Something is different now. Don't get the wrong Idea, the human continues to make no sense what-so-ever, but now Asriel is glad. Well, sort of. He could barely move his arm without feeling a terrible aching, but Chara seems much less distant. Asriel couldn't quite figure out why. Maybe Chara felt that Asriel owed them after they spared his life; now that debt had been paid.

That probably wasn't it. Chara didn't seem to operate on the same logic as the underground did. Usually, owing someone was a rarity because most so-called 'debtors' were usually just dead by that point. Of course Asriel heard the whole survival of the fittest, it's kill or be kill spiel so much that the words lost all meaning. None of this sounds like Chara. Weird.

Asriel had reached the door of the lab. It was time to pick them up and leave. The wait may be a few more minutes, but Asriel chose to stand outside until then, in the blazing heat. The doctor had given him, and Chara, a bottle of that terrible tasting blue stuff, so the heat was at least tolerable.

More so than the very sight of the Gaster, but at least the doctor knew his stuff. Gaster had been able to patch up both the arms of Chara and Asriel without anything falling off. However, it did hurt, in fact, it still does, but the doctor said it should be fine if the two don't 'agitate' the puncture wounds. Just the way he talked, the way he moved, they he did... anything was so unnerving.

He had to wear a sort of cast. He could still move his arm around, but the movement was a bit restricted. It was like a really big, tough bandage. He had gotten a scolding for being careless. He got a lot of those, from a lot of different people, but the one from Gaster was different. All the doctor said was 'Do not to damage to specimen.' Asriel still doesn't know what it means, but it sounded more serious than anything he had ever heard. Chara was in the same room at the time, but somehow they couldn't hear the voice when it was... everywhere.

Asriel turned to look back at the guard accompanying him. It was impossible to tell if the green fire that wore a suit of armor was looking back at him. Fire doesn't exactly have eyes. Asriel made sure to find a guard that wouldn't talk. He didn't talk to a lot of people anyway.

Asriel really should have brought a guard to accompany him and Chara earlier. He assumed he always had to be able to handle things on his own. After all, It's kill or be, yeah yeah yeah... He would never tell anyone this, but maybe he was wrong. Like really wrong. As in, he was beginning to get nervous when simply walking from the place to place, suspecting that more things would attack.

When Asriel went to his dad to ask for an escort through Hotland, he felt like he was swallowing his pride and choking on it. He had readied himself for a painful process where he would be called weak for such an action as to request help. As it turned out, Asgore said no such things. He just sat on his throne, his armor was a bit dusty, and agreed to the request. Thinking about it still made Asriel's head hurt. Things must have been really bad for his father's king stuff.

Asgore was looking at Asriel's arm for a lot of the conversation. Maybe Asgore managed to put the pieces together as to what happened. He wasn't Gaster, but he was by no means dumb. What if he was worried?... Another weird Idea. This one made even less sense. Asriel really hoped Chara would come out now. How long do these test things take?

As if on cue, Asriel heard the metal doors slide open. Asriel immediately took a step back, something felt wrong. Chara, wearing their black shirt and similar arm brace, was leaning on the door frame in a way that wasn't right. They began to pitch forward, Asriel instinctively took a step forward and caught them before they fell.

"Hey, are you okay?" Asriel said, imagining the worst. It was only a matter of time before Gaster did something. Asriel managed to steady them by keeping his hands on their shoulders.

"What... I'm fine, just... really... sleepy," They said, trying to keep their eyes open.

"Uh," Asriel said, dumbfounded. Then two of them needed to get back home, quickly. "Were going, okay?"

"Oh... okay."

Curious, Asriel removed his hands from Chara's shoulders. They slowly started to tip forward again. Asriel quickly put his hands back. He looked back at the guard, expecting some sort of help. The fireball head of the guard tiled slightly. The arms gave a slight shrug. How helpful. Asriel pulled Chara's arm over his shoulder and began to drag them off. This somehow felt familiar, in a not-so-good way.

Getting back home took a long time. It took about five minutes just to get down the old stone stairs. Then something happened that was also familiar, but in a much worse way. Asriel, out of the corner of his eye, saw something flying through the air, straight for his head. Before he could react, the swishing sound of metal rung through the air.

Asriel couldn't even see the monster before it was cut into two smoldering pieces and dissolved into dust before it even hit the ground. In its' place was the fiery green guard, the orange, flaming sword it held and the dust that now filled the air. Asriel's attacker might have killed him, had the guard not been present. That thought was... disturbing.

"Wha.. what happened?" Chara said before a small bit of coughing, obviously unaware they should have been holding their breath until the monster's airborne remains settled.

"Don't worry about it?" Asriel responded in the best neutral tone he could muster. He didn't want to burden them with the knowledged that they had been attacked again... and were now breathing what was left of said attacker.

After some time, Asriel, Chara, the guard, and the River Person managed to all fit inside the tiny boat and get going back to the castle. Chara was far away all the time and now they were curled up against Asriel, fast asleep. Asriel would be lying if he said this wasn't even a bit weird and, frankly, uncomfortable for him. It made him feel weak, like he was being drained of his strength.

When the boat reached the normal stop, near the castle, getting out of the boat was a lot harder. The guard and the River Person stood back as Asriel tried to pull Chara, who was not waking up, from the boat. He even tried to slap them lightly on the cheek to rouse them. Then a second time with a bit more force. Still nothing and he didn't push it any further. The idea didn't sit right with him.

Finally he got Chara out by grabbing under their arms and pulling hard. He literally had to drag them the rest of the way home. Not to mention, this part of the journey was the worst. But, don't mistake Hotland for being the good part, that part was just the least bad.

Chara, Asriel, who was dragging them along, and the guard had to walk through a small portion of the city to reach the Castle's backdoor. Various monsters from the city surged forward. There were a lot more than usual. The crowd was so dense, Asriel couldn't see where he was going and had to rely on the guard's navigation.

The guard drew its' fire sword and proceeded to feign jabs at the crowd in an effort to get them to back off. There the typical yelling about how Asriel was a traitor and unfit to be the future king, however, today it was deafening. He was trying to take slow breaths in order to remain calm. His hands were clenched.

He may have incinerated all of them if had the power to do so. The couldn't. He and the guard were almost at the tunnel. More guards standing by the entrance rushed forward and, with some effort, managed to disperse the crowd.

The tunnel was very plain with only flat grey walls and a few touches, a decently sized wooden door lay at the other end, not too far away. Asriel eyed the guards positioned in twos, standing apart in increments. It looked like there were a lot less than before. The escort left as they the doors opened to let Asriel and Chara pass through. The yelling behind him was picking up again, but he didn't care.

When he got to the tree in front of the miniature home within the castle, Chara stirred. Asriel realized he felt something wet on one of his hands. It was the hand that gripped Chara's arm. It was red and moist. Asriel hadn't even considered Chara after he got them out of the boat. He must have been so angry, that his nails broke the skin on the back of their hand without him noticing.

Chara regained enough conscious to stand on their own and push away slightly, trying to blink themselves awake. They winced and sucked air through their teeth. Their good hand gripped their bloodied one.

"Chara, look, I, Um... I didn't mean to do that." Asriel sputtered, half-expecting them to run off, now that they were awake. Asriel was absent mindedly trying to rub the blood off his soaked hand by wiping it against his shirt. Why were humans so ugly when they get hurt? What with their bruises and marks and fluids...

"What happened?" Chara responded, now rubbing their forehead.

"I may have been gripping you a bit too tightly. Oh, and I didn't mean it." He said, realizing his comment sounded a bit too much like an afterthought. Chara was surely going to leave now.

"It's okay," they said. Asriel tilted his head, not expecting this. Then he remembered something, and his mood darkened.

"Chara, what did Gaster do to you? Are you okay?" He said, thinking that the crazy doctor would soon be on the 'to-be-incinerated list.'

"Uhm," they said closing their eyes tightly, "I think... wait, now I remember." They opened their eyes. "Gaster put this weird dome-shaped thing up to my chest and..."

"And..?" Asriel said, taking a step forward.

"... then It made me feel really tired."

"... that's it?" Asriel was dumbfounded.

"Those hand things took a bunch of notes and pressed buttons on the machine, but... yes."

"And you're sure you're okay..?" Was it possible Gaster made less sense than Chara? Or was the Doctor somehow messing with Chara's mind? That thought sent a chill down Asriel's spine.

"I... I guess I have a bit of a headache."

"Well..." Asriel said, trying to collect his thoughts, "hey, maybe you should go to our room and lie down. I can get a bandage for your hand. Sorry again about that."

"Actually... could I ask you something?" they said timidly. Their eyes turned away in typical fashion.

"Yeah, sure."

"Remember when you did those mean things to me awhile ago?" Asriel tensed.

"Yes." Asriel said cautiously.

"Why... did you stop?"

"I..." he blinked twice. His head started to hurt as he tried hard to find an answer.

"Are you scared of me?"

"What? No," he said. That wasn't it, or at least that wasn't quite it? If anything, he could have killed them at anytime... but he didn't. "I mean, you didn't kill me..." the words in his mouth tasted bad, "So... I thought I owed it to you to stop." It sounded reasonable, but something still wasn't quite right.

"Really?" they said, looking back with a saddened, almost disappointed expression on their face. "That's all? You were just paying back a debt?"

"I..." Asriel turned away, trying to think. Now it didn't sound good at all. His brain was coming up empty. He wanted this feeling to go away. "Hey, uh... could we go now? I kinda-"

"Please, I want to know," Chara implored.

"Fine, fine..." he drifted off again. He forced himself to relax and let himself get deeper and deeper into thought. Still nothing.

"There's something I want to tell you," Chara said solemnly.

"Yeah?" Asriel said, refocusing his eyes.

"For a really long time now..." They began to pick at their shirt with their reddened hands. "I thought you trying to mess with me."

"What... does that mean?"

"I thought you were lying all the time..."

"Lying about what? Why- what are you talking about?" Now Asriel had a headache.

"You cause a lot of accidents," they said, holding up their cut hand, "I thought they... weren't accidents... and you were just trying to disguise how much you liked hurting me..." Asriel took a step back, as the gears turned in his head.

"S-so, you..." this was bothering him much more than it should have. He would have wanted to kill anyone trying to slander him, but now he just felt like he had been punched in the stomach. He didn't even notice that Chara had walked up to him. He wanted to run, but his legs wouldn't move.

Chara surprised Asriel again when they took his red stained hand with their own. "I thought you were like the bad people on the surface," the said somberly, their touch seemed to sap his strength like before, but much more now. "So... were you really just paying me back?" They let his hand go.

"N-no... I-It's something else," Asriel stammered. Chara looked at him, their sad eyes looking a bit hopeful. There was a solid minute of full silence before Asriel had any semblance of an answer. "After we almost killed each other, I think I realized something. Maybe for a time I liked to cause you pain, but then I... I think-"

A thundering sound rang out, cutting the moment short. Chara pulled back, looking at him expectantly, but Asriel didn't return the gaze, his instincts made him look around for the source of the noise. Then it happened again, but much louder. There was a distant yell, it sounded like one of the guards.

"Go inside," Asriel told Chara in a serious tone.

"B-but-" Chara was silenced by Asriel's curt look.

"Really, you need to go. I'll be there soon."

"O-okay..." they said as they slowly walked backwards before turning and running into house.

Not before long, a group of guards, all clad in armor, came rushing toward the sound. It was the tunnel entrance. Asriel even saw the Royal Guard's captain herself. Melusyne, a humanoid body with three slender but powerful arms at her side, clad in black armor, slithered along on two green serpent tails towards the tunnel.

If she was here, then this was serious. Asriel, his curiosity getting the better of him, decided to follow. He stayed back and observed as a battle between guards and some other nameless monsters unfolded before him. It looked like the tunnel door had been completely demolished.

Something broke free from the brawl and lunged at Asriel. He reacted much quicker than earlier in the day. The attacker ran head-first into a ball of fire that erupted from Asriel's hand. Dust scattered along the floor. He wasn't even looking at it anymore as something much more interesting caught his attention.

He was watching in awe as Melusyne, Captain of the Royal Guard, proceeded to almost single handedly regain control of the battle and strike down monster after monster that poured through the open door. One slash from a single one of her multiple curved swords was enough to kill. The barrage of three arms and resulting shower of dust looked like a hurricane.

In fact, 'battle' wasn't really the right word to describe the whole thing. It was almost a complete slaughter. Soon the few remaining monsters threw down their weapons and got to the floor in submission. The guards surrounded them. Melusyne held her blades high, looking as if she was about to finish the job, but then she lowered them down and turned slowly to look at Asriel, her face obscured by her helmet.

"What should we do with them, your highness?" the Captain said in a sort of hiss before bowing before the prince. He was stunned. Then a thought crept into his head. Now he does have his chance to kill the ones who tried to insult, attack, and even attempt to murder him. Asriel brought a thumb up to his neck and was about to draw a line when one of the monsters spoke.

"Wait," said a rocky looking orange monster with three stick-legs and two large pincers, "My prince, I apologize for our transgressions. However this was all my Idea, If you must take vengeance, I understand, but please, I ask that you kill only me and spare my followers. They were acting under my guidance." The monster bowed a series of spikes that seemed to represent its' head, almost touching the floor. Asriel still didn't move his finger, but he did relax slightly. Besides, now he was curious...

"Why did you think it was a good Idea to attack the castle?" Asriel spat.

"We wanted the human."

"Chara? What about Chara?" Asriel's eyes narrowed to slits.

"My prince-"

"Don't call me that!"

"Your... highness?"

"Better." Asriel hated being called 'prince' anyway.

"Your highness, surely you must know that humans are the enemy." Things Asriel had already heard a thousand times before. He almost gave the order to kill right then and there.

"What of it?" Asriel pressed.

"What of it? If the human in your possession were dead, the entirety of the monster race could be freed!" the monster said, agitated.

"Mind your tongue before royalty!" Melusyne cut in. Asriel wanted to tell her to shut it, but he had more important things to say.

"Look here, that's not for you to decide. Got it? The human is mine... so mind your own business! I get to decide what happens, and you have to obey my decision, whether you like it or not!" Asriel realized that thinking of Chara like this made him feel like his chest was slowly twisting into a knot. Still, he wanted this creature to know its' place.

"You cannot possibly Ignore what the humans have done!" The creature said, refusing to back off, even in the positions that it was. Asriel wanted to make sure his dominance was known before he had the creature ended. However, It seemed that using words wasn't going to work. Words never worked. Asriel had to use the methods he had been taught by his father. Asriel tossed a small ball of flame at the monster. The thing writhed on the floor, but when the flames faded, and dusty burned marks remained on the torso, it raised its' head back up immediately.

"They attacked us first and without warning!" It continued "They spared none of us!" Asriel shot another ball of flames at the creature. The fire engulfed one of Its' three legs and the monster let out a yelp and toppled over, the leg that kept it standing upright was completely gone. The fire soon faded and more burns remained.

"I... used to have six legs before the war," the monster continued. This made Asriel pause. He couldn't help but notice the unnatural, stubby lumps on the bottom of its' body. "I also used to have... children. They were tortured to death merely because it amused the humans. I had to watch it. After we lost the war, we realized we had to replicate their harsh ways in order to survive. You know this yourself, do you not?... The human you possess... we must not show hesitancy."

"... your right," Asriel responded with grave seriousness. He turned his head to Melusyne and held his thumb up to his neck-

"Asriel?" A meager voice called. Asriel was about to lob a fireball in the direction of whoever interrupted him when he stopped himself just short. He had gotten too into things and was about to incinerate Chara. He really hoped they were too far away to see him extinguish the flame... but it took longer than it should have. Was it possible Chara grow up to... No, what was he thinking?

"You should go." Asriel shouted back, trying to keep his voice impassive. This next part was necessary and he didn't want them to watch.

"But... what's going on?"

"I said go!" Asriel repeated, harsher than he intended. They hung their head low but didn't leave. Asriel closed his eyes and took a painful breath. He just wanted the Chara stuff and the Underground stuff to be separate. But now, just when he thought they were feeling better, he messed it up. He turned back to the monster, all eyes looking back at him.

"You..." he started, not knowing where his speech would take him, "I'm not gonna kill you not because I'm nice, but because of this human you are trying to murder. I really don't want them to see this. Now, you need to go back to your little group of friends and tell them something." The strange monster leaned forward a bit."Tell them this human Isn't like the others. They are..."

Now Asriel couldn't help thinking the human stories. Even Chara's vague, but disturbing descriptions added to this thought. Asriel couldn't help but notice a stump on the side of Melusyne's form where it looked like an arm could have been. But then Asriel realized, "They are the exception, and I have decided I don't want to hurt them. Now leave. If I ever see you again, you won't get a second chance."

The creature spoke, "Thank you, your high-"

"Get out," Asriel said flatly. The guards became active and dragged all the monsters out through the open hole where the door once stood. Other guards began partially mending the door with various bits and pieces.

"I don't think Asgore would have approved of that," the captain said, almost matter-of-factly.

"I don't want to hear it."

"More will come," She turned and left without saying another word. Eventually, the rest of the guards vanished from sight too. Then there was just Asriel and Chara, standing some distance apart. Asriel slowly started to walk until he was right up to Chara. They made no move to run away.

"Did you hear that part?" Asriel said, the anger completely drained from him.

"You... really don't want to hurt me?" They said, a mix of sadness, happiness and relief shown in their eyes.

"Yeah... really," Asriel said, feeling like some sort of weight was lifted of his shoulders. Before he could think about anything else, Chara wrapped their arms around him. His instincts tried to pull him back, but he was completely stunned. Half dazed, he slowly raised his arms to hug Chara back. They were shaking.

"Thank you," Chara said, choking on the words.

"It's okay, I..." he didn't finish the sentence. Thinking about how he knowingly hurt them not too long ago stung. Yet here Chara was, forgiving him for things that had been haunting them for probably their whole life. All Asriel wanted to do at that moment was to keep those feelings away from them. He closed his eyes and embraced them a little tighter.

Authors Note: For early looks at future chapters, and more stories by me, follow me on tumblr! Emeraldlazers.tumblr.com