Across the timelines [an Undertale Fanfic] (revised)

Finding Chara

  "What do you mean he's gone? He couldn't have just disappeared," Asgore said, getting up to comfort his wife. He had an idea of what could have happened, but didn't want to say anything to her. If Toriel knew that he had asked the skeleton boys to watch and end Chara, she would never forgive him. "Maybe he just went out for a little walk?"

Toriel shook her head no, unable to accept that answer. It just wasn't like him to get up and disappear like that, so she couldn't believe him even if she wanted to. "Flowey said that he left sometime last night, and that it looked like he was talking to someone. He didn't see anyone else in there, and Frisk was fast asleep, so it couldn't have been anyone else inside."

"Calm down, Tori. I'm sure we'll find him. Even if he got up last night, he's still a boy. Boys like Chara need some sleep sometime." Asgore said as he held her close, wanting to comfort her. He made a mental note about investigating the strange voice that Chara had heard last night, but then pulled away to look his wife in the eyes. "He's going to be just fine, Tori. Have faith in the boy, okay? Flowey is right when he said that Chara's strong. No monster will go near him." Just then, there was a sudden knock on the door before Papyrus and Undyne just walked in. "Hello Undyne. Hello Papyrus. Is there something we could help you two with?"

Papyrus took one look at the queen, noticing her tears, before saying, "well, we came to see if Frisk wants to play with us, but we seem to be interrupting something important." He could feel the tension in the air and felt uncomfortable immediately. He hid his arms behind his back and looked over at Undyne as if to ask if they should come back later. 

"Chara's missing." Toriel said as she began to clear away some tears. An idea hit her as she realized something about them. Undyne and Papyrus both had seen Chara yesterday and would probably know how to find him again. Those two wouldn't have to go looking for him, but if Chara was truly dangerous then it was her responsibility to find him. She would be the one to come when he needs help. As she met their eyes, she found that stopping her tears from falling was useless before saying, "how can he just disappear like this? And here I thought, I thought I was given a second chance." She ran off to her room without another word, knowing what she would have to do to get him back.

Undyne and Papyrus watched as she ran off before exchanging a look of guilt with Asgore. Asgore sighed before gesturing to the couch, offering some tea as he did so, which they kindly refused. As they each got comfortable, Asgore studied both of their faces carefully, noticing how tired they both looked. A night of no sleep means they were definitely up all night, and with Chara missing, it almost confirmed his theory.

"I'm sorry you have to see her so upset. She just really loves that kid, you know?" Asgore said sadly, thinking of the days when Chara followed him around, proudly telling him that Asriel and he were going to be just like him when they grew up. That boy was actually one of the sweetest kids he'd ever known, especially after how he was treated in the surface world. Chara had even sworn to them that they would help free the underground, but he didn't think much of it then. They were just kids. Kids, not yet a monster. "Where is he? What did he do?"

Papyrus knew that they weren't supposed to say anything, but with Toriel crying in the other room, he couldn't help it. He wanted to admit everything to both of them, but they made a promise to keep it a secret from Toriel. "He is in-"

"Alphys has him!" Undyne shouted, loosing her cool for a bit. Almost immediately, she covered her mouth, realizing that she might have just ruined the plan. If Toriel heard her, there was no doubt that she would demand to see him, but after seeing her cry like that, Undyne didn't know if she would be able to say no. It was her job to say no. Alphys was trusting her, but could she really bring herself up to crushing Toriel's hopes again? No, not after yesterday. She didn't want Toriel to hate her, especially because that woman was one of the kindest mother figures she's ever known. 

Papyrus looked over at his friend with an open mouth, unable to believe that Undyne the undying could break so easily. Everyone was telling him how important this mission was for them and that under no circumstances could he tell anyone what they were doing. Even he thought that he would break first, but to his surprise, it was Undyne. "Sans and Mettaton caught him last night in Snowdin Village. You said that if anything happens to kill his determination to stay alive, so they took him back to that creepy lab."

Asgore nodded, wondering how many souls did Chara steal along the way, before hearing slight whimpers coming from Frisk's room. Standing up, he walked over to the door, opening it to see Frisk's looks of discomfort as his hand held onto his arm. Going over to him, Asgore picked up the child, holding him close like he's seen Toriel do many times before, in an attempt to comfort him, but nothing worked. Frisk continued to hold his arm, his whimpers growing louder as he did so.

"What is she doing to him? I need to know what she's planning to do first." Asgore said as he looked over at the others. They all couldn't help but be worried over what they were seeing. Frisk was definitely feeling everything Chara was going through, but was what they were doing truly the right thing anymore? "I gave you permission to end the monster's life, not my son's. What is Alphys doing to him?"

"When we left, they were trying to find a way to break the bond from Frisk, but I guess we need to bring Frisk there to know for sure if it was working, huh?" Papyrus said, hoping that answered his question. That's when an idea came to his mind. "That settles it. We need to bring Frisk back with us too. I promise you as a member of the royal guard to protect Frisk with all my power."

Frisk let out another cry of pain, eventually gaining the attention of his mother after she had calmed down. "It hurts... Stop. Please stop..." As Toriel stepped back into the room, she held her arms out for him, Asgore gently passing him to her. Frisk needed her now and no matter how upset she was feeling, she would be there for her kid. "Chara! Help..."

"Asgore, we have to find Chara. Wherever he is, I'm sure he's in trouble. Frisk wouldn't cry like this for no reason," Toriel said as she looked over at her husband, determination filling her eyes. No matter what the others say about him, or how much they're against her going alone, she will find her baby because that's what a mother does. She will save Chara with or without them. "Will you help me look for him?"

"Honey, we don't need to look for him. We know where he is," looking away from his wife, Asgore exchanged looks with his friends, silently asking for help. When they refused to meed his gaze, he didn't know what else to do. "Undyne and Papyrus know where he is."

As Toriel's hopeful gaze moved to them, Undyne looked shocked to be thrown under the bus like that. She saw that apologetic look in Asgore's face and knew that what happens next was all on him. He would be the one to explain everything to Toriel. Scratching her head, Undyne met the goat woman's eyes before answering, "yeah, we can take you to him if you want. Bring Frisk too, though, okay?"

With that, Toriel nodded before placing Frisk down on the bed. It didn't matter if he was still in his pajamas, she put on his shoes for him and handed him to Papyrus. "Let me change out of my nightgown first before we go. I'm so glad that you two know where he is. I was so worried he wouldn't come back."

"Asgore, we can't take her to the lab. She'll stop Alphys if she sees him," Undyne told him, whispering loud enough for the three to hear. "She won't let Alphys work if we do."

Papyrus took a look at Frisk, seeing how much pain his friend was in. Even in his sleep, he could tell that the only thing going through his mind was Chara. Chara was loved here, even if he is a crazed murderer. Papyrus couldn't believe that Chara would ever try to hurt them on his own. There was no way that he could ever do that to them. Chara did care about Frisk, that he knew for sure, so hurting Frisk would only hurt Chara. Frisk was someone important to that murderer because Frisk was the only one out of the rest of them who saw any good in him. He was the only one besides Toriel who hadn't given up on him. 

"We're supposed to help everyone as royal guards, aren't we Undyne?" Papyrus asked, meeting her eye with a worried look of his own. When she nodded, he couldn't help but ask "then why can't we make Toriel happy too? She just wants to see Chara."

"You know why, Paps. Chara would kill her if we gave him the chance. For the sake of everyone else, we can't let her see him or it'll all be over for us." Undyne answered, knowing it sounded awful. It sounded worse than awful. It was horrible, and yet she knew there was no other way. In order to save the rest of the monsters here in the underground, they had no choice but to break her heart and take him away. "If it makes me a bad person for wanting to keep everyone else safe from that monster, then fine. I'll be the bad person, but we can't let her see him. She won't be able to handle it."

Just then a sound behind them made the three turn around to see an angry looking Toriel staring back at them. Both Asgore and Papyrus gulped, immediately looking away, while Undyne met her eyes. Of course, she felt belittled by the woman's gaze, but she was Undyne the undying. She wasn't scared of anything. Right now, the feeling she had wasn't fear at all. It was guilt and disappointment in herself for lying to her.

"You will take me to find my boy, right? You're not going to try to get rid of me, and take Frisk with you." When the others stayed silent, she knew her answer. Looking away from them, she couldn't help but feel disappointed in all three of them as she held her arms out for her son. "Give me my child. If I have to go all over Home to find him, I will do it without you."

Papyrus handed her back sleepy Frisk, just as he was starting to wake up a bit. He looked over at his mom before saying, "it hurts, mom. It won't stop. What's happening to Chara?" As Toriel placed him back on his feet, Frisk rolled up the sleeves to his shirt up to his elbow, taking a look at the bruises forming on his arms. This wasn't the worse of it. The more bruises he had, the more he knew that Chara was in fact in danger. He wasn't losing any part of his ten hp, but the pain he was feeling was too much even for someone like Chara. "We really need to find him. Wherever he is, he's hurting a lot."

The others crowded around him, taking a look at his arms, unable to believe that what they were doing was hurting Frisk. They wanted to believe that they were doing the right thing, but if their friends get hurt in the process, is it really the best thing to do? They weren't so sure anymore.

Toriel took Frisk's hand gently before offering to carry him, "let's go, Frisk. We'll look for Chara together." Frisk only shook his head no, wanting to walk as well. He wanted to go save his friend, and was willing to go through anything to do it.

"Chara's at the lab!" Flowey shouted, reminding everyone that he was still in the room. "I heard them say that Alphys was testing stuff on him." He looked over at his mother, pleading to her with his eyes. "Mom, save Chara! Although he's mean and scary, Chara is still my best friend and I know he doesn't deserve this!"

"Thank you for telling us, Flowey. We're going now," as she led Frisk out of the room, she noticed how the others planned to follow her. Now that she knew where he was, there was no reason for the others to continue after her, but she needed to say it to them. She needed to know that if they were going to follow her, they weren't going to get in her way. "Please, leave us alone if you don't want to help him. I know you don't feel the same way about him as we do, but we're not giving up on Chara."