Soul Matter (Chara x Asriel)

Chapter Seven ; Minimalist Reaction to a Sorrowful Explanation

/ im running low on chapter titles my dudes. I'm sorry

After what felt like hours of mindless coloring — well, Asriel was doing the coloring. Chara was watching silently,
The sound of a door opening and closing occurred in the next room over.

Asriel gasped,
"Chara!! Dad's home!!" He beamed.
As if one exclamation mark wasn't enough, Asriel managed to have two per sentence.
Good on you, goat prince.

Chara frowned, moving their chestnut bangs out of their face,
"He is..?" They wondered.

"Yeah!! Come on, come on! He'd love to meet you!!" Asriel insisted, standing up and dragging his scrawny friend towards the door.

Chara followed as quickly as their bandaged feet would allow them on the wooden tile.

Asriel opened the door and yelled down the hall,
"Was that dad??" He asked.

His question was answered by a tall, burly man looking down the hall. Standing at roughly 6'7, not including horns, the man was definitely hard to miss. Armored and caped, the kingly man beamed,
"Howdy, Asriel!" He called, kneeling down.

Asriel immediately let go of Chara's hand and bolted down the hall, tackling the hefty man with a hug.
He was extremely excited to see his father after the last few days, since he hadn't been home.
"Dad!! You're home!" Asriel observed, smiling.

The man nodded.
Toriel lingered in the doorway, smiling,

Asgore grinned and hugged Asriel tightly, resulting in a distressed groan, before smiling and setting Asriel down,
"How've you been?" Asgore asked, ruffling Asriel's soft fur.

"Great! I made a new friend!!" Asriel grinned.

Chara had stayed by Asriel's room.
They had recognized Asgore's voice from the one last night.
Almost instinctively they touched their forehead, and stayed near the doorframe.

Asriel turned around,
"Chara! Come meet my dad!! Why are you over there?" He asked,

Chara didn't reply, but walked over to the room, keeping to themselves.

If Asriel wanted them there, they'd be there, but they were intruding nonetheless.
Honestly, Chara felt awful. Their ankle was unbearably sore, and every step they took was aching. Not to mention, they felt light headed and dizzy.

Asgore smiled,
In better lighting, this child looked worse.
Scrawny and starved. Only scraps of their shirt remained, and they were covered in bruises. Their eyes were covered, but in the small parts in their bangs, Asgore could see dull crimson eyes staring him down.

Chara didn't intend to look this ominous, of course. Quite frankly, they were scared, and it was getting difficult to focus.

Asgore ignored it,
"Oh, goodness! It's lovely finally meeting you." He greeted, smiling.
Asgore held out his hand, offering to shake Chara's hand,

Chara looked at his hand for a moment.
The memory was still fresh. The monster's hand covering their forehead and fire burning against their skin.

And what did he want now?
It was hard enough keeping themselves calm,

"I-" their throat felt dry and immediately almost empty.
Chara cleared their throat, and continued their sentence,
"I don't have anything, sir." Chara murmured, checking around their pockets.

Usually if someone held out a hand to Chara, it meant they had something they shouldn't have,
but they were worried they'd get in trouble if they didn't have anything to give to Asgore.