To SAVE a Demon

Chapter 1

  Chara had been sleeping. Of course "sleeping" is just sugar coating it. She had after all died, deliberately poisoning herself with dozens of buttercups, so that Asriel could take her soul and together they would leave the Underground, gather six more souls and free everyone. But, when the time came to actually get the souls, Asriel couldn't bring himself to harm anyone. Even when the humans started to throw rocks and branches to slay the monster they thought was responsible for murdering the child in his arms, he could do nothing but smile and return to the Underground. When he got back to the throne room, he finally succumbed to his many wounds and collapsed into a pile of dust in the throne room's garden. Asriel and Chara were no more.

  That is until Chara began to feel awareness of her surroundings once again. It was minor at first, a slight tingling in her fingertips, but it was rapidly becoming stronger with each passing moment. Then, as if waking from a good night's sleep, she opened her eyes.

  She looked around confused, trying to remember what had happened and figure out where she was. She remembered Asriel and her had returned to the throne room, and then everything was black and empty, as if she were in the void.

  Looking at her surroundings, she didn't recognize them at first but it suddenly dawned on her that this was the deepest part of the Underground just a ways before the entrance to the Ruins.

  How did I end up here? she thought. Am I alive again?

  She brought her hands up to her face and saw that they were semi-transparent. Alarmed she looked at the rest of herself and saw the same thing.

  "I'm a ghost?" she said out loud.

  She suddenly heard behind her a sound of something rustling. She turned around, also noticing that she was floating a few inches off the cavern floor, and saw in the middle of a large patch of buttercups, a human on their hands and knees starting to stand up after apparently falling from the hole in the cavern's ceiling.

  Chara stared as the human began to look around, getting their bearings. The human had short brown hair, was wearing a blue sweater with two purple stripes, blue shorts, brown tights and small brown boots. In their left hand they held a short stick, and on their right cheek was a band-aid. Chara was unsure if they were a boy or a girl. She also noticed that their eyes were kept almost entirely closed.

  I see we have similar taste in fashion. she thought as she looked down at her own clothes which consisted of the same attire, except her sweater was green with a single large yellow stripe.

  She floated over to the human and said, "Excuse me."

  If the human heard her, they didn't show it as they started walking towards the Ruins.

  Maybe they're deaf? she thought to herself. Deciding that was the case she floated after the human until she was right in front of them. They didn't stop or slow down but simply walked right through her.

  "Ok, so they can't hear me and they can't see me. I guess I really am a ghost." Chara thought out loud before sighing. "At least this is better than being in that void completely unaware."

  She continued to follow the human as they walked through the first archway and into the first room of the Underground. They stopped halfway, and Chara saw why. In the middle of the room was a small patch of dirt, and in the center of the patch of dirt was a golden flower with a smiling face.

  "Howdy!" it said. "I'm Flowey. Flowey the flower!"

  Chara could not believe her eyes or her ears. In the year she had spent in the Underground living with the Dreemurr's she had never once come across a talking flower. The only flowers that "talked" were the echo flowers in Waterfall but Flowey, as he called himself, was clearly not one of them.

  "Hmmm... You're new to the Underground aren'tcha?" Flowey continued. Chara looked at the human, seeing that they were completely unfazed, as if they had seen this countless times and were used to it.

  "Golly, you must be so confused." Flowey said while moving his two leaves up and down. "Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do. Ready? Here we go!"

  Flowey suddenly pulled the human into an FIGHT. Chara watched as a bright red heart, that she could easily fit into the palm of her hand, floated out of the human's chest and hovered a couple of inches away from them. Chara knew exactly what it was, the human's SOUL. Before the human, within arms reach, were four buttons: FIGHT, ACT, ITEMS, and MERCY. The human didn't even react at all as Flowey continued explaining.

  "See that heart? That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being! Your soul starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV. What's LV stand for? Why LOVE, of course!"

  He's not wrong... Chara thought. But, he only explained half of what LOVE is. King Dad and Mom had explained to Asriel and I that LOVE is an anagram for Level of Violence. Chara was starting to get more suspicious of this flower.

  "You want some LOVE, don't you? Don't worry, I'll share some with you!" Flowey said with a wink and a smile.

  Five small spinning pellets appeared above him as he said, "Down here LOVE is shared through... little white... friendliness pellets."

  Chara's eyes went wide, she knew those pellets were bullets not "friendliness pellets" and that each one was harmful.

  "Are you ready? Move around! Get as many as you can!" Flowey said as he sent the "friendliness pellets" spinning towards the human, right at their soul.

  "Move! Don't touch them! You'll get hurt!" Chara yelled at the human. She knew full well that they couldn't hear her, but she couldn't just stand there while they got hurt.

  To her and Flowey's surprise the human actually sidestepped the pellets. Can they hear me after all? Chara wondered.

  "Hey buddy, you missed them. Let's try again, okay?" Flowey said looking a little annoyed as he summoned five more pellets and sent them towards the human.

  The human dodged them as well, not even saying anything. Chara could only watch as this played out.

  Flowey was looking quite irritated at this point as he said, "Is this a joke? Are you braindead?" He summoned five more pellets sending them hurtling at the human as he shouted, "RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS!" He quickly corrected himself by smiling again and saying, "friendliness pellets."

  The human once again sidestepped his "friendliness pellets." Flowey clearly had had enough. He twisted his face into and evil, angry smile as he said in a voice dripping with hatred, "You know what's going on here don't you? You just wanted to see me suffer."

  Suddenly, dozens of bullets surrounded the human. With an evil smile Flowey shouted, "DIE!" as he sent them all to close in on the human while giving a high-pitched laugh.

  Chara's eyes widened, she looked at the human as she tried to think of something to save them, but was shocked that the human hadn't moved or flinched at the certain death they were facing.

  As the bullets finally reached their target they all disappeared. Flowey was so surprised that he didn't notice the fireball that had appeared next to him, until it sent him flying out into the darkness of the cavern.

  As Chara tried to figure out where the fireball came from she soon had her answer as someone all too familiar appeared in the small light from the cavern ceiling. Chara could not believe her eyes, as she said in a small voice, "Mom?"