Ghost Buddy

Summary: In your defense, the scary movies you used to watch made it seem like possession was much easier.

Disclaimer: Undertale belongs to Toby Fox

You remember it like it was yesterday, but that might be because you've lost all track of time. You woke up in the patch of sunflowers. Mom was crying over you, and you couldn't really grasp why or what was going on.

Then it hit you. Asriel messed everything up. You were going to kill two birds with one stone – get revenge on the so-called family you had on the surface, and help your real family – the ones who actually took care of you and loved you – escape on to the surface. The two of you would be heroes, freeing monsterkind and getting revenge on humanity.

"Mom?" You said, hesitantly as you tried to assess the situation around you. She didn't seem to hear you, so you repeat yourself a bit louder. Again, nothing.

You thought harder. Asriel forced control away from you. They wouldn't let you fight the humans. They wouldn't let you strike back the person who had the audacity to call himself your father, even as he shot arrow after arrow into your new body. You had always been an angry kid – you got it from your father – but now a type of anger you had never felt before was coursing through you. You'd never been angry at Asriel before. Even if he was being a crybaby, even when you felt that Mom and Dad preferred him to you, even when you fought.

You were snapped out of this as Mom got up and walked away. "Mom, where are you going?" You asked. You got yourself to your feet and ran after her. But as she left through the door exiting into the Ruins, you found you could not follow her. You were stuck in a way. Trying to move farther away from the sunflowers made your body feel sluggish, to the point where you could not muster the energy to lift your feet anymore. Confused, you watched Mom retreat into the Ruins. To make things more complicated, you could've sworn you saw a sunflower pop out of the ground, watch her, and retreat back into the soil.

You don't know how long you spent trying to get yourself to go through the doorway, but it was no use. Panic began to set in. Mom couldn't hear you, you were bound to this patch of sunflowers, and you couldn't remember anything after Asriel took control of the body you had briefly shared.

You shuffled back over to the patch of sunflowers. Angrily, you went to kick through a few of them.

That's when everything got worse. You realized that you didn't even budge a single petal on any of them. You reached down to pick one up, but your hand went right through them. The feeling of panic in your chest intensified and you began scrambling at the flowers, doing your best to try and interact with something, anything.

You can't remember how long had gone by before you laid down and realized that no, that was it. You were dead. A ghost. And not a ghost-monster like the few that had run the snail farm, but a ghost. At the acceptance, memories came back. Memories of Asriel collapsing into the living room of Home, of Mom and Dad rushing over in tears, trying to heal him, and failing. The cold feeling of your new body crumbling into dust and breaking apart.

The rage came back. And looking back, that rage overtook you for days. Maybe weeks. Maybe months. Rage at Asriel for messing up your plan. Rage that you gave up your very life so that you could do the only two things you ever really wanted to do in life: help them and get back at your relatives on the surface.

But after time the rage spread. You were angry with dad for being so naïve as to not catch onto the plan. Mad at the other monsters for heralding you as their hope for freedom. Furious with the comedian Snowdrake Family your parents had taken you to see, for cracking jokes while all the monsters in the Underground were suffering. All the good memories you had were replaced with rage, that all these monsters settled with complacency in the underground until you fell down. Time went by, and you began to hate the monsters just as much as you hated humanity for what they had done to you.

Mom came to the garden almost every day to tend to your grave. And as much as you wanted to, you could never bring yourself to hate her. Your birth-mother died in child birth – which, to the village you grew up in, was the first sign that you were some sort of demon child – so Toriel was the only Mom you had ever known. Even in death, she was taking care of you. And seeing her was the only thing you ever really had to look forward to. Sometimes it almost seemed like she was aware of your presence, as even though she never responded to you, she would occasionally double-take in your direction as if she had seen you standing there.

No, you didn't think you could ever bring yourself to hate Mom. But then again, you didn't bank on another child falling down, either.

A long time had gone by since your death, and you were sitting next to Mom while she was tending the sunflowers. You liked sitting by her. Sometimes you would almost forget about being dead and it just seemed like you were helping her with the gardening like you had done so many times in the past. But there was a faint cry in the distance, coming from above you, causing both of you to look up at the same time. Mom gasped when she realized something was falling down, and she ran towards the falling figure. In doing so, she stomped right on the flowers that were growing over where your face had been buried, causing you to frown. Still, you knew it wasn't on purpose so you got up and followed Mom.

She caught what had fallen just in time. You scurried around the side of her, and you were surprised to see a very scared little boy in Mom's arms. He began crying as soon as he saw Mom's face. Mom began to coo and comfort the boy, and walked home. As she left, she said, "Hush now my child, I will take care of you."

Something snapped inside you at those words. You hated that Boy, and you hated Mom too. She had made you feel special. Like you were hers. But would she take in any child? There wasn't anything special about you, she just replaced you with that driveling brat.

As you watched them leave, you saw that flower pop out of the ground again. It began shaking. You even could hear it shouting something, but you couldn't tell what.

After that kid fell down, Mom didn't come tend to the flowers anymore. Sometimes the days seemed to repeat themselves. But all you could do was sit there and stew in your anger, letting it fester and grow. You hated every insect that crawled by, every ray of sunshine that cracked through Mt. Ebott and hit your grave. You hated every petal on every flower, especially now that some were beginning to wilt, and it made you hate Mom more.

You don't know how many weeks came by before Mom came back. She was crying again. Seeing her cry almost made you forget being angry with her, and you wanted badly to hug her, to be her child again. But you knew you couldn't and it made you angry.

Time went on, and you couldn't measure it because monsters didn't age like you would have. More kids fell down. Each time, Mom would find them, and take them, and forget about you and your grave. The flower in the courtyard of the Ruins would yell something. Days would seem to overlap. Time went by in a blur of anger and rage.

After the sixth child fell down, you gave up on ever seeing Mom again. And you swore months went by before she did come back. At this point, you didn't even feel anything from the sight of her. Your anger had hit its peak and now you just rolled your eyes again at how she conveniently remembered first dead human child.

It wasn't until she talked that something inside you changed. "Chara." She whispered, looking at a few of the flowers that had wilted. "I am a terrible mother. I'm so sorry."

Your arms that had been folded across your chest dropped. She hardly ever spoke when she tended the flowers, much less said your name.

"Since losing you, I failed to protect six other children. Soon, your f…Asgore will break the barrier. Just one soul left. I never wanted things to be this way. I should have never taught you about the barrier's limitations." She cried harder. "Maybe you'd still be here."

She tended the flowers, and you just stopped and watched her. Mixed feelings swirled inside your head. Part of you agreed with her out of spite, part of you was angry that she didn't think you could handle knowing the truth (though part of you pointed out that maybe it's true since you went and got yourself killed), part of you was still angry that she had tried to replace you six times.

But mostly, you were sad. And you hadn't been sad for a long, long time.

That night, another human fell. And that's when everything changed.

You don't know if you'd call it sleep, but when the light faded away from Mt. Ebott, you fell into a dream-like state. But something snapped you out of it as a thud echoed throughout the chamber where your grave was. You sat upright and looked around, and nearly jumped out of your skin to see that another human had fallen right next to where you had been laying.

"Oh my God." You say out loud, out of reflex, and scrambled a away from them.

What's even more shocking, is that this kid looks up, and looks at you – not through you, AT YOU – and says, "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry! I didn't hurt you, did I?"

You freeze. No one has spoken to you in what had to be years. Looking around, for anyone else, you bring a finger up to yourself and ask, "Me?"

The other kid sits up and rubs their shoulder, clearly in pain. Still, they give you a playful smile. "Of course, silly. Who else is here?"

You aren't sure how to react. You slowly shake your head. "I'm okay, no worries." You look the kid over, and you realize they look to be about eleven or twelve. A bit younger than you had been before you died. They're pretty banged up. Usually, that would be great because after all, you HATE humans. But this one has you more curious than anything else.

"So what's your name?" They ask, still giving you a friendly smile. You weren't use to this either. Everyone in your village looked at you like a demon. But when you killed your mom in childbirth, had the creepy smile, and took out your problems on other kids in the village, they probably tend to do that.

"Chara." You answer, not taking your eyes off them.

"That's a pretty name!" They answer excitedly, as if you had told them a great secret. "My name is Frisk! Can you maybe give me a hand up?"

Disgust and fury rose inside of you. No human had ever done a thing to help you, other than give you a reason to throw yourself into the mountain. But, again, curiosity won you over and you reached out your hand to them without thinking. And you had forgotten that, oh yeah, you're dead, so Frisk's hand just phased right through yours.

"Oh…" Frisk said, at what happened. You're a little surprised at how calm they are at their situation. "Are you a ghost?" Frisk tilts their head a bit.

You shrug. "Well. I'm dead and invisible to most people so I'd count that as a ghost."

Frisk scratched their head and asked, "Does that mean I'm a ghost if I can talk to you?"

You looked down at their hands and legs, to see that they were crushing the flowers. You point and answer, "No, because you can touch the flowers."

Realizing where they were Frisk jumped up and scurried off your grave. "Oh no! What a pretty garden. I didn't ruin your garden did I?"

Everything this kid did confused you. They were so very…well. Monster-like. They were nice and polite, which you had never seen from a human before, and it was baffling.

"It's…" You hesitate. "It's okay."

"Do you know how I get out of here, Chara?" Frisk asked, looking around,

You nod and point them down the hallway, although part of you doesn't want them to go. You haven't talked to anyone in so long that even this feels nice.

Frisk thanks you in their polite, soothing voice, and begins to walk down toward the door. But they stop and look at you. "Why don't you come with me, Chara?"

You shake your head. "I can't. I haven't been able to leave this garden."

Frisk frowns. "Oh…I'm sorry. That sounds really lonely." But then, their frown flips and they regain this excited, exuberant nature. "Maybe I can find someone to help!"

Before you can object, they run off. And then, something feels wrong. You get that sluggish feeling again, and everything goes fuzzy. You blink and rub your eyes, and when you open them, you're hovering off the ground, next to Frisk. They double-take at you.

"Hey, what happened?" They ask, but you aren't sure how to respond. Thankfully, you're interrupted before you need to.

"Howdy!"

You freeze up, and look at the flower in front of you. It's the same one that popped out of the ground whenever Mom left, you were sure of it. Suddenly, the air around you seemed very compressed.

This was different. You had encountered monsters before. Some of them would accidentally release soul magic, and you knew how to dodge it. But now it was different. You were very aware of Frisk's presence right next to you. You almost felt like you were inside their body, like you could move their arms despite the fact they were inches away from you.

"Try and run in to as many friendliness pellets as you can, okay?" The flower, Flowey, said in an overly cheerful manner.

Frisk was listening to them intently, but you could tell their smile had faltered. They were as suspicious as you were.

You saw the magic bullets materialize around Frisk.

"It's lying." You say. "Move!"

You go to move too, but you move Frisk's body, not yours. You move Frisk from the path of the bullets, confused.

Frisk glances at you with alarm out of the corner of their eyes. You feel something in side of you and they snap control of their body away from you.

"Hey buddy." Flowey says, annoyed, "You missed them. Let's try that again."

This time, Frisk dodges the bullets on their own – and actually fairly gracefully at that.

Frisk looks like they want to say something to you, but you both jump as the flower cackles and grows some rather creepy fangs. You had never seen a monster look at you the way it was. No, that was a look you remembered only from the way your father would look at you when no one else around.

"FINE. DON'T PLAY ALONG." Flowey snarled.

A ring of bullets surrounded Frisk, which included you as well. You weren't sure if you could be hurt by magic as a ghost, but you didn't want to find out.

But before you could find out or had to worry about it, a fireball blazed through the air, striking the flower.

Mom, coming to your rescue once again. You almost want to forget about Frisk and pretend she was there for you, but she quickly begins with the whole, "my child," routine with Frisk, and your mood sours.

You follow, not that you apparently have a choice, as Toriel and Frisk enter the Ruins. Toriel has Frisk talk to a dummy, for some reason, and they progress. As you go by, you take a swing at the dummy and of course you just go right through it.

Mom shows Frisk around the various, "traps," of the first part of the Ruins. You look at Frisk, and they must feel your gaze, as they turn and look at you with a raised eyebrow. However, they fall behind Mom, and in that moment a Froggit leapt in front of them. It hopped around excitedly, shooting a fly-shaped blast into Frisk's body.

Frisk cried out in pain – and you felt a sting too. You're definitely connected to this kid in some way. The air became compressed again and you could feel more of an awareness of Frisk's body. Seizing the opportunity to have a physical form again, you force Frisk's arms to pick up a nearby stick and try to make them swing for the Froggit. However, their arm locks up before you can even raise the branch over your head. Frisk forces you to drop it, and turns to the confused monster.

"Aw! Aren't you a cutie!" Frisk coos to them.

The Froggit actually looked down as if it were bashful.

"Well I don't think it knows what you said, but it appreciates the compliment anyway." You say to your partner, a bit surprised.

Toriel stomped into view and glared at the Froggit, causing it to run off.

"Are you alright, my child?" She asks.

Frisk nods and gives her a thumbs up. But as she turns back to guide the child, they turn and give you a glare. You scowl back at them, giving what Asriel always called the, "creepy face."

At the end of the next hallway, Mom decides she has to run off and gives Frisk a cell phone, telling them to stay put and she'll come back for them.

As soon as Mom leaves, you turn to them and say, "Look, kid…"

You jump back a bit as Frisk gives you a sassy attitude you haven't heard yet before. "No, you look, Ghost Pants."

"I have a name." You snap.

"Well, your name's going to be, 'jerk,' if you keep up those shenanigans." Frisk places their hands on their hips. "My body, my rules. I would never hit that cute little frog thing! It was just excited."

You feel yourself getting angry and wanting to hit them, but you know you can't. "You were just lucky. These monsters want your soul so they can go back to the surface."

"Yeah I'm sure the big evil frog that likes compliments has a big evil plot against me." Frisk replies dryly. To your surprise, their expression softens. "Maybe they just need friends."

You're utterly perplexed at this. You'd never known a human like this in your entire life. They almost remind you of Asriel with their happy attitude.

"I don't mind you sticking around." Frisk says, "But none of that."

You're mad at them. You're mad because all you've wanted to do since you've died is get revenge. On humans, on monsters, on your own family. But possessing Frisk wasn't going to happen, and now you were stuck with them.

"Yeah, well, if anything happens to you and you wind up like me, don't say I didn't warn you." You say, folding your arms.

To your surprise, Frisk smiles at you. "What?" You snap.

"Cute and protective? I lucked out as far as being haunted is concerned." Frisk gives you a wink and begins to walk out of the ruins, clearly satisfied with the massive blush that's creeping across your face.

You stammer a nonsensical response after them. Cute?

Hey, hope you all dug chapter 1