Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"HOW DO YOU KEEP ROLLING SIXES!?!?"

"I dunno, you have way better strategy and army comp than me, I'm just different." Her little brother snarked, joined by their little sister's raspy giggles.

But she was sure he was hiding something, there was no way a thousand points of Tzeentch Daemons just got obliterated by a hodgepodge of random Tyranids. And for all she knew, Frisk was in on it. Somebody here was conspiring against her. Hell, everyone was conspiring-

"You should try playing Orks, sometime, to start getting used to the dice not going your way." He proposed.

"But if I try that, the dice will always be in my favor and I'll never learn anything-" She started.

"Chara, take a breath, just give it a try next game." Asriel put a stop to her irrational tirade before it could start.

The Demi-Human inhaled, held it for a second, and breathed out slowly. As annoying as it was to admit, Asriel was right, she was way overthinking this and it was taking away from the game. Besides, keeping at it despite her absurdly bad luck was for a reason. Chara unsteadily got up from the rocking chair Toriel commissioned for her, just a silly little seat with a soft cushion and "Chair-a" etched into the back by an extremely detailed and talented blue Bird-Folk carpenter formerly hailing from Snowdin who clearly had a commitment to the joke that only died when it was time to hand off the item. A moment of steadying herself later, she scooped all of her defeated units to the side, preparing to put them away.

It was a long and monotonous process, putting each one of them away, but necessary. Her sudden acquisition of a new body was a painful process with a long adjustment period. Even if it was made from the rotten bones of her old corpse, and had an inherent connection to her as a result, time away from the physical world had taken its toll on her. She still needed to walk around with a hiking stick, also purchased from the blue snowbird, but it was a great step up from the awkward crutches Alphys dug up for her. Besides, the hiking stick would see much more use with Undyne's long walks and similar training sessions, be it camping or trailblazing, so it might as well look nice with plenty of flowery and magical engravings.

The more she got used to her reacquired form, the easier it would be to do simple tasks on her own, and the less control she had to give up to Toriel, that traitor.

Her bright red eyes narrowed at the thought of the Queen but softened as she refocused on picking out an army of green figurines, all painted by Asriel. I have the Necron paint job reserved, though. Meanwhile, little Frisk bounced over to the drawers and shelves, searching through the cubbies for her favorite army. Humans. Or more accurately, the Iron Legion. Every single one of those miniatures was the smaller demi-human's pride and joy ever since she was relegated to being the only Dreemurr child able to paint stripes. An already miffed Chara pushed down her most irritated side as the little human figures were set on the table, and with a fraction of the effort it took her to get ready.

Still, despite her undying hatred for the species they were attached to, the power of their armor, weapons, and organs always interested her. The ability to filter damn near any poison, wearing metal with the strength of concrete, a build so powerful even moving too fast could reduce a disgusting or peak-condition human to paste, and casually carrying weapons normal people need to mount on turrets to use. As much as she loathed their true nature, the stories that the other Souls dominating the surface (for now) could tell were fascinating, such things were what got her into this hobby in the first place and drag her siblings down the rabbit hole afterward... But what if they were in the Monster-Kin's hands, claws, tentacles, projected limbs, pincers, blue magic, finger bones, and everything in between?

"Remind me to chat with Doctor Alphys after this, please." Chara asked, flopping onto Chair-a.

XXX =) XXX

She wasn't sure what to feel about Dr. Alphys, or "Aunt Alphys", as she'd been told by Toriel to call her. Bad enough she prods me into calling the comedian "Uncle", of course, the one who made Flowey has to be lobbed onto the pile. On one hand, she did set in motion all the actions of the husk of her brother but it's not like she could ever predict such a thing would ever happen, the same was the case with the Amalgamates. But unlike someone she knew, Alphys insisted on obsessing over finding a way to fix it before she wore herself down, and even then she didn't pretend nothing happened or what she did or didn't do wasn't horrible.

"W-Well, i-i-it's certainly a-an interesting i-idea in c-concept, P-Princess Chara, but t-there are a few reasons it d-doesn't really work in p-practice." The new Royal Scientist stammered in her somewhat annoyingly high-pitched voice.

That was another thing Chara couldn't really handle; or two, if you counted the "Princess" thing, despite it technically being true. The notion that this lying, clumsy, often slovenly little lizard could ever replace her Uncle Gaster. But that was hardly her fault, how was anyone supposed to replace such a skeleton? Logically she knew that such a thing was impossible, but her Dad had to pick someone or his board of advisors would remain incomplete and a very necessary part of Monster development would remain without a figurehead. Science needed a Royal Scientist, Alphys was the most viable candidate; it was nothing personal, just politics, that didn't make keeping her more emotional side separated from the issue any easier for Chara.

"I-I-It's not that it's a b-bad idea! J-Just not f-feasible. I a-actually had a s-similar conversation w-with Undyne." She reiterated as if Chara wasn't just as stiff and uncomfortable as she was.

Yes! Auntie Dye-Dye had the same idea!

"A-Anyway! The f-first thing to remember is that this is f-fiction, the human bb-body doesn't a-actually have the space f-for all these m-modifications, l-let alone someone l-like an Astigmatism o-or W-Whimsalot. A Knight Knight and Undyne might work o-on paper, but Monster b-bodies just don't h-have the matter we'd need to s-support and adjust to t-them."

"I see, it is the same problem as Determination, then, is it not?" Chara replied, still standing as straight as possible and considering every single word absurdly carefully.

"P-Precisely. A-And the armor d-doesn't play by the rules w-we have to, a-at least not with the c-current technology and m-materials a-available, c-creating something this s-strong would b-be too inefficient f-for us to i-implement. A-And the recoil on a g-gun of this s-scale could easily rip a-a human arm o-off, a-a monster would d-die if Intention p-played into i-it and still g-get severely i-injured, otherwise."

Chara paused.

"Recoil?"

It was Alphys's turn to stop and think.

"O-Oh! Right, old b-bows wouldn't have that p-problem. Recoil is the backblast of a f-firearm. Think of a gun as a contained e-explosion, it goes in a-all directions. One direction fires the bullet, the opposite g-goes back into the wielder's h-hand, or shoulder if you're using a r-rifle."

"How does it work?" She asked next, not noticing the way they both relaxed.

"W-Well, don't worry about standing or getting used to your b-body, Undyne will have s-something planned for y-you so j-just take a s-seat, this m-might take awhile." The lizard smiled with contagious positivity.

"Uh... Thanks, Auntie Al-" Chara caught herself with a red face, almost falling in her scramble to move on.

XXX =) XXX

Her bare feet tapped against the metal floor, her ratty shorts and shirt stuck to her dirty skin, and her oily hair was knotted and tangled around her eyes. Chara couldn't help her soft spot for the lab, Doctor Gaster always kept it very cold, he liked it that way. Being warm was nice and all, she didn't want to risk the Dreemurrs thinking she was ungrateful for everything they'd done for her, but the sting of cold brought a familiarity she couldn't help longing for. No matter how scary the Royal Scientist was, no matter how soft and welcoming the family of goats were to someone as worthless and unhelpful as she was, Chara couldn't resist the promise of a cold hallway to process everything and be alone in. Being alone meant she was safe, being alone meant nobody was after her or trying to touch her, being alone was good, but a part of her knew she wasn't.

The clicks of polished shoes echoed down the hallway behind her and she reflexively dashed behind a table. The Man Who Speaks In Hands himself entered the dark, open yet packed with equipment and notes room, holding a silver... thingy she vaguely remembered being called a "briefcase" filled with more papers in strange symbols she didn't understand. His polished shoes blended seamlessly into his black pants, even when he flicked the lights on. His black leather belt had a golden buckle, nearly the only thing that popped out of the sea of black in his tailoring. His trenchcoat had golden heart-shaped buttons, and the inside of the hefty coat had a beautiful purple lining. It always put her in awe, the stars decorating the item, it reminded her of the gorgeous nights on the surface that gave her the pitiful illusion something would change or get better.

She knew it was a lie she was telling herself, but the night sky tricked her into thinking it was worth it.

And that wonderful design inside Doctor Gaster's coat, even if it was only visible in the lining, felt like a small piece of that experience, coming back to pick her up with sweet lies of everything being okay. His broad shoulders would've framed the collar of his gray turtleneck that peeked over the black coat if not for the long purple scarf wrapped around his neck. She never knew exactly why he insisted on wearing it, aside from the rich royal purple silk and golden trimming being incredible, only that it was because of deformities he'd endured due to various experiments he refused to elaborate on and that Asgore and Toriel lacked the details for.

His head looked solid, she could barely see the base of his eerie skull, it was attached to his spine by many white strands of bone that the Queen was quick to tell her were unnatural and not what Chara's skeleton looked like, it almost looked like a dense spiderweb. When he turned, and she ducked further behind the table, the edge of his massive, permanent smile was revealed. It was pitch-black like she was staring into the pits of Hell and his eye was broken, melted, and had a long crack trailing over the top of his head. The other side she knew well, he always looked at her with that eye, it was the only way he could reliably see and had another vantablack fracture trailing down his face like a tear and going over his crooked smile, going over his liquidy bone lip and splitting his chin.

DO YOU
TRULY THINK
I DO NOT HAVE
THE MEANS TO DETECT
INTRUDERS IN MY RESIDENCE,
LITTLE ONE?

Chara shuddered and nearly wet herself on the spot as the man turned. His hands had large gaps in them, his six fingers twitched and itched for something to do, something to tinker with or take apart and put back together. The Doctor's single white pupil glared from its large, wide-open, abyssal socket at her.

ARE YOU HERE
SIMPLY BECAUSE
YOU REVEL
IN THE COLD
AS I DO,
OR DO YOU
POSSESS AN INQUIRY?

She hesitantly crept out of her hiding spot, straightening her posture as well as she could before addressing the scientist.

"I am sorry for my intrusion, Doctor- ahem Uncle Gaster, I assure you it will not happen again." She bowed.

THAT DOES NOT
ANSWER MY QUESTION,
CHILD...

Chara froze and prepared for the worst. He didn't like her response, now he was gonna hit her!

...

But the strike never came.

She fought to keep her composure as he loomed, always smiling with liquified bone. His presence felt like it ripped the air from any room he entered and sucked all the light and life and energy from the area. It took a moment for Chara to realize she was wasting his time. For some reason, like the Dreemurrs, he didn't hit her, but she shouldn't test his patience.

"Is it true disease doesn't spread through smell?" She asked, she almost thought his smile had grown.

I SEE,
THAT HUMAN MYTH...
THERE IS NO
SUCH THING
AS A BLIGHT
THAT INFECTS BY SCENT...

ARE YOU AWARE
OF HOW THE BODY
EMITS A CERTAIN SMELL
WHEN AFFLICTED?

"Only a little bit, sir, I am sorry for my ignorance-"

DO NOT
APOLOGISE
FOR LEARNING...

AS I WAS SAYING...
I BELIEVE
THE ORIGIN OF THIS MYTH
TO BE CONNECTED
TO THE BODY'S
REACTION TO INFECTIONS...

DISEASE DOES NOT SPREAD
THROUGH SMELL,
IT MAY BE
THAT HUMANS
MISINTERPRETED THE CAUSE
FOR THEIR SICKNESSES
TO BE THE SMELL
OF SICK CREATURES...

IN REALITY
IT IS JUST
A NATURAL METHOD
FOR MEMBERS OF
A SPECIES
TO UNDERSTAND
WHEN ONE IS
CONTAMINATED...

THEY SIMPLY MADE
THE WRONG CONNECTION
WHEN PROVIDED
VERY, VERY LIMITED
INFORMATION...
HOWEVER,
WE KNOW BETTER...

...

YOU ARE FAMILIAR
WITH "THE BLACK DEATH",
ARE YOU NOT?

Chara nodded, shivering in place, and not because of the cold.

WONDERFUL,
JUST WONDERFUL...

IF NOT SMELL,
WHAT DO YOU THINK
CAUSES IT TO SPREAD?

Chara stood in thought but found she had no answer. The Church and Plague Doctors always said the Plague spread through smell, that everything spread through smell, that's why the Doctors stuffed fruits and flowers into the beaks of their masks. But if not smell, what could carry such horrors? Her heart rate picked up and palms got clammy. What could he be looking for? What would he do when she couldn't answer? He might-

WHAT,
OTHER THAN MASKS,
DID YOUR DOCTORS
WEAR,
AND WHY?

"I know they had coats, similar to yours." She mentioned.

AND THEY
TREATED THEM VERY,
VERY SPECIFICALLY,
CORRECT?

"Yes, Uncle Gaster, they waxed them to protect themselves from spit and stop bugs from nesting in their clothing."

He stayed silent.

"Do coughs and ticks spread disease, Uncle Gaster?"

AMONG
OTHER THINGS,
BUT YES...

AND WHAT
DO YOU THINK
THE BUGS, TICKS,
NESTED IN
BEFORE THEY
JUMPED TO HUMANS?

"Rats!" She excitedly answered, that one was easy! They were all over the place! They loved stealing their food but she stayed away from them, she had no way to treat herself if she got bitten and was already sure she'd catch the Plague from how bad she needed a bath, something as small as a rat bite could easily do her in.

Wait...

"I-I am sorry for my outburst, Uncle Gaster. It will not-"

THAT IS
QUITE ENOUGH...

She was too late.

He was going to punish-

SO DO YOU
UNDERSTAND
THE PLAGUE BETTER?

What? Was he not about to hit her? Or touch her?

RATS BRING
THE ILLNESS,
TICKS DRINK
THE RATS' BLOOD,
THEN THEY JUMP
AND BRING THE PLAGUE
TO A HUMAN HOST...

...

INTERESTING,
VERY INTERESTING,
IS IT NOT?

"Yes, Uncle Gaster, thank you for your lesson. I promise to leave you be, now."

DO YOU WANT
TO CALL ME
"UNCLE GASTER",
FLEDGLING?

"I-I do not understand, Uncle Gaster, is something wrong?" She hesitantly asked.

"UNCLE GASTER"...
QUEEN TORIEL
MAKES YOU
CALL ME THAT,
BUT DO YOU
WISH TO REFER
TO ME
AS SUCH?

"...Yessir..."

YOU ARE NOT
BEING VERY
CONVINCING...
NOT VERY CONVINCING,
AT ALL...

Chara waited again for him to hit her, but the Royal Scientist stayed right where he stood.

THE QUEEN
IS NOT PRESENT...
YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED
TO CALL ME
SUCH THINGS,
IF IT DOES NOT
SUIT YOU...
...
YOU ARE AWARE OF THAT
CORRECT?

Chara paused. Was he okay with defying the Queen? The same queen who could and would throw her out if she ever stepped out of line? And he was willing to let her go against her wishes?

"...T-Thank you, Doctor Gaster, I will be leaving..."

THERE YOU ARE
DOES THAT FEEL BETTER
TO YOU?

"Yessir, thank you."

NOT THAT
YOU DESERVE
SUCH A PRIVILEGE...

"W-What?"

Chara blinked, suddenly finding herself in her sleepwear, a black tank top and green shorts, yet she was even smaller than she was a second before and Gaster towered over her. The room reeked of magma and a pungent metallic stench. The Doctor's face was droopier and his eyes widened as his matter warped and deformed, opening his second eye for his other tiny pupil to stare at her with livid purple light. Their small glow burned like the blast of his dragon skulls and his black trench coat was replaced by an undulating mass of Determined sludge. His hands and head clumped up around and dissolved into the darker glue, turning gray around his neck and wrists. His awful smile grew as his face stretched and fell, dragging the bottoms of his eyes down with them and lengthening the cracks on his face.

I DID,
I ALWAYS DID,
EVERYTHING I COULD
TO TEACH YOU,
TO HELP YOU GROW,
TO MAKE YOU
SOMETHING GREATER
THAN HUMAN...

AND NOW
IT IS YOUR TURN
TO EDUCATE ME...
TELL ME,
DAEMON
HOW DID YOU
REPAY ME?

"I-I DIDN'T MEAN IT! I-IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ME! YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE THERE!"

WHO ELSE
DO YOU THINK
WOULD HAVE
BEEN THERE?

WHY WOULD I
NOT BE THERE?
YOU KNEW EXACTLY
WHO WAS THERE...
YOU KNEW
I WAS THERE...
AND YOU LET
ME FALL...

"I-I-I... I didn't, I swear! I-I-I-I didn't..."

YOU STOLE
ANOTHER CHANCE,
YOU DO NOT
DESERVE THE THIRD
OPPORTUNITY
YOU TOOK
FROM ME...

YOU DO NOT
DESERVE THE FOURTH
CHANCE YOU ARE
CURRENTLY LIVING,
NOT AFTER
WHAT YOU DID
TO MY SONS...

"I-I... I..."

SPIT IT OUT,
CHILDISH ANIMAL...
YOU WHAT?
YOU "DID NOT MEAN IT"
YOU 'WERE NOT IN CONTROL"
PATHETIC...

YOU ARE PATHETIC...
YOU DO NOT
DESERVE THE COUNTLESS LIVES
YOU HAVE STOLEN
FROM MY SONS...
FROM THE DREEMURRS...
FROM OUR HERO...
FROM ME...

YOU ARE
AWARE OF THAT...
YOU WOULD NOT
HAVE INTRUDED,
OTHERWISE...

NO...

YOU LET ME FALL!

Chapter Text

Doctor Gaster, or what was left of him, lurched forward while falling apart. He flung a melting hand out like he was reaching for her to save him, only for four of his fingers and half of his palm to drip off, but the remaining two caught her by the shirt. Their pointed tips tore her tank top and slashed her flesh underneath, it seared like there was salt in the wound. Chara tried to scream for help but her breath was caught in her throat and her feet couldn't even move to run. Her Uncle, meanwhile, had no problem releasing a blood-curdling scream while he was reduced to an oozing pile of magic and tainted Determination.

No matter how much they wished it would, his smile never faltered. Even when the majority of his jaw fell off, splashing against the Demon's body and boiling her like acid, he couldn't stop smiling, only the third of his mouth divided by the tear-like crack in his liquid skull dangled from his deformed cheek. The other side of his head bisected itself from the gash running up his head, straight through his eyesocket, and down to his smile, sliding to the side as his main body washed over Chara. Heat like white fire or enchanted lava enraptured her, pinning her to the floor as he fell. The streams of unstable magical matter felt like tendrils pulling her deeper and deeper, even though she couldn't find the strength to push away, swim out of the black magma, or move at all.

The demi-human choked on the gray slime that was formerly his neck as his split-open face descended on her like a mask full of nails, his tiny purple pupil staring into her the entire time.

XXX =) XXX

* Spell Recalled!

* Thorns Of Agony - High Intermediate Hemocraft - 40 Mana - Twists and contorts the caster's body into a mass of writhing, spiked tendrils whenever damage is taken, increasing DEF by 10% and dealing ARC Piercing damage until finished.

* A spell developed and refined by the late Doctor W. D. Gaster with the help of his late niece to compensate for the stiffness of his bones and their tendency to melt together, limiting his movement, as well as take advantage of his unique deformities. He was known to teach this lesser curse to those he wished to protect.

* Mastery of this spell can allow the caster to use a smaller version on command.

XXX =) XXX

Chara yelped loudly as she woke. Sweat poured down her face and soaked her tank top, her breathing burned her chest, her bright red eyes ignited her barebones bedroom, and her mane of tangled brown hair stuck to her clammy skin like glue. A warm, wet, and gross puddle grew between her legs and spread over her sheets. The heat distracted her from her nightmare for a moment. She did her best to regain control but wound up emptying herself against her will. Her damp legs shook as she trembled in place and her arms gave out behind her, dropping her onto her sweaty pillow and yellow-stained sheets. Agony streamed down the sides of her face, she couldn't bring herself to get up.

Toriel, Asriel, and Frisk would be long gone by the time she would be able to get up, she'd deal with her bedding in the morning, she just needed a minute.

XXX =) XXX

The demi-human, eventually, collected herself enough to clean her sheets, frustrating as it was to manage them and her cane at the same time. But the ordeal was over with, the blankets and sleepwear were in the washer and the rest in the dryer, leaving Chara with plenty of spare time once she got dressed in her green sweater and a silky black skirt. The golden locket around her neck brought some comfort, enough for her to sloppily get on with her day.

It didn't take long for boredom to set in. Her newly reactivated nerves demanded constant stimuli, and there was currently little to do around the house. Besides, attempting any physical labor would be a nightmare until she was in the condition to cast aside her hiking stick. She couldn't stop her sights being set on a strange, once human-made device turned into a monster toy. She distantly remembered one of her siblings calling it a Steam Deck before Alphys modified it to be able to play any game they owned, not just ones bought from the company in question, and have greater battery and storage space. It was Frisk's favorite but Chara also got several games on it, one of which was calling her name.

She booted up a game of Total War, specifically playing the endless swarm of rats calling themselves "The Skaven" that always caught her eye. They reminded her of before she fell, when corpses prepared to be burned littered the cobbled streets and the beaks of Plague Doctors cut the sickly stale air. It was all bad memories, of course, but it wasn't like she hadn't deserved them. That, and she was fascinated by their twisted methods. Golems carved from the corpses of thousands, volatile machines weird and as dangerous to them as they were to the enemy, countless air and water-born diseases of any kind, warpstone cannons, and even colossal bombs laying just beneath the surfaces of enemy cities.

One such unfathomable weapon went off under one of her enemy's castles. The Wood Elves had been a thorn in her side the entire game, now they and their armies were scrambling because of a device far too great in scale to ever truly exist without the aid of incredible magic... Right?

She made a note to look into the weapon history and current knowledge regarding Human Warfare, later, but for now...

XXX =) XXX

"Absolutely not"

"Why?"

Asgore sank into his big office with an exasperated huff. What was the problem? Monster Kind needed higher-scale weaponry than what was available just to keep up with Humanity, that damned Intent problem was hellbent on preventing her kind from surpassing them, they needed to play dirty to get those things out of their hair. So why was he hesitating? The King's long L-desk was a mess of papers, flash drives he didn't really know how to use, an unreasonable amount of pens, plenty of houseplants joined by hanging pots above them, an extremely aged but expertly preserved picture of the Dreemurr family, his laptop, and some small trinkets gifted to him by multiple other world leaders in hopes of stealing her people's magic.

Everything was obsessively organized and clean except the tiny trash bin of crumpled-up death threats and butterscotch pie recipes. He carefully patted the papers into neat piles and set then aside, placed the flash drives into small wooden cubbies to his side, and put away his current pen before pushing back his laptop and sorting through his drawers, sliding a claw along the labels before opening on and continuing dragging his fluffy finger along the labels of a dozen files. He only picked one out from the cabinet's G section, and it held just a single, if weighty, packet held together by three staples like it was a booklet.

"I am sorry, I often forget Humans back in your time were much less... Civil..." Asgore apologized and thought aloud as if Humans were somehow any less savage behind closed doors than they were before gunpowder was widespread.

"But I assure you, times have changed, there are now very strict and important rules and guidelines for these things." He elaborated.

Yeah, right, fools like them will change when stones bleed...

Her Dad very much noticed her scowl, no matter how she tried to suppress it. She'd always been like that regarding matters of "the savages", they were the only things she struggled to keep her composure when speaking about.

"Chara, my child, I would expect you to know the horrors and destruction this would surely bring." He stated.

"Of course, that's why I brought it up. I've seen exactly what a meager bacteria is capable of when it jumps from basic pests to a bigger creature, this is perfect for keeping pace!" She argued as calmly as she could. Getting into a shouting match wouldn't do anyone any good... That, and she didn't like butting heads with Mr. Dad-Guy.

"And what of the Flesh Golems? Of every corpse that would be defiled in their creation? Even ignoring the lack of Fleshcrafters needed to accomplish the creation of a single abomination, you would not wish any monsters to become such things, would you?"

"Never, Monster ashes should be scattered on things they loved, but humans just throw away the bodies in pyres and graveyards. Their rituals hardly respect the dead any more than using them for a good purpose would, we need to take advantage of these kinds of things!"

Asgore sighed again.

"If that is how you want to look at their practices, very well. Technically you are not wrong, objectively speaking, so perhaps you will listen to this." He flicked through the heavy packet and gestured her to come over.

Chara couldn't help but perk up, despite their disagreement. Her sharp, bright red, slit pupils in their abyssal sockets dulled and became soft ovals as she wobbly walked around the desk and propped her hiking stick against his table, then took a seat on his knee. His torso alone was multiple times her size and the flowery shirt he loved and wore way too much was soft, though not nearly as great as the fluffy hand that patted her back and the golden bread that tickled her face. The demi-human and King held back smiles and giggles as he lightly shook his head, waving his hair back and forth over her cheeks and nose before returning to the matter at hand.

"Your plan to expand the Underground is fantastic, it would make so much more space we need and cannot get from the humans. It is a small miracle we have gotten what we have from them, and yes, I am aware it is an appeasement tactic, but we need to focus on building tall instead of wide. And I did not even consider trying to expand lower." He rubbed her shoulder, drawing a bright smile.

"As for the rest, there is much we must go over..."

The King began guiding her through the massive packet, a detailed document Humanity had somewhat recently developed in Monster Kind's absence that assigned guidelines and limitations to the ways and methods they waged war with. Rules Monsters never agreed to, thanks to their actions, Chara eventually added, and rules that those fearmongering traitors deserved to have broken for their prejudice and failed genocide of their people. Nevertheless, she listened well and decided to take a much more detailed look into the exact written word of this human declaration, and was not sinking into Asgore's fur and silly Hawaiian vacation shirt the entire time.

...But for a moment, just a short one, she could just be a small child; dwarfed by her Dad and sitting innocently on his lap like nothing was wrong.

XXX =) XXX

"Not. One. Word." The Queen snarled in the Royal Scientist's general direction the second he entered their home.

Chara tried to get up, to look presentable and respectful to Doctor Gaster despite her sorry state and the horrible condition of her ragged clothes, but was almost instantly pushed back down on the couch by her best (and only) friend, Prince Asriel. The small goat nudged a box of tissues into her hands, but she didn't take any; she was already being forced to look like this in front of the Doctor, she didn't want to risk grossing him out as well. She'd somehow gotten lucky he was willing to tolerate her cold-seeking intrusions of his lab, luckier than she'd been in her entire life, nobody in their right mind would taunt their fortune any further.

HOW...
INTERESTING...

"DON'T-"

VERY,
VERY,
INTERESTING...

"GASTER-"

SUCH A...
CURIOUS
TURN OF EVENTS,
INDEED...

"THE NEXT WORDS THAT COME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH ARE GETTING SHOVED DOWN YOUR THROAT!" Chara shuddered as Toriel snapped, Asriel hardly flinched but lightly squeezed her hand.

They'd both questioned for a long time, whether or not their Uncle could control his smile at all or if it was well and truly stuck. Now the answer was clear, he could do some things with it, as it twisted into an even wider, crooked, cracked grin. While his hands stayed in front of him, all six fingers clicking their claws together in the shape of a pyramid over his chest, two of the six levitating appendages around him floated before the Queen. Before he fell, Chara hadn't learned any Monster Sign Language, and couldn't appreciate what Gaster had conveyed the way her little brother could and tried not to cackle at.

'I told you so.'

Queen Toriel looked extremely ready to chuck a fireball in his face, no matter how much his mere presence made the lights flicker, draining all energy from the livingroom Chara had been brought to when it became clear something was wrong.

IT IS
ALMOST AS IF
I PREDICTED
THESE PRECISE EVENTS

"I SHOULD BURN YOU TO THE GROUND!"

"BOTH OF YOU QUIET DOWN! You are going to frighten Chara, if you have not already." The King roared from the kitchen where he stirred up a herbal tea with plenty of honey and sugar cubes. The tall monsters in question stayed their collective ten hands for a second.

IT IS JUST
AS I SAID...

"Do not remind me." Toriel growled before Gaster reminded her.

CHARA'S BODY
IS NOT ACCOSTOMED
TO THE UNDERGROUND'S FLORA

I RECOMMENDED
AN ABUNDANCE OF TIME
FOR HER TO CONSUME HONEY
FROM ALL AROUND
THE KINGDOM,
SO HER SYSTEM
COULD ACCLIMATE
TO OUR
UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT
BEFORE BRAVING BEYOND
THE CASTLE WALLS...

AND YET,
HERE WE ARE...
WASTING EACH OTHER'S
VALUABLE TIME,
STRESSING YOURSELF
OVER AN ENTIRELY
AVOIDABLE NASAL INFECTION,
BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT
SHE WOULD BE FINE
BASED SOLELY ON
HER LESSER ALLERGIES
TO THE SPECIMENS
BROUGHT DOWN
FROM THE SURFACE...

ACTING AS IF
HER BODY
WOULD NOT
HAVE PREVIOUSLY FAMILIARIZED
ITSELF WITH
THEIR POLLEN...
ACTING AS IF
SHE WOULD NOT
BE HOPELESSLY OVERWHELMED
BY THE BLOOMS
SHE IS NOT
REMOTELY FAMILIAR WITH...

King Asgore returned from the kitchen before Toriel could snap again and brought a cup of tea to Chara. He gently helped her sit upright and take a sip. It was sweet and floral, and not too hot. She couldn't help being incredibly fond of the Mountain King, he was always so careful with her like she was made of glass and his fur and beard were so soft. He would pat her head like she was a puppy, slip her extra pieces of chocolate when his wife wasn't looking, and never yelled at, hit, or snitch on her when she broke something; he'd just cast a spell to put it together, make sure she was okay, then ask her to be more careful. The Queen never struck her, either, but she was still an often looming figure without giving her the same space and room to breathe the King did.

Doctor Gaster flicked a wrist, summoning an ornate scepter that fit snugly in his six-fingered grasp. It was pitch black with barely visible symbols etched into the cane, markings that would no doubt get him accused and burned for witchcraft on the surface. The upper end was decorated with what looked vaguely like the vertebrae she'd grown familiar with when using the burning piles of plague-ridden human corpses for warmth, they had the base column and the ladder-like protrusions on the sides and back, but the matter was melted together and stringy like spiderwebs.

The ridges all had bone-white strands of different lengths and angles gluing them together like they were frills. Its bottom end was tipped with a small, shiny black, curved spike with purple etchings she didn't understand the meanings of, even now. The top of the scepter had a strange skull she didn't recognize, it sort of matched the descriptions of terrible dragons she'd been told or overheard but that wasn't saying much, its deformities made it nearly impossible to get a good read on.

It was supported by a melted ribcage around the top of the scepter, but the ribs were fused together into a holey plate loosely dangling from a thicker arc like a collarbone. The Dragon Skull was long with a split down the middle where the nose had caved in, and it had a crooked smile that matched its master's, though it was much more jagged like a hound's jaws or Gaster's face when he got angry. There were two horns on the top, though there were clearly meant to be three, as one had fallen off due to the upward crack in the skull. One downward-facing fracture separated the skull's bone lip like a tear and trailed down its chin.

Its two dead eyes stared blankly at the far wall, and in its mouth was... something she could never understand. It was perfectly clear like glass, or she thought it was. She couldn't tell the shape of it, buried within the Dragon Skull. But whatever it was, it didn't act the way a gemstone or shard of glass should. It was challenging and subtle, she almost didn't notice it the first time she realized and there was no telling how many times she'd overlooked the eerie effect before then, but it never showed what the viewer would expect. When she peered at the item at just the right angle, she could see something... off...

Sometimes there were portions of Gaster's trench coat in places they shouldn't have been, like the starry inside of the coat was dangling from his arms like a cosmic mantle, only he never had anything on his broad shoulders but his violet scarf. She could almost see the echoes of many six-fingered hands through the item, much more than he had summoned at the time. There were times when he would spin the cane down around the hem of his dress pants, but the crystal only showed the blackest black she'd ever seen; it happened a couple times before she caught the glimmer of the floor on the edge of the reflection, the image didn't break around Gaster's legs, it just made his lower body a black mass so large it looked like the picture disappeared. And when he twirled it around his face, it almost looked like he was wearing a tall collar and a silky black sweater with purple markings.

It was like the invisible item in the Dragon Skull's maw was a window, showing her things that weren't there.

Gaster tapped the scepter on a point in mid-air, creating a glowing purple square inside a ring decorated with runes she now knew was an Arcanagram, not dissimilar to the Check spell she used on the True Knife so much to remind herself of what she and Frisk had done to their family. The box was filled with black and dispensed some small bottles and a smaller package.

The Doctor held up the two bottles while Asriel passed Chara her favorite green blankie.

THESE ARE
SIMPLE MEDICATIONS
GIVE HER ONE EACH
BEFORE BED
AND IN THE MORNING...

He then held up the small box.

AND THESE
ARE PATCHES
TO BE PUT
ON HER NOSE
TO ALIVIATE
HER ALLERGIES...

"...Thank you, Doctor Gaster... You are excused..." Toriel groaned after being gently nudged by the King.

OF COURSE,
YOUR HIGHNESS...
...
THIS ONE,
HOWEVER,
I AM NOT
FINISHED WITH...

The entire room quickly turned grayscale. Chara blinked, and Toriel and Asgore were gone, vanished into clouds of ash. Asirel was missing, a twisted and thorny plant took his place and squeezed her hand until the barbs and carpet turned red. The demi-human whimpered as she tried to find the strength to move, shivering where she sat and making the cuts in her hand worse. Gaster's scepter grew into a staff, the Dragon Skull on top opening its mouth for a purple light to spew from its hungry depths. The line of violent violet energy condensed and solidified into a curved blade, a vile scythe her Uncle brandished at her.

Chara shook and clutched her blanket closer, still fighting to break free of the razor-sharp plant holding her hand.

DO YOU THINK
A PIECE
OF OLD FABRIC
WILL PROTECT YOU
FROM CONSEQUENCES?
FROM EVERYTHING
YOU HAVE DONE?
FROM EVERYONE
YOU HAVE BETRAYED
AND SLAUGHTERED?

...PROTECT YOU
FROM ME?

He brought the scythe down on her.

XXX =) XXX

* Spell Recalled!

* Barrier Break - Advanced Pneumamancy - 50 Mana - Targets a weapon, enrapturing it with the caster's power and giving it the ability to break nearly any guard. Cancels any block action or ability the target employs and temporarily reduces their DEF to 0.

* A spell developed by the late Doctor W. D. Gaster in an attempt to destroy the Barrier or lower the power requirements to do so, potentially allowing Monster Kind to be freed with fewer Souls. This lesser curse never set Monster Kind free. Although, before his passing, Doctor Gaster left its secrets to the one he believed would play a vital role in setting Monsters free. Who this individual was is unknown, as they, too, seem to have met an untimely demise. Thus, Monsters remained imprisoned.

* Mastery of this spell can allow the caster to spread the DEF Down affect to other targets.

Chapter Text

"Stupid fish."

Over and over and over again, Chara had metaphorically bashed her head against the modified Steam Deck, her little sister watching from the couch while the older demi-human sat on the floor. Frisk stared over her shoulder with bright sapphire blue and ruby red heterochromatic eyes, occasionally nudging the side of Chara's head with her nubby little horns; a newly developed instinct the red-eyed monster was dreading the day it stopped. But when people were watching she hated it and thought it was annoying. For now, she sighed and enjoyed the small head bonk cuddling her messy and fairly dirty mane. Asriel, on the other hand, was currently getting annihilated by 200cc Mario Kart 8, giving her some small semblance of solace as her fifth Seamoth was devoured by an overrated, cyan danger-noodle.

While she'd gladly banished her hiking stick to the depths of her closet, there was still a greater reason for her gaming session; coordination. Chara could twirl the True Knife just fine, the lingering familiarity she and Frisk developed during the worst hours of their lives ensured that and greatly refined their skills through trial and error, but that was a different timeline and a different body. A Lego butterfly knife let her regain her skill with her hands, and training exercises with Auntie Dye-Dye both rehoned and greatly enhanced her physical condition, agility, resolve, and combat prowess; but focusing only on things she and Frisk were already good at was hardly a way to improve. Practicing the same combos and going through the same motions could only get you so far.

Facts that brought Chara to her newest frustration.

She had no idea how to play video games.

It was more complicated than that, she needed to create her own muscle memory with smaller-scale things from scratch. She could dodge a Gaster Blaster, deflect a spear, make a crucial attack, and much more, even better than Frisk since she was the one to confront Sans and Undyne; there only remained the problem of smaller, more localized activities. She needed her fingers to be able to do more than hold a weapon and pen, so she browsed video game reviews, Jacksepticeye Let's Plays, and various companies' libraries for an interesting and effective trial by fire to throw herself into. Anything that would force her to get good or fail would do, and she eventually landed on "Subnautica".

From the second she started going through the opening cutscene she knew she was way out of her depth, a pun very intended for all who wouldn't rat her out to the Comedian, perfect for her purposes but still annoying. It took embarrassingly long to figure out how to exit the beginning pod and building a base was equally frustrating by her own decision to figure out all the control by herself instead of looking at the menu, to make her learn everything on her own without any form of helping hand. She thought at first that Frisk might try to backseat, but quickly found the little girl was only here for entertainment, bonks, and cuddles, all of which she did her best not to drive away by masking her hideously wide and sharp black smile.

The sleep invading her senses didn't particularly help, either. Everything she did had a slight delay, her claws didn't always do what she wanted them to, her abyssal eyes were heavy, and even her blinking took too long as it was a fight to keep them open, it took reading through PDA logs multiple times to finally process what they were telling her. She knew her siblings could tell, too. Just because she couldn't predict them the way she could her parents and extended family didn't mean she was entirely helpless when dealing with them or telling what they were going to do next. She was 90% sure Frisk indulging her headbutting instinct and Asriel turning down his game's volume was their individual ways of lulling her to at least relax.

It was working, as she'd wanted it to, but she still needed to train her small-scale dexterity, so she ditched the problem of getting around the Reaper Leviathan and returned to the base-building and exploration aspects of the game, as she had some idea of what she was doing there. Chara started by simply wandering, circling the basic multipurpose room she'd haphazardly placed whenever and wherever it suited her before picking a direction and swimming with the Sea Glide, improving her directions and driving while looking for anything notable.

Her target came in the form of a massive island in the middle of nowhere, held up by giant jellyfish-like creatures she'd encountered around the rest of the game's map. She was even able to climb onto the island and pick fights with the four-legged crabs calling it home. So much for the superior lifeform and all things returning to crab, idiots. Some infuriating but necessary for her to learn parkour later and she'd found herself an old structure made from similar parts as to what made up her home. Lots of plants and holes and stains and other signs of wear and tear decorated the building she awkwardly navigated her character into.

She didn't take her time collecting everything willingly, Chara wanted to challenge herself by going through every single valuable and collectible as fast as possible, which only resulted in her tripping over nothing and constantly overshooting stationary objects with her scanner... I forgot to scan those stupid crabs... She did find one thing in particular that made her cracked Soul flicker. She scanned it and brought whatever plants and other resources she could carry to her base.

In general, it wasn't much, just a planting station that could be placed on the walls of her underwater home, but it was fascinating to her. Having beautiful plants casually hanging from everything was a guilty pleasure of hers, no doubt enforced by her Dad's tendency for gardening. She'd been searching for the rest and energy to start a pot garden somewhere for a long time, almost as long as she'd wanted to hang some plants around her room, but the eldest Dreemurr child never even considered putting plants directly on the walls. And why stop there? Why not make walls entirely out of plants? Or even whole homes?

She knew by now that humans liked having massive, ugly cities made of concrete and tar, they had to go through an abundance of effort to make anything look pretty, but monsters lived underground for the past eternity. The Ruins were literally just ruins, Snowdin was made of small towns and the forest had to be grown and maintained without sunlight, Waterfall was interconnected by bridges and small villages, and Hotland and the Capitol were completely built from nothing over rivers and seas of magma. Monsters, thanks to Humanity, had to adapt to unusual living conditions extremely rapidly. Her people were as diverse as they were creative and adaptable, everyone from children to Great-Grandparents able to fit any mold at the drop of a hat, all while humans pathetically whined when the AC was a little too high.

And since they'd breached the surface, gotten appeasement land, and settled in, wouldn't now be a wonderful time to take advantage of that?

It didn't even have to be nice to look at, just have a meaningful use. Other than being pleasant, plants had to have something greater going for them, it was just a matter of compiling what and presenting it.

XXX =) XXX

"Therefore, due to their oxygen production, the filtration of Carbon, CO2, and other toxins from our territory, flooding mitigation, natural air conditioning, wildlife conservation, and general quality of life im-... yawn... ahem, excuse me...Uh, quality of life improvements, including more plants into our lives will vastly improve Monster life and launch our city structure far ahead of Humanity."

Her Dad gave a noncommittal hum from his desk as he sorted through the many pages of notes, human studies, and plans she'd gathered over the week leading up to this moment. The unfathomably deep rabbit hole of different layers of forests, the entire concepts of "Food Forests" and "Solarpunk", little balls of clay and dirt called "seed bombs", and alternate city structures she'd researched and designed throughout several back-to-back all-nighters laid bare on his desk.

Chara's first idea was a hexagonal road network loosely inspired by bees, having read that civil engineers tend to put curves in front of roundabouts and stoplights to get less-attentive drivers to slow down before an accident occurred. So an organized system of hexagons would keep the tiny handful of cars and other vehicles monsters sometimes owned and rarely used unless they were headed for human lands and roads would keep things calm, maximize space usage, and make designating sections for different purposes much more organized. And each would be only 5-ish miles, an easy 15 minute walk for the entire rest of the species to get everywhere.

With some careful city planning, nobody would be any more than a half-hour walk from any first responders, Royal Guard outposts, Undernet towers, Hospitals, or community gardens and waste centers. There wouldn't be too much trouble in modifying the outsides of the castle to fit a hex, the fortress itself wasn't that big and there was plenty of empty space around it, as it'd been cleared for the teleport spell that moved it to the surface. Now was the perfect time to think ahead for their layout! Plus, between the residential areas and aforementioned services, less immediately needed but very important buildings like greater Royal Guard forts, bunkers, hospitals, schools, shelters, orphanages, labs, and connections to the Core or other clean energy sources could still be around an hour's walk away from each other, even less on bikes and such.

Of course, the Castle would need some special areas; homes for the extended family and lords, the Embassy, Alphys's lab, and somewhere for Asgore and Undyne to address the public would be needed, but that's about it. Everything else can easily be imported or made directly in the Castle grounds, none of that stuff needed to be particularly big and they'd be forced to build Quality over Quantity with their smaller space problem, anyway. But every residential or commercial district beyond that could play by the same sets of rules to make them convenient to any and all Monsters within their borders.

Then came the star of her presentation.

"The Food Forest is a planting structure meant to maximize the amount and usefulness of life crammed into the same areas as our houses, you wouldn't initially even be able to tell you were in the middle of a massive, sprawling city. Everything our people would need to eat, our small-scale medicine, and simple decorations would all be readily available without any ethically questionable and space-demanding traditional farming methods. Combining this with the abundance of talented phytomancers hailing from the Snowdin forests would make the process quick, efficient, and cheap. All we need are seeds and Humanity's race to please for access to our Arcana and magi-tech would make the situation even less stressful for our workforce and economy."

"A Canopy Layer provides the bulk of shade and cover for passersby but primarily consists of larger trees growing foods such as crabapples. Secondly is the Understory Layer, consisting of smaller trees supporting better shade and protection from the elements and growing purples, among other things. Third and fourth are the Shrub and Herbaceous Layers where we get out bushes, the majority of our medical ingredients, and easily trimmed decorations." She began, getting Asgore to perk up before returning to his indifferent, scrutinizing face.

"The Rye-, Rizzo-, Ruh- That thing!" She walked to his desk and pointed to the "Rhizosphere Layer"

"The Root Layer is where we get our mushrooms, carrots, beets, and whatever else. The Ground Cover Layer is our flowers and some larger mushrooms. And the Vertical Layer is the various types of vines that fill in the gaps." Chara excitedly explained with a glimmer in her bright red eyes and an unnaturally large smile across her pale face.

"Anything our people could possibly need, our food and medicine and decorations and anything else we could possibly use plants for, would be right outside their homes! And the space we would've used on insufficient farms obeying the normal seasonal cycles can instead be used for anything we need, including some basic delivery services bringing whatever products are needed to areas they don't typically grow in, none of which would take up the entire lots and leave plenty of room for anything and everything the community wants."

Chara huffed and puffed, suddenly realizing the extent of her smile and steeling her face with a blush. Asgore finished flicking through the papers.

"I see you are... quite serious about this..." The Mountain King vaguely commented.

Her heartbeat skyrocketed. Was something not adding up? Had she overlooked anything? What was she missing?

"T-That's not the last of it!" She blurted, mentally stabbing herself for her franticness.

"The buildings, everything we live and work in, would be made and supported by trees, no polluting and costly construction materials needed." The very concept that launched her down this path in the first place finally came out, her voice getting increasingly desperate.

"And how do you expect to accomplish such a thing? Even with plant magic, creating living space and industry from plants would take time and care. Trying to force them to grow any faster would be expensive and taxing on those on the project." He muttered.

"So does building normal structures! J-Just give it a chance! Most of the populace still lives underground, anyway, and the buildings we currently have on the surface are almost all temporary or placeholders. The only notable exception is the framework of the aquarium gifted by Humanity, everything else is in the perfect position for a remodel. Put a biodegradable foundation and frame for any building, plant the Canopy and Understory Layers at the same time, guide and weave them together as they grow, and everything will be taken care of long before the frame degrades and almost all maintenance costs are covered by the tree's natural functions."

"And what of plant diseases?"

"Some of the only genuine problems the trees will face, and they're easily cut out by trained professionals and otherwise cured in ways humans can only dream of! The impact on the environment is vital for setting our people's longevity in stone while humans continue throwing their trash, smoke, and sewage everywhere." Chara paused to catch her breath.

Asgore gestured for her to come around the table, and like a little girl, she again sat on his lap.

"I do have one last major concern." He put plainly.

Chara's heart sank.

"A-And what would that be?" She asked.

Asgore did an odd hand movement around her face. A successfully confused demi-human brought a hand to her face, feeling around the heavy bags under her eyes.

"O-Oh... Right, heh..."

Asgore wrapped a huge hand around her and held her close.

"I am so proud of you, but please take care of yourself."

Chara stiffened and relaxed into her Dad's hug, a mix of mostly Agony and some clear fluid streamed down her face as she whimpered and clutched his shirt. So tired... don't wanna dream...

"What is this about terracotta fountains?" He asked.

"Hm? Umm, it's a cooling thing... I dunno how it works... wet terracotta cools stuff... It's cold when you make... m-make a little fountain recycle water... over terracotta tubes... cools buildings... c-cleaner AC..." She eventually slurred.

"Ah, strange... I presume you do not want to present this to the lords and advisors, do-"

Asgore found his daughter fast asleep on his lap.

XXX =) XXX

Chara wobbled on her feet and tiredly rubbed her eye, but she appeared to be fine, just as Doctor Gaster promised. Asriel and Toriel were by her side the second the Man Who Pseaks In Hands gave them the all-clear, the Prince holding her hand and supporting her while the Queen moved to pick her up until she reflexively shrunk away. I disappointed her... Why isn't she punishing me? The King and Royal Scientists chatted in the background, discussing Gaster's intentions for whatever he just took from Chara.

He'd been sparse on the details the entire walk over, mostly just reiterating that she'd be completely safe, if a little drained. But no matter how hard she tried to stay calm and collected, she hadn't been able to help a fearful, pathetic, childish yelp and shiver crawling up her spine when she laid eyes on the device she was about to be placed in front of. Gaster didn't even react... they must have something planned for me! They want me to let my guard down! Toriel attempted to yell at the eight-foot-tall skeleton with six fingers, who couldn't have cared less, before the impending process was explained and began.

King Asgore, The Doctor, and her best friend gently guided her to a rectangle painted in yellow and black on the floor in front of a large machine. It was dark red and slightly skull-shaped, pretty predictably, with two large, black "eyes" and an insectoid mouth with two long blades like pincers, and suspended over a completely black hole in the floor. Asgore was sure to tell her to stay clear of the deep tunnel. Six large pipes or wires were attached to it; four attached it to the ceiling and presumably continued to connect to the complex systems above, and the last two connected the rear of the skull to the long pincers.

Arcs of energy danced and slowly faded around the creation's sideways mouth and massive eyes as it whirred down. Toriel angrily followed Gaster, trying not to reignite a shouting match, as he walked toward his construct. He waved around his skeletal scepter with the strange gem inside the Dragon Skull's mouth, a purple haze descended around him, summoning bones and vantablack streaks from nothing. A creature like a werewolf or Demon slowly took shape, a Golem made of melting bones and black tendons. Its feet were just barely humanoid, it looked like the summon was standing on its toes or walking like a dog on two legs.

The tops of its shins were loosely connected to fleshy black strands that were densely wrapped around its legs and intermingled with its hip until you could only see the sides. Its backbone was mostly buried in the black tangle except for the exaggerated spikes poking through the mass and the short tail dangling limply behind it, leaking dead gray sludge. A melted-together ribcage like the one on Gaster's cane bulged out of the chest with several small spines down the liquid sternum and along the collarbone.

Its arms were all wrong, all six of them. Every time the shoulders twitched and shifted the collarbone would strain and crack and melt back together in great pain. Two upper arms were fused at each of the shoulders, both sprouting out from where a pair of normal arms should've been, another pair spewed from the shoulder blades themselves, craning around from its back to reach and grab at anything it could, and all were almost as unnaturally long as Chara's twisted smile and bound by dark flesh. Each forearm looked like the shins, both disproportionate bones connected by strings of matter with the tops hidden by the black muscle. Each claw was lengthy and sharp, every bone was gray and flowing but the talons were bone white and ready to cut, and the rods of the hands were glued together by its own deformity.

Lines of black stretched over its collar and attached to the base of a liquidy draconic skull and the back of its jaw. The being's mouth was partially stuck shut by lines of gray slime. Its eyes were empty and dead like the machines populating Gaster's laboratory and the gashes down the skull and in the side of its head matched those of its creator. All six arms extended to the Determination Extractor, pulling the pincers and triggering the mechanism to extend. The red skull lurched up, exposing the complex wiring and parts beneath, including a pair of large containers; one filled with a pale white and barely glowing goo, the other with a bright red fluid shining with a harsher light. Blue magic trapped both jugs and brought them to Gaster's feet.

IT WOULD SEEM
THE HUMAN'S SOUL
IS FRAILER
THAN ANTICIPATED...

I disappointed him, he's going to-

I SUGGEST
YOU DULL ANYTHING
SHARP THAT
MIGHT BE IN
HER REACH

"We already have... Believe me, we have..." The Queen answered.

...Aside from the gardening dagger they gave me, but they don't need to know about that...

I SEE...
SO SOMETHING HAS
ALREADY TRANSPIRED
IN MY ABSENCE...

...

"What do you want with this... Soul substance?" Asgore broke the heavy silence.

DETERMINATION...
I HAVE ISOLATED IT
AS THE SOURCE
OF HUMANITY'S STRENGTH...

IT MAY ALLOW US
TO EVEN THE ODDS...
TO TURN THE TABLES
ON OUR KIND'S
PROBLEM...
TO BRING OURSELVES TO
ANOTHER LEVEL
HUMANS CAN SELDOM
COMPREHEND...
IN THESE CONTAINERS
AND WITHIN
YOUR CHILD'S SOUL
IS THE KEY
TO THE SURVIVAL
AND ADVANCEMENT
OF OUR SPECIES,
THE LIKES
THAT OUR ENEMIES
CANNOT UNDERSTAND...

THEY WILL SOON FIND
THAT THEIR PHYSICAL MATTER
HAS BECOME
THEIR GREATEST WEAKNESS...

"So it is what? Have you weaponized our little girl?" Toriel growled.

POTENTIALLY...
SUCH AN ACCOMPLISHMENT
WOULD REQUIRE
FURTHER EXPERIMENTATION...

BUT FOR NOW
THIS IS THE ANSWER
TO OUR RECURRING
ENERGY CRISIS...

BY INFUSING
THE CORE'S SYSTEMS
WITH THIS POWER,
A MODERATE DOSE
OF CAREFULLY CONTAINED RADIATION,
AND SOME...
SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS
OF MY OWN DESIGN...
WE CAN INCREASE
ITS ENERGY OUTPUT
UP TO TENFOLD...

...

SO LET US
GATHER MORE...

Chara fell to the ground, her parents and brother having vanished in an instant. Trapped within the writhing torso of Gaster's Golem was the melting remains of her little sister, Frisk's stomach had melted out of her body and her liquified organs dissolved into the creature's cracked ribs. Her legs, if they were even attached to her, were tangled and unraveling in the summon's gullet. Her little, grayed arms were consumed by the drooling collarbone and her head was locked up by the black strands connecting to its head, pulling apart her wavering skull. Frisk's tiny, grabby hands that loved to play with Chara's mane combined with the beast's shoulders, leaving nothing but her small fingers and dull claws trembling and reaching out of the dark tendons for a way out, reaching for her sister to save her.

But Chara couldn't even move while the Extractor reactivated, not even when the Golem hobbled forward, bringing Frisk's melting face and tearing hair and missing, crying eyes down to her level. Her grayed hair was pulled back by the neck, tugging open her scalp as her nose fell off in a wet splotch of gray, Determination-oversaturated clay. A small whimper and half-choked scream tore from her flooding throat, screaming for help, screaming for their mommy, screaming for their brother, screaming for her big sister.

But Chara couldn't help her, she couldn't even move as their Souls were drained dry.

After all, what was the point of going on without Frisk? She deserved to move on more than Chara could ever dream, she deserved a childhood, she deserved a family, and Chara couldn't give her anything. It was only right they go out together.

XXX =) XXX

* Spell Recalled!

* Eye For An Eye - High Intermediate Enchantment - 45 Mana - Allows the caster to lower their DEF, increasing either their ATT or ARC for every decrease suffered.

* A highly experimental spell studied by the late Doctor W. D. Gaster to push the limits of combat support and curses with the help of his late niece. Though it never saw use as a standardized combat spell for any member of the Royal Guard, it greatly furthered his understanding and manipulation of strange magics yet to be identified or rediscovered.

* Mastery of this spell allows for an increase of 1.5 ATT or ARC per DEF decrease.

XXX =) XXX

Chara yelped awake, shooting upright in her already-soaked bed. Her breathing was rapid and uneven, her hands wouldn't stop shaking, Tainted Determination leaked from her eyes and embarrassment pooled around her legs. Her chest burned and her claws dug into her clammy skin, drawing blood and reopening older slices around her arms. Her slit red pupils stared at the far wall without seeing until a soft paw pat her back and snapped her attention to the side. Two pairs of glowing dots, one green, the other mismatched blue and red, looked at her with pity and concern.

The eldest Dreemurr child rushed out of her bed and nearly tackled one of the pairs of eyes, wrapping her arms around Frisk like she could disappear or turn to dust at any second, failing to fight back quiet sobs and her accident.

She changed clothes and the siblings gathered in Asriel's bed for the rest of the night.

Chapter Text

Chara awoke in the iron grip of an examination table. All around her were suspended a menagerie of arms made of liquid bone held together by fleshy strands of black sludge and mechanical equipment. Some soft, gentle straps around her wrists and ankles snapped open with automatic clicks and she gladly hopped off. The second she landed, her vision swirled and her limbs felt like jelly, she couldn't tell up from down until a pair of disembodied hands suddenly appeared and picked her up. They held her in the air for a short time while she blinked away the disorientation, then let her down gently once she was ready to stand.

BE MINDFUL
WHEN ATTEMPTING
TO MOVE...

The Royal Scientist's polished shoes tapped on the sterilized gray tile floor. Four more six-clawed projected hands fluttered around the operating table and the fleshy limbs above, prodding them and flicking switches toward purposes she didn't understand at the time and didn't remember clearly enough to deduce the reasoning for. She took slow, careful steps, patiently waiting for the dizziness and instability to pass before shifting her weight and trying to walk again. Something fluttered in her core, something bright and warm, something strong and... almost uplifting? Like it was easier to keep going. She couldn't quite put a name to the primal feeling bursting from the depths of her Soul, but she could say she felt a little lighter than she did before Doctor Gaster came to the King and Queen with questions, recommendations, and an idea for a medical checkup and minor operation.

It was something about sunlight, a "vitamin" she wasn't getting enough of, but something he could give her and decrease her need for through a special procedure he'd tested on himself plenty of times and assured was safe, not that his malleable and constantly breaking form soothed Toriel's worries. Though he told her behind the scenes that the experiment had a very, very special conclusion he promised she'd love. And so, as one of the Doctor's hands finished its post-surgery tasks and lowered to help her stabilize herself, the Man Who Speaks In Hands brought her over to a desk pushed against the side of the room with a strange device on it.

Doctor Gaster guided her to strap the device to her arm. They were a short pair of metal rods with ball joints at the elbows and wrists and tough faux leather straps with cold brass buckles. It had a skeleton-like series of poles running along her bones on the back of her hand and a series of segmented cylinders fit around her fingers like a gauntlet. There was a backpack-like tank placed on her shoulders, surprisingly light and containing a small clump of glowing crystals she quickly identified as gems from the caves of Hotland. They were primarily the sunny gems, shining yellow, but there were some green ones thrown into the container as well.

HOW FAMILIAR
ARE YOU WITH
THE KING AND QUEEN'S
PYROMANCY?

I AM
VERY, VERY AWARE
OF YOUR TENDENCY
TO BORROW
MY ARCANE TEXTBOOKS
FOR EXTENDED PERIODS...

WHAT HAVE
YOU LEARNED?

"I-I'm sorry, I won't do it-" She began.

I DID NOT
INSTRUCT YOU
TO CEASE SUCH ACTIONS...

ONLY TO
CONVEY TO ME
WHAT YOU KNOW...

"W-Well I got to the intermediate part of the books but I haven't cast anything." Chara explained.

BUT HAS THAT STOPPED YOU
FROM TRYING?
FROM STUDYING
THE PRINCIPLES?
FROM ACTING OUT
THE MOTIONS
IN YOUR PLAY
OR IN PRIVATE?

Chara's face ignited deep red and she sputtered part of sentences before he continued.

THAT WOULD BE
A "YES"...
NOW THEN...
WOULD YOU LIKE
TO PUT SUCH
EFFORT AND PRACTICE,
TO PUT SUCH
DISTANT HOPES
AND DREAMS,
TO THE TEST?

Doctor Gaster vaguely gestured to the strange mechanism attached to her arm and had a hovering hand retrieve a thermometer. Her heart thundered in her chest but she tried to breathe deeply and make an attempt. Don't let him down. Chara steeled herself and squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation, holding out her arm and preparing herself, focusing the best she could and willing what she wanted into being; keeping in mind the feeling of fire before her numb fingers on a cold winter's night, remembering the way it flickered to and fro in her mind's eye, it's oranges and yellows, and the embers that wrapped around her cuts and scraped when the Queen healed her. I couldn't even give him enough Determination, just don't screw this up, too.

HOW INTERESTING...
HOW VERY,
VERY,
INTERESTING...

She tentatively opened her eyes to a sad, pathetic, worthless sight. Dancing meek as a Whimsun around her fingers were wavering and dying streaks of red light, all but transparent and letting off nearly no warmth, spreading no embers, or even any smoke. A far cry from the dense sparks in the palms of the King and Queen's paws they used to ignite the fireplace or cook in an instant, powerful and dazzling. Nothing like the blazing infernos her best friend would show her the second she asked, swirling brightly and brilliantly from the depths of a shining and wonderful Soul that soothed her tired heart. No hope of comparison to the bouncy sparkles and hearts of smoke created by every will of any common Pyrope or Vulkin or even some of the Fox-Folk casually wandering Hotland.

...I couldn't even do this right...

QUITE CURIOUS
INDEED...
YOU HAVE TRAINED,
HONED YOUR CRAFT,
FAR, FAR GREATER
THAN I ANTICIPATED...

What?

YOUR CAPABILITY
TO PERFORM SUCH
A DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE TASK
IS EXCELLENT...
SIMPLY, EXCELLENT...

A TYPICAL
HOMO SAPIEN SPECIMEN
WOULD NOT
BE CAPABLE OF SUCH
A WONDERFUL...
JUST WONDERFUL...
FEAT OF MAGIC
AFTER GRUELING TRAINING
AND MUCH PRACTICE...

AND YET...
HERE YOU ARE...
CHARA...
WHO HAS CREATED FIRE
FROM NOTHING...
AS IF YOU WERE
YOUR LITTLE BROTHER...

PERHAPS...
ONE OF YOUR ANCESTORS
WAS A MAGE
WHO MANIFESTED
THE BARRIER...
WHO HAD A TALENTED CHILD
BEFORE THEIR SOUL
WAS FORFEIT
TO OUR PRISON...

PERHAPS...
YOU POSSESS
AN UNEXPECTED TALENT
THAT COULD NEVER BE NURTURED
UNDER THE CARE...
OR LACK THEREOF...
OF HUMANITY...

OR PERHAPS...
I HAVE SIMPLY
UNDERESTIMATED YOU,
YOUR PASSION FOR THE ARCANE,
FOR THE UNKNOWN,
YOUR ABILITY TO
COMPRESS EXTENDED STRETCHES
OF TRAINING AND STUDY TIME
INTO SMALL MOMENTS
OF SNEAKING OUT
PAST YOUR BEDTIME
TO READ AND PLAY...
PHENOMENAL...

He wasn't even expecting anything of me... Of course, he wasn't... I'm just another waste of his time... His and the Dreemurrs'...

I DO WONDER
IF YOU TOOK THE TIME
TO APPRECIATE
SUCH POWER,
SUCH PROMISE,
SUCH BEAUTY,
WHEN AIDING YOUR LITTLE SISTER
IN HER PANICKED
AND BLINDLY PERSISTING
SLAUGHTER OF HUNDEREDS...

Chara's little heart raced and her breathing halted like she was being suffocated. On reflex she tried flinging a spell his way, something uncoordinated and unpracticed in the heat of the moment. A comically small and weak wave of translucent flames was flung toward and dispersed around the Royal Scientist's face. His liquid head warped and shifted, but not because of her smaller self's pitiful excuse for an attack. Doctor Gaster's skull deformed, getting longer and gaining a long gap above his falling jaw like a nosehole. The top split and raised into a pair of short horns. His mouth was partially stuck together by strands of bone matter where a goat's teeth would be.

DO YOU TRULY
THINK SHE WOULD STILL
BE BY YOUR SIDE
IF SHE KNEW
WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?

OR ARE YOU
SO NAIVE
AS TO THINK
PLAYING AS HER "CHILD"
WOULD VINDICATE YOU
IN THE EYES OF ONE
WHO CUT TIES WITH ASGORE
FOR A FRACTION OF THE OFFENSE?

In a blink, she was a fraction of Gaster's size, and he towered over everyone but the King already, in her green and yellow sweater, baggy brown pants, and a white cotton pad. Six melting hands with six dagger-like fingers and holes in their deformed palms twitched and scratched the stale, empty air around them. The Doctor's body oozed and collapsed under itself, slowly reducing him to a writhing black blob of Tainted Determination sprouting dripping tendrils trying to reach and draw in anything he could use to save himself.

WHAT IS WRONG?
YOU HAVE PROVEN
YOU SEE NO ISSUE
TEARING APART OTHERS...
STABBING OUR HERO
DOZENS OF TIMES...
YOU HAD NO PROBLEM
BEATING ASRIEL TO DEATH,
EVEN AFTER
HE FURTHERED YOUR MISSION...

SO IT IS CLEAR,
YOU ARE HAPPY
TO TORMENT AND TORTURE
ANYONE IN YOUR WAY
AND ANYONE
COMPLETELY UNRELATED...

AND YET,
NOW YOU BELIEVE
YOU GET TO ACT
AFRAID...
PASSIVE...
INNOCENT...

HOW MANY PEOPLE
DO YOU THINK
ARE FOOLISH ENOUGH
TO EVEN CONSIDER
SUCH AN ACT?

ABSURD...
UTTERLY ABSURD...

His projected limbs' talons wedged into the mechanism on her arm, tearing the metal clean off and harshly gripping her limbs, digging the nails into her flesh and drenching her clothes and his shifting matter in dark red. The walls warped and rippled like water, then burst open into a swarm of the Scientist's experiments. Humanoid arms and imitations of mantis limbs sprouted from the gray drywall and black sludge consumed the perimeter. Those long talons had the radius and ulna of a human arm and the scythe of a mantid, covered in serrations like the teeth of sharks, all ready to reach out and snap at her.

The metal apparatus was reduced to nothing, a pile of slivers of cold iron and arcane gold. Her sweater, shorts, and crinkly padding were stained red as the Doctor's six-clawed hand dragged her back to the operating table with uncharacteristically reckless abandon. The table's foam-covered straps turned to oozing bone pincers like skeletal crabs with spiked insides, they closed on her limbs and twisted, snapping apart her humeri and femurs, while knives dragged across her Achilles tendons and wrists. More and more disconnected hands, arms stuck together across their joints by strands of matter, and insectoid blades burst forth from the black slime barely making up the Doctor's body.

Gaster's body stretched and lurched over her, getting a birds-eye view of his test subject. He dripped Aginy on her tiny corpse and his droopy eye leaked blobs of gray bone into hers like acid as it shone a hateful purple light. Three more protrusions rose around them, a trio of tendrils that quickly shed their mass, revealing long serpentine skeletons with ribs fused together in the shape of spider webs and spines dissolved into long and stiff pipes with jagged spikes along their backs. Their heads were those of constrictor snakes, contorted and deformed beyond recognition. All their fangs but the lengthened four at broken snout were glued together like they'd been stitched into silence and their extra eyes glared down like cameras.

ENTRY NUMBER 16
THE SUBJECT
HAS BEEN SECURED...
IT HAS BEEN
A LONG, LONG WAIT...
BUT AT LAST
I MAY
BEGIN...

The mantis claws all around her gripped her arms and legs, tearing her apart as their saw-like teeth rotated. Threads of bloodstained cotton flew through the air, blood and flesh fell to the floor, shards of bone clattered to the ground, and an unearthly scream tore out of her throat as the levitating limbs armed themselves with scalpels and bone saws.

XXX =) XXX

* Spell Recalled!

* Call Of The Void - Intermediate [REDACTED] - 30 Mana - The caster releases a deafening, alien roar of unknown origins, lowering the DEF of all targets able to hear it by 20%.

* A spell of completely unknown origin. Doctor W. D. Gaster's motive and means for the creation or discovery of this spell are completely unknown, lost to time and circumstances like much of his research, but he is known to have at least two assistants in this issue. The only thing known about this hex is that it was another way made by Gaster, for himself and those close to him, to overcome his body's unstable nature by countering any possible attackers.

* Mastery of this spell increases the DEF reduction to 20% + the caster's ARC.

XXX =) XXX

Chara snapped upright so fast she felt like she pulled something in her back. Black tears streamed down the sides of her face and warmth pooled between her legs. Desperately clutching her blankie and plush Nightfury, she caught her breath, concentrating on the feeling of wetness and warmth dissipating before tiredly wiping off her cheeks. Exhaustion and the ache in her bones weren't enough for her to stay down, though she found herself wishing they were, she couldn't get back to sleep and eventually relented. The little demi-human fumbled out of bed and headed down the short hallway, quietly passing her mommy's door on her way to the kitchen.

Chara grabbed herself a glass of water when a pair of footsteps, if small and muffled, crept up behind her.

"Did I wake you?" She asked.

"I was already up." Asriel assured her.

"Do you need anything?" She asked again.

"Nope. Just getting some water, too." He answered.

Chara moved to open the cabinet of various glasses again, but was interrupted by a color-changing light from behind her. On pure instinct, she summoned a searing red dagger that split an approaching vine down the middle, turning it into a disassembled weave of plant fibers and split red thorns but quickly finding the attack far away from her body, instead targeting the door. Asriel's forest green eyes widened slightly, she wouldn't have noticed if not for the ruby red filter her slit pupils painted over the room.

"We were always the only ones the other couldn't predict, weren't we? Even now, Frisk's the only one who's any fun anymore" He hollowly chuckled while she smirked and nodded.

Asriel paused and sterned his face, tilting his head as he stared and thought. I HATE when he does that...

"You're relapsing..." He stated.

"Wha-"

"You're relapsing... obsessing over taking care of everything yourself... closing yourself off..." Asriel continued.

The many slivers of the flayed vine curled and tied themselves around the cabinet. Asriel stepped forward and lightly grabbed Chara's hand, got a glass of water himself, and tugged Chara back down the hallway and past her bedroom.

"Do you want Frisk?"

"...I don't wanna bother-"

"That's a yes"

"It's a yes"

"I'll just carry her to my bed and explain in the morning. Go change and meet us in my room."

XXX =) XXX

Chara had finished a few days' worth of schoolwork earlier that morning and started blazing through the pre-K classes before she got a video call from her Auntie Dye-Dye. She accepted it so fast she almost forgot to spit out her paci. They hadn't had a moment since the aquarium trip! Using the tiny square in the corner displaying her camera, she tried to subtly adjust her appearance; adjusting her messy hair to be more professional and presentable and speedily removing her pacifier clip from the bright red hoodie Uncle Papy made. Even when the two were connected, she fiddled with the end of her black skirt until it was to her liking. Auntie Al waved at her from the Captain's background, their livingroom.

"Hey, punk! Where've you been?"

Her often brash and headstrong aunt often yelled through the computer, though Chara couldn't help but smile. Her Auntie was always ready for a fight! Nothing could stop her! A part of her wanted to reach out, to see if she could learn a thing or two from the Heroine of Monster Kind, but the True Knife in her inventory reminded her why that could never be; why it must never be. They deserve better than that... Better than me... She couldn't quite tell whether or not Undyne noticed her minuscule shift, only one of the annoying perks of only having half a readable face, but her demeanor seemed to shift in turn.

The reason for the pleasant call came quickly after the pair's pleasantries, just as Chara liked it; armor.

"Your Dad thinks ignoring all the human problems will make them go away, it's only so long until someone comes to our doorstep trying to take whatever they want and push us around again." She started.

Right, they don't know the half of Frisk's Determination... Should probably keep it that way, for now...

Even still, having nothing at their disposal would end countless lives the second a disgusting human entered. Allowing those things into their borders at all was something she vehemently spoke against at every turn, even those without LV were more valuable dead or thrown out, their Souls are needed. It didn't take long for them to get to discussing the properties and craftmanship of the Royal Guard's current equipment. There wasn't enough to go around, three of the Snowdin dogs were completely unarmored, and what there was lacked the quality they'd need to stand against a human bullet.

That would be easy enough to rectify, with the proper funding, and they did have a notable influx of unused G since breaching the surface, the state the economy was in would more than make up for such an important investment. Humans aren't going to play nice, we have to be ready for them. They tossed around ideas to get Asgore in on a large-scale remodel of the army, primarily about expanding the Royal Guard and increasing their training quality immensely. Both would be easy enough with Undyne the Undying at the forefront of the operation, but the problem of money still reeled its head.

But then there was the most infuriating issue of them all... Intent...

When all the chips were down, strategies were taking effect, and spells and bullets were flying, humans would come out on top. All the beasts had the will to hurt over monsters, all they needed to do was mean it and they'd be twice as effective soldiers, then her people's borders and guards would crumble to dust. They needed a way around the intent problem to truly get humans out of their scales and manes once and for all. Good plans could only get them so far, good resources could only get them so far, but better training and armaments could get them further.

"Why make armor that only matches the wearer's capabilities?"

"Come again?" Undyne asked.

XXX =) XXX

"Our armor, it's just armor... I know the previous enhancement plan fell through but that doesn't mean we should limit ourselves to the abilities of the warriors wearing it, wielding their weapons with only their own strength. There are a variety of ways to remedy this, it's just a matter of choosing the most efficient design."

Asgore watched Alphys, assisted by Undyne standing behind him with a projector held still above her head. A handful of different blueprints for the internals of Royal Guard armor came into being. Mechanical pistons running the lengths of metal plates, enchanted pulleys between the joints, golem-like conduits moving with their users, they were all options and all could be their army's salvation. The hard part was getting the big softie to sign the paperwork. As much as she loved her Dad's big and open heart, it had an annoying tendency to get in the way of dealing with the human issue more than it helped Monsters, especially as of recently.

"Our remaining Underground workforce and reserve resources are more than enough to fully supply the project no matter what route is taken, not accounting for whatever items can be purchased or traded for from Humanity." Undyne joined.

"As of yet, only three things are stopping us from implementing all of these systems; funding, energy, and space." She continued.

"Funding is easy, all of Monster Kind has benefitted from the humans' gifts and the rapidly expanding workforce, even more so without the need for organized food production and stores, we only need you to sign off on the forms for them. Meeting the energy needs of the systems will be sorted by Aunt Alphys during research and development. Space faces that problem as well, all of the provided systems meet the need of a different niche our Guards need to be fulfilled.

The ARC Pulley systems have the mobility to support the fastest among us, excellent for support and ranged units. The Golem structure, designed by yours truly, allows for much thicker armor without the added clunkiness and stiffness our most resilient would normally have to struggle with. And the hydraulics version provides the additional force needed for our hardest-hitting knights.

But only one system can be added at a time, limiting the capabilities of better-performing warriors like Undyne and any special operations soldiers like assassins and any twist on human marines that must be added to our arsenal. Not to mention the added weight will be problematic to the still-developing navy."

"Liminal magic left by Uncle Gaster would handle this problem, but would further stress the energy issue. Allowing us to trigger this project and begin circumventing these issues would critically bolster our warriors, humans won't be half as eager to strike." Chara concluded.

"They are not very eager to strike as they are." Asgore stated.

"They aren't eager yet. You've seen the side of them that wants to sucker up to us and steal our enchantments, I've seen what they're like behind closed doors. How long do you truly think they're going to stay their hand? How long are you expecting them to play nice? How long is it going to take you to notice the representatives populating the embassy are of countries far away and have greater difficulties launching an attack?" Chara argued.

"Chara, it has been ages since you lived on the surface, times have changed and humans have progressed." He claimed.

"I know you've been getting the death threats from their less subtle ilk, they haven't changed a bit, their rules just have better set-dressing. And that doesn't answer me, I know you're too smart to think they'll keep from barging into our homes and stealing what they please, from forcing us back Underground, from enslaving us like the animals they are? We need these upgrades because I can promise you not a single human puppet is going to lack the intent to mow down innocent monsters and burn down everything we've built just because they can."

"You cannot be sure of that, my child."

"Believe me, I am... And just because they can, they have to... If we don't get far ahead of them and stay there, they will come, and they won't leave until their after all their men have been choked to death by our dust..."

"Asgore, I know you don't want conflict to break out again, none of us do-" Undyne was cut off by the demi-human clearing her throat.

"Most of us do, but we can't leave the Royal Guard in the state it is now. Even though we never intend to use them, we need to have them at our disposal or we'll be sent right back in the ground, and not a lot of us will still be in one piece." Undyne offered.

The King of Monster sat in thought, running his fluffy fingers through his fluffier golden beard before speaking up again.

"If, and only if, you can provide a viable solution to this energy problem, will I allow any such modifications to the Royal Guard. Until then, they have done their jobs well enough on their own without frightening or aggravating the humans." He stayed firm.

It was... frustrating... He hardly gave it real thought and didn't take the propositions very seriously despite the circumstances; he didn't know enough about the project to have a decent enough idea of what he was asking them, or enough about humans to know he needed to launch this project as soon as possible. It was nothing more than a verbal peace offering, plain and simple, meaning it was up to them to make him keep his word and keep their people going strong. This rush of development and advancement couldn't be allowed to ever end, or they'd be under an undeserving species' foot again.

So, one of them needed to figure out a reliable power source for these enhanced armors.

XXX =) XXX

I miss him

Chara awkwardly poked and prodded the many wires and buttons on the TV, trying to remember everything her little brother explained about how to project YouTube videos on the big screen. I really need more computer practice. Eventually, she managed to put on some generic horror game analyses and theory videos in the background to get herself in the headspace to brainstorm viable power systems and designs in her sketchbook, along with one of her pacifiers. Really, the videos were there to keep her in the theorizing and sciency mindset, there wasn't time for her to take a break or be small with Humanity right on their doorstep and a too-merciful and forgiving King at the helm.

That would never change how tempting it was to plunge headfirst into baby-time, nothing would, that was part of the point, so hopefully this wouldn't take long.

Her first idea came from Undyne; antimatter. The fish woman got the idea from a project by one of the creators Chara watched, an eccentric Irishman who created his own little setting and story... It had something to do with irises, she hadn't watched it and didn't want spoilers. Though they'd definitely be nerding out over it with her Aunties when they were done with this. Even though Monsters had a slightly greater understanding of quantum physics and antimatter than Humanity, information she and Asriel managed to leverage against them for plentiful material resources and IOUs from behind the scenes (and surprisingly little help from two Frisk's loaded files), but almost all of that understanding came from the remains of Gaster's research. Even humans could use antimatter, but how he got so much so seemingly easily was not in her Uncle's recovered notes.

Around an hour and many YouTube videos later came Auntie Al's schematics for a solar-powered battlesuit. She included more than her fair share of self-doubtful and questioning notes on the design's many issues. Firstly, it was made of wood. Wood grown around steel plates, granted, but wood nonetheless. All the roots were light and possibly tough enough to be viable for the Guard's speed demons and Support, but too stiff to truly be combat-effective. It was even worse for the attackers, plants couldn't provide the resistance the front-line fighters were looking for on their own. The tankiest monsters would appreciate the roots being an easier material to move in tandem with, at least if they were half as talented phytomancers as her brother, and only until they took a hit.

The real selling point of the idea was having the armor produce its own energy by photosynthesis, but Alphys noted that the process was far too inefficient and slow to function. Plants only moved to point toward the sun, the Guards would be moving all the time. During daily patrols, that wouldn't be much of a problem; Monsters actually had the capacity for kindness and decency in their Souls, their warriors wouldn't be doing much more than walking during daily hours, but their suits wouldn't last long in a prolonged engagement and they'd need to be hooked up to proper solar panels in order to get back in the fight in a timely manner. Even then, all it would take was a flamethrower or a well-placed grenade to ruin the leaves and all but put down anyone not acquainted with plant magics.

Not even a half hour later came another half-baked but equally valid (and much-loved by everyone involved) Undyne Idea TM. Nuclear energy, as Chara recently learned, was nothing new to humans, and was extremely promising until they had to figure out how to implement it. Using radiation was a non-issue for monsters thanks to their lack of physicality; terminal lung cancer for a human was at max a few weeks with a bad cough for a monster, only kids and extremely small civilians like mouse-folk or Whimsun might be ailed enough to get out of school or work.

But putting that on the back of a monster? There were significantly strong ones out there for sure, Undyne had been disappointed with the "small" size and suplexability of the boulders around her and Alphys's house and that gray dog-folk still headed underground regularly for his shift tossing ice into the Core. They certainly had fewer limits on their strengths thanks to not needing to worry as much about torn muscles or broken bones unless they were skeletons, but that was far from common.

With some proper protection around them, the radiation would only be a major problem to the humans they were fighting, and something they'd be livid about. Even if knowingly exposing countless human soldiers to massive amounts of radiation wouldn't drive the rest of the species to dogpile them, even if they didn't have to worry about the weight and space the generators would take up, they were still outnumbered. A massive amount of humans would be destroyed by the nuclear reactors, monsters would only get sick but there'd only be so much time before every Guard was fighting the lesser effects of their version of leukemia against even more, healthy, replacement humans likely wearing protective gear.

Still, nuclear energy armor sounded... familiar...

She couldn't help searching for an answer on YouTube, since it was already open on the TV. At first, watching some Fallout videos was just for the sake of refocusing herself; she now knew why uranium energy sounded so significant, now she wouldn't be distracted, but the details of this franchise's Power Armor caught her eye. It revolved around something similar, Fusion Cores acting like mini-nuclear reactors, batteries able to last centuries. "Core"... The Core was largely the only thing her Uncle left behind, that and the DT Extractor, they knew how it worked and how to maintain it, so what if Auntie could modify and miniaturize it?

...Yes, that should do nicely... Radiation by itself was still a problem, but what if there was a way to turn it into magic? To reduce the energy loss in the process? Yes! Uncle Gaster said something like that about the Core! Alphys must have the know-how she needs to make it work! Resolve the radiation problems and increase the energy reserve in the same system, all they'd need would be some minor enchanted protection to contain the process.

Chara summoned and read through her dimensional box, summoning a box inside of it. It was labeled "Uncle" in sloppy Sharpie and contained copies of all the notes the former Royal Scientist left. She skimmed through the files and read the ones on the Core, quickly sending pictures to Alphys and a flurry of questions on how they could shrink it. It wouldn't be quite enough to have a net positive power output in the middle of a battle, certainly not without the DT-infused and irradiated magma the Core functioned off of, but patrols and guard posts should generate enough power for their armor and those in active combat would have more than enough power to last them until the end of their engagement.

The demi-human sucked her paci contently. It was no Core but it was enough, Alphys was taking a short time to scribble up a Pocket Core design, irradiated on the inside but built to protect the outside world, any energy leaks would just be magic, no risk to the environment, no risk to drawing the neutral humans' attention, and most importantly, not any problems for monsters and a bunch of spewing magic for them to use if one core breaks. It'd be enough for them to use the new armor designs, support liminal effects for greater warriors like her Auntie to make the absolute most of their suits, and set their armies up for worse confrontations in the future.

And the best part? There wouldn't even be a visible difference. As far as humans would be able to tell, nothing about their knights had changed at all. They'd be significantly further ahead with Humanity none the wiser.

A few minutes after she carefully replaced Gaster's notes in their box and inventory, returning to watching TV in her wet padding, skirt, Uncle Papy's hoodie, and her binky, her little siblings walked through the door. Asriel wandered over to the couch and took a seat, they chatted about nothing in particular until she brought up the new plans for Power Cores and enhanced armors. His reaction was something along the lines of "about time" before he launched into questions and asking for details they didn't have yet. Little Frisk, on the other hand, shamefully tried to sneak past her older sister. She had a pair of huge, dark, completely soaked lines running down her pants and between her legs. Chara, for one, thought it was precious. Her wittle baby sis had an accident! But she'd save the teasing, Frisk didn't need that right now and deserved better.

I wonder when she's gonna start stealing my diapers...

Chapter Text

Up... down... uppies... and down...

She hadn't been able to sleep well the last few nights. Ever since Frisk let the truth out, and every member of the family slowly found out, her nightmares of that run returned tenfold. It once again felt like every night ended in a breathless gasp for air after inhaling the dust of that night's kill. She wound up going through quite a few of the holiday-themed diapers in the process, cold sweat didn't help. She found quite a few new puppy, cat, and dragon onesies and similar pajamas being gifted to her from Uncle Papyrus and Auntie Alphys so she didn't have to clean her Toothless jammies every night.

Also, completely coincidentally, Asriel got a larger, more cuddle-tolerant bed, which was always a plus since she and Frisk ended up needing much more support recently.

The youngest and oldest Dreemurrs had to be given the faux-irritated thumbs-up from the middle child to just spend their nights with him multiple times before they both started taking the offer. It might be a while until they were able to start sleeping in their own beds again... at least Chara's room got its long-awaited cooling upgrade early. Frisk and Chara's favorite golden bear toy and Nami did them wonders, almost as much as Azzie's fluffy snow-white fur, but the recently reopened wounds wouldn't be deterred that easily.

All of which led them back to Auntie Alphys. The sisters had been brought in for a detailed check on their HP and a detailed examination. Chara knew the process already, thanks to Gaster, but Frisk practically had to be dragged in since being told by her birth-givers about doctors poking her with sharp objects. Her big sis had gone first to show the goat-human all was well; she had a high risk for heart disease due to stress and a naturally irregular heartbeat, as well as a depression diagnosis, but everything else was running smoothly. She'd been given some prescriptions and a gold star on her black t-shirt and a red blankie before taking a seat next to Mommy.

Chara had been thoroughly hypnotized by the nervous tapping of Toriel's foot while the second demi-human was cared for. Up and down, up and down. The Queen looked down at her daughter, rocking her and cradling her as she faded in and out of consciousness and relaxed deeper and deeper until a muffled hissing began emanating. Good thing I gave them booster pads... and a change... aww, my little angels... Tori cooed, trying to distract herself from the dread of Frisk's results.

"W-Well, her S-Soul has regenerated f-from 33% t-to 57, a-another few months o-or so and m-more Determination t-treatments and she should h-have a complete soul a-again. S-Same for C-Chara and Asriel." Alphys stammered.

'Does that mean we can divide a Human Soul infinitely?' Frisk innocently signed.

"N-NO! No! I-It's a miracle y-your Soul could h-handle being d-divided in t-three! B-Barely... Y-You almost d-didn't make it, t-there's no way to cut it e-even more." The Doctor responded before Toriel could.

Frisk resigned herself and tried to subtly press her small hands between her tightly crossed legs. Obviously, it was for the best, how close the little girl came to death was... Toriel wouldn't be letting her try anything, even with the best of intentions. Poor Alphys scrambled back and forth between various scanners and computers, flashing streams of unintelligible data on the fall wall. The massive screen had countless tabs open and downloading Frisk's results. Toriel couldn't make out most of the gibberish, the new Royal Scientist was clearly a much faster reader and had a deep understanding of the blur of information, but there was one thing in the center of the monitor that Toriel could easily decipher.

* Chara Dreemurr
* LV: 20 HP: 999/999
ATT: 99 (+114) DEF: 99 (+114)
ARC: 99 (+132) MANA: 9999/9999

* True Knife: ATT: +99 DEF: +15 ARC: +66

* Heart Locket: ATT: +15 DEF: +99 ARC: +66

* Heightened risk of heart disease. Heightened stress symptoms. Sleep deprivation. Irregular heartbeat.

* Crippling Depression. Heightened Anxiety. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Insomnia. Shifting physiology.

* Frisk Dreemurr
* LV 1 HP: 270/270
ATT: 10 (+24) DEF: 10 (+43)
ARC: 15 (+53) MANA: 1500/1500

* Crystal Dagger: ATT: +15 DEF: +18 ARC: +28

* Heart Locket: ATT: +9 DEF: +25 ARC: +25

* Overactive bladder. Sleep deprivation. Heightened stress symptoms. Old severe throat lacerations. Old blunt-force injuries. Old lacerations.

* Heightened Anxiety. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Past abuse. Shifting physiology.

You poor things... Toriel clutched the sleeping Chara closer, gently scratching her hair as she tiredly kicked her feet against the wall, ruffling her gray sweats with red hearts down the sides. The Doctor gasped and snapped a quick picture of Chara, drawing a giggle from Frisk, who quickly reigned herself in and squeezed her little legs. Her baggy pink hoodie wrinkled around her neck and waist and her pink and cyan striped leggings rubbed together as she curled in on herself. The rear flap of her colorful star-decorated diaper poked out from behind her cyan shorts. Tori stood up, taking Chara in her arms and sitting beside her youngest child.

Frisk, with her Mama and big sister beside her, gladly snuggled closer once Chara was resituated on Toriel's lap. Though she was still tense and fidgeting in place, Tori's free arm soothed her well. She was just tired, so tired, sleeping was hard and the masses of humans on their horizon didn't make her rest any easier. Her ruby red and sapphire blue eyes fluttered closed while her padding gained a comforting warmth and expanded, pushing her legs apart while she melted against her Mommy and small tinkling echoed.

"Well... Their Stats appear to be alright?" Toriel unsurely observed.

"Oh, nonono... T-Their stats are... h-hold on, p-please..." Alphys walked to the door, gesturing the comedian who teleported them there inside.

"Whatcha guys need?" He asked before noticing the screen.

"C-Can you e-explain their S-Stats for m-m-me? I-I need to g-go fill some prescriptions." Alphys muttered before wandering off.

"Alright, let's see..." Sans pondered the results, absorbing much of the other information flashing over the display as well.

"'aight, whatcha know 'bout the average human's Stats?"

"They tend to be in the tens... They can't have an Arcane Stat... And the healthy HP is 100." Toriel hummed.

"So, my children are alright?" She hopefully continued, seeing Sans's smile weaken.

"Not exactly... So, the average is 100 for a human, but these two aren't exactly human anymore, even if they've got the Souls for it. The healthy mark for them is gonna be Boss Monster HP scaling." Sans explained.

"1000." Toriel intersects.

"Exactly. Frisk is easier, she doesn't have LV, just love. Scaled down, she only has 27 human HP so... At least she's got more than a quarter of the healthy number?" He pathetically offered.

"Sans, she is made of glass!" Toriel whisper-yelled over her sleepy daughters.

"Well... Ya got me there, but she ain't a toothpick, she got through the Underground... not fine but the girls got there after a run and some resets."

Great, the "Reset" problem. She could never wrap her head around Frisk's apparent power, just that it was something about time control.

"Sans."

"uh oh."

"What were my children's HP when they went through the Underground?" She asked.

Sans muttered under his non-existent breath.

"Sans."

"...20-"

"What?! How many times did they fall? Who did it?"

"I dunno how many times they kicked the bucket, but a lot were from the flower... one from you... that's the earliest one I know about, they don't like to talk about it but we think you assumed they had way more."

"uh... Chara's not doing any better... worse, actually... Her HP is only so close to the healthy one because she's such a high level. Take away the levels and she's still only got 20 for a human and 200 for a Boss Monster... they've still got a lot of healin' to do, Tori... I dunno what to say but... we'll figure somethin' out." Sans sighed and sat on the table next to the napping Frisk, still sucking her thumb.

"I should have brought them pacifiers." Toriel chuckled... What am I going to do?

Eventually, Doctor Alphys returned with a few papers, pill bottles, and dose instructions for the girls. Toriel had Sans bring them through a shortcut home.

XXX =) XXX

Chara's bare feet loudly slapped against the tile floor, passing by the Royal Scientist's experiments. Most of them were suspended in large tubes of cyan fluid, all inactive and limp. Some had dragon skulls, others humanoid heads, there were a few with snake heads, and even some without heads and instead had advanced machines grafted to their necks. They each had different amounts of limbs, some odd numbers, some symmetrical, but none of the black flesh over their corpses covered every inch; there were large patches where their dark muscle was peeled away, exposing their liquid bones beneath. Every opening revealed neat gaps in their skeletal structure where the best, most intact parts of the discarded golems were cut out and the rest left in stasis.

Most of them were worthless on their own, just masses of muscle and liquid bone grown from magic and strange and abyssal alchemical substances for Gaster to farm the most efficient portions. She didn't know how he decided what those ideal portions were, he always stared through the holes in his hands when analyzing them so Chara guessed he was searching for concentrations of magic, but she didn't know for sure. The rest were more specific, they had their bodies cut open in various spots for the Doctor to cut out and regrow their many organs; their hearts spewed energy around their bodies, lungs were for endurance, and their guts held spheres of magical power. But none of those harvested and regenerating creations had anything special except their unique designs and abundant deformities, Gaster had no reason to perfect fake beasts with no Soul or sentience.

There were plenty of other constructs strapped to operating tables around his lab. Those were the constructs with complex machines and appliances added to them with surgical precision only the Royal Scientist could muster. Every false life strapped to those tables had something different about them. There were creatures with pipes flowing and curling all around their bodies, there were others filled with golden wires, some had more solid additions like black boxes and skeletal framework, and even more seemed to just have a dozen different types of computers attached to a dozen different parts of their bodies for purposes she couldn't figure out. Each one was stored in a section of his lab until he needed them to test... something...

She'd always been given the same pale look and warning from the other monsters whenever she asked about his experiments and laboratory; "...Beware the Man Who Speaks In Hands..." They couldn't even say his name.

The short human knew even less about what else her occasional babysitter did, the complicated scientific and theoretical jargon went right over her head, but that never stopped her from wandering down his halls trying to figure it out. Her curiosity brought her to a larger room filled with equipment, he was in the middle of a major experiment. The walls were lined with computers covered in switches, buttons, sliders, screens, humming runes, embedded gold orbs, and crystal-covered coils. But surrounding a raised platform in the center were five layers of several gigantic devices, long pylons with springs around their tips, the upper layers were angled slightly downward and the bottom part upward so they'd point at the same spot.

A levitating target, the center of the emitters, glowed and shifted like water. It collapsed in on itself like it was constantly shrinking but flaring outward. Doctor Gaster and one of his kids stood before it. It was his eldest child... They didn't interact much, she couldn't remember his name. Sand? Sin? Sine? he had this white lab coat that was way too long for him, that pun-obsessed bonehead was only barely taller than she was.

ARE WE
CONNECTED?

Gaster flicked some switches at the terminal he stood before, many projected hands slid sliders up and down and clattered away at keyboards across the site. He knew she was there, he always did, but he didn't act like it, meaning this creepy stuff was important and she already knew better than to touch anything. The floor rumbled beneath her and the pulsing blueish mass of magic in the center of the project surged. The huge power cables running up the pylons' stand swayed and tangled. Chara and the shorter skeleton braced themselves against some of the interfaces, careful not to turn any knobs or lean on any buttons, and Doctor Gaster summons his scepter to steady himself.

They could all feel the magic flowing through the air as the watery orb stabilized. It suddenly snapped in on itself, bending light around it. A violet shield shimmered around the ends of the pylon ring, warping around bolts of energy bursting from the wavering ball. It darkened, devoid of all color until it looked like a flat ball hovering in place. The lab rumbled again as it grew into its confines, the rings of machinery moved backward on rails as the black spot grew to fly just an inch above its platform.

EXCELLENT...
TRULY EXCELLENT...

Chara and Sans reoriented themselves, giving each other little more than a passing glance before refocusing on the Doctor, it was the most they'd interacted without being forced to. In a purple blip, Gaster summoned a small, old recording device and held down a button. That orb remained floating in its confines, but pushing against its barrier was a distortion like black light, absorbing the light from its purple prison.

ENTRY NUMBER 17...
DARK, DARKER,
YET DARKER...

THE DARKNESS
KEEPS GROWING...

SHADOWS
CUTTING DEEPER...

PHOTON READINGS NEGATIVE...

THIS NEXT EXPERIMENT
WILL BE VERY,
VERY,
INTERESTING...

...

...WHAT DO
YOU TWO THINK?

Gaster loomed over her and his son with a wider smile, it was the most she'd ever seen him emote. The tiny amount of color in the room, the blinking of the lights and the confusing data on the screens, dulled and died. The purple field around his experiment faded and the darkness grew across the floor as the tiles started turning gold and amber. Chara tried to turn, to run away, but a crushing blue force crashed down on her Soul like a tidal wave and crawled up her spine.

SHALL WE TEST
ITS EFFECTS
ON A SUBJECT?

Sans had grown, if only a little. His oversized lab coat was switched out with a bulky blue winter coat with white fluff around the hood and multiple ketchup stains. His eye flashed and his smile twisted as he and a wave of bones were framed by golden tiles, shining pillars, and bathed in the golden light of a massive sun crystal. The demi-human was dragged through the air as the Royal Judge clenched his fist and flung her toward the growing shadows with the force of Undyne's punches. I want my Auntie Dye-Dye.

Her every vertebra shattered against the spewing sphere of vantablack and she released a silent scream. Black wisps curled around her, flailing and thrashing about their newfound freedom. The dark, suffocating trails grew and sprouted claws that wrapped around her torso and gripped her arms. Talons ripped into her, burrowed down to her bones and curled into her organs, pinning her intestines to each other and spilling her stomach acid onto her liver and kidneys. Her ribs individually popped out of her spine, lurched past her sternum, ground past each other like the teeth of a beartrap, and pierced her lungs. Mommy... Auntie Dye-Dye... Uncle Papy...

But before the specter of Gaster could complete its latest monologue, another burst of energy swelled and bloated like a festering cancer. Sans and the golden echoes of Judgement Hall crumbled to suffocating ash and golden dust that soared and fell and glowed and swirled like flames. The Doctor's form started boiling and bursting open before he even got the chance to devolve into an oily sludge. His face and hands grayed as they melted and burned; the cracks in his face widened and split his head apart, releasing geysers of black; the dark liquid about his torso and legs peeled away like her was being skinned alive, the black splotches flew in all directions like an explosion.

XXX =) XXX

* Spell Recalled!

* Grasp Of The Void - Advanced [REDACTED] - 75 Mana/arm - The caster creates multiple arms made of shadow, granting +2 ATT per claw and increasing overall ATT by 10% if at least one claw is active, additionally allowing targets to be grappled and slashed.

* Another creation of late Doctor W. D. Gaster without a known origin or details. It is theorized to be a twist or alternate version of his projected limbs, but with his research mostly lost and any special notes on the spell missing, destroyed, or never made, such things will remain a mystery.

* Mastery of this spell allows it to be used in tandem with Maw Of The Void.

XXX =) XXX

"Healing magic cannot so easily heal wounds that are not there, but that does not mean one cannot soothe someone they love." Toriel stated.

The Queen cradled Chara, rubbing circles into her back as she trembled and whimpered. Beside her, Asriel clumsily did the same with Frisk as her pale skin slowly shifted and grew a hint of gray.

"Monster injuries are the easiest to treat because of our magic, you only need to follow the flow of magic through the wound. It will move in all directions, so you must practice chasing it correctly; too fast, and you will always cast in the wrong direction, but too slow, and you will quickly fall behind.

Healing humans might seem easier on paper. For example, when healing a cut you will notice their veins and arteries all flow in the same two directions, it is much easier to follow the flow of blood than the flow of magic. The true challenge comes from their forms, they have no magic to aid you in your healing and blood with spill out of the cut, which will alter the flow you must follow.

But simply using healing magic to soothe them will be much easier, it is a great way to familiarize yourself with their biology before something serious happens. Additionally, Chara and Frisk make fantastic bridges between human and monster forms. It is best to trace circles in their backs because it focuses the magic around their cores, their Souls, just like monsters, but you must not forget to cater to their bodies as well or you will fall short. For that reason, you must also cast your magic up and down their back to follow the signals of their nerves up to their brains and back to the rest of the body.

That way, you ease your sisters' emotions at their center, at their Souls, in the same movement you put a haze in their head to calm its activity." Toriel finished.

Chara sighed and sank into Toriel's arms. Meanwhile, Frisk's body lost its discoloration and recollected itself as normal, a small smile grew over her face as she unconsciously cuddled into her big brother's chest and ran her small, dull claws through the soft pink fabric of her oversized sweater.

"You're starting to sound like Uncle Gaster." Asriel quietly snarked with a grin.

Toriel huffed and her face soured at the mere mention of the former Royal Scientist, not that she agreed with Asgore that he should've gotten such a position in the first place.

"Mom, don't even start." Asriel snarled as his smile fell, too.

Toriel grumbled but held her tongue, that skeleton was a nightmare to deal with, but yes, he was important to Chara. And best not speak ill of the dead. So she continued her lesson and rocked Chara into a deeper sleep.

XXX =) XXX

SO

FUCKING

ITCHY!!!

Not even halfway through the next day, Chara had cast aside her black hoodie and sweats. The tank top she used to sleep in and her diaper, a light green one with a forest print under a clear sky, were all she had as she ripped into her skin. When she was leaning toward her laptop to do her schoolwork, she scratched the side of her hips and thighs; when she was criss-cross on the couch, putting on Aliens to try to ignore the irritation, she scratched her shins and the tops of her feet; when she allowed herself to get sucked into the movie, she found herself itching her shoulders, upper arms, neck, and the sides of her face; but when she tried to occupy herself by drawing the xenomorphs she just wound up clawing at the backs of her hands and her forearms.

LET ME AWAY FROM THIS HELL!

Her pale skin was covered in angry red lines and flakes of dead flesh. It got to the point she stopped the movie and browsed games on her sister's Steam Deck, picking out Alien: Isolation since she was in the mood. That, and the Alien's AI was fascinating. In order to get used to the detailed workings of computers and code, Auntie Alphys had recommended she pay attention to the bots in her games, to watch how they work and try to make pseudo-code detailing their behavior, then Alphys could teach her to translate that to real programming for her golems and drones.

Naturally, horror games drew her attention, and finding out she was years late to a fantastic game about her favorite series and antagonists more than piqued her interest. Every time she thought she had the AI figured out, it tried something new and she couldn't figure out how until she ran into a breakdown of the Alien on YouTube. Turns out, the creature unlocked new neural pathways as the story progressed, steadily giving itself more and more complex actions and behaviors as if it were learning. And now, across multiple saves and a lot of free time, she had multiple pages of notes and diagrams of the creature's neural network and the nodes they unlock by dealing with the player or throughout the plot.

She didn't realize she'd been using her toe claws to itch her other foot until she barely heard her ringtone down the hall. Right, my phone's still in my pants. She waddled over to her room and answered the call while wandering back to the couch, her sketchbook, mess of papers, and game. She was probably dead by now but that was fine, she saved and intended to analyze the Alien, not make progress.

"Hi Auntie Al!" She happily answered.

"H-Hey Chara, u-u-uh, F-Frisk asked me t-to check on y-you. She s-said she had a b-bad feeling... Is s-something wrong?"

"I'm fine... well, just itchy..." She mumbled, unsure how to address everyone now that the truth was out.

"O-Oh! I m-might know what t-that's from... I d-don't want to g-get your hopes up but try putting i-ice on it."

"But it itches everywhere!" Chara scratched the back of her neck as she sat down and sorted through her papers.

"And this stuff is the network for my game's monster... Do you think we could put it in a robot?" Chara hesitantly but hopefully asked.

"You just wanna make an Alien bot, don't you?" Alphys raised a brow.

"DON'T LISTEN TO HER TONE! GO WILD!" Undyne hollared from the background.

"I reallyreallyREALLY wanna make a xenomorph... And it would be great for a robot. They work together well and if we try putting them into smaller drones we could make good maintenance golems to take care of the trees, cut out infections, reinforce any structures, and help with smaller construction tasks!" Chara proposed.

"T-That kinda sound l-like the N-Neomorph." The lizard mumbled.

"Those things didn't get the screentime they deserved! If Covenant was going to be a prequel they should've leaned into David's earlier experiments! Nobody watches this stuff for that 'Black Goo' crap!"

"I take it you've thought about this a lot?" Alphys asked knowingly, her hand clearly on her hip as she chatted.

"Only a little bit, kind of, a reasonable amount, maybe a little much, a lot, I think about it a lot..." She relented.

"...A-Alright... If y-you can bring me all the a-actions you found, and p-program it y-yourself, w-we can see about m-making something like t-that."

"YES!!!" Chara celebrated.

"A-A-And since I'm h-here, anyway, y-you probably wanna know the a-armor project is almost complete. The d-dogs and that cowboy g-group were the f-first to be o-o-outfitted, the remaining g-guards and new recruits s-should be supplied b-by the end of t-the week!"

"Awesome!"

"T-Though that S-Star guy keeps asking a-about soaking things in potions? L-Like a strengthening solution? Just t-thought I'd ask a-about it, you're great with t-those."

"Well, what's it for? Because wooden items are the easiest with a specialized growth solution but clay is also possible to work with."

"I-I'll have to ask h-him, he just s-said it was a m-mask for the K-Ketsukane."

"Ceroba?"

"O-Oh! You know her?"

"Not well, I was just attached to the Yellow Soul back then. She wanted his Soul for a sort of DT-adjacent serum..."

+"Y-Yes... Her husband was a s-scientist... He had s-some theory a-about fused S-Souls?"

"He wanted to extract a substance from a Boss Monster that absorbed a human Soul, something that would let us turn ordinary monsters into Boss Monsters. Sounds a lot like Determination to me."

"...T-Then It's a g-good thing it never w-went anywhere...ahem T-Talk to you s-soon!"

"Bye, Auntie!"

Chara hung up and prepared to return to her game, but not until after scratching her arm and hand. A large amount of flaky skin parted like she was tearing herself open. Without a knife, anyway. She tried to fling away her arm to get rid of the temptation but turned weird in the process, tugging on a very old slice in her back running from the top of her left shoulder down to her kidney. It was long, perfectly vertical, very fine, and relatively shallow compared to what she often did to herself before winding up diapered. She'd stopped feeling the gash's sting a long time ago, before her and Asriel's plan, but even now it hurt the most out of her cuts.

I'm sorry, Uncle...

Black tears stung her eyes, pooling Agony in her sockets before they streamed down her face. She tried her best to hold it together, to be presentable when Toriel and her siblings came home, but they flowed no matter what she did. They poured and poured and she choked and shuddered and whimpered like a child. But then she looked down at her hand, unknowingly itching it, even now.

In the space where her flaking skin had peeled away was a slightly shiny patch, buried just beneath her flesh. They were tough and smooth, almost sparkly under the stray bits of graying skin. The spot was surrounded by irritated, angry red rashes, but it gleamed free of her wrist. Each one was bright, snowy white like her brother's fur, laying on top of each other like sheets of metal fit as perfectly for each other like rounded puzzle pieces. While their centers were pearly and tough, the edges of her scales were sharp and bright red like rubies or her narrowed, slit pupils.

Chara snapped a picture of her new, vibrant, if scratchy scales and started texting her Mom with wide, maroon eyes.

Chapter Text

Chara dragged her feet over the carpet and passed the lit fireplace. It was hard not to be tempted by the firepower and gardening tools, especially since it'd been so long since she got a chance to cut. Asriel rarely left her side and they shared a bedroom, she'd gotten to the point she was constantly burying her nails into her palms and scratching her arms for any sort of burn. Why were they being so nice to her? Why were they so insistent on wasting their time on her? She was nothing to them, she was nothing at all but they wouldn't leave her be! Why wouldn't they leave her behind like everyone else?

She scratched and scratched at her sleeve, roughly scraping her old cuts and scars. Why didn't they hit her? Why didn't they throw things at her? Everyone else did, everyone else agreed that she was nothing but a common street rat who deserved nothing but the dirt on the bottoms of their shoes. Nobody else gave her their time or spared any food she didn't deserve. She was hideous, she was filthy, she was tainted by others and by herself for allowing it to happen, she was a walking sin and a bastard for any other lowlife to drag around like the freak she was until the Devil had his turn. Why is she even alive? Her skin giving way snapped her from her spiral, for a time. Her borrowed clothes, a bright yellow sundress and white undershirt, were stained red.

The brand-new long-sleeve shirt was ruined by her blood forever, it would never come out and it seeped through the fabric onto the gorgeous sundress. Its soft yellow cloth around her waist turned sticky and red, disgusting as she was, and the golden flower pattern laced all over the garment drank up the crimson like water until they looked like dying roses. The light sting of pain around her wrist cascaded into a burning ache crawling up her arm as she kept scratching, opening many more cuts with every movement. It wasn't enough, it was too gentle but it was all the relief she was getting. Tears stung her eyes and streamed down her cheeks, not from the pain; she'd ruined something again, that's all she was good for, all she did was ruin everything like a witch. She wasn't even worth a witch, she was a mangy familiar at best.

Why am I even alive?

Gross sobs and pathetic whimpers shook her body as she continued to scratch her arms; she'd already ruined the clothes Mrs. Dreemurr gave her, might as well finish dying them maroon. She'd tried to fix everything when she climbed the mountain, but somehow she survived. Even when she was trying to fix everything she still screwed it up. The Dreemurrs were too good of people to be stuck with someone so worthless she couldn't even die right.

Her voice grew raspy and choked when the Royal Scientist She never figured out where he appeared from or how he knew what to Doctor Gaster showed up and stuffed a teddy bear in her scarred and bony arms. A fluid, six-fingered hand gently patted her back and wrapped her in bright green magic. Her Uncle was never talented that was one of the only things he an expert he was much more proficient in operations and but the glowing wisps did what they Chara could never understand why he and the Royal Family not like she could repay them or do anything in return.

"I know you're not him..." She muttered.

YOU KNOW EXACTLY
WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO,
DAEMON...

"No, you're not him, you're not Uncle Gaster! HE'S GONE!"

Chara shrieked and slashed at the melting skeleton, dragging a red blade across his neck. Agony streamed down her face and ruby red fire burned in her hollow eyes. Chara froze and stumbled away. In the minuscule second she blinked, Uncle Gaster had been replaced with Uncle Papyrus and the underground home turned to the pathway between Snowdin and Waterfall. White flakes gathered and swirled around them like dust as the cracking and dissipating skeleton gripped his severed head.

"I-I see... It appears my brother, Sans, was right...
...
Some people are better off burning in hell..."

XXX =) XXX

* Spell Recalled!

* Maw Of The Void - Advanced [REDACTED] - 75 Mana/maw - The caster manifests a series of gnashing teeth made of shadow, reducing the cost of other spells by 2 Mana/maw and increasing spell damage by 10% if at least one maw is active, additionally allowing targets to be bitten and leeched.

* One of the final spells discerned from the few remaining notes of late Doctor W. D. Gaster, lacking origins or details like the rest of its series. All research pertaining to the creation of such spells has been lost or destroyed.

* Mastery of this spell allows for other spells to be cast through the maws, this perk extends to Grasp Of The Void should it also be mastered.

XXX =) XXX

Chara was shaken awake by her baby sister. Frisk's tiny claws tugged at her black t-shirt, she'd fallen asleep on the couch. A pair of red and blue eyes stared at her as she snapped upright, then her grabby little hands reached up for a big hug. Her red padding with a husky print crinkled as she gratefully swept Frisk up onto the couch with her. Frisk fit snugly in her lap and was easy to wrap in the nearby blanket, her short horns grazed Chara's chin as she snuggled up in a yellow hoodie and black leggings over her green corgi diaper, squeezing her yellow bear plush. She didn't want to bother her little sister, she just needed someone with her right now.

Frisk's small horns were normal at the base but they'd begun getting flat at the dull tips, they almost looked like little ice scrapers. I wonder what they'll grow into... The back of her neck, down her spine, the sides of her thighs and hips, her shins and forearms, and the tops of her tiny hands and feet had a light layer of snowy white fuzz growing on them that tickled Chara's hand as she lightly squeezed her sibling. Small and round fangs nipped gently and playfully at her fingers whenever they were in nibble range or went in for a nose boop.

It was a simple moment, just some sisters on the couch while the older Dreemurr picked up her game and continued. It was a magic-heavy strategy game, one that allowed the player to recruit heroes with gold and cast massive spells using crystals. And it almost wasn't frustratingly inaccurate! Arcane crystals were one of the highlights of Uncle Gaster's research! She didn't have the equations of upscaled spells on hand but she didn't need them to know the game was way off, but at least it was fun.

Frisk squirmed and wriggled on her lap, mostly just to bug her while she was trying to learn all the mechanics. One thing especially caught her eye, spells to modify the species of her soldiers and civilians. They were limited to certain tech trees, Tomes, as if books didn't just exist to be picked up by anyone and used by those with the resources required, but they were intriguing nonetheless. If there was a way to bring this to life...

Her train of thought was momentarily broken by a warmth. Frisk had partially dozed off, her eyes were heavy and her head lowered, her small body sunk into her yellow hoodie and Chara's sweater. There were some small bags under her eyes, they'd been there for a long time but were rarely noticeable before that run came to light. Chara lightly rocked her back and forth while her accident subsided and picked her up again, setting her game aside to bring her sleepy little sister to the changing mat. Her new idea could wait... for a little while.

XXX =) XXX

"This cannot come to pass!" Toriel shook her fist at the small crowd.

Frisk and Asriel sat beside her. The smallest remained in her standard, quite iconic to Monsters, blue and pink sweater, and baggy blue shorts, joined by pink stockings and shoulder-length gloves covered in blue hearts. She twiddled her fingers nervously and tiredly rubbed her eyes, trying not to move so much as to crinkle as if anyone was in earshot or paying attention to her. Asriel and Chara were more formally dressed for the event, wearing the same royal robes their mother was known for in green and red respectively. Asriel's version had the same long, white sleeves as Toriel's but Chara's were made with black ones that neatly pooled around her arms as she quietly and calmly leaned them on the table, observing.

Her idea had been more... controversial... than she'd anticipated. The last few weeks consisted of debating the concept with her parents (primarily Toriel, Asgore was on board once she'd run through the details and process), communicating the idea with the lords of all the different Sectors and Areas dividing Monster Territory, and rounding them up in the Castle's largest meeting room. It looked like the Senate or Parliament, both of which she'd grown familiar with when stalking human affairs, though with a healthy touch of gold and a wash of magic that only her kin could manage.

"It must come to pass." One of the Lords, Carol Holiday, chimed in, much to the false Queen's displeasure.

She'd expected this kind of resistance from their mother and a 50/50 split as far as the lords were concerned, but the 84 Vassals and 12 Lords were surprisingly in favor of Chara's notion. Her pessimistic side screamed that they were going to be way more precious, way more traditional, than they turned out to be. It was for the best, of course, having a council of old-fashioned and complacent fools wouldn't do anyone any good, the young were better suited for such positions. Not that she thought those types would end up in office, easier to go with 'old reliable' than search for the creme le creme but apparently her Dad took the extra step.

"Have you even tried considering the humans' point of view? What do you think will go through their heads if these enchantments are allowed to take effect? Are you trying to frighten them into another war?!" Toriel growled, staring down Lord Holiday as if she were the one developing the project.

"Yes, have you?" Carol deadpanned, unphased. Chara snorted and quickly covered her mouth.

Toriel didn't appear to notice. "If we begin arming ourselves with strange weapons and powers, they are going to react! They are going to prepare themselves in turn! This is only going to end in an arms race and drive our kinds apart!"

"Their fear and ignorance are why we were sealed underground in the first place, without any special spells or weaponry, I might add. Those animals are going to be after us no matter what we do. And even if they weren't, the idea we do not need to be prepared for the worst is childish delusion at best, let alone the notion everything can be talked down." She less-than subtly jabbed at the Queen's absurd 'optimism'.

"That, and most humans on our borders have never seen a monster. Even the ones right next to us or living on the edges of our territory have no idea how many types of us there really are. The only ones who catch on to the changes will be the conspiracy theorists nobody takes seriously or normal people who'll be labeled as such if they obsess over small details. We'll have plenty of time to make these changes but taking too long will give more humans time to settle and figure out what we're 'supposed' to look like." Asriel added.

Carol Holiday blankly glanced across the council room, gesturing to the Prince. Murmurs and signing followed, some more meaningful than others. The twelve Lords like Holiday held the greatest sway, being third only to the King and his personally selected circle, including but not limited to the Royal Scientist and Captain of the Royal Guard, and they were the influential individuals directly above the 84 Vassals. Unimpressive as the average Vassals' say was, every seven were still partially beholden to their corresponding Lord and their collective votes weren't to be ignored, abusing such a system was part of what made Carol specifically so effective in her aggressive and hands-on approach to most problems.

The Serfs ruling every district, on the other hand, weren't even deemed important enough to join the meeting, and spreading the word to the civilians was a recipe for such a sensitive topic to become widespread, especially to the humans waiting to cherry-pick and misquote everything they could. They didn't even 'rule' anything, despite the job description, they had less authority than the average Royal Guard and were just there to catalog expenses and generic paperwork. More of a district-wide upkeep position than someone calling the shots.

Not like the Dreemurr siblings. Though small, people listened when they spoke, that was part of why they kept quiet; neither of the girls liked the attention and Asriel preferred to listen first. Their formal attire did little to take eyes off of them, bright and eye-catching, each of their own designs and made by Chara. All of their dresses were modeled after Toriel's, the standard for royalty, other than plenty of special modifications.

Frisk's dress had plenty of room to grow and was sewn to be easy to resize years down the line, along with some cuts from the neck to the shoulders to make room for her horns when they grew in, fastened shut with snaps hidden under the light blue fabric. Her sleeves were bright pink with blue stripes, each with small red hearts around them, and a pink Deltarune over the front was surrounded by embroideries of the Six Souls and a Monster Soul touching the bottom tip of the Kingdom's symbol. There was a pair of white feathered wings with red shafts stitched to the back, their little angel. All of the additions were made only on the outer layer, the innermost being made of pink silk to prevent the patches from chafing over her short white fur and thin skin.

Asriel's was fairly basic in comparison. A lime green dress with a white Deltarune and white sleeves like the Queen's purple one. The only thing special about it was of Frisk's recommendation, of which she ceaselessly bugged Azzie about until he caved and continued to pester until he admitted it was a good idea. Slightly darker green vines with red thorns covered the bottom hem of his attire, wrapped around his collar, and curled down his sleeves, all spotted with golden flowers at the joints and various wildflowers breaking up the monotony.

Chara's was pitch-black, bearing a bright red Deltarune and red sleeves covered in black Souls and white Monster Souls. Red Souls and white Monster Souls crawled up from the hem to her waist. Combined with their various gold diadems and heart necklaces. Their people would watch and pay attention when they were present, more so than most other figures and most importantly; Toriel, whose attention from height was stolen by Asgore and didn't stand out as much as them. For all her talk and criticisms of how Dad did things, she lacked the presence to turn her words from distant whining to whining which got the occupants to listen.

Though Chara and Frisk also had some knee-length black and cyan bloomers with red and pink edges, hexed to silence and 'pocket' their protection so they could walk normally. Not as fun, in the eldest sister's opinion, but they were a damn nightmare to enchant with how damaged some of Uncle Gaster's liminal notes were so she'd be damned sure to make these stupid things worth the sleepless nights and days of frustration trying to put them together. Frisk thought they were weird but they were more than most peasants could get before Chara fell, and they were comfy enough that she could tolerate them out and about.

All of their outfits went to show how few properly acknowledged Toriel in comparison. Tired little Frisk had proven her worth by virtue of everyone being there at all. Chara turned all their buildings into plant structures and made their whole way of life infinitely more reliable and sustainable, not including the machines she and Alphys made. And Azzie, despite not being as obvious to the populace, had some amount of passing friendly connection to everyone, not quite to the degree Mr. Dad Guy did but certainly more than Tori. She took care of them at home while Asgore had personal chats with everyone whenever they could and was vested in their work and careers when they couldn't.

"With all due respect, Mrs. Dreemurr, why are you here?" Carol suddenly and forcefully disrupted the debate, not specifying how much respect was due. "You haven't had a predominant presence in our lives for centuries, the six Souls and your children have known your care and attention than a single common monster looking to you and your husband for guidance, King Asgore is the one keeping us all together despite the... rapid decline of his personal life."

"Are you questioning my authority in this meeting, Carol?" Toriel sneered.

"From what I've seen, there's not much authority to question."

"I was going to say I was questioning your qualifications and presence, though I admit Princess Chara is also correct." Mrs. Holiday stated neutrally before the Queen could get a word in.

Toriel huffed at the Lord and pinched the bridge of her nose before turning to the Demi-human. "Chara, wait outside."

"No, Toriel, I don't think I will." She intentionally disrespectfully used her Mom's first name. Frisk shrunk in her seat and glanced between the crowd and her siblings as their brother stayed still in his seat, sleeves pooling around his arms as his hands calmly folded together. Asgore sat identically next to Toriel, surprised but not by much.

"I am the one who brought this project to the forefront of Monsterkind, got another civilization-defining operation cleared, and Doctor Alphys holds the main records of all my attempted and successful propositions. You, on the other hand, have been against this since before it was properly brought before everyone who needed to be made aware and just attempted to silence a main figure."

"Mrs. Dreemurr, if you can't engage in an extremely serious matter honestly and calmly, perhaps you are better removed from the equation." Carol remarked.

"Seconded." Chara joined in before the rest of the gathering could process what Lord Holiday was insinuating.

It was then Asriel's turn to catch her off-guard. "Agreed."

"Chara-" The queen started with wide eyes while Frisk hesitantly tugged her sleeve.

"Due to your inability to consider the needs of the Kingdom of Monsters, treat the everpresent threat of Humanity with the vitriol and firm hand it requires, and past tendency to abandon your duties entirely; I propose that it is in the people's best interest that your say in our kin's matters be effortlessly and fairly distributed between those who give their lives and risk their safety to keep everyone safe, healthy, and happy, via your immediate removal from Kingdom policy and general matters."

She remained blank and uncaring but seethed inside. If this didn't work, Toriel's ability would still be put into question and set her up for failure later down the line. But if it did, she'd finally have the traitor out of everyone's hair. Mended as they were, it was best that the blind goat was prevented from sabotaging their own people permanently. Doctor Alphys stiffened and began tapping away at her desk. An illusory projection whistled to life at the head of the room, one side facing Asgore and Toriel's thrones and the other facing the council room; a massive area with purple seats and curved oak tables the length of the entire room arranged in a crescent, all accented with gold.

Everyone looked down to their desk spaces, casting their vote on the built-in iPads. Chara and Carol were the first, both in favor; Undyne, Asgore, and Asriel followed suit. Alphys shuddered and notioned against. The King, his circle, and his kids were the most valuable votes in descending order, Toriel being exempt, but the rest of the room had numbers. The rest of her Dad's personal advisors were the next most valuable in no particular order, the ones he had less of a connection to and Chara hardly interacted with by extension.

There were Ecology advisors consisting of nonmagical Flora, nonmagical Fauna, magic Flora, and magical Fauna experts; then there was Undyne's table of Terrestrial, Aquatic, Airborne, Urban, and Special Operations advisors; Alphys had a crew of scientists and renowned mages, all had plenty of fields of specialties under their belts, and none of which she had the nerve to talk to; the seats for people of interest or had special expertise on topics in question were empty for the private gathering, starting this was too great a scope, more professionals would come in later.

Lords were the next people of interest, split down the middle, none having a good or bad connection to her but disagreeing whether or not to depose someone who was already just a figurehead but technically a large part of the monarchy. Lastly, the Vassals concluded their whispered discussions, finishing casting their votes. Though the least valuable, most of them were in the Queen's favor, even more disconnected from her but not wanting to dispose of the Monster Queen.

The result was ever so slightly in Toriel's favor, the only one not giving their say being the tiny Mama's girl beside her. Even so, she could work with this, the fact it was this close was more than enough to prove the Queen's ability and trustworthiness were waning, not that she hadn't thrown it all away when she and Asriel died but it was quickly becoming the center of the Monster-kin's attention. It would be easier to bring this up and limit the Queen's interference with Monster survival in the-

"Captain Undyne the Undying, the people of Monster Kind would appreciate if you would escort Lady Toriel Dreemurr off the premises." Asgore announced.

Chara's head snapped up, looking at the projected screen. Her void black eyes and tiny slit red pupils were pinned to the final count.

Frisk voted Toriel out.

The vote of the princess, and the Angel-sent Savior, was more than enough to get the Queen thrown out of the current problem, along with any future ones she wasn't invited to. She could imagine Asgore still trying to bring her back in some form but functionally they'd gotten rid of her. And the missing, high-value vote would be better spent on real issues as everyone else's say got more worthwhile. Undyne walked the Queen out of the council room and Chara reviewed the votes. The counter was correct but every vote had a small note from the representative who submitted it, listing the reason for their vote. The vast majority of them were uninteresting 'It's in Monster-Kind's best interest that [X] is passed' or similar, just there to fill in the blank so they could move on. But Frisk's clearly had more personal thought put into it.

'I'm tired of going to bed scared.'