Chapter Text
For just a few years, the monsters had been sealed in the Underground, taken away from the land and seas they’d cared for so much, indefinitely. The rage began to simmer down, but it never left, it only became a stronger form of hate, a burning pain in the soul of monsterkind. Everyone felt it to varying degrees, but none of the hate was mild.
Then, one day, the object of their hate fell into the Underground. A human child.
The human awoke on a bed of thorns puncturing their skin. They panicked, placing their hands on the ground, only to embed several more sharp thorns in their palms. This was set up by a monster to ensure pain on whatever fell down, which, for once, was a human. The human winced when they stood to see the surrounding brick walls plastered with crayon drawings of several small children stoning a human to death. Plucking the thorns out of their body, they wipe away the blood with their sweater, staining it with dried blood.
The next room was a dark void with a patch of grass in the center, lit by the sunlight above, a cloaked figure kneeled on it, looking at the ground.
The crunch of leaves under the human’s foot caused the cloaked figure to flinch, looking up briefly before their vision snapped back to the ground.
“St-stop!”
The human kept walking forward until they stood in front of the monster.
“That’s enough!” He shouted hurriedly.
The cloak fell back.
“You are a human, aren’t you? I-I’m Asriel… Th-the prince of–”
“How do I leave.” The human responded before Asriel could finish.
“You… uh, can’t…”
When Asriel looked up, the human was already halfway to the door behind him. Standing up, Asriel ran over to the human and grabbed their sleeve tightly, pulling them back slightly until the human shoved him off sharply.
“Do not touch me. Goat.” The human glared.
Asriel hit the ground with a muted thud.
“Oof… I can’t let you leave!”
The footsteps stopped.
“Why?”
“Because… um… this place, the WRECKAGE, is dangerous! There’s traps! And, as the prince of monsterkind, I want to… help you. Please.” Asriel said.
Without thinking, the human walked forward and held out a hand to Asriel, pulling him up with one arm.
“Despite your rampant incompetence, I will… allow you to guide me from here.” The human said.
Asriel smiled warmly at the human, shifting his feet on the leaf covered floor, the crinkles echoing through the vast, never-ending room.
“Thank you, human. You won’t regret it! What’s your name?”
“It is Chara. Let us away at last.”
Asriel took a moment to process the meaning of Chara’s words before finally settling on a meaning he liked, taking Chara’s hand in his.
“Actually, we’re doing this FIRST.” Asriel said.
Chara’s eyes widened for a moment. This was the most ridiculous person they had met in approximately ten minutes, but now they were stuck with him for however long it took to leave.
Beyond the room was a winding maze built on crooked foundations of wood and ropes within one large and monochrome room that stretched on for what seemed like miles with a ceiling covered in stalactites and glimmering crystals, illuminating the place vaguely.
Asriel let go of Chara’s hand and stepped in front of them, directing their attention to the dummy on the right.
“Whoa, there! B-Before you continue… you wanna learn how to FIGHT, right? Uh, d-down here in the Underground monsters will want to… Well, they want to hurt you, so you have to fight back.” Asriel said.
“And you are not engaging in these acts of violence.” Chara stated.
Asriel sharply inhaled, stammering.
“Well, I-I’m… I don’t… Just fight the dummy!”
“Very well.”
Chara squatted down with ease, picking up a sharp stick off the ground before approaching the dummy. Without any further direction, they stuck half the stick into the dummy’s irregular head, the stick came out along with a steady pour of natural stuffing, unprocessed wool spilling onto the floor.
“Okay… that’s… an option. I-I was thinking you could maybe FIGHT it until it’s at your MERCY. Th-that way you could spare it without anyone dying…” Asriel trailed off quietly.
“This is a mannequin. A mere substitution for an adversary. I do not see how this object could have been any more at my grace.” Chara communicated.
“No, Chara… It’s okay. We’ll just continue.”
Onwards, a monster jumped out from the darkness and engaged in a battle with Chara, Loox. Its eye was bloodshot, unblinking from the moment it saw Chara in the Wreckage, tracking every single micromovement they made. Before it had a chance to attack Chara, they already put the sharp stick in its eye, making it scream in pain before collapsing to the ground, still.
Asriel placed one foot over the other, looking at the surrounding walls until the screaming stopped.
“A-Are you done? Good. L-Let’s go….”
After a few minutes, the path diverged into a beautiful lake, the water a bright, glowing blue surrounded by luminescent mushrooms surrounded by lightning bugs.
“Look, Chara! It’s a lake…” Asriel awed.
“Yes. It is an obligatory lake.” Chara flatly states
Asriel’s mouth opened and closed, he had nothing more to say.
Along the final stretch to the end of the Wreckage was a solid, but creaky bridge made of unrefined logs, cut in half and laid out across the gap. After crossing it, Chara saw a lone building ahead, made of solid foundations of brick properly sanded down next to glass windows, even lit up on the outside with lamps. In comparison to the rest of the Wreckage, this place was a luxurious building.
“You live here.” Chara said
“W-Well, not– YES! Yes, I do live here. This is my home!” Asriel said with a wide, toothy grin that didn't begin to reach his eyes.
Upon entering the building, Chara was met with the smell of an over-cooked pie wafting from the left side out. But that wasn’t the important part of the house to Chara. They quickly walked to the kitchen, opening a drawer to pick out a large knife, perfectly pre-sharpened already. Next, they looked through the fridge to find no chocolate.
“Damn it.”
Asriel came in behind them, slowly, careful not to startle them.
Chara turned around with their head on a swivel, looking through Asriel’s soul bluntly.
“Where is your chocolate?”
“Oh? Um… It’s in the freezer, but that’s for me. Don’t worry! I… have…”
Asriel trailed off as he watched Chara open the freezer and tear through the chocolate bar as if it weren’t frozen at all.
“You have my credit, Asriel.” Chara swallowed down the remains of the chocolate bar.
“But,” they added, “I must be gone, now. Where is the nearest avenue?”
“It’s– Gosh, why do you need to leave now?” Asriel asked.
“Why must I stay?” Chara retorted.
Asriel’s breathing got heavy briefly while he tried to think of something, anything to make Chara stay any longer.
“I know things, Chara…. I know what the other monsters will do to you if they find out that you’re here. Y-You saw how that monster tried to kill you earlier, right? That wasn’t… unusual of us. It’s dangerous out there…” Asriel explained.
Crossing their arms, Chara began to scrutinize Asriel.
“So it's downstairs.”
Chara began to make their way down the large, ominous staircase, pushing right past Asriel. Before they could make it down the long, monochrome hall leading to the exit, Asriel appeared in front of them with fire in his eyes.
“Stop, Chara! Think about what we–”
Asriel spat up blood as Chara’s fist connected with his stomach, pushing him into the wall with a bang. Chara bolted for the door before flames erupted from the ground, spewing at them. Asriel began to stand up, blood speckling his dress.
“Wow… You…”
Asriel’s eyes met Chara’s.
“...I’m sorry… just go, but don’t say I didn’t warn you…”
The flames extinguished, the door swinging open to let the freezing air blow into the room.
Chara gave one last glance to Asriel’s defeated form before walking through the doorway and into the snowy forest.