Determined Love (Charisk)

Chapter 23: King Asgore

      The girls quickly left the giant hallway, and proceeded to walk to their next, and final destination.          
Frisk could feel butterflies in her stomach as she was getting nervous for the end of it all. Chara, on the other hand, was feeling slightly excited. She hadn't seen her dad in a long time, and see couldn't wait to see his big smiling face. That is, until the thought hit her. She stopped in her tracks, causing Frisk to stop as well.
      "Frisk." Chara said.
      "What is it? Why did you stop?" Frisk said, concerned.
      "Well, I'm.... worried is all."
      Frisk giggled. "Don't worry! I'm a little nervous too, after all, we are about to free all the monsters!"
      "No, not about that. About seeing Da- I mean, Asgore again. What will he think when he sees me?" Chara said, sounding more worried than she intended to let on.
      Frisk gave a pleasant smile. "Chara! Don't worry about that! Remember when Toriel saw you? She was excited and happy! I'm sure Asgore will be no different."
      Chara couldn't help but show a grin. She knew Frisk was right. "Yeah. Thank you, Frisk."
      Frisk winked, and they continued to walk together.
      Ahead was a giant door, as big as the front door to Asgore's house/castle. With neatly piled leaves on either side of the door, with trimmed vines around the door, as a way to add some color to an otherwise grey area.
      Chara recognized it, as she and... Asriel... had been here many times before to play. It was Asgore's throne room, where he and Toriel would sit and watch their children play in the flowers. It was Chara's favorite room, and from what she could remember, the barrier was close by as well, but Toriel had always told her to stay away from it.
      Before they could walk in, however, they heard a giggle come from their far right. Chara looked towards the sound, but couldn't see anything but the dark corridor.
      "You hear that?" Chara asked, squeezing Frisk's hand.
      "Yeah." Frisk said, staring towards the right. She had no clue what the sound was. She didn't remember anything like that in her previous runs.
      "Should we... check it out?" Chara said, getting nervous.
      Frisk pondered on this. They could go check it out, and risk a possible encounter with a monster, or they could just go ahead and face Asgore. In the end, Frisk's natural curiosity won her decision. "Yes, we should."
      The girls continued to walk towards the right, as the corridor seemed to get darker, darker, yet darker.      
      Eventually, it seemed as though they weren't even in a hallway anymore, but just... darkness. Chara hung close to Frisk, not wanting to even think about the risk of losing her in the void of emptiness surrounding them.
      The giggle could be heard again, this time, sounding as if it came from the south. They walked towards it, when suddenly, they saw a dim light. Steadily, their pace increased as they got closer and closer to the light, until eventually, they had reached the end of the corridor.
      It took a second for their eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness of the new room they were in. When Frisk's eyes adjust fully, she took a look around, and saw coffins. Seven coffins to be exact. Each one had a different colored heart in the middle, with names engraved under them. Frisk gasped at the sight.
       When Chara got around to looking at it, she couldn't believe her eyes. Never before had she seen these coffins, and the sight freaked her out. Who were these for?
      "Frisk.. what is this?" Chara asked, still bugged by the sight.
      Frisk didn't respond immediately, still staring at the coffins. "Um.. I don't.." She couldn't speak.
      Chara released herself from Frisk, and walked over to inspect the coffins. Under each heart of every coffin was a small engraved name. Not specific names, just "Human" with numbers, going from one to six. At first, Chara didn't understand, until after staring for a goof five minutes, it hit her.
       "Are these.... dead humans?" Chara said, with a small gasp.
       Frisk was standing next to her, observing the coffins as well. "Y-yeah... It looks like it."
       Chara wasn't sure what to do. She had seen many monsters die before, long ago, but they evaporated into dust, whereas humans just... lay there... motionless, expressionless, lifeless.  
       A giggle could be heard again. Frisk looked around, but didn't see anything.
      "You know... That could be either of you.." A high pitched voice rang out.
      Frisk's eyes grew wide. She recognized that voice, the first voice she ever heard in the Underground. She felt a chill crawl up her spine, and her knees became weak.
      Chara looked around, hearing the squeaky voice, too, but she didn't see anything.
      "Down here, you idiots!" The voice yelled.
      Frisk looked cautiously towards the ground. Directly in front of her and Chara, not even two feet away, stood a small flower with a face. Not just any flower...
      "Howdy you two!" The flower said, in a cute way. "We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!" Flowey gazed at Chara for a moment, and his facial expression changed from glee, to horror. He had been following these humans through the entire Underground, but never got a good look at either of them.
      Frisk noticed Flowey's sudden change in mood. He was staring directly at Chara, with a half worried, half scared look on his small face. Was this the first time he had seen Chara?
      Chara stared at the small flower, figuring it was just another monster, and smiled. "Greetings Flowey, my name is Chara!" She said gleefully.
      Flowey continued to stare at her, unable to speak. He was visibly shaking, and some petals began to fall of him. "Ch-Chara, you s-say?" Flowey finally said.
      Chara nodded.
      "And um, I'm Frisk.." Frisk said, slightly nervous.
      "I.. I have to go!" Flowey said quickly, and then dug himself into the ground.
      Chara looked at Frisk and smiled. "Well, he certainly was interesting, huh Frisk?"
      "Y-yeah! Of... of course." Frisk said.
      Chara looked at Frisk. She was sweating, and her eyes seemed to be darting around the room. "Something wrong? You look like you've seen something terrible."
      Frisk desperately wanted to tell Chara about Flowey, and why she felt nervous, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. "No! Nothing is wrong! Just... surprised is all!" She took Chara's hand. "Let's get going! Asgore is waiting!" And began to walk.
      Chara knew something was up, but decided it would be best not to question it. Besides, she was more concerned about the dead humans kept in the castle. How long had they been there? Were they the six SOULS Undyne had told them about? She figured they had to be.
      The girls walked back through the dark corridor, Chara clinging close to Frisk as usual,  until they reached the Throne Room door.
      "Ready?" Frisk asked.
      "Of course!" Chara said, enthusiastically.
      The girls walked in, to be greeted by color. Lush, green grass flowed rhythmically, with some artificial breeze that could be felt through the room. Tile flooring could be seen in certain spots around the room where grass did not grow. In the middle of the room, was a fantastic, large bed of Buttercups that looked exactly like Flowey, but with no faces. The soothing aroma of the flowers could be smelled easily throughout the entire room, yet the smell was not overwhelming, but actually quite nice. In the back of the large room, was a giant throne, fit for a giant king. Vines hung from the golden colored walls. In the middle of it all, was the king himself, kneeling down, tending to the flowers below him. Even while kneeling, his height was still well above the girls, but all that could be seen was his giant magenta colored cape, the back of his head, with his long golden hair, his crown, and two horns on the top of his head.
      Chara noticed the room had changed considerably since she was last in it. There was always some grass and a few flowers, but now, the room was completely covered with them. She didn't mind the change, as she had liked the flowers her father had planted.
     "Dum dee dum..." Asgore's deep voice could be heard, as he hummed to himself, messing with a patch of Buttercups. Even his voice was large and imposing. To Chara, it wasn't anything special, as she had lived with Asgore most of her life. Frisk, however, still found his voice awesome.
     Chara cleared her throat to get the kings attention, she didn't want to say anything yet.
     "Oh? Is someone there?" Asgore said. "Just a moment!" Asgore tipped over a watering can, and sprinkled some flowers. "... Here we are!"
      He got up and turned around to get a look at his visitors. Now that he was standing, he was even taller, and impressive. His large cape covered most of his body, with giant gold plated shoulder guards, and a sigil on his chest that held the cape together. His face was similar to Toriel's, but larger and more masculine, as expected. He had a large beard, matching his hair, and long droopy ears, his face had a warm smile, which faded almost instantly, being replaced with a gasp when he saw who was standing before him.
     "Ch-Chara..? Sweetheart? Is that truly you, or have I gone mad?" Asgore said, not being able to process what he was seeing.
     "It's me, Dad!" Chara said, letting go of Frisk's hand, running towards Asgore.
     Asgore knelt down again, and opened his arms, as Chara flew into them. He hugged her tight, and could feel a tear begin to form in his eye. "Chara.. how?" He said.
     "It's a very long story." Chara started, and hugged Asgore tighter. "I'm just so happy to see you!"
     "Me too. I do not care for the details your long story, I am just glad you are back with us, pumpkin."
     "Dad! Not in front of Frisk!" Chara said, pushing herself out of Asgore's hug.
     Asgore chuckled, and then let out a hearty, king sized laugh. "I'm sorry! I did not think 'pumpkin' was inappropriate!"
     Frisk giggled, as Chara grew red with embarrassment, but soon joined on her father's laughter.
     "So." Asgore continued as the laughter died down. "I take it this is your friend?"
     "Yes!" Frisk said gleefully, walking over to Asgore. "My name is Frisk, like Chara said. Nice to meet you!"
     "Howdy, Frisk! If you didn't already know, my name is Asgore. I am ruler of the Underground." He said.
     "Don't worry. We've heard a lot about you in our journey through the Underground, and well, Chara already knew who you were!" Frisk said, smiling.
     "Then.." Asgore's face suddenly grew solemn. "You must have heard of the SOULS as well." 
     Frisk's happy face was replaced as well, with a look of sadness. "Yeah, we have. Undyne told us about it. You need one more."
     Chara spoke up before Asgore. "Is that what those coffins were for?"
     Asgore was surprised, he hadn't known the children had found those, but then again, he didn't exactly hide them. "Y-yes.. They are." He said, his voice cracking a bit.
     Chara didn't say anything else.
     Asgore stood up, towering above the girls, looking imposing. "So then you know of the barrier, and the seal that keep us monsters trapped in the Underground."
     "Um. Yes.." Frisk said.
     He couldn't bring it within himself to look the small child in the eye. "Then... you know what we must do." He began to walk off, but stopped. "Chara... I'd prefer if you did not come with Frisk and I." He walked out of the room without another word.
     Chara was sitting on the ground, plucking a flower of it's petals, not focusing on anything.
     Frisk knelled next to Chara. "Chara."
     "Do you think he did it?" Chara asked, quietly.
     "What do you mean?" Frisk asked, confused.
     "The humans. The coffins. The SOULS. Do you think he did it?" Chara said.
     "The Underground needed him to, Chara. He had no choice." Frisk tried to explain.
     Chara sighed. "Yeah. I guess." She stood up, dropping the half plucked Buttercup. "I never thought Da- Asgore, would be able to do that." She said sounding disappointed.
      "It must have been hard for him." Frisk said, not sure what else to say.
      "Yeah." Chara sighed. "Frisk?"
      "Yes?"
      "Is he going to try to take your SOUL?"
      "I think so." Frisk said, plainly.
      Chara thought about this for a moment. "I won't let him." She said, grabbing Frisk's hand, gripping it tightly, looking Frisk directly in the eye. "I will protect you, no matter what, even if it means hurting my own father."
      Frisk smiled. Knowing that Chara loved her so much, that she'd even hurt her dad was sweet, in it's own way. Even if it did sound a little bad when you think about it.
"Thank you Chara, but hopefully it won't come to that. Maybe we can work something out with him!" Frisk said optimistically.
"We better." Chara said seriously. "Come on," she said as he started to walk to the exit in the back of the room, "Let's get going, Asgore is waiting."
Frisk had a strange feeling crawl up her spine. She felt something was going to happen, something big, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember.
The girls walked quietly through the new hallway behind the Throne Room, just as grey as the rest of the castle. A light shines down from the ceiling, providing the only light for the otherwise dark hallway.
At the end of the hallway, a open space opened, with a dim light shining through.
"You ready?" Frisk asked, looking at Chara.
Chara stared at Frisk looking into her sea foam green eyes, taking in the beauty. She leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Let's do this." She said quietly.
     Walking into the new room, they saw Asgore with his back turned, facing the giant barrier in front of him. He turned around when he heard the girls walk in.
      "Chara." He said, looking surprised. "I thought I asked you to stay behind."
      "No Dad. I won't." Chara said, gripping Frisk's hand tighter. "I can't let you hurt Frisk, so, if you are gonna try to hurt her, you have to hurt me, too." Chara said, trying to sound confident, but was holding back a tear.
      Asgore stood there, observing the two. His face grew sullen, and he looked down. "Then I shall not try to stop you. Are you two ready?" Seven capsules rose out of the ground, each filled with a small human SOUL, all but one was filled.

      *A strange light fills the room. Twilight is shining through the barrier. It seems your journey is over. You two are filled with DETERMINATION*

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Hey guys! It's almost here! The end is neigh! Anywho, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! LOVE YOU GUYS!