Chapter Text
...What a fight.
It's fun but you feel like you need a break.
You feel fine, but you also got hit like a bajillion times, and Chara isn't wrong, staying in snow is probably not good for your health, not that your health is that good before this but still.
But you don't want to stay still, you already slept for who know how long in that inn... apparently not that long but like, whatever.
Guess you'll eat some food and just go, it heals, right?
You take out... you ran out of cinnamon bunnies...
Well, that's bad, you like those.
What else have you got in there...
You don't really know how or why but after falling here, your pockets suddenly can fit a lot more things inside.
You are pretty sure normal pockets can't fit several cinnamon buns and Ice creams and Donuts and a whole stick inside but you aren't going to complain about it.
You'll still question it though.
Ah! You found the donut!
You bring out a bag of donuts, or actually just one donut because you didn't have the money to buy more than that. (and a cider? in a juice box? It's probably just fancy name for juice, right?)
"Hey!"
Chara again.
"Hm?"
They... point at a... black rectangle.
Chara
LV 1
HP 20/20
G 9
"...What's that."
"How didn't you know that? That's your stats."
"That's your name."
"Yea."
...
"Why is your name on my stats."
...
They shrug.
"Probably same thing with why Check don't really work on you that much."
"...It doesn't?"
They nod wisely... or, you think that's the intention.
"Why."
Chara thinks... while spinning in the air.
That looks kinda fun.
"You know when I said it give you things you can see and things the target set to give people?"
You... nod, that was before you lose to Papyrus.
"You didn't set anything, like... don't know why I'm surprised since you don't even know how to check."
So that includes names? You have to set your name there???
Wait.
"Why's it your name then?"
"You didn't set yours, I set mine."
"That's my stats though?"
...
"Yea."
What.
"Are you going to explain?"
They shrug.
"I don't know, probably the link thing that keep me with you got something to do with that."
...Oh yea that's a thing.
"...Okay."
...
"Wait, why did you show that to me again?"
"Save the donut, your HP is full."
You look at the stats.
...Yea it's full, now that you think about it, you aren't hurting anywhere, even if you just got hit before the battle ended.
Somehow.
"Didn't I just got hit before this?"
Chara shrugs again.
"Guess Papyrus healed you or something before he left!"
"...Sure"
It probably have to be him, even though you didn't even notice, because you can't think of any other way this could have happened.
Oh well, you got to save the donut so that's cool.
You continue walking to... the dark blue place.
Or maybe purple, you aren't sure.
What's in the middle? Indigo?
All of them?
"Frisk, look! An Echo Flower!"
You look to where Chara is pointing at, and yea that's, a flower.
It looks really cool too, you like the color blue but you don't think you have ever seen a glowing neon blue flower before.
Or... glowing neon flower in general.
You probably looked at it a bit too long because the... fish, guy, on the side, starts monologing at you.
"This is an Echo Flower. It repeats the last thing it heard, over and over..."
Oooh! so that's why it's called an Echo Flower...
"This is an Echo Flower. It repeats the last thing it heard, over and over..."
Yea! It does do that!
It kind of keep saying it, its voice lower and lower everytime it repeats... You poke it, and then it repeats the voice at the normal volume again.
"Neat, huh?" Says the Echo Flower explainer, because that's what they do, it's probably more descriptive than fish guy.
You'll ignore that it's longer.
You nod, it is neat.
You should move on to something else... Oh hey! The star!
You touch it. It feels really nice.
Your HP is full, you don't need any healing, like Chara said, but you like the feeling it gives so you aren't gonna not do it.
"Knowing things about Echo Flowers fills you with determination!"
...
You look at Chara.
...
"What?" They blush in... embarrassment?
"...Why did you say that."
...
They look away "I... just like saying it when touching those things, it sounds cool."
"...huh."
"...Should I not do it?"
huh?
"No! Um... well, if you want to?"
You aren't gonna stop them from doing that! It's... you don't really get why they do it but they seem happy doing it.
Chara looks at the ground, hum a bit, and nod.
And apparently the conversation is over.
Next guy.
Sans, who have another sentry station here, apparently.
He's behind it, actually seems like doing his job this time.
"what, haven't you seen a guy with two jobs before?"
You haven't even said anything about that yet.
...Also it's the same job? Or is this not his sentry?
Wait, normal people probably can't have 2 sentry at the same time.
Huh.
"fortunately, two jobs means twice as many legally-required breaks."
...You're pretty sure that's not how it works.
Chara's now on the roof and is failing to touch the snow that's just... there.
You're kind of curious about that. It's pretty close to Snowdin, so maybe it's not that hot here?
There's no snow on the ground though?
You kinda want to look too, but you aren't sure if you can even reach the roof, maybe if you jump?
Man, you want to fly.
Sans probably notice you looking at the roof by now but it seems he's not going to mention it.
"i'm going to grillby's. wanna come?"
You frown.
"Isn't that a bar?" Can you even get in there?
"it's a restaurant, they just happen to have alcohol."
...
"there's like 2 guys in the whole place who drink those stuffs anyway. and one is made out of fire."
...huh.
"...I'm not gonna get in trouble if I get in there, right?"
"eh, it's fine. he won't be serving you those stuffs anyway."
Is that how it works?
"My dad takes me there sometimes." Oh, apparently Chara is down from the roof now.
Well, guess that's how it works here. You can go then.
"Yeah, sure."
"well, if you insist... I'll pry myself away from my work..."
???
He walks out from behind his station and look at you invitingly... you think.
"over here. i know a shortcut."
and he. walks to the opposite direction.
Sure, why not.
You follow him into the next room with a literal Waterfall, like in the name.
Wait, are those falling rocks?????
You blink to make sure you aren't just tired and seeing things, because apparently that happens sometimes in cartoons and it usually works.
It just make you more confused because apparently again, you're... in Grillby's, probably.
It's orange.
And really warm.
And looks like a bar.
"fast shortcut, huh?"
"HE CAN TELEPORT!?!?!?"
You lean away from the sounds a bit.
Oh, so that's what it is.
"That's cool."
"thanks for appreciating my shortcutting knowledge." and he winks.
"YOU CAN'T JUST THAT'S COOL TELEPORTING IS LIKE A SUPER ADVANCE SPELL IT'S LIKE-"
...You'll just let Chara yell about how hard it is to teleport, while sans walk in and... greet the people, or something.
Anyway, well, it's cool, and Chara's probably right, but you don't really have a scale for this.
Like they said, you can't even do what? Checking? All magic is cool to see for you.
Especially when it's to see and not to get used at.
Some are still cool when it's used on you though, like the one that heals.
And Papyrus's things, those are fun... when you know what's going on at least.
Everyone in the bar laughs... Sans probably made a joke.
Which you can't hear because a ghost is destroying your ears.
"Okay wait you didn't even listen to me." At least they stop yelling.
"You're too loud." You're kinda bummed you missed the joke to be honest.
"Oh."
...And they're sad too now, you didn't really mean to do that.
"here, get comfy." Sans points at a barstool.
...Guess you'll just talk to them later, after this.
You sit on the-
...
fart noise.
"whoops, watch where you sit down. sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats."
why.
...It's kind of less funny like this, you like it more when it's on handshake.
Or maybe your mood is just not that good right now.
"anyway. let's order. whaddya want...?"
...For some reason you feel like you only have 2 choices of Fries and Burger.
Well... you don't want to think of lots of menu so having only two choices is probably good.
...a burger would be filling, but you already have like, a whole pie... slice...
in your pocket, somehow.
And you aren't really that hungry anymore, you ate like 4 cinnamon buns.
So... "Fries would be nice." you like those, you didn't get to have them that often.
"hey, that sounds pretty good. grillby, we'll have a double order of fries."
And the cool fire bartender guy that's probably Grillby go to the backdoor, probably kitchen.
Chara is sitting on the table.
...That's probably rude, but noone can see them so it's probably fine.
They still look sad, you... really should talk to them about that.
After.
Because Sans... and also you're in the middle of a 'restaurant'.
"so, what do you think... of my brother?"
And a conversation, apparently.
You give him a thumbs up, Papyrus is cool, his battle is fun, he is fun.
Though you wouldn't mind if he explained his magic better, and also yell less.
You see Chara nods absentmindedly from the corner of your eyes, seems they agree.
"of course he's cool. you'd be cool too if you wore that outfit everyday."
What?
"he'd only take that thing off if he absolutely had to."
Why???
Okay you get really liking an outfit but, still.
"oh well. at least he washes it."
...at least.
"and by that i mean he wears it in the shower."
...
You... don't think that's good for his health.
Or maybe he would be fine? He's a skeleton?
And that's probably... not made of cloths.
"I should try that too sometimes..." Chara said... really quietly.
...
You don't think the skeletons are being a good influence to Chara.
They'll probably be fine, they're a ghost... or actually how do ghost clothings even works?
Grillby is back with the fries.
They look really good...
"here comes the grub. want some ketchup?"
You look at him a bit and decided...
You shake your head no, you like plain fries.
With salt.
"more for me."
You don't think he need a whole bottle of ketchup but like sure.
...What the heck, he just drink it?????
The whole botttle?????
You're pretty sure staring at him like this is rude but... you can't help it, you think.
You can see Chara doing the same thing.
Or... actually you feel like they're looking in astonishment or something.
...He really isn't being a good influence.
"anyway, cool or not, you have to agree papyrus tries real hard."
You nod, he does.
"like how he keeps trying to be part of the royal guard."
"one day, he went to the house of the head of the royal guard..."
Wait, you can just do that?
"and begged her to let him be in it."
oh.
"of course, she shut the door on him because it was midnight."
You feel a bit bad for snickering, but you also feel like that was the intention so you... feel a bit less bad?
You hear Chara snickering too... at least they're probably less sad now?
"but the next day, she woke up and saw him still waiting there."
...What? Did he not sleep???
"seeing his dedication, she decided to give him warrior training."
oohhh.
"it's, uh, still a work in prograss."
...If a work in prograss Royal guard is like Papyrus, you don't want to think how fighting the real Royal guard would be like.
Wait, why is the music fading out?
"oh yeah, I wanted to ask you something."
You tense up.
You feel like something is wrong, somehow.
"have you ever heard of a talking flower?"
...ominous music, and...
You look around.
Everything stopped.
The bartender's fire head stop moving, even Chara stop moving.
What happened???
You're starting to get scared.
You... nod slowly. You... remember Flowey
"so you know all about it."
What? did he know him?
"the echo flower. they're all over the marsh."
...
You frown.
That's probably true but... didn't he say 'talking flower' in yellow?
Again, you don't know how you know that but you do.
And he's saying echo flower in blue, that feels intentional? You're confused.
"say something to them, and they'll repeat it over and over..."
...uh huh?
"what about it? well, papyrus told me something interesting the other day. sometimes, when noone else is around... a flower appears and whispers things to him."
huh???
"flattery... advice... encouragement... predictions."
That... sounds like Flowey.
"weird, huh?"
You hope Papyrus isn't getting Flowey's whole 'being nice for a bit and then murder' thing.
"someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on him."
...
"keep an eye out, ok?"
...You nod.
"thanks."
And then everything continue, with the music bac-
"AHHHH!"
You turn to see Chara falling from the table.
Wait, can't they fly?
"welp, that was a long break. i can't believe i let ya pull me away from work for that long."
Oh, it seems like sans is leaving, since he got down from the chair... or barstool, is probably the word.
"What was that... I can't see or hear anything..."
Oh no, what happened to Chara now?
They're still on the floor, and you can't see their face but from the voice, you think they're crying.
"oh, by the way... i'm flat broke. can you foot the bill?"
Oh no, you're also flat broke, you used it all to buy cinnamon bunnies earlier.
...Maybe you shouldn't do that.
"it's just 10000G."
How can fries by that expensive??? You... don't want to... be in debt?????
"just kidding. grillby, put it on my tab."
Sans probably saw the despair on your face.
Why did he do that...
It seems he's leaving.
"by the way..." nevermind "...i was going to say something, but i forgot."
huh?
You feel like he should leave by now but he didn't
"sorry about that, don't know why that happened."
That sounds like it's continue from the last sentence but for some reason you feel like it's not directed at you.
And he leaves.
...
Oh yeah, Chara.
"You okay?"
They shake their head no... it seems like they changed from sprawling on the floor to curling into a ball sitting with their back to the table some time ago.
You kinda want to know what people here have to say about... everything, but you can come back later.
...Though, before you leave.
Sans didn't eat any of his fries.
You didn't too but that's not the point.
...
You gotta talk, it seems like.
"...Mister Grillby?"
...You hope that's actually his name.
He turns to you, staring into your soul.
...Okay not really that much, you don't even know where he's looking, he wears glasses.
That you can't see through for some reason.
...Anyway, you just have no idea how to starts talking to adults.
"...Can I take these with me?"
He gives you a thumbs up.
...Okay you change your mind, you like him.
The red bird guy on the left suddenly says "Grillbz said you can take Sans's too, he probably won't eat it anytime soon."
...Grillbz?
Probably a nickname.
Grillby look at the bird for a bit, so that's probably not what he said, but he nods at you anyway?
...Guess you have the permission.
You take the fries' paper trays and...
You know what, might as well put that in your pocket.
It works.
...Okay.
You say thanks to the bartender and leave. (and ask Chara to follow, even if they'll be there anyway.)
Gotta find a place to talk that... probably won't be weird to seems like talking to air, and not full of snow.
Somehow you ended up in the same room of the Inn anyway, you ask them to use it for a bit because it's apparently still empty, they said they don't mind so that's cool.
You sit on the bed, while Chara is still a floating ball of sniffling ghost on the edge of your... link thing.
"Uhh... you wanna come sit?"
They slowly float to sit on the bed, still kind of, trying to wipe away tears, which they have been doing for a while now.
"So umm... why are you crying again?"
They immediately snap to glare at you.
...Maybe you're not good at this.
"I'm not crying."
...They sniff and look down at the floor.
"Okay fine I'm crying."
...That doesn't really answer your question.
...You don't really know what to say, you kinda want to hug them but you're pretty sure that wouldn't work since you can't even touch each other.
...Except that one time in Papyrus's battle, for some reason?
You were kind of having too much fun to think about why... maybe you should go ask him about it later..
"Suddenly, it went really dark..."
...Oh, it seems like you just have to not say anything?
"And I can't hear anything, I can't feel anything..."
...Okay yeah, that sounds scary.
"It just... I felt like I died again..."
Oh.
...Okay yeah that sounds worse now.
"...The first time."
...Wait what?
"...Wait, what does that mean? First time?"
Chara seems to just realized they said that.
"Oh! Um..."
is it... an uncomfortable thing to talk about?
...Of course it is! they died!
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to?"
Why did you say that like a question.
Seems like Chara wants to answer anyway though.
"...I died twice, I think."
...They think?????
"But yeah... Okay, I think I'll take the not talk about it now."
Why did they have to do that after saying the most confusing thing ever.
...Well, you did offer, so you aren't going to go back on your words.
"So... do you know what happened? Did you see anything while I was um... like that?"
Topic change, kind of... well, sure...
"Sans... I don't know? Suddenly everyone stop in places, except me and him, he probably did it, because I... don't know how to do that."
Silence... Chara seems to be thinking... guess you'll just tell them more.
"You're also frozen, and you um... do that like, right after everyone starts moving again, so that's probably it?"
...
"Noone seems to notice anything though."
"...Does he know time magic too?"
Eh?
"He could probably use blue magic to stop everyone but then they'd notice what's going on so the only thing I can think of is he just stop time."
...Magic can do that?????
"It's also a very hard magic, but... I think he teleport a lot already so he could probably do that too..."
...You'll just let them talk, maybe that's helping.
It seems to be helping since they stopped crying for a while... or at least do it a lot less.
"...Or maybe his shortcut isn't teleporting and he just stop time and walk???"
...Huh, that also sounds possible.
"I don't really know a lot about those magic so I don't now how possible that is..."
You thought they know a lot about magic.
...Actually, that make sense, they probably know however much monster children their age know, but literally any magic knowledge is a lot to you since you don't know any.
Chara seems to... think of something really hard, and just give up, and think of other things instead.
"I'll just assume it's time stop... anyway if it's time stop I think I know what happened."
"What do you think happened?"
"...It's the link again. I think... my soul... or whatever I have now is with you. So that's like, my consciousness"
Huh, so consciousness is in the soul? Soul brain?
They continue. "So my... body? It's like, seperate from my soul, somehow, which make it so I can't go far away from you... and when sans stop time with you and not me in it, my consciousness continue to be there and awake, but the ghost body thing isn't working so I just..."
Chara hug themself tighter and shiver... you can kinda imagine what they're talking about, even if you don't know much about magic...
...You would pat their back if- know what you'll do it anyway.
You... pat Chara's back, or at least pretend to do it.
"...hehe, that feels funny."
You think that worked?
You stop, and just kinda sit there.
...slowly, Chara go back to look... somberly, at the ground.
Should you do that again-
"Hey Frisk." Nevermind.
"Yea?"
"...Do you really think I'm too loud?"
Oh.
Oh yea you were gonna talk to them about that before... that whole thing happened.
"...Sometimes?"
Chara looks sad again now.
Maybe you should, not said that.
Now that you think about it, before you told them that, you probably could tell them to stop for a bit, but you let them talk anyway and blame them later, so that's probably kind of mean...?
...You still have some problem with that though, and this already happen so you might as well talk to them about it?
"Um... I mean, like... I'm kinda okay with it most of the time?"
Chara looks confused now.
Um.
"Like... Okay, two thing. Can you not shout like, in my ears?"
Chara has a look of realization.
"Oh. um... Okay."
You didn't really expect them to agree this easily but... you aren't gonna complain.
"And the second one... please don't shout when other people are talking with me or something like that, I can't hear them."
Now they look kinda guilty... they just nod.
You feel kinda bad but it's probably important to do this? You... don't want to have to fight like in the Ruins.
...While they aren't trying to get you to kill people anymore you still want to hear things.
You still feel bad you made them feel bad though, and... the. thing.
...You remember when you or Kris felt bad, your parents would bring you and them to get ice cream somewhere...
...Well, when they're still there.
...
...Anyway, you have Nice creams you bought earlier still left... maybe you could give some to Chara, that might help.
...You look at them and remember they probably can't eat that.
...
"You wanna do something?"
Guess you'll just have to ask what they want.
"...I wanna go home."
...Oh.
"...Like in the Ruins?"
You remember they mentioned their mom was in there or something.
"I don't know..."
How.
"It was in New Home."
That's.
Far.
...probably.
"But my mom's in the Ruins now so... I don't know..."
...Huh.
...Well, still, there's a problem.
"I literally can't go back to the Ruins so... um... anything else?"
"Can we go back to Grillby's?"
Now the look excited!
Well that's... not really easy but easier than you thought.
...You don't know why they're so excited about that though you literally were just there.
Well, you'll go anyway, so you get up.
"Okay then, uh, why though?"
"Dogs!"
Understandable. You nod at them in approval, and starts going.
