ShelterTale

ShelterTale Part 19

Chara woke up with her room still plunged in darkness, panting even though she didn't need to breathe and dripping red magic sweat off of her ectoplasmic face. She looked older than when she'd first fallen down; taller with more mature features, but her general appearance and "clothes" had always stayed the same. Her brown hair was cut in a short bob with bangs and she wore a green and yellow striped shirt with black pants. Of course, all of it was just aesthetics, since she was a ghost.

She wouldn't have even changed that much, but she wanted to "grow up" with her little brother.

Looking over and seeing his peacefully sleeping face helped Chara recover from the shock of her nightmare. How long had it been since she'd dreamed of the surface like that? Sometimes she thought she could still feel the sting of a whip on her shoulder blades, even though her scars and body were gone.

Her little brother was eleven years old already. Or, more like he was only eleven years old, but he was already nearing six feet tall with sharp horns growing on his furry white head. Some monsters grew up so fast.

And some don't, she thought, giggling to herself. The two skeleton princes she'd befriended when she was first reborn as a monster hadn't changed a bit since the day she'd met them. They both still acted like children in different ways, and Sans even looked like one. Sadly, she couldn't mock his height by holding things out of reach; he had dozens of magical ways around that. Papyrus was too lovable to tease (much), even for her, so she settled for teasing Asriel instead. It was more fun lately since his magic was adjusting and making him more irritable.

Chara cast another loving look at her little brother's face and crawled back under her covers to go back to sleep. Before lunch, the princes would come over to play (or nap) as usual, and she thought enough time had passed for her to dangle a particular topic in view of their eye sockets.

***

It was Saturday night, and the Gaster family had gathered in the palace for a fun evening of games and puzzles. While mulling over his pieces in a tactical board game, Papyrus risked bringing up something from earlier that day.

"DAD, I HAVE A QUESTION. IF YOU KNEW ABOUT THE WAR TWO YEARS BEFORE IT STARTED, WHY DIDN'T YOU TRY TO STOP IT FROM HAPPENING IN THE FIRST PLACE?"

"Has Chara been giving you strange thoughts again?" The king laughed and moved his pieces without much hesitation. "In my three hundred year rule on the surface I diffused over seventy wars before they could start. The humans are constantly looking for someone to fight, and I didn't want monster kind to be constantly threatened. We've had half a century of peace thanks to my decision to finally run away."

"I'M GLAD; I HAD HOPED IT WAS SOMETHING LIKE THAT. SO WHAT ARE THE HUMANS DOING NOW THAT MONSTERS AREN'T AROUND FOR THEM TO FIGHT WITH?"

"Who knows?" Wingdings asked coyly. "Perhaps you should ask your brother about that. He's been spying on the surface, after all."

Sans clicked his teeth and accidentally knocked over the piece he was trying to pick up. "figures you'd know."

"SANS? WHY WERE YOU SPYING ON THE HUMANS?"

The first prince shrugged and took his turn. "i just wanted to know what they've been up to, same as you, bro."

Wingdings chuckled knowingly, but Papyrus accepted the answer cheerfully. "WELL I'M GLAD YOU DID. WHAT ARE THINGS LIKE UP THERE THESE DAYS?"

"let's see, two tribes were destroyed a couple months ago, and the survivors managed to not get enslaved. last i checked they were forming a new tribe near the bottom of the mountain."