Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Arrival
Part 1: How to [save] a life?
It always ended the same.
A battle. Someone being saved. The barrier breaking. Happiness… For a while. There was always some left behind. People Frisk couldn’t save… And it drove them mad, not being able to give everyone the happy ending they deserved. So that’s why they reset. Repeatedly. Always paying attention to what they did and with whom they interacted, so maybe they’d find a way to trigger something different next time, so maybe they’d find a way to save everyone…
Those thoughts ran through Friskʼs head as they once again sat upon the bed of golden flowers that marked the spot under the hole in the underground. The reason as to why they jumped down here was still fresh and stinging in their mind. But for now, they could not allow themselves to dwindle in such thoughts, Toriel would certainly come looking for them if they took too long and they were afraid to change the pattern they already had.
As they got up from the flowers, they finally noticed how quiet their mind had been. Where was Chara? Their ghostly companion was never quiet for long. Even when they fought the silence never stretched. Frisk thought it was because both had created some sort of special bond throughout their adventure… or maybe they disliked being alone now that they had Frisk.
Now slightly worried Frisk wondered if maybe they hadn’t upset Chara in some way to receive the silent treatment. They knew it wouldn’t last but still didn’t like the thought of hurting their friends. Stood by the door that would take them to the room where Flowey would talk to them for the “first” time Frisk first mentally calculated how long they had until Toriel showed up. Well, if they didn’t make noise, she would take enough time for them to solve this Chara mystery… maybe. With that in mind they sat down once again by the door and pondered what they could’ve possibly have done, all the while gently prodding their mind to see if Chara would answer.
Was Chara upset because of the constant resets? When Frisk first reset trying to discover how to save Asriel, Chara had been hesitant. Sure, they also felt that there was a way to give their brother a second chance. And they also felt guilty for what happened to him… they blamed themselves for his death and wanted to redeem themselves somehow. But, just like Frisk, they had no idea how to save Asriel. And, just like Frisk, they disliked stripping the monsters of their memories and starting over and over again… even more so when a certain skeleton started dropping hints that they knew something was happening… they both hated doing this. It felt cruel, and if Sans’ behavior in the more recent runs was any clue… it was cruel… Frisk knew they were probably a horrible person for doing this, but it would pay off as soon as they saved everyone.
It had to pay off. And they would save everyone. Sooner or later.
As Frisk ruminated these thoughts over and over, trying to discover why else would Chara be so quiet (it was starting to make them quite anxious to be honest) a familiar presence made themselves be heard to the curled-up form by the door to the underground. Frisk looked up in surprise at the soft gasp they heard. They weren’t really paying attention, deep in their thoughts as they were, and didn’t see Toriel approach their location. Well so much for trying to keep the pattern going.
“Heavens! A human!” Toriel said, her voice soft as ever. Never hinting any aggression or annoyance at them. Frisk liked that. It made them feel safe. Also made leaving her and resetting all that much harder.
As Toriel fussed over Frisk, explaining how she hadn’t even seen them at first, and how she usually came by to see if any humans had fallen into the underground. Frisk caught themselves noticing yet another absence… Flowey very rarely gave up the chance to speak to them (Frisk couldn’t even remember the last time he didn’t show up actually) and as they walked with Toriel to the Ruins they looked at his usual spot and found it empty.
This run was getting weirder by the second…
At least the Ruins walkthrough with Toriel was normal. They solved the puzzles, spared the dummy and all the monster along the way, walked along the long corridor without Toriel, chose a pie flavor (only for it to be butterscotch-cinnamon anyways, not that they were complaining)… but they had to admit Chara never left their thoughts. They were so used to their voice in the back of their mind helping them in the battles and providing commentary on everything around them. It made them feel like they were in a video game.
And now their head was quiet. Their worry was growing by the minute because they simply didn’t know what was going on. Where was Chara? Why were they being so quiet? Where did Flowey go? Why weren’t those two things following the pattern? The runs were always the same, more or less, and Frisk took a sense of safety from it. Always knowing what was going to happen and how to appropriately react to it removed the chances of Frisk screwing something up and hurting someone, and they hated to think of hurting someone because they said or did something wrong. Frisk wanted to curl up and cry. But they were approaching the entrance to Toriel’s house where they would meet her, and they didn’t want to worry her.
As they crossed the doors that lead there, they fixed their eyes on the tall tree that always stood by the entrance to the tidy house Toriel kept here on the Ruins. The branches of the tree were bare as always, and its leaves piled up around it on the ground. But as they approached, they saw something that made them stop dead in their tracks and let out a surprised noise that seemed to attract the attention of both Toriel, looking worried over Frisk’s state after going through the ruins alone, and a tall, confused-looking human, standing by the tree.
Frisk could only watch as Toriel too saw the figure by the tree and felt a surprise of her own as her words echoed through the Ruins’ walls.
“Chara?!”
End of Part 1