Falling. Deeper and deeper. Further and further. A speck of light, a speck of hope, further and further away. Browns and greens rushing past them, then white, then blue, then earthy orange. A flash of yellow, a flash of green, and then darkness.

The child sat bolt upright, hand clutched to their chest. Pain blossomed like a deadly flower where her hand was clenched, but she was preoccupied with other matters. Like figuring out why she was alive.

Everything was there in her memory, crystal-clear and knife-sharp. The fall, her 'family', the flowers, the village. It was all laid out in front of her like a puzzle, a puzzle where one tiny piece was missing. How she survived. Well, not how she survived, but how she was alive now. There was no doubt that she'd died-she could remember that experience in great detail-but she couldn't be living now, unless…Hesitantly she dropped her hand down to her side, and dared herself to look down. No, this…this was impossible! She was so fascinated by what was in place of her soul that it took her a while to notice the other things that had changed-her legs. Well, less changed and more gone completely. Where her legs had been there was now a grey-green aura, shaped a bit like a tail. The child let out a small scream (she was an extremely brave child and had lived through a lot of tough stuff, but anyone would freak out if they suddenly found their legs gone) and flew into the ai- wait, flew? Chara found herself hovering in mid-air, and it was then that she realised she was not alone in the room.

Frisk was woken by a small scream, and slowly opened their eyes. The first thing they noticed was the bright, slightly distorted light shining down on them. The second thing they noticed was the distressed looking ghost just above them. The ghost child seemed to look annoyed, as if they had been hoping that the other child was dead. "Uh, hello?" The ghost spoke with vaguely irritated tone. Then then looked a bit shocked, like they had forgotten something. "Can you…see me?"

Chara waited for a nod, a little yes, anything that would indicate that they weren't completely invisible. After a few seconds the child nodded, filling Chara with relief. 'Wait a sec' Chara thought, 'Why do I care whether they can see me. It's not like they're my friend or anything. I don't even know their name.' "What's your name?" The smaller child looked like they were concentrating for a second, then moved their hands. Chara immediately recognised it as sign language-'Thank god I learnt it before I…'- and saw that they had signed out the word 'Frisk'.

"Frisk?" Chara said. The child nodded. "Huh, that's…a really weird name. I mean, who calls their child Frisk" The child immediately looked downhearted, Chara was pleased. If this 'Frisk' thought that they were gonna be friends with her, then they were very wrong. She didn't need anyone, and getting attached to this human would mean pain when they inevitably died. Her dying probably had a big effect on the monsters attitude towards humans. This child would definitely die, or get hurt, or-Chara's train of thought was interrupted by Frisk suddenly falling to their knees and clutching at their chest. Damn. Chara had hoped that the pain was just because she was a ghost, but no, it seemed that whatever had happened with Chara's soul seemed to affect Frisk as well. Through their pain Frisk managed to summon up the image of their soul, and almost fell backwards with surprise and fear. Where a small glowing red heart should be there was half a heart, the edges jagged where it split. At that sight Chara gasped, pulling up the image of their own soul. Half a heart with jagged edges.

"So…it's obvious what's happened here" the ghost child declared. Frisk looked up at her with a confused expression, and Chara gave a drawn-out sigh. "Ugh, don't you know anything? When you fell down your soul must have split into two, and half of it must have combined with my leftover determination, reawakening me." Frisk looked up at them and signed, "How did you die?"

"How did I-you mean-what does it matter!" Frisk recoiled at the ghost's angry tone. Wrong question.

"Anyway, excusing your extremely rude interrogation, let's get moving. Frisk made their way to a large door with a purple frame, and the strange ghost child followed.