Chapter Text
Timeline date: 100 years before the barrier break
Month: July
Slam. Bottle crack. “Oh no…father’s back.”
A scrawny, short, rosy-cheeked girl hides in the back corner, hoping her father wouldn’t come up the stairs. That was the last thing she needed. And ever since mother left for another man, things got even worse around the house. With no friends and no good neighbors to run to, all she could do was hide.
She hated humanity.
“DID YA REALLY FORGET TO LEAVE MY LIQUOR OUT ON THE TABLE AGAIN,” the father yells. “GIT IN HERE, YOU SORRY SH-”
His curse is cut short. The father screams as he trips into the table and falls to the ground. Surely, he was drunk again.
She hated humanity.
The creaking of the floorboards sings higher and higher as the footsteps approach. Coddling herself in the corner, she holds her head between her legs. The bedroom door opens; he was there. Trying to fight back, she kicked, screamed, spit, and swore. But nothing availed, and she had lost another battle.
She hated humanity.
After this night, she formulated an escape plan. And after two long weeks of planning out every single move so that her father wouldn’t ever track her down, one fateful summer’s night, she finally slipped through the window. Father was still at the bar, so her escape would certainly work this time.
Running through the town, the people sneered and raised their eyebrows. “Isn’t that one guy’s kid?...Yeah, that kid…I heard they bully the others at school a lot…yeah, bad temper…apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, huh?”
The pain burned within her like the sun, and her bones cracked underneath the pressure thrust upon her shoulders.
She hated humanity.
After sobbing and running for miles, she finally reached Mt. Ebott. It must’ve taken a couple of hours of just running to get here. Sinking her head, the child dashes into the mountain and trips, flying into the open mouth of the mountain. All she saw was darkness below.
She hated humanity.
…
“Oh! You've fallen down, haven't you?!” A friendly voice erupts.
The child turns up her head and grimaces. It was a kid…like herself, but not. He was covered in weird goat fur, with shimmering turquoise eyes and a wide grin. The human was guessing that the goat kid was just barely school-age, but the goat’s short height and pudgy little pot belly made him look a few years younger than he truly was. Either way, the human child was about to gain a new big brother they needed.
“Are you okay? Here, get up,” the goat child says while offering a paw.
The human child slowly gets up and limps on one leg. “Ugh, I…”
"My mom is an expert in healing magic; I can take you to her!” said the goat child.
“Wait,” the human says. But her tongue freezes, opting to listen more.
The goat kid shakes his head and wraps an arm around his shoulder. “Pleased to meetcha! What’s your name?”
"Chara…" stated the human.
"Chara, huh? That's a nice name. My name is Asriel, Asriel Dreemurr!"
The human glances to the side, biting her tongue. Asriel tilts his head and nods, continuing to help the child inch closer to home. “We’re a ways away, but we’ll get there before you know it! And if you ever have another broken ankle, leave it to my mom to help ya! She’s the queen of the Underground, you know.” With a smirk, Asriel turns his snootle up to the sky of the Underground. “Which means I’m a prince! Cool, huh?”
The human snickers. “You’re so animated and cheesy that you’re the kind of prince that would get turned into a frog. Sounds like a cliche to me.”
Asriel furrows his brow and snorts his snoot. “Hey, I take offense to that!”
The human backs away, folding her arms while her long bangs cover her eyes further. “Was just a joke; get over it.”
As the human more tightly folds her arms, the inquisitive goat glances down at her wrists. Some of the marks are a bright black and blue, while others are a faded brownish-green. Gasping, Asriel walks closer to the child and gently holds her hands. “Hey, are you ok? You have bruises on you; was that from the fall? Or have you had some of these for a while? Mom can try to heal internal wounds, even though she’s not as good at it.”
The fallen human covers her arms and continues limping into the ruins. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”
Asriel smiles and brings the kid’s arm around him again. “Welp, back to moving. It’s cool that I’ve got a new friend!”
The child glances upward, hair still covering their eyes but slightly less so. “F…friend?”
“Of course!” Asriel bleats. “You seem nice enough, and you need help! I love making new friends.” He chuckles. “Well, I kiiiiinda have to be extroverted since I’m a prince and all. Making subjects feel at ease…but I’m just me! And, I think it’s gonna be super special awesome to show my monster friends a HUMAN!”
The human kid rubs her neck. “You aren’t used to chatting with humans, huh?”
Asriel sighs. “Nah, but we’ll see the surface one day and meet all the cool humans like you. And I want you to be with me when we finally break the barrier!”
The child gasps. “So the legends told in school are true…the barrier breaker, the monsters, the war…”
Asriel beams. “Wowie, sounds like your history teacher did their homework! This just shows that maybe not all humans are bad, being willing to teach about how the humans sealed us and all. Sounds like an honest person.”
The child groans and bites her lip. “I have differing opinions on humans myself, but…tell me, what was your name again?”
“Oh, right!” Asriel says. “My full name is ‘Prince Asriel Lazarus Dreemurr’.”
“That’s a mouthful,” Chara snarks. “I’m just gonna call you ‘Azzy’ from now on; it makes it easier on me.”
“Hmmm, ‘Azzy’…” Asriel says to himself. “I like it!”
The goat’s face turns up as the pair walk deeper into the Ruins. “We’re gonna have so many adventures together! But first, we gotta get some food in you and heal you. You’re all skinny and beaten up.”
“Yeah…thanks,” Chara says.
“It’s no problem,” Asriel says. “You’re my friend, and I love you. And you deserve to be shown love!”
The first human’s soul burned brightly. She closes her eyes as warm tears fall down her cheeks.
Chara loved her new friend.
Perhaps he’d even become a “BFF” or a “best friend forever,” as the kids at her old school called it.