and he runs off again, with Queen also running off.

"She runs funny as hell." Cyrus laughs, placing his hands in his pockets.

Anthony and the others walk to a machine, and once Anthony puts some money inside of it, he grabs a small plastic ziploc bag from the side of it, and places it over the dispenser, where tokens begin spilling out. It takes a little bit, but the machine stops once the bag is completely filled, and he closes the bag.

"Alright, we got our tokens." Anthony states, handing the bag to Jason. "You're in charge of them cuz you're good with money."

"Oh, um.. OK!" Jason nods.

"So now we just spread out and have fun?" Susie asks, grinning.

"Yeah! I'll give you all ten tokens just to be safe. These games only cost one, as far as I'm aware." Jason explains, handing every member in the group ten tokens. "Don't eat them, Susie."

Susie promptly shows Jason her favorite finger.

Once everyone has their tokens, they all walk off in different directions; Frisk and Chara, Susie and Noelle, Kris and Ralsei, and Anthony, Cyrus, and Jason all pair off, leaving Rouxls confused, and just following Anthony. Berdly immediately flocks to the first game he can find; a game about shooting zombies.

Anthony, Cyrus, and Jason all head for a Mortal Kombat 2 arcade game, and Rouxls, also being there, is intrigued.

"Pardon me, Anthony. I... hast never Been to an arcade before-eth. So, I feel-st a little-e lost." Rouxls states.

"Never been to an arcade? That makes sense, I suppose. Do they not have arcades in the Underground?" Anthony asks.

"Underground? I haileth Frome the Dark World." Rouxls explains.

"Whatever you wanna call it, it seems like there's no arcades there. So how about you fight me first?" Anthony chimes.

"I doth not even knoweth how to playeth!" Rouxls exclaims.

"Oh, come on. What are you, chicken?" Anthony teases, grinning.

Rouxls immediately glares at Anthony.

"No-one, calls-eth Rouxls Kaard, a Chickene." Rouxls snaps.

Rouxls sits down in the seat next to Anthony, and once they put their tokens into the slot, the game activates, showing the character select screen.

"Whicheth of these Characters ist thy best-est in this Gameth?" Rouxls asks.

"Seeing as you're a beginner, it would be best if you picked Scorpion. He's the yellow guy, under the blue one." Anthony explains after choosing to play as Kano.

"Alright-eth." Rouxls nods, moving his joystick over to Scorpion. "“A” to select-eth?"

"Yes-eth." Anthony replies.

Rouxls selects his fighter, and once the game begins, Rouxls manages to attack first. Getting confident, Rouxls lets out a haughty chuckle.

"Come hither, at once! Dost not run from me, for I will-t strike thou down with a fury of mighty blows! Prepareth to square; I shall heave the george on thy living's naughty mosh romp! Thy future shall see-eth nothing but pain and torture, destiny shall not escapeth; Failure shall knoweth thy nameth! Death is on the horizon, the afterlife moments hence from thy reality, surrender but ties thy wretched soul!" Rouxls monologues as he plays poorly. "I shall not flee from battle, 'tis is strategy to lure thee in, and thee has FALLEN for my own scheme!! Anon thee will suffer thy consequences, fallen victim to my own palmy-wrath!!"

KANO WINS

Fatality!

"...GOD. DAMN IT."

Anthony, Cyrus, and Jason all howl with laughter at this, furthering incurring Rouxls' wrath.

"Come then, knave! Beste two out of three-st!" Rouxls snaps.

Anthony stops chuckling to rest a hand on Rouxls's shoulder.

"Here's a tip, Shakespeare. This game has special attacks that can be used by moving the stick and pressing the buttons at the same time. For example, Scorpion has a bladed rope that he can use to draw you in." Anthony explains, pointing around at the screen. "For that, you have to go backwards twice, and immediately hit low punch."

"Ah. I see." Rouxls nods before looking at Cyrus to whisper. "What did-st any of that mean-eth?"

"Just look at what he does 'n try to copy it." Cyrus responds, hands in his jacket pockets. "It's how Jason learned how to play."

Anthony, hearing this, clicks his tongue and looks over at Jason.

"I swear to God, Jason, if you fucking use Mileena, I'm gonna kick you in your bad knee." Anthony scoffs.

Jason throws his hands in the air, immediately defensive.

"She's a good character!" Jason argues. "I don't complain when you use Kano all the time!"

"Because Kano is a hot Australian cyborg thief. And Mileena is a slutty clone with Tarkatan teeth." Anthony snaps.

"Backshots." Cyrus chimes in.

Anthony whips his head around to look at Cyrus, whose grin is plastered on his face, much to Rouxls's growing irritation.

"You shut your whore mouth, Cyrus." Anthony points at him menacingly. "You'd let Baraka blow you any day of the week."

Despite being offended, Cyrus snorts to avoid laughter, his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Aight, bruh. Now THAT'S cap and you know it, Tony." Cyrus laughs. "You know I main the main man Johnny Cage."

"Because he punches people in the dick." Anthony states bluntly, much to Cyrus' laughter.

"It's a fuckin' classic, dude." Cyrus chuckles. "At least I don't get my dick hard over basic bitches like Terry Bogard."

Anthony glares harshly. "Don't you start this shit again, Cyrus."

"Bro, he's a blonde dude with a trucker hat! He can have a hard-ass fit all he wants, it don't stop him from bein' aggressively corny." Cyrus replies, resting his hands behind his head.

"What about his City of the Wolves fit?" Anthony argues.

"City of the huh—?" Cyrus utters, squinting as he leans forward slightly.

"Can we just play the goddamn game already?" Rouxls asks, completely dropping the Shakespeareanisms out of anger.

The three boys jolt at this sudden outburst.

"Right yea, sorry. I just.. really like this game." Anthony says nervously, picking Kano again.

"Hmm... this time-eth, I shalt pick “Jax”!" Rouxls states, selecting his character. 

Cyrus grins wider, brimming with pride and patting Rouxls's shoulder.

"I respect you a lot more now, R.K." Cyrus admits. "Choosing a fellow brother."

"Thou art relatedeth to this videos game character?" Rouxls asks, looking back at him, confused.

"It's.. it's a skin color thing." Cyrus admits. "Just play the game, man." 

"And don't start getting confident just because you got the first hit." Jason adds.

"I understand-eth!" Rouxls chimes.

He turns back to play the game.

"Oh, and everyone has a different set of controls. So that input I told you for Scorpion? Worthless on Jax." Anthony explains.

"Geh hah hah hah, it matters not! For I shalt bring-eth thou to yond Dangere Zoneth!" Rouxls retorts.

Round 1

FIGHT!

Meanwhile with Kris and Ralsei, they are currently waiting at a table, having ordered some food. 

"So, Kris! Is there any reason you wanted to eat first before we played games?" Ralsei asks, smiling kindly.

"‘m hungry. Nothin' really much else to it." Kris mutters.

Ralsei nods, his eyes closed.

"I bet! I don't think you eat much of anything, now that I think about it..." Ralsei chimes, before suddenly gaining a mischievous expression. "I mean, unless it comes to a healing item or moss."

Kris, noticing the teasing tone in Ralsei's voice, perks up but doesn't exactly smile.

"Hey, don't knock it 'til you try it, alright?" Kris retorts casually.

This gets Ralsei to giggle, a paw over his mouth.

"Alright, I won't!" Ralsei chimes.

The two then wait there in an awkward silence, with Ralsei looking down at the table, seeing the logo of the establishment on it.

"How long do you think that this place has been open for?" Ralsei asks, looking up at Kris with a smile. "I mean, I.."

Ralsei then sighs, shaking his head.

"I apologize, Kris. It's just.. this is the first time I've seen the Light World for myself. I don't know exactly how we got here, but I'm loving everything so far!" Ralsei continues, beaming. "Even though this isn't YOUR Light World, it's so much fun! Don't you agree?"

Kris remains silent, a small huff escaping them.

"I guess." Kris replies, a hand on their chin.

Ralsei smiles.

"You never really were one for conversation, huh Kris?" Ralsei says chipperly. "You've gotten better at it though!"

Kris finally cracks a grin at this.

"Nothin' interesting to talk about." Kris admits. "Maybe I'll find something when the food gets here."

Ralsei nods, folding his arms on the table.

"I'm surprised and still rather upset that you were able to finesse the poor cashier to give us the food for free!" Ralsei interjects.

"Mom would kill me if she found out, but hey- free food. Can't argue with that." Kris simply responds, shrugging in a low-energy yet lackadaisical nature. "Besides, I'm flat broke right now."

Ralsei pauses, registering what Kris is saying, before giving a soft nod.

"What."

"Sorry, it.. this is the longest I've ever heard you talk without something interrupting." Ralsei says softly. "You have a really nice voice, Kris."

The genuine compliment given by Ralsei has Kris caught off-guard, but they mask their flusteredness with their masterful poker face. Despite their poker face, a blush can be seen on their cheeks.

"Thanks." Kris mumbles, looking off to the side.

Ralsei gives a nervous titter, but it falls flat, with Ralsei looking down at the table now. Kris notices this and rubs the space between their eyes, looking at a random corner of the area, and spotting a familiar figure.

Kris moves their hair away from their eyes to get a more clear view of them, but once they do this, the figure is gone. Ralsei sees Kris do this and looks back as well.

"What did you see, Kris?" Ralsei asks.

"Thought I saw that creepy guy. With the red eyes." Kris explains. "Purple shirt. Never caught his name."

"Benjamin?" Ralsei gasps, a paw over his mouth.

Kris nods, and from his pocket, he grabs the glasses and plastic T-shaped thing, which actually resembles a J. With a bright and brief flash, two beings emerge from the items.

One of them being a short, pudgy imp with a round gray face, elven ears, clown-like eyes with small yellow pupils and black sclerae, and a large smiling mouth with yellow, sharp teeth. He has a long, purple tongue, and a purple tail shaped like a capital letter J.

He is dressed in a purple shirt, black trousers, a black cape, green slippers, black socks, purple mittens, and a lime green and yellow jester's collar. He wears a purple and black harlequin jester hat with two small yellow bells.

art by Temmie Chang

And the other being a diminutive wooden ventriloquist puppet that wears yellow and pink glasses that sometimes change colors and a long-sleeved black V-neck shirt, with black hair that is slicked back, appearing similar to a pompadour.

His nose is long and pointed, and his body does not appear to move naturally; oftentimes he slides along the ground rather than moving his limbs whatsoever.

model by 215phoenix on DeviantArt

"[Hochi Mama], [[Does it feel good to be outta there!!]]" the puppet begins, stretching his arms up.

Ralsei immediately stands up out of his seat, concerned.

"Kris, why did you bring them out??" Ralsei utters.

"I mean, they can come out at any time on their own." Kris responds to Ralsei.

"But.. how could they have? This.. isn't the Dark World!!" Ralsei retorts. "None of this makes any sense!"

Kris remains silent and Ralsei thinks about this while Kris looks back at Jevil and Spamton.

"I need you two to find that Benjamin guy. You remember him, right?" Kris says to the two of them. "Don't fight him, but find him. I know I saw him, and I don't want him stalking us." 

"HMM, A MOST PECULIAR REQUEST! BUT WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME, ME? I'M ALREADY FREE, FREE!" Jevil chimes. "THERE ISN'T MUCH YOU CAN OFFER A FREE MAN!!!"

"AS [free for a limited time only] AS A      [[All you can eat]] [[Hyperlink Blocked]]." Spamton scoffs under his breath.

Jevil turns to Spamton and cackles, his head springing up as his neck, made of coils, dangles about.

"OH, WHAT FUN, FUN!! THE SPINELESS TOY HATH DEVELOPED A BACKBONE!!" Jevil taunts.

"[BIG] [speech] COMING FROM A [[gordito]] [Clown around town!]" Spamton retorts. "I HAVE MORE BACKBONE THAN [[YOU]] EVER WILL! AND I'M A [[limited time offer ventriloquist dummy!!]]"

Before the two can argue further, Kris glares at the two of them, and they stop immediately, slowly turning their heads to face Kris.

"CAN YOU REALLY [[Objection!]] A [Little Nipper] SUCH AS [[Number 1 Rated Salesman1997]]??" Spamton replies, shrugging.

"Just go find Benjamin. He's gonna cause trouble." Kris orders. "He may look like an idiot, but he's very dangerous. If he tries attacking you, have Jevil teleport you."

Jevil and Spamton pause for a moment, and simultaneously tilt their heads inquisitively.

"THIS SEEMS REMARKABLY THOUGHT OUT, LIGHTNER..." Jevil ponders aloud. "ESPECIALLY IN YOUR CASE."

"I'm not taking any chances this time." Kris scoffs. "Something feels... wrong. About him."

"[Pardon me?]       KRIS, BUT WOULD THIS [The Situation] BE [Most Extreme Elimination Challenge] FOR ALL [[Paying Customers of]], OR JUST [[Paying Customer]]?" Spamton inquires.

"This feels like a big problem for everyone. Keep an eye out for him, but you guys can have fun in the arcade too if you want. As long as he's not out of your sight, I don't care." Kris explains, crossing his arms.

Jevil's smile reaches its widest as Spamton carefully begins to creep away slowly.

"UEE HEE HEE!!! A FRABJOUS DAY IN THE ARCADE, ARCADE?? CALLOOH, CALLAY!! COME, USELESS PUPPET; TICKETS AND COTTON CANDY AWAIT!!" Jevil cheers, grabbing Spamton by the arm and soaring away as Spamton screams in glitched lowercase.

Kris gets a small chuckle out of this, sitting back in their seat, shaking their head.

"They're as funny as they are annoying." Kris sighs.

Ralsei sits back down in his seat as well, and a waiter arrives with their food; Kris getting a large meat-lovers jalapeño and anchovy pizza with a large soda, and Ralsei getting a jumbo burger with a strawberry milkshake.

"Enjoy the meal, you two." the waiter chirps before walking off.

"Food's here." Kris states, already swiping a fry from Ralsei's plate.

Ralsei, noticing this, glares at Kris in a comedic fashion.

"KRIS--!! You have an entire pizza! Why did you take one of my fries??" Ralsei exclaims, with Kris covering their mouth to avoid laughing too hard... or at all. "Give it back! Or else I'll have to... t-take your pizza slice!"

Kris leans back in their seat, steepling their hands together.

"Do it." Kris retorts. "You won't. No balls."

Ralsei becomes flustered at this, blushing out of embarrassment.

"O-oh yeah?!" Ralsei snaps, before he reaches across and takes a pizza slice from Kris' plate.

Kris looks genuinely offended at this, and looks at Ralsei with the same expression.

"You scoundrel..." Kris snarls, their voice hitting a low gravel.

After an intense staredown, the two begin to laugh openly, with Kris' laughter being quieter than Ralsei's. The two stop laughing after a moment, and Ralsei looks down at the food in front of him.

"..Kris? This is... really nice. But we have a serious problem to solve." Ralsei states, looking off to the side. "We need to figure out how we got... here. And why I, and other Darkners, can exist here. In the Light World."

Kris's smile fades almost immediately, and they take a breath.

"I'm workin' on it. I don't know how we got here. I don't know what The Knight did to us after we beat the Titan. I don't know why.." 

Kris pauses. They bring their hand up to their chest, over their heart.

"...I don't know why 𝗶𝘁 is gone.." Kris continues, before shaking their head. "but I'm glad it is."

Ralsei, after a moment, shoves his plate forward a bit.

"I.. have a theory." Ralsei begins.

Kris wolfs down an entire slice of their pizza, motioning for Ralsei to continue.

"Maybe.... this is another Dark World. But that can't be the case. None of the other Darkners have turned into stone, I can't sense a fountain, and you, Susie, Noelle, Berdly... you all look different. Your colors... your clothes... this is definitely the Light World. Or.. one of them, anyway." Ralsei mutters to himself. "After the Titan was beaten, and the Dark Fountain was sealed... something.. happened."

After swallowing the last of their third slice, Kris puts a hand to their chin.

"Whatever the case, I hope I never see that thing again." Kris scoffs.

Ralsei tilts his head.

"You mean..? The Roaring Knight? Or your...?" Ralsei asks, before making a heart shape with his claws.

"It's not mine." Kris immediately rebukes. "And Frisk's is too small. Too pure. Too... warm. To be the one I had."

Ralsei's eyes widen, and he looks up at Kris fully now.

"Could there be others??" Ralsei asks, concerned. "Other... souls?"

"I don't know. And I don't wanna know." Kris retorts. "I'm just... concerned. Of where it could possibly be."

Ralsei nods, and smiles.

"OK! Let's change the subject then!" Ralsei chirps.

Kris nods, and pushes Ralsei's plate back in front of him, much to Ralsei's shock.

"Eat up. I got it for you." Kris says, already almost done with his entire pan of pizza.

Ralsei, after giving a warm wistful smile at the gesture, frowns.

"I.. I don't deserve such luxuries, Kris. It's nice you wanted to do all this for me, but.." 

"Do Susie's words mean nothing to you?"

Ralsei, stunned, looks at Kris with a worried expression.

"What do you-"

"Does what Susie say not matter? You exist. You matter. She was right on the money when she said that we're a team, and that your emotions matter." Kris snaps quietly. "Do the conversations we had not matter either? Where I told you before that it's OK to let your guard down and be yourself? It's OK not to smile all the time? It's OK to have your own identity?"

Ralsei remains silent, shocked at Kris's quiet outburst.

"I... I think it.." Ralsei struggles, clasping his interlocked fingers together. "it just... my.. I don't..."

Ralsei's eyes look heavy. Contemplative. Sad. Lost.

"I.. am still a Darkner, Kris. I.. my opinions don't matter. I don't matter. I only.. live to serve the Lightners." Ralsei mutters, his voice sounding as though even he doesn't believe what he's saying but it's the only thing he knows. "I.. I have my own identity.. but I'm still not.. real."

Kris slightly regrets being so harsh with him, and takes a breath.

"I don't want to make you upset, Ralsei, but that's bullshit. Just because you're a Darkner it doesn't mean you don't exist. You're allowed to exist without conforming to some predetermined superstition." Kris says in a much calmer tone. "Make sense?"

This gets Ralsei to break. He removes his glasses and sets them on the table, rubbing the space between his eyes, though his tears rolling down his fluffy cheeks are evident. Kris promptly stands up, and sits next to Ralsei on his side, allowing Ralsei to hug them as tight as they can.

"Th-thank you, Kris." Ralsei sniffles.

Kris awkwardly wraps an arm around Ralsei's shoulders.

"Just don't cry for too long, alright?" Kris chuckles, getting Ralsei to giggle.

"I'll try not to." Ralsei says softly.

The two sit there for a moment before Kris looks down, seeing that Ralsei has closed his eyes. Kris grins and sneaks their hand over to grab Ralsei's burger, carefully picking it up. Once picked up, Kris attempts to eat it, but Ralsei's eyes snap open, and he swipes the burger away.

"KRIS—!!" Ralsei exclaims, and Kris actually manages to have a loud belly laugh over this.

Meanwhile with Susie and Noelle, Susie has a bunch of tickets cradled lazily in her arms, while Noelle has the remaining four tokens.

"Who would have guessed that skee-ball would get you so many tickets?" Noelle giggles, her tail wiggling a little.

"Only when you got what it takes to be the master at it." Susie retorts playfully.

"You stood on top of it and threw them all into the highest score hole." Noelle points out. "And threatened anyone who told you to stop."

Susie looks over at her and bares her fangs.

"Don't be jealous." Susie chirps.

Noelle's heart races at this, and her nose begins to glow red ever so slightly.

"I-I won't!" Noelle responds, clutching the tokens tighter.

Susie then stops, with Noelle stopping as well. 

"What's up?" Noelle asks, looking up at Susie.

Susie merely points, and when Noelle looks, she gasps happily, seeing Kris and Ralsei sitting next to each other despite the last slice of pizza still sitting on the pan. Kris is still laughing, reaching for the burger, all while Ralsei keeps it away from them.

"Oh my gosh!! That's so cute!!" Noelle cheers, bouncing on her hooves.

Being a reindeer, her ankles click with every bounce, and Susie looks down at Noelle.

"Cute? I was talking about that pizza Kris got. Makin' me hungry." Susie chuckles.

Noelle, realizing that Susie was, in fact, not referring to the fact that it looks as though Kris and Ralsei are on a date, blinks, then pauses for a moment.

"My mistake!" Noelle giggles. "But I think we should leave them alone. We have four tokens left, and I bet there are some other games you can play."

Susie scoffs at this, and grins.

"Yeah." Susie nods.

But before Susie can turn around, she looks around the area, somewhat suspicious.

"Wait a sec. Something feels weird..." Susie mutters. "like we're being watched."

Noelle looks around before she suddenly feels it too, hearing dark whispers of a single word that has her eyes fly open and her fur to stand on end. Seeing Noelle like this, Susie acts quick and hoists Noelle under her arm, walking off.

"Hey, forget I said anything! It's like ya said, there's gotta be some game here left to play!" Susie cheers.

Noelle says nothing, frozen like a deer in headlights. Susie exhales roughly at this, a reptilian growl escaping her as well.

What the hell WAS that..? That feeling... like a predator stalking its prey... it felt like I was gonna... Susie thinks to herself, but she shakes this off. 

Setting Noelle down gently, she shakes Noelle a bit, finally snapping her out of her trance. Her eyes appeared totally whited out for a moment, but they're back to normal now. Concerned at this, Susie looks around some more, eventually seeing Benjamin staring at them with a grin from a high place in the jungle gym play structure.

She glares at him and bares her fangs, but before Noelle can look at him too, Susie begins to push Noelle away, walking off.

"Nope." Susie utters.

"S-Susie, what the heck are you doing??" Noelle asks, trying to stop herself from being pushed.

"It's that Benjamin guy... with the black and red eyes, from school. He was staring at us." Susie says to her discreetly. "Like he was gonna jump down and attack us or something."

Noelle looks back, and Benjamin is nowhere to be seen. Susie looks back as well, and she stops walking, clenching her hands into fists.

"Some weird shit is goin' on here." Susie scoffs. "I don't like it. Stay by my side at all times, got it? Even if you have to use the bathroom."

Noelle blushes intensely at this command, and Susie immediately shakes her head quickly.

"Well I mean OBVIOUSLY I'm not gonna be IN THERE while you piss, but y'know--"

Noelle giggles at this, waving her hand.

"No no, I get it Susie, fahaha..!" Noelle snickers, still blushing.

Noelle then looks up at Susie with wide doe eyes.

"I'll never leave your side." Noelle says in genuine earnest, her eyes sparkling like glitter on a Christmas tree.

Susie's expression is that of pure shock, of which she shakes off with a smirk.

"Good. Now c'mon, let's go find a game to mess up." Susie says, still bunching up her tickets again and waiting for Noelle to say anything.

Noelle nods and walks off, with Susie right next to her.

"As long as we just completely ignore the jerk, we should be cheesy-breezy, right?" Noelle asks, smiling.

Susie chokes back a laugh upon hearing the words “cheesy-breezy” escape Noelle's lips, but nods.

"Yup." Susie replies.

However, out of the crowd, Benjamin appears out of thin air right in front of Susie and Noelle, causing them to yelp and jolt back at the same time, but Susie doesn't let go of her tickets.

"Salutations, monsters." Benjamin greets, a glint in his eye.

Frisk is currently trying to win a toy from the claw machine, with Chara floating next to them.

"You know.. I could just phase in there and get the rabbit for you." Chara scoffs, crossing their arms. "These things are all rigged so you can't win."

Chara's words don't deter Frisk, who's determined to win the stuffed rabbit toy. After using their last token, the claw slowly descends, and grabs the toy from its head. The rabbit ascends into the air, and Frisk smiles wide as it does. The claw brings it over to the chute, and when it drops... it rolls right back where it was, almost exactly in the same position.

So, Frisk kicks the machine and throws their hands up in the air, annoyed, before turning around to see Chara's smug smile.

"Told you so." Chara chirps.

Frisk sticks their tongue out at Chara, before storming off. Chara looks left and right, then phases their ghostly body in the machine, getting stuck within the plush toys in the machine, and they come face to face with a red heart. A SOUL, most definitely. And it's much bigger and colder than Frisk's.

Staying clear away from it, Chara grabs the rabbit and floats out of the chute, carrying the rabbit over to Frisk, who gasps and hugs it tightly, smiling. Frisk then pauses and looks at Chara skeptically. They set the rabbit under their arm to sign.

"Uh, of course I, err.. did it legit!" Chara retorts.

Frisk stares blankly for a while, and Chara grunts, irritated.

"Alright, FINE!! I just grabbed the thing!" Chara scoffs. "The least you can do is be grateful. Sheesh..." 

Frisk smiles and hugs Chara, with Chara instinctively hugging back. Chara nearly gets into it and nestles into the hug if not for both Frisk and Chara hearing a shrill yet brief shriek coming from the front area of the arcade. It very nearly blends into the other activity going on, but Frisk is suspicious.

Frisk places the toy rabbit within their ITEMs and rushes ahead, Chara flying next to them as they weave in and out between people acrobatically. Once they arrive at the source of the shriek, they find that Susie and Noelle are in front of Benjamin, with Kris and Ralsei almost immediately joining Noelle and Susie.

"Ahh..." Benjamin exhales before he turns his head, looking right at Frisk, who immediately takes a step back. "the gang is all here."

Susie grits her teeth and glares at Benjamin.

"You better get lost, you loser. Or else." Susie snaps.

Benjamin chuckles, his eyes closed as he looks back at her.

"Or else what? You'll kick my ass?" Benjamin asks in a mockingly rhetorical tone. "You aren't even fit to throw a punch as you are now. You know... not in the Dark World."

Ralsei's fur stands on end as soon as Benjamin mentions the Dark World, and Susie is concerned as Noelle is frightened and confused. Kris, meanwhile, is standing completely still, glaring at Benjamin.

"How.. how do you know what the Dark World is?" Ralsei asks, mortified.

Benjamin grins wider.

"Truth be told? I don't know exactly what it is. All I know is that this can't be it. There's natural light here." Benjamin admits. "There can't be natural light in the Dark World."

Noelle attempts to take a step back, but when Benjamin's eyes shift to look at her, she freezes in place. Susie stands directly in front of her, her hair falling over her eyes.

"One last chance. Fuck. OFF." Susie snarls, stomping her foot on the floor for emphasis.

Benjamin, hands behind his back, walks right up to her face, and smiles.

"Make me." Benjamin retorts calmly, tilting his head ever so slightly. "Come on. Make a scene here in public. Should be easy for you, huh?"

Susie, despite snarling at him with a deep reptilian hiss, makes no effort to do much of anything, knowing that this isn't the Dark World and she has no magic here, and Benjamin steps back.

"That's what I-"

THUNK!

Complete silence. Benjamin feels the back of his head, and then looks at Frisk behind him, being the one who threw a rock at the back of his head. Frisk signs a few angry signs, and crosses their arms.

"They said to back away from our friends, creep." Chara snaps. "Stop bothering us!"

Benjamin turns to face Frisk, and his smile is completely gone.

"Every action you make fills my well of desire to slowly skin you ALIVE, and that little stunt you just pulled added another litre." Benjamin utters, his voice cold as his eyes seem to glow.

Benjamin looks around, before turning.

"Come. We settle this outside." Benjamin orders. "If you refuse or run... well, I shall be vague and say “it won't be pretty”."

Benjamin walks away now, but Frisk, however, isn't afraid. Frisk walks off after him, and Kris follows, with Susie, Ralsei, and Noelle also following. Once they're all outside in the empty parking lot, Benjamin turns to them and sees that Frisk is the closest one to him.

Benjamin tilts his head, and grins.

"Are you not afraid of me?" Benjamin asks, his smile widening to inhuman levels.

Frisk shakes their head.

"Not anymore." Chara speaks for them.

Susie and Chara get ready for a fight while Ralsei, Kris, and Noelle stand there, waiting to see what will happen next as Frisk and Benjamin stare each other down. However, a FIGHT is not triggered. Benjamin takes slow steps towards Frisk, who doesn't back down. He then bends down to their level, and looks them dead in the eye.

"You should be." Benjamin whispers.

Frisk balls up their hands and manages to punch Benjamin across the face, dealing a total of 1 point of damage, with everyone around them surprised at this. Chara and Benjamin especially. Benjamin chuckles a bit, looking at Frisk slowly.

"So. Not a pacifist after all, are we?" Benjamin says mockingly.

Frisk makes a few hand signs, and after Chara reads them, they look at Benjamin.

"They're making an exception for you." Chara retorts, floating next to Frisk. "You deserve pain."

"Don't I feel special." Benjamin scoffs.

Benjamin then tries to grab Frisk by their neck, but Frisk backs up quickly. Once Benjamin's hand uncurls, Frisk grabs one of Benjamin's fingers and twists it roughly, causing it to crack, and when Benjamin is wincing in pain over this, Frisk stomps on Benjamin's foot, causing Benjamin to stand up and work through the pain.

Frisk hurries over so that they're next to Kris, Susie, Ralsei, and Noelle, and Chara merely teleports next to them, fading out from their original spot and in next to Frisk. Seemingly sensing the impending chaos, Jevil and Spamton teleport next to Kris, courtesy of Jevil, and they become ITEMs again, being put away in Kris's junk ball.

Benjamin turns to face them all, and a FIGHT is finally triggered, with Kris, Susie, and Noelle's bodies sparkling as they change.

Kris now gains a set of silver armor, including shoulder pauldrons, a cuirass, gauntlets, and boots. A dark blue skintight bodysuit is underneath it, and a small pink scarf-like cape is draped over their right shoulder. Their hair becomes a navy blue color, and their skin turns cyan as a sword appears in their hands. The sword is a razor sharp dagger-like shard, blacker than black, but whittled somewhat to resemble a sword. The dagger seems to shimmer with shadows, an ominous glow emanating from it.

Susie gains a new set of clothing entirely, being a large black vest that has purple trims, along with a sleeveless dark purple shirt, baggy plum-colored pants, and a pair of black boots that have golden soles. Her purple scales have turned a lavender pink color, and her aubergine hair is now the same plum color as her pants. She has a pair of black bracelets on her wrists and near her shoulders that have yellow spikes on them, and her belt has a golden heart buckle. Her weapon is a rather large battle axe, with a grey blade, and rear pointed blade, along with a dark grey handle and border between the two blades. The axe seems to exude a magical energy of justice.

Noelle gains a large white hooded robe with ample sleeves over her body, and her hair turns more of a lime/platinum blonde color as opposed to the almost dandelion yellow color it was before. Her fur is more of a pink-ish tone than usual, and she has no discernible weapon, but she looks rather frightened to be in battle.

Kris, Susie, and Noelle look down at themselves, and Susie grins.

"Huh. Whaddya know? Looks like this IS a Dark World..." Susie growls, looking dead at Benjamin's eyes. "we can actually fight things now."

"But how can you?" Benjamin retorts, hands behind his back. "Surely Kris knows the answer."

Kris flips Benjamin off, and returns to holding their sword. 

"We'll have Frisk do it." Susie snaps. "Ready, kid?"

Frisk nods, getting into a battle position as Chara fades away.

Benjamin blocks the way!

Kris, Susie, and Ralsei all attempt to attack Benjamin, but he avoids Kris's sword slash, narrowly evades Susie's axe, and grabs Ralsei's scarf as he flicks it at Benjamin. Benjamin yanks on the scarf and pulls Ralsei towards him, and decks Ralsei across the face, sending him tumbling back, but he gets on his feet and stumbles back.

Kris, seeing this happen, narrows his gaze significantly as Susie begins to snarl again. Noelle, also angry, is more worried about Ralsei's safety than about fighting Benjamin. Frisk also tries attacking, throwing a punch at Benjamin, but he catches the punch and smiles as wide as he can.

"Jackpot." Benjamin chuckles.

However, before Benjamin can do anything further, Frisk's eyes open fully, and their irises glow red.

"Think again, jerk." Chara chirps.

Chara, controlling Frisk's body, knees Benjamin in the crotch and headbutts him, before performing a reverse judo-throw, tossing Benjamin at the fun gang. Kris and Susie slash at the same time, dealing serious damage, and Ralsei slowly heals himself while Noelle continues to stand off to the side, not comfortable at the current moment.

Susie kicks Benjamin away as roughly as she can, laughing her hoarse laugh, getting Benjamin to tumble and collapse on the ground, breathing heavily.

"Had enough?" Kris asks, their voice low and threatening.

"Not... quite... yet..." Benjamin rasps as he attempts to stand.

Frisk's eyes close once again, and Chara's ghostly body appears again as well, with Frisk ready to attack. Benjamin, quick as a bullet, gets up and throws a spinning back kick, but Frisk avoids this easily. Frisk avoids an overhead swing, a wind-back straight jab, and a leg sweep as well, all while Benjamin gets increasingly irritated.

"Hold STILL..!" Benjamin shouts, reaching in his pocket.

Once he brings his hand out of his pocket, he blinds Frisk with pocket sand before he punches Frisk right in the stomach as hard as he can, dealing all but one of their HP, and knocking both the wind and spittle out of them as they get knocked back against Susie.

As Frisk lies there, clutching their stomach in absolute agony, sprawled out on the pavement, both Noelle and Ralsei look at this with an expression of pure horror, hands over their mouths. Kris's eyes widen significantly, and Susie's eyes are hidden as her body seems to slump a bit.

"FRISK!" Chara exclaims, immediately soaring over.

Chara helps lift Frisk up, sitting them up, and Frisk sniffles, crying because the pain is unbearable. Seeing Frisk cry and being in so much pain, Susie grips her weapon even more roughly, glaring daggers at Benjamin now, nearly bending the handle of her weapon in pure rage as her sharp set of teeth begin to drool foam like she has rabies.

"You just signed your goddamn death warrant, you scumbag." Susie utters in a dark and guttural tone, the blade of her axe burning with a rude magic.

Kris, Ralsei, and Noelle are now glaring at Benjamin, and Benjamin only smiles wider.

"You are all fools." Benjamin chuckles, shaking his head. "But please! By all means! 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗲𝗱."

Upon the utterance of that word, Noelle's expression immediately shifts to one of absolute horror, and Kris flinches, gripping the handle of their blade tighter. Susie is only focused on Benjamin, and Ralsei looks somewhat perturbed.

"Wh...what..?" 

Noelle's voice is deathly quiet, but Kris looks over at her.

"IGNORE HIM! He's just trying to get in your head!!" Kris shouts, snapping Noelle out of her trance.

As Noelle looks over at Kris, slightly nervous, Benjamin leers at Kris, crossing his arms.

"Spoilsport. Where is the fun in ignoring it? As if you of all people truly believe that you could save even yourself from, say... The Kni--"

Kris, with tears in their eyes, immediately rushes Benjamin, slashing as hard as they can with their weapon, and the impending slash causes a large gash across Benjamin's front, silencing Benjamin and causing blood to spill.

"YEAH, WAY TO GO, KRIS!! We finally got a hit on him!! Now it's my turn!" Susie exclaims, grinning.

Kris moves to the side, and with a wide arc slash, a large purple magic blast shaped like a > comes from her axe, bashing into Benjamin and causing him to be flung back several feet, tumbling back while several bones surely break as a result.

Ralsei casts Cure on Frisk, and once Frisk is fully healed, they take a deep breath, coughing violently, seeing as they were unable to breathe for the entire time that they were in pain. Kris, Susie, and Noelle run after Benjamin, but Ralsei helps Frisk stand up.

"Upsie-daisies.." Ralsei mutters, dusting Frisk off gently. "there you go... all better, Frisk?"

Frisk nods before running off, with Ralsei following via floating, a glow underneath him. When everyone stops in front of Benjamin's body, his body begins to shake. After a moment of this, his body begins to snap and crack back into place.

Violently.

It's horrendous to witness and listen to, and Noelle even closes her eyes, covering her ears as it happens. Benjamin's scarring and injuries then heal themselves, and he uses his hands to snap his neck back into place before he cackles, a hand on his forehead dramatically.

Noelle nearly vomits and faints, Ralsei is mortified, Kris is very much on edge, Chara and Frisk are trying to remain strong, and Susie looks either concerned or frightened. It's hard to tell with her specifically.

"What the hell... are you even human?!?" Susie exclaims, disgusted.

Benjamin stops laughing to look Susie dead in the eyes with a Kubrick stare, his smile widening past Cheshire and into Glasgow territory, from ear to ear in an expression of pure wicked malice.

"Why don't you stick around and find out?" Benjamin replies, his voice hitting a low, disturbing purr.

Frisk, absolutely horrified by his smiling, attempts to find a weak point on Benjamin, but when they don't find one, they grab Kris by the arm and run in the opposite direction as fast as they can, with Chara, Ralsei, and Susie, who's carrying Noelle, all following. Benjamin grins as they run away, taking a deep breath.

"I do so love to give chase..." Benjamin chuckles, tying his hair into a tight bun.

He gives them a headstart before rushing after them at top speed, with Chara looking backwards to see that he's approaching rather quickly, his smile faded entirely.

"Maniac incoming!" Chara announces.

"Then run faster than him!" Susie shouts back.

Susie breaks out into a full-on sprint, with Chara letting Frisk hop on their back as they fly away, and Kris is left with Ralsei, who aren't as fast as the others. Seeing as they have no choice, Kris looks at Ralsei.

"Go left." Kris orders quietly.

Ralsei nods, and as soon as Ralsei moves, Kris skids to a halt and trips Benjamin, causing Benjamin to fall to the ground, and Ralsei approaches as well, hands behind his back.

"Nicely done, Kris!" Ralsei chirps, clapping a bit.

Kris scoffs, but can't hide a grin. "Yeah. But he's not down yet."

Benjamin stands and goes to punch Kris, but their weapon turns into a shield, and Benjamin nearly breaks his hand punching the shield anyway, before Kris barges into Benjamin with the shield, turning it back into the shard as Ralsei takes his position next to Kris.

"I want answers. Why do you know so much about us?" Kris snaps, raising their voice.

Benjamin merely remains silent, his hands behind his back. Kris glares, their grip on their weapon tightening.

"What's the matter? Finally run out of smartass remarks?" Kris adds, but despite the taunting, Kris doesn't once smile.

"Why..."

Benjamin then pulls his hand out from his back, and Kris's eyes widen to saucers in an instant.

"...a little birdie told me everything."

The SOUL is floating on Benjamin's hand. The one that controls Kris. Ralsei, seeing it, is immediately on edge, taking a step back, and Kris' expression goes blank.

"H-how did you find it? Were.. were YOU the one who brought us here?" Ralsei asks, afraid.

"Oh, Heavens no. Why would I bring even more trouble my way? This fell out of the sky one day... and it began to share such secrets with me." Benjamin sniggers, grinning. "Secrets that are mine alone to know... such as all of Kris's heartfelt desires sapped from their very mind. Wanting more time with that television... wanting to be free from the shackles that bind it... wanting to be friends with people without the SOUL's influence. Oh, what would poor Susie think... knowing your friendships with everyone was a lie?"

Kris flinches at this, but Ralsei steps up.

"I... I know about it." Ralsei states.

Benjamin falters a small bit, and Kris's head snaps to look at Ralsei.

"I know Kris was being controlled by some outside force. I know that it's in the form of that heart. And.. and I know that 96% of their actions in the Dark World.. isn't of their own volition." Ralsei explains solemnly, before getting more bold and glaring at Benjamin. "But.. I don't care. Kris is my friend. No matter what you say! That doesn't... change anything! Kris is a wonderful person! Your manipulation won't work on me!"

Benjamin glares at this, clenching the SOUL in his hand, and Kris grunts in pain, with Ralsei immediately by their side, taking a knee to heal them. Jevil and Spamton, having had enough waiting, pop out, with Jevil dancing and laughing next to Kris, and Spamton vibrating next to Ralsei.

"IT'S THE [[HeartShapedObject]]!" Spamton exclaims, his hands in the air. "I'LL OFFER       [YOU] A DEAL YOU WON'T FORGET IF YOU [Let me have it!]"

"IF I'D HAVE MISSED THIS AMOUNT OF CHAOS, CHAOS FOR EVEN ANOTHER MOMENT, I WOULD HAVE GONE SANE!!" Jevil cackles.

Benjamin crosses his arms, tilting his head.

"How adorable. A double date." Benjamin chuckles.

Ralsei gets flustered immediately as Spamton's glasses lens show a blue screen of death, Jevil stops laughing, and Kris's eyes narrow.

"HEY, [[Friend]].       [You just blow in from stupid town?]" Spamton retorts.

"I-I mean, uh.. it.. it... I... if if were to.." Ralsei mumbles, tapping his claws together absentmindedly.

While Ralsei is distracted, Benjamin chucks a rock at him as hard as he can, but Spamton blocks it with a pipis egg, causing it to shatter upon impact. Ralsei gets into his fight stance, and Kris does as well, with Spamton merely vibrating more intensely and Jevil beginning to float.

"UEE HEE HEE!!! THE NUMBERS GAME, THE NUMBERS GAME!! OH, HOW I LOVE, LOVE THIS GAME!!" Jevil cheers, clapping his mittened hands together, before he pulls out the Jevilsknife and spins it around expertly, thrusting it at Benjamin. "SO LET'S PLAY!!!"

Benjamin chuckles, and throws the SOUL to the ground, stomping on it as hard as he can, getting Kris to be gravely injured, coughing violently.

"If you insist." Benjamin shrugs, rolling up his sleeves.

Kris then stands up and rushes Benjamin with a growl, shoulder-barging Benjamin roughly. Benjamin slides backwards, and both he as well as Ralsei watch in pure shock as Kris begins attacking the SOUL themselves, stomping on it and kicking it against a tree, taking ragged breaths.

Ralsei tries to comfort Kris, but Kris rushes the SOUL and punches it as hard as they can, tears falling from their eyes. Two more punches, and when Kris winds back for the final hit, a hand on his wrist stops him.

"KRIS, STOP!!" 

Kris, taking deep breaths, looks back to see Ralsei, absolutely horrified. Spamton has stopped jittering, and Jevil, though he smiles, is no longer dancing. And most surprising, Benjamin's expression is that of complete shock. His mouth is slightly agape, and his eyes are wide open.

Kris slowly catches their breath, and when Ralsei lets go of Kris, backing away, Kris full-force punches the SOUL again, and Ralsei has to drag Kris away by their wrists as Kris kicks and struggles.

"Kris, pull yourself together..!" Ralsei exclaims.

Kris only turns their head, looking Ralsei dead in the eye.

"...you don't know what that thing's done." Kris says softly.

As Ralsei pulls Kris in for a hug, Benjamin slowly meanders over to where the SOUL is pulsing, only for the SOUL to be ensnared by green strings and yanked into the air. Sensing this, Kris looks up first, and Ralsei looks next, with Benjamin growling.

"Contemptuous puppet... if you don't hand that SOUL over to me, I shall grind you down into woodchips!" Benjamin shouts.

Spamton merely laughs his grating laugh as Kris and Ralsei ready up, and Jevil starts dancing again.

[Hochi Mama], WHAT A [[#&!? YOU, BALTIMORE!]] I HAVEN'T BEEN THAT [[startled]] SINCE       " Spamton chirps, purposefully ending his sentence with silence to show that he wasn't at all afraid.

Benjamin's glare reaches its harshest, and Spamton tightens the strings around the SOUL.

"[[YOU WANT IT??]]" Spamton asks, before his glasses lenses repeatedly swap colors. "[Come and get it.]"

Back at the arcade, Susie, Noelle, Frisk, and Chara have arrived, with Anthony, Jason, Cyrus, Berdly, Lancer, Rouxls, and Queen all gathered up at the entrance.

"You're tellin' me Benjamin's here? And where did Kris and that fruity goat guy go?" Cyrus asks, punching his fists together.

"They're holding Benjamin off! But someone needs to watch Noelle, I.. think she fainted." Susie says, getting more somber as she speaks.

Berdly goes to say something, but Queen interrupts this with her signature chortle.

"Oh Please Dear, Allow Me To: Care For Noelle" Queen chimes, her visor saying “TRUE”. "I Cared For Her So Well Last Time She Was With Me, Didn't I?"

Susie gives Queen a blank stare, and Queen slowly brings her arms up to shrug, her visor blinking “U MAD?”.

"We don't have time for this." Susie scoffs, handing Noelle to Queen, who cradles her like a baby. "Watch her. Everyone but Lancer and Rouxls, follow me."

Everyone nearly runs off, but Rouxls also steps forward.

"Pardon me-eth, But.. wouldst it not be more-e Faire if I were-eth to go-eth with thine as well? I amst Quite Powerfule, you knoweth." Rouxls chimes, flaunting his hair. "Whatevereth I sayeth, goeseth, as the rules card decree-est."

"WHATEVER!! Just come on!!" Susie scoffs impatiently. "We DON'T have TIME for this!!!"

Susie runs off, with Frisk, Chara, Anthony, Cyrus, Jason, and Rouxls following. Berdly looks at Queen, and crosses his wings.

"Mayhaps I could also assist in looking over dear Noelle?" Berdly asks.

"No" Queen immediately replies, her visor saying “NO”. "Your Friends Need You"

Queen pauses for a moment.

"And Your Glow In The Dark Armor" Queen adds, her visor changing to say “GLOWING”.

Berdly grins at this. "Well, o-obviously! I was waiting for you to say it, my luxurious Queen!"

Berdly then runs off quickly, with Queen looking down at Noelle's unconscious face. Queen's smile fades to a frown, and she takes a synthetic breath as her visor no longer has words on it.

"Noelle" Queen begins, her voice much more serious.

"Is she gonna be OK?" 

Queen looks down at Lancer before she smiles.

"Of Course Honey" Queen chimes softly. "She's Just Tuckered Out From"

Queen pauses, buffering.

"Being Cool"

"Aww, lucky!" Lancer exclaims, crossing his arms in a pout. "I wanna be just as cool!"

"Oh You Are Lmfao" Queen replies, her visor changing to say “TRUE”.

Queen and Lancer then laugh together, causing Noelle to stir in Queen's arms.

Back at the fight, Jevil is throwing every type of card shape he can at Benjamin, who avoids them all. Kris is being healed by Ralsei, who's taken some damage, and Spamton has the SOUL wrapped up in green strings, too high for Benjamin to reach but not tight enough so that it hurts Kris. Since the SOUL is out of Kris, Spamton holding it as it is causes the restrictions to loosen more and more, with Kris being less and less able to feel its pain the longer it's out of them, with this being amplified by how Ralsei heals them.

Benjamin is avoiding every single shape thrown at him, and, with a growl of effort, rams his fist on Jevil's stomach as hard as he can, causing Jevil's eyes to pop out of their sockets as his head once again pops off like a jack-in-the-box.

"OOH, YOU HIT HARD, HARD!!!" Jevil chuckles. "BUT YOU'RE FOOLISH, FOOLISH..."

Jevil, quick as a whistle and half as bright, transforms into the Devilsknife and slashes at Benjamin, managing to swipe Benjamin's shirt open, seeing as Benjamin jumped back to avoid getting cut. Jevil reforms as himself, and Kris stands up, fully healed.

This is Spamton's cue to swing the SOUL around as fast as he can, sending it flying into the stratosphere afterwards, just as Susie, Berdly, Frisk, Chara, Rouxls, Anthony, Cyrus, and Jason arrive.

Berdly's appearance changes through sparkles as soon as he takes position next to them all. His feathers take on a lighter hue of blue as his eye color shifts to green. On his head is a sort of pointed headset, white in color with green stripes, and an orange lens in front of his left eye.

He gains a set of futuristic white armor that seems to have a little bit of a glow, along with an orange cape that flows in nonexistent wind. His armor has pointed shoulder guards, bracers, and leg armor along with a black bodysuit underneath, and a green battle cloth around his waist, affixed with a black belt that has a clip buckle.

In his hands is a laser halberd, dubbed Halbird, which is neon green in color with a yellow-ish blade and yellow-ish eye-like designs on the sides of the head of the weapon.

"Hold it right there, you fiend!!" Berdly exclaims, pointing dramatically at Benjamin. "This knight in glow-in-the-dark armor shall be your undoing!!"

Benjamin looks upon everyone against him, and grins.

"Well then. It seems I am outmatched." Benjamin begins, his hands behind his back. "Berdly, was it? It is very unfortunate that you are a bird. It will be much easier to break your bones."

Berdly, hearing the bite in Benjamin's tone, backs up a step, swallowing his pride.

"Yeah, he's the real deal." Susie retorts, nudging Berdly roughly.

Rouxls steps forward and clears his throat, pulling out a set of cards.

"As thy Rules Card decree-eth, Benjamin can-st no Longere FIGHT or run awayeth!" Rouxls declares.

Benjamin's body then flashes with a blue light, and Rouxls puts the cards away, flipping his hair with a flourish.

"And now, thou cannotst Fighte backeth againstest us! Nor canst thou Flee-e!" Rouxls responds, pointing at Benjamin. "What dost thou hast to Sayeth-e abouteth THAT?"

Benjamin crosses his arms.

"That you are mildly obnoxious." Benjamin scoffs. "You're not even using that lexicon correctly."

"Shut up." Rouxls retorts, still smiling wide.

Benjamin flinches at this, genuinely not expecting this response, and Rouxls slides backwards.

"He's-eth all yours, Heroes!" Rouxls chirps. "I shall go-eth and Handle-e Queen and Lancer."

Once Rouxls is gone, everyone looks at Benjamin, brandishing their weapons.

"Ya can't run and ya can't fight back. Ready to get your ass kicked?" Susie chuckles, her fangs bared.

"Now this hardly seems fair." Benjamin retorts.

"Dude, who gives a fuck?" Anthony snaps back. "You're an evil bastard with genocide plans. You don't deserve “fair”."

Benjamin scowls right as Susie lifts up her axe.

"This isn't over." 

And in a blink, Benjamin is gone. Kris, Susie, and Berdly return to their Light World selves, and Spamton and Jevil return to Kris's junk ball. Cyrus, Jason, and Anthony look around, almost frantically, and everyone else looks around as well.

"What the fuck was that?? He's NEVER done that." Anthony utters, genuinely freaked out.

"He can teleport now??" Jason exclaims.

Ralsei walks in front of everyone, clearing his throat.

"Don't worry, you guys. We'll look for Benjamin later. Right now, we better get back to our homes. He can't be in multiple places at once." Ralsei suggests.

Anthony nods.

"Yeah. But you all better sleep with one eye open. He loves to just stare at you in dark corners." Anthony points out.

"Thanks for the tip..." Chara mutters, genuinely perturbed.

The group then hurry back to the arcade, where Queen is carrying Noelle, who's also back to her Light World self, and both Lancer and Rouxls are next to her.

"Ahh, yond Valiante Heroes!! Didst thou trounceth that twerp-e?" Rouxls asks, grinning.

"He teleported. I don't know how or why he can do that, but he did it. We don't know where he is, but we need to head home. Now." Jason explains, frightened.

"Oh Dear, That's Not Good" Queen speaks, her visor saying “UH OH” before she begins to shake Noelle a small bit. "Noelle Sweetie Honey Gravy It's Time To: Wake Up Now Please"

Susie grabs Queen's arm.

"Stop shaking Noelle, we'll handle that later! We gotta GO! Before something bad happens!" Susie exclaims.

Everyone rushes to the mini-limo, but when Queen hands the keys to Kris and Kris presses the unlock button, the mini-limo explodes. Nothing is left of it, and everything around it is completely unharmed. Everyone stops in their tracks as soon as this happens, and everyone slowly turns to look at Queen.

"Whoops Lmao" 

"God damn it, Queen..." Kris mutters, rubbing the space between their eyes.

"Please Wait For: 𝙾𝚗𝚎 Moment"

After a moment, a brand new mini-limo, exactly the same in every way, just.. appears in the same spot, with everyone immediately scrambling to get inside. Kris pulls out of the parking lot and immediately burns rubber, speeding down the street as fast as they can, swerving in and out between cars, and remarkably, not a single police car chases after them.

They skid to a halt right outside Frisk's house, and after Frisk gives a hug to literally everyone in the car, Chara included, they exit the car and wave goodbye to everyone, and the mini-limo speeds off. Chara appears next to Frisk, crossing their arms.

"Did you really HAVE to hug everyone before you left?" Chara rolls their eyes.

Frisk makes some signs, and Chara groans.

"You're impossible, you know that?" Chara exhales.

Frisk then walks up to the front door, before sensing something behind them. But before they can act, they're turned around and grabbed by the throat by Benjamin, who's scowling.

"FRISK!" Chara exclaims, gripped in sheer panic.

"I have had enough of you..." Benjamin growls, pinning Frisk to the ground as he squeezes his hands around their throat. "there's no escape THIS time, Frisk..."

They claw at his hands and try to move his face away, but it's all for naught. Chara immediately flies into the house, and Benjamin chuckles as he looks into Frisk's eyes, getting deep into their face so that they can feel the chill coming off his skin.

"𝗦𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗽." Benjamin orders, his voice dropping a few octaves.

Right when Frisk is about to lose consciousness, the door to Sans's house is kicked open, with Papyrus jumping out first and Toriel rushing out next, right for Benjamin. Benjamin, seeing this, lets Frisk go and attempts to flee, but Papyrus gets to him first, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

Sans is suddenly next to Frisk, helping them breathe and patting their back as they wheeze more air into their lungs. Toriel is glaring absolute hatred at Benjamin, her body beginning to steam as heat waves escape her.

"If I ever catch you around my child again... I shall make you regret it. Do you understand me?" Toriel asks in a stern yet calm voice.

Benjamin says nothing, until Toriel's entire body engulfs in flames.

"I said... “do you understand me”?" Toriel utters, her voice much more intense but still just as calm.

Benjamin nods, knowing when to pick his fights. "Yes. I understand..." 

Papyrus sets Benjamin down, and Benjamin runs away as fast as he can. Once Benjamin is out of sight, Toriel's body stops being on fire, and she and Papyrus immediately help Sans and Chara tend to Frisk, with Toriel using her best healing magic.

"Are you hurt, Frisk?" Toriel asks frantically, on the verge of tears. "Please be alright... I am so very deeply sorry I was not here sooner, my child..."

Frisk nods, hugging Toriel tighly, with Toriel hugging back.

"Oh, blessed day... thank the Angel you are alright." Toriel coos, sniffling.

* so. that was benjamin, huh? the REAL benjamin, i mean.

* a real charmer, isn't he?

Frisk looks back at Sans and nods, snuggling against Toriel.

"When we were at the arcade.. he was stalking us. And he hurt Frisk really bad. But the others had our back. And we had no idea he would be here after he teleported away from that FIGHT." Chara explains, pacing the air back and forth.

"HE TELEPORTED???" Papyrus asks, confused. "BUT I THOUGHT HE WAS A HUMAN. HUMANS CANNOT TELEPORT.."

Chara looks up at Papyrus, crossing their arms.

"I'm starting to think he might not be a human." Chara says softly, looking to the side.

Toriel, carrying Frisk, looks at Sans, Papyrus, and Chara.

"Come. Let us retire for the night. We shall discuss this further in the morning with everyone who was present." Toriel says in a calm, low voice.

Everyone follows Toriel inside of the house, and the door slams shut behind Papyrus. Meanwhile, from a distance, Benjamin watches, scowling.

"That damned Boss Monster... she's too powerful. And the King is surely just as powerful, if not more... I will have to start small. Work my way up." Benjamin says softly, before grinning. "LOVE cannot be that hard to gain. This world... is as good as mine."

However, when Benjamin turns to walk away, he bumps into someone. Looking up, he sees that it's Undyne, leering at him. His SOUL turns green, and he cannot move whatsoever.

"Goin' somewhere, punk?" Undyne begins, cracking her knuckles.

Benjamin's face pales almost immediately as he realizes what's about to happen.

"...drat."

END OF CHAPTER THREE