Chapter Text
Some decisions aren’t smart. Making decisions, by itself, was a luxury Chara honored deeply, which made making stupid decisions even worse. However, at this moment, Chara didn’t care how stupid their actions were, because they were the right thing to do.
“Let me go you old, mean piece of trash!”
“heh. kid, this isn’t going to work. though i wholeheartedly understand that you have… a bone to pick with me.”
“Let me down or I’m going to slash you open you fricking pile of crap!”
Chara was not good at giving up. Even hanging five feet up in the air, world dipped in blue, the child never ceased to struggle. Angry eyes looked ferociously at their attacker. Standing down there was a small figure in baggy clothing, commonly known as Sans the Skeleton. His eyes twinkled in the same cyan shade that now radiated from the child’s chest. With that wide grin stretching across his face, as always, one could have mistaken his expression as ease.
“don’t make this any harder, kid. for all of us. please”
Chara’s anger subsided slightly, looking around at the faces surrounding the two. They were the child’s friends, their family, their home. All of the children were there. Most of the adults were too. All of the underground was looking, staring at the child floating above. Nearly all. They should have been angry too, like Chara. Yet, there was no fight, just sadness, shock and grief. The child tried to blink away the burning in their eyes, born from both sadness and frustration.
“LET THEM DOWN, SANS!”
Chara flinched, surprised by the strange seriousness in the otherwise cheerful voice. Papyrus stood tall, donning his very best, handmade royal guard gear. On any other occasion, that attire alone would have made Chara laugh or make a snarky comment. But today was different.
“are you sure, paps?”
“VIOLENCE IS NEVER A GREAT INGREDIENCE IN CONFLICT. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL HANDLE THIS!”
Sans heaved a sign, letting for just a moment a hint of exhaustion show.
“yeah. sure. whatever.”
And just like that, the child plummeted to the floor. They gasped, as their body was suddenly slowed down, right before connecting to the ground. Chara looked around, thoughts fluttering like birds in a blind panic. For a moment, their eyes flittered to the screen attached to the cave wall, their name still gleaming in a delicate cursive font. Eyes, eyes on them, eyes everywhere. They were scared. They were weak. And like that their body moved on their own, faces swimming as the child ran past them, away from the eyes, without a destination or purpose. They couldn’t let this happen.
Chara didn’t know how much time had passed since they left, but at some point, their feet had slowed, collapsing into a bed of flowers. The flowers coated the whole floor, vines stretching up where floor and walls connected, reaching up for an forever hidden sky. Of course, there was only the ceiling. No matter how pretty its ancient engraved swirls of fire were, it was still just a ceiling. The stony throne poked into the child’s back as they leaned against it, but they didn’t care. It was nice, actually. It felt like the only real thing at the moment.
“Chara?”
Reluctantly, the child opened their eyes. A humorless smile crept onto their face as they spotted the figure. “Heya, Azzie. Watcha doing here?” The goat monster’s eyebrows creased, as he took in Chara’s disheveled appearance, before trotting over himself. With a resonating plop he flopped down besides the human child. Chara’s gaze lingered for a moment, before fixing itself on the petals down below.
They always won against Asriel when it came to being silent for a longer time. Many sleepless nights, inside of pillow forts and under the artificial sky of waterfall, had proven that. “You’ll get pollen all over your sweater, you know” Azzie’s voice chimed. Chara smiled. It was like clockwork. “Yeah, I know.”
"Mom won’t be happy if it gets dirty again.”
“Mom won’t have to clean it.”
“…”
“Azzie, where’s mom?”
Asriel sighed; white, fluffy paw tapping one of the flowers and letting it swivel back and forth. “Don’t worry. She’s with dad, I think. They’re both worried.” He lifted his gaze. “We all are.”
Chara scoffed, trying to push back the guilt clogging their throat. “Well, guess it’s that time of year again. Took them long enough.”
“Mom and dad?”
“The capitol.” Honestly, Chara had expected their name on that screen years ago. But Azzie didn’t need to know that. It was a thought haunting their every nightmare: As soon as they turned twelve, it would be them. Yet, despite trying to be ready, they had failed. Looking at Azzie’s big, sad eyes, Chara felt that well-hidden hope roar up painfully in their chest. Each new year walking through the underground, this one thought that maybe, just maybe, they could both grow up together, grew, bringing with it a warm glow. A warm glow that was now gone.
“The capitol humans are a bunch of meanies!” Azzie spoke with such vigor that it wiggled a small laugh out of Chara’s hurting chest.
“I couldn’t agree with you more. You’ll see! I’m… I’m gonna show them not to mess with the underground!” As much as it pained them, Chara had to be strong. Show no weakness. Never. For him, for mom, for dad. For all of them, they had to stay determined.
Above the two children, plastered to the wall, hung the big sign proudly announcing district 12, catching Chara’s eyes. They hated it. But if one looked closely, they still could see the outlines of the former Delta Rune shimmering beneath the paint, hidden but not lost.
“At least they didn’t pick your name”, Chara murmured, almost to themselfes. Azzie was soft. It was what Chara loved about him. He would always smile in the end, seeing the light in everything. Honestly, the human child envied it. Having Azzie step out of the underground, facing the cruel world above, felt like sacrificing that innocence. Chara could not let that happen.
A sniffing noise broke them out of their thoughts. Looking at their brother, watery red eyes met dull brown.
“Don’t you say that! Th…They picked you! They picked you and now you have to leave.”
Despite the cruel rumors of humans, monsters could cry. They could cry and make human hearts feel like they were being squeezed into a tiny ball that could shatter any moment.
“Azzie, don’t cry”
“I-I don’t want for you to leave. You don’t have to leave, do you? The peacekeepers can’t pass through the barrier. No one can. W-We’ll just stay here. We’ll stay here forever and mom will bake us some pie and dad will tell us some stories and we’ll play together in the ruins.”
Tear’s soaked the little goat monsters fur as a mix of hope and desperation burned bright in the direction of the human child. But, as always, it was Chara’s place to once more destroy a bit of hopes and dreams. Humans seemed to be good at that.
“And how is mom supposed to bake cake if there’s no food? We’ve tried this before. Remember six years ago. That child…” Chara’s throat clogged as they tried to speak that sorrowful name again. “The patient one. They refused to go and you remembered what happened.” At Azzie’s stubborn look, Chara pressed on. “Azzie, what happened?”
The goat boy looked away, reluctantly answering: “The capitol stopped sending food through the barrier.”
“That’s right. No matter how many tons of coal and gems we send them, they refused to trade back. Not with their tribute still inside.”
“That was only one time.”
“We still haven’t recovered from that one time.”
“Even so, the peacekeepers can’t get you.”
“That doesn’t matter if we all starve to death!” Chara didn’t mean to scream. They tried to banish the burning sensation from their eyes without success. “I’m sorry, Azzie. Trust me, I want to hide, more than anything else. But… I can’t.”
A soft thud sounded and Chara had to flail slightly to not fall over from the sudden weight at their side. Fluffy arms frapped around them, warm breathing grazing their neck. They sighed, wrapping an arm around the small monster at their side.
“I’ll miss you.” Azzie’s voice was raw, making Chara want to sink into the flowers, disappearing and taking all that sorrow with them.
“I’ll miss you too.” They opened their mouth to say more. But how were they supposed to put all of those years into a few words? Before Asriel, the world had been bleak. But now, he filled them with color. Now they had to leave this colorful world, probably without ever coming back. Chara would rather die than leave. Their gaze darkened as they peered at the entrance, searching for the source of their now three days long misery. Well, one day for the real world to be fair but whatever. Even eating those damn flowers didn’t do the job. They always refused.
Asriel seemed to sense their sibling's tension as he peered up as best as he could from his slumped position. “Are you ok? You’re making your scary face again”
“Sorry, don’t worry. It’s just…”
"What?”
“Now you’re the one who’s making our sweaters wet with all of your sniffling, you big crybaby.”
“Oh.” A soft chuckle escaped. “Sorry.”
The human child took a moment to enjoy the warmth, the company, for one last time. They would miss this. They would miss the throne room, they would miss the flowers, they would even miss that big ugly district 12 sign. Even if they would be gone now, they at least knew everyone else would be ok. They would be safe, at least for another year.
“Come on, Azz. Let’s go.”