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Once, there was an old and run-down castle. There were two people living in the castle, whose names were Frisk and Chara. There used to be more residents, but one day it was abandoned but for a single family. This occurred many years ago, and the story as to why had been lost in time. Since then, a few generations came and went until Chara and Frisk were left.
The two did not get along wonderfully, but they got by. Chara did most of the cooking while Frisk handled the bulk of the housework. It wasn't a healthy relationship between the two. Chara was very commanding and resolute, while Frisk was much too kind for their own good.
One day, while watering the garden, Frisk noticed something strange. Out of the corner of their eye, they saw a faint white object in the distant trees. When they raised their head to look, it was already gone. They were curious, but decided to first consult Chara before appeasing their curiosity. While Frisk was the more inoffensive of the two, Chara was normally the voice of reason.
When Frisk eventually found that Chara was still asleep, they took it as an excuse to go of their own accord. They threw on a robe and took a small knife as a defensive precaution. They hiked determinedly the kilometer or so to the woods and called for around a minute with no response. They shrugged and began to walk off, before finally a voice raised itself. “Wait... please, can you help me?”
Frisk turned around to find a young man, seemingly around their age. But no, it wasn't a man, not even human in appearance. The... creature? The being before before Frisk was mostly humanoid in stature – around their height – but possessed a caprine face and was covered in snow white fur. He was shivering, despite the temperate environment. His face had a number of scars and his deep purple eyes were slightly clouded.
Frisk approached the being with a worrying lack of caution. “What's the matter, sir? How can I help?”
He continued to shiver, closing his eyes as he experienced pain simply to speak. “I... I need to... to rest...”
Frisk interrupted before he could go any further. “Come with me.” They helped the being to his feet and walked him towards the castle. “We'll help you out first, and then you can tell me everything that's happened, alright?” The being, who identified himself as a 'monster' specifically, curtly nodded and complied.
Frisk cleaned the monster as best they could and quickly prepared something small for him to eat. They weren't very used to cooking, but they weren't too bad at it if the dish was simple enough. “What's your name?” Frisk asked as they tossed ham slices in the frying pan.
“It's... Asriel,” he said, with a fatigued appearance. Just then, the two heard loud footsteps from upstairs. Chara must have smelled the food and woken up. When they entered the room to find a monster at their dining table, the look on their face could only be described as one of overwhelming shock.
Chara's eyes darted between the two occupants of the room. “What the hell is this thing doing here?” Asriel seemed somewhat surprised for a moment, but simply hung his head without responding.
“Chara!” Frisk shouted, something they rarely did. It was enough to elicit even more surprise from the usual instigator. “Come outside with me for a second.” Chara reluctantly followed them out of the room into the hallway, leaving Asriel alone to his thoughts. “Look, I don't know what exactly Asriel here is, but he needed help, so-”
“As-what? That thing has a name!?” Chara was probably shouting loudly enough for Asriel to hear on the other side of the door, but they wouldn't have cared anyway.
“Chara, please just calm down.”
“You do not even know what that thing is, do you? You are so naive.” Chara sighed and lowered their head. “Alright, quick history lesson. A long time ago, there were humans and a race called monsters living in a village around here. Basically, there was a civil war between the races. The village was destroyed, and over the years this castle was all that was left.
“When the monsters were driven out of the village, and with no other civilization nearby, they struggled to survive. Many died after at most a year, while a few devolved into common animals with no real semblance of sentience. Our parents though monsters were extinct by the time we were born, but apparently not.”
Frisk stared at Chara with a slight anger in their eyes. “I don't care what history says he is. Look at him, he wouldn't hurt a fly!”
“He is an animal!”
“He's a person! One who needed help, and so I gave it to him. And I don't care what you have to say about it, so just suck it up!” Frisk stormed back into the kitchen, making Asriel jump a little bit. Chara just stood in front of the door, uncertain whether or not what just took place was real.
Chara never warmed up to Asriel. At the best of times, they tolerated him, citing the usefulness of his magic for cooking and other things. He and Frisk, on the other hand, got along famously. He wasn't great at cooking himself, so if he wasn't needed he would often help Frisk with the other housework, particularly in the garden. He seemed to have a knack for botany, with the plants visibly improving since his arrival.
One day, Frisk was taking another turn at cooking with Chara having slept in again. They and Asriel were attempting to make something Frisk hadn't tried before, a pie. Chara was always very good at making them, and Frisk wanted to learn how to replicate the feat themselves.
Asriel helped with the basic tasks such as lighting the oven and gathering the ingredients, but Frisk did most of the preparation. The pie took longer than expected, and did not have as sweet a smell as one of Chara's. Chara, too, did not seem to take notice, seemingly not stirred by the scent. The two tried a slice of the pie each, leaving a mostly-full dish on the counter for later.
On the first bite, their faces said it all. Something was very wrong with this concoction, which could no longer be considered pie but rather the spawn of hell itself. Asriel, in an attempt to be polite to the chef, proceeded to swallow and smile. Frisk, thinking this was an indication that the pie was potentially more viable as food than they thought, swallowed as well.
They continued to eat – albeit extremely slowly – for a few minutes before Frisk started to feel strange. “Frisk? Are you okay?” Asriel questioned, followed by a dull thud. He got up and rushed around the counter to Frisk's side, who had now fallen out of their chair onto the ground. They started to cough violently, Asriel trying but failing to calm them. As a last-ditch effort, he called for help at the top of his voice.
Chara started rushing down the stairs, entering the kitchen to witness Asriel pleading, crying, doing anything to try and help Frisk, who was now coughing up blood and looking weak. “Don't just stand there! Let's get them to the healing room!” they exclaimed. Asriel picked Frisk up, getting blood on himself, and followed Chara through the halls. The whole castle seemed larger and more complex in the heat of the moment.
They soon reached the room in question. There was a stone table in the center of the round room, with bookshelves surrounding it that reached to the ceiling. Asriel lay Frisk on the table and performed his healing magic, amplified by the tomes on the shelves. It was enough to get them to stop coughing and convulsing, but they were still weak and stricken by fear.
“Asriel,” Chara said. “Leave for a moment.”
“But I-”
“I said leave. Now.” After Asriel had left the room, now frantically pacing in front of the door, Chara addressed Frisk, who was beginning to recover. “Frisk, tell me what happened. And don't leave anything out.”
“We... we were making a... pie, but s-something was wrong. I d-don't know what... happened.”
Chara sighed and threw their arms in the air. “Why don't you understand? You've arrived at death's gate maybe 5 or 6 times now since that thing came here! And it's always involved him!
Frisk stared Chara down, though less venomously than they would normally be able to. “What are you saying? That it's his fault? What's wrong with you?”
Chara banged their fist against the table, threatening to break it in two. “What's wrong with you? I cannot believe you still don't see it. The ladder, the pesticide, this incident – who gathered the ingredients for your little experiment?” Frisk lowered their eyes, dodging the question, regardless of the fact that Chara did not want an answer anyway. “So many 'mistakes' over and over is getting too much for me to just brush under the carpet. He needs to go. I can't let this slide any more, and I don't care what you have to say about it.”
Frisk curled up on the table and put their head in their knees. Chara left the room – silence is consent, anyway – and on the way out, simply said to Asriel, “You have one more day. Then I never want to see your face here again.” Once Chara had left, Asriel burst into the healing room to find Frisk sobbing on the table. They did not lift their head to see him.
“Frisk? What happened? Are you okay?”
With a sniff, they lifted their head and finally spoke, their throat too hoarse to convey any conviction. “Why? Why are you doing this?”
Asriel stepped back in shock, not sure what to make of the question. “What? It was a mistake, I-I'm sorry! I don't know what went wrong. I would never hurt you on purpose-”
“Just get out of here. You heard Chara.” Frisk got off the table and limped past Asriel out the door. Nothing he said now could stop them. He started to tear up, and ran down the hall in the opposite direction, directly towards the main gate.
As Frisk made their way up the stairs, they noticed Chara making noise in the kitchen. Probably just cleaning up the mess. They got all the way up to the bedroom before seeing Chara. It was strange. When they entered the room, they knew they didn't see them, yet like an apparition they were there in front of them. Something in Frisk's mind attempted to convince them that this was normal, but it failed.
Chara simply stood there, a mix of surprise and guilt etched on their face. In their left hand was a bunch of buttercups. “Chara...” Frisk asked, shaking a little as they spoke. “What is this?” There was no response. Chara knew that whatever they said now would fall on deaf ears. “Did... did you do this?” Frisk was crying, knowing the answer already.
Chara knew that they would not be able to explain any further, so they only said what was necessary. “I needed the monster to go.” Frisk was furious with Chara, and they would soon introduce them to hell on Earth, but now they had to go and find Asriel. Chara only stood there silently as Frisk ran back down the stairs. “I'm sorry,” they muttered.
Frisk ran as fast as they could, biting through the pain. They left the gate with neither robe nor knife. They needed to find Asriel immediately, before they lost him forever. They frantically called out his name in the woods, over and over again through sob-choked breaths, but never found a response.
After a few minutes, they heard a faint whimpering. They followed the noise to find Asriel, slumped against a tree, blood running from his chest. “Asriel! No, no, what did you do? No!” Frisk wailed and embraced him, becoming covered in blood.
“... Frisk? Heh... wish you'd found me sooner.” His speech was slurred and pained, a deathly pallor growing on his face.
“Asriel... please...” Frisk could no longer speak coherently through their sobs.
“I'm sorry, Frisk. I wish it didn't end like this.” He paused and coughed with a wince. “I love you, Frisk.”
“Stop it! You're gonna be fine! We're just gonna take... take you... take...”
But he was already gone.
After hours crying over Asriel's body, the world refusing their pleas to revive him, Frisk got up and made their way back to the castle. Bloodstained and with dried tears covering their face, they meandered through the empty-sounding halls. They made their way up to the bedroom where they found Chara on the floor. A knife stuck out of their chest, clasped in their own hands.