I'll be posting more of this AU on my tumblr, @/spaghettiandart!!

Below the art will be a series of information that have been released about the AU itself in a blurb-like format.

There WILL be a LOT more art coming soon! Like a LOT a LOT!!!

1:

Alright, this is going to be the first of DOZENS of art pieces for #BehindTale. Per tradition, I’ve posted this AU’s Sans first. There will be other stuff coming soon, though!

Anyways, I’ve got a whole bunch of stuff planned for this AU. It’s pretty separate from Canon in a very big way, which means a lot of personalities may be shifted or altered dramatically.

Sans, while still being pun-cracking and lowkey concerning, is much more anxious in this AU than canon. Not in a quirky way either that’s played up for laughs- more like in a “my body desperately wants sleep but i cannot stop thinking about how i can die so easily at this second and it’s making me stay up in fear of that” kind of way, you know? In this AU he also commonly complains about his clothes, because while the coat and the glove is pretty comfy it has like zero pockets, so he has nowhere to put his hands. He usually fiddles with this hands, either behind his back or held up to his chest, and a lot of the time his shoulders are either slumped (not in relaxation, but defeat),  or slightly hitched up in defense.

In this AU, Monsters have been different since the beginning. Their bodies and culture are tied to crystals, gems, and other glittering, shimmering objects. They obsess over shiny things, collect shimmery objects, and dress themselves up in gaudy jewelry for the fun of it. They resembled gems, as well, and are known for being tough as diamonds. The moment they do die- or “Shatter”, as they refer to it- they fall apart into pieces of glittering rock and crystal. This was one of the factors that led to the human-monster war in this AU, along with the canon reason. Due to humans hunting monsters for their remains, monster and human tensions arose very quickly compared to canon.

The monsters were sealed within a VERY large mirror, to a place literally called the “Behind”, a warped mirror-reality. This was done by 7 mages who handcrafted and enchanted the mirror to be alluring- so alluring that it almost physically compels people to walk into it when they get within a certain range. Most of the monsters were driven in by force, but the first few, including the Dreemurrs, walked into it willingly out of compulsion.

At first the monsters took the Behind as canon monsters did the underground- resentment, and then slow acceptance. Then the Curse was realized. A slow, creeping one, where it’s hard to pick it out in the beginning before someone gets hurt and all of a sudden monsters left and right are Shattering because the mirror weakened them, dulled them, made them extremely fragile and easy to shatter.

Chara arrives like in canon. They enter the Behind willingly, entering through the mirror, and are adopted by the Dreemurrs. However, upon studying monster society, Chara was hit by an epiphany. See, Chara despised humans and their harsh nature, but loved monsters and loved how gentle and caring they were to eachother. They recognized them as pure SOULs in need of protection- and essentially resigned themself to taking care of these guys. In fact, they practically jumped to the task, seeing it as them being destined for the duty, like a sacred mission, like they were repenting for the human race as a whole. It was a huge weight to take upon their shoulders, and along with their budding Hero Complex (which was not a good thing), and their obsessive nature and Determination, they worked themselves to the bone.

Asriel joined them in their journey as a knight, and essentially became figures of legend, bordering mythology as history passed. But that’s in the future, and the way their myths affected future monsters- Undyne and Papyrus in particular- will be discussed later, along with the changes in culture that happened from their time as knights. See, Chara stayed in the Behind for a while. Almost 7 years, long enough for them to reach their 20th birthday before they had to… retire.

The Curse did not effect only monsters, no. The moment they entered the Behind their hair was already proof of that, glimmering and crystalline like everything else in it. As time passed on, their flesh and bone changed as well, until they became as fragile as every monster that surrounded them. After a nigh-life threatening incident when they, filled with bitterness and self-loathing because of their changing body, recklessly threw themselves in harms way, resulting in the entire left half of their face shattering, they’re forced to bed rest.

Still extremely resentful and their previous issues spiraling into a nonsensical want to simultaneously save everyone in the underground and themselves from this curse, they implore Asriel to follow along with a hare-brained scheme. Unlike canon, Asriel is an adult and therefore is less vulnerable to compulsion as children are, and refused. Chara, enraged by this, takes their sword and does the deed anyways, forcing Asriel to do what was asked of him out of guilt and a sense of duty.

Being as unsuccessful as canon, and shattering on a bed of flowers, Chara’s SOUL is cast out and into the Behind. From there, they suddenly find themselves tied to the very mirror that entrapped them all… for some reason, they could see through all the nonorganic reflective surfaces in the Behind, but could not interact with anyone. Not until the first of several humans arrived to the mirror and peered into their reflection.

That was when Chara realized that they could pull humans in by force, and soon cooked up a plan- if they couldn’t save the underground from before, then now they should be able to do it by compelling humans to come into the mirror like lambs to a slaughter.

Frisk breaks this pattern. They are pulled in, but do not die. Chara desperately tries to get them to die, from haunting them until they couldn’t sleep, to possessing them to try and lead them to a ravine or a sharp object to kill them with, to finally asking Flowey to help in their plan. Flowey’s idea of help wasn’t ever reasonable in canon, and even a more adult one is still a bit… well.

The AU is MEANT to end with a confrontation between Frisk, Chara, and Asriel, but from there I don’t have the entirety of their individual stories filled out. I do, however, have some ideas about Sans’, Papyrus’, Undyne’s, and Alphys’ character growth and history, which I’ll go more in depth about under their respective character sheets that I’ll make in the future.

For now, I’m just pretty excited to revamp this old AU idea I had completely.

2:

YES I FINALLY DID IT I FINISHED MY #BEHINDTALE ASGORE ART AHAAHAHAHA

Anyways I love asgore so much,,, he is so fluffy??? And his hair is magnificent?? Like have you SEEN his beard I styled his entire character AROUND HIS BEARD look at it!!

Anyways as you can see Asgore also has something similar on his person that Sans does- the cuffs! They're made of glass and have gemstones embedded in them, though instead of wearing it on his arm he's wearing it on his ears. This is for a VERY IMPORTANT reason. Regular civilians dont possess these cuffs, unlike the royal family, the royal gaurd, and people affiliated with the royal guard/family (such as sentries or the royal scientist).

3:

Woop, finally finished the third drawing!

I think I have some old images of #BehindTale Chara and Frisk from 2017 or 2018 lying around my files, but I’ll upload those later when I’m done with everything lol. 

Chara is around 19-20 when they died in this universe. Their body IS in the form of a 19-20 year old, as is their mind, so they’re arguably more mature in this universe. However, they are still a vengeful spirit and they do harbor a large grudge against humans, which culminated into this strange overprotective streak towards monsters and this very unhealthy hero complex they developed over their time living in the Behind. Their last hurrah was a last stand against humans and for monsters, after all, but in this universe they try to continue that. Whenever a human falls down they are in favor of them kicking the bucket and you can imagine them cheering on from the sidelines whenever Asgore slays another one. 

Here’s where Frisk comes in! In this universe they are canonically a child, only 13 years of age, and they’re a fair bit more headstrong than canon Frisk. Instead of flirting there’s friendly teasing, and honestly I feel like this Frisk is the type of person to acknowledge a warning, understand it, and run through anyways. They do share the trait of determination with canon Frisk, obviously, though it’s a bit hard to touch upon their personality since canon frisk is basically a blank slate as well Lol. I feel like they’re the type of person to ask if anyone would dare them to do this obviously dangerous thing, and when people say “wtf no don’t do that” they say “‘wow I can’t believe you guys are making me do this lol” and do the obviously dangerous thing anyways. 

Anyways Chara is an adult with beef against this little child because they just CANNOT stay dead, so they’re just waiting until Frisk gets corrupted entirely by the Behind’s curse, which is when one creature stays long enough in the Behind that they get overtaken by glass and crystal and become fragile to the touch. Monsters were already made of crystal, though when they were banished they get weaker. Humans just sort of grow crystal instead of skin/organs/bones over time. 

The later portion of BehindTale is spent with Frisk waking up in mysterious places, not knowing how they got there, and VERY close to death. It’s not until later that it’s revealed that Chara is the person possessing them and trying to kill them in their sleep, but waking up before that could happen, and by then Flowey does something that endangers Monsters and Chara gets pissed for an entirely different reason. 

If, in this universe, Frisk committed to a Genocide run, Chara would be frothing at the mouth desperately trying to sway them off course the entire time. Around the end, if/when Frisk offers Chara their SOUL, Chara would straight up obliterate them. Just absolutely decimate this kid, or at least try to. 

4:

AAAAAA I DREW HIM F I NA LLY

okay okay okay so… I think I already covered the basics about BehindTale Flowey/Asriel, but here’s the important details:

Asriel, and by default Flowey, was an adult (19-20 yrs old) when he died and therefore a lot of the things Flowey did in canon Undertale is very, very different compared to #BehindTale because this Asriel had time to learn about how to be a (semi) functioning adult as well as more princely/political issues since he is/was a prince at the time, and Asgore probably taught him a lot about government and the like as he grew older. I like to imagine that Flowey has a better idea of how people work, as well as less of a temper. He’s still very impulsive at times, but overall leads Frisk around for most of the beginning of BehindTale rather than revealing himself at the beginning like in canon.