Cristle

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It was strange.

Everything that happened seemed to be just a dream, but it was the most realistic dream I've ever had. Not to mention it left a huge case of déjà vu afterwards.

Uncle Papy noticed my nervous actions. "LITTLE NIECE, IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?", he asked, catching my stance.

I nodded, focusing on him. He was my telltale sign for any danger. If he or Papa would ever be worried, then something was definitely wrong. But, apart from what happened this morning, nothing seemed to be. He was still in training, Papa still acted the same, so, I suppose, everything is alright.

My response put him at ease, visually relaxing. "WELL, ALRIGHT. I'M OFF TO TRAINING, PLEASE DON'T BURN DOWN THE HOUSE.", he joked, waving me off. I followed behind, walking the other way.

In the forest, I took a deep breath. It was in places like these I could recollect my thoughts. Walking a little, a random golden flower sprouted.

It turned toward me, with a cheeky smile. I suddenly got nervous, backing up a step. Papa told me to stay away from a smiling flower, said he was going to do nothing but hurt me.

He seemed surprised to see me. "Wow. You're still here.", the flower bluntly stated. I looked at him with a cocked head. "What do you mean by that? I've always been here."

His eyes widened for a moment, before returning to his original face. "Oh, nothing.", the monster brushed, waving a leaf. "Nothing at all. You better run along now." Shooing me off in a different direction, I gave him a double glance before complying.

Still here? What on earth did he mean by that? Was I ever somewhere else?

I pulled my hood over, letting my thoughts run. It wasn't long before I was back on the main path in the forest, but it was...quieter, than normal. Papa wasn't at his station. More than likely at Grillby's for lunch. I walked a little further, into a path. It was calm, and I was the only one there.

Deeming it safe, I took a deep breath and shut my eyes. The wind stopped, and started to follow my directions. Swirling in a circle, some snow was picked up and packed into a round base.
I opened my eyes, happy to see the base. Taking a handmade snowball, I rolled it around in the snow to make it bigger. Not to brag or anything, but I've gotten snowman making down to a science. After all, that's what happens when you live in a snowy forest, have a lot of free time and not many friends.

You build snowmen and snowwomen.

Making a head, I put in the button eyes. Okay, basics are finished. Now what?

I stared at it, holding my head as I thought. Looking around me, I tried to look for inspiration. But alas, came to nothing. It was a few minutes, but I heard something. More like, someone.

Slow crunches in the snow. It slowly came closer to me before suddenly stopping in the path. I turned around, overjoyed to see a familiar face.

"Frisk! Frisk! I- uh.", I suddenly stopped. They were covered head to toe in pale monster dust. And they wore this expression, this stoic face that cracked by a sickly curious smile. I blinked a couple of times in dismay. This can't be Frisk.

"I'm, uh, sorry. I confused you with someone else." I shakily held out a hand to them. "I'm Cristle. What's your name?" The dusty human, if they even are that, took my hand, spreading a small amount to my palm. "Chara." My TRUST appeared for them, filling up to a little less than halfway. They seemed to acknowledge it, but didn't seem worried.

I was right. They couldn't be Frisk. Frisk's voice is sweet and light and friendly. Chara's voice was low, quiet and smooth, like a planning villan.

Pulling it back, I dragged it in the snow, removing the dust. "Well, Chara, do you think you could, um..." I glanced at the snowman, trailing off. Deciding it was against my better judgment, I shook my head. "Nevermind. So you're new in Snowdin, right?"

The human didn't appear to have heard my question. I tensed up a little, unsure of what to do. "Uh, that's fine. Us Snowdin folk welcome new people with... open...arms..." It's pretty hard to act casual when you have an insane deal of déjà vu messing with you.

"C-come on. I wanna introduce you to someone.", I stuttered, running as fast as I could to the main path. I didn't even stop at Papa's station, because I had a funny feeling he wasn't there.

The gap between us was large, given I was running and they were merely shuffling their feet. But that's probably for the best right now.

I made a turn, surprisingly finding Papa and Papy in the same...spot. As my dream. Strange.

Uncle Papyrus was yelling at Papa for being lazy and taking too much time on his lunch break. "sorry about that bro. grillbz needed help because one of the guards tried to eat up his clock and it got pretty time consuming."

Papa busted head over heels at his own pun, while Papy was fuming. Finally calming down, he noticed me. "OH, HELLO LITTLE NIECE!" Papa took notice of my nervous stance. "is everything ok, angel?"

Chara stopped behind me, taking me by surprise. "Oh...um..." I simply stepped to the side, letting them see the kid. Papa jumped up in defense; he seemed ready to bolt at any time. From what I saw, I could see why.

There was more dust on them. You couldn't see much of their face anymore. Papy looked at Chara in confusion. "SANS... IS THAT A HUMAN?", he asked, pointing to them. The shorter skeleton nodded, bluntly responding, "well they're certainly not a rock." Papyrus' face turned into one of worry. "NOT A ROCK...? OH NO!!! BY PROCESS OF ELIMINATION!!! THAT MEANS IT'S A HUMAN!!!", he exclaimed. I blinked for a second, before deciding to go with that logic. I mean, you can't argue with it.

"NYEH HEH HEH!! HUMAN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL CAPTURE YOU!! AND THEN I'LL JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD!", he announced, running off. "QUICKLY SANS, WE MUST ATTEND THE PUZZLES!"

Papa just watched him run away, completely in defense. "and you don't even bat an eye.", he mumbled. The skeleton grabbed my hand, pulling me away from Chara. When we were away, he pulled me close. His smile wasn't there and he was shaking. I looked into his pupils. He was terrified.

"listen, angel. please, please, please don't go anywhere near them. just, head back home, and wait for us, okay?", Papa asked, hands on my shoulders. I got scared. "Papa, what's going on?", I asked him. "j-just be careful, alright?", he mumbled, kissing my forehead before heading back. I looked over at Papa, scared and confused, before doing as told. Besides, there was something off about Chara.

Something....

I didn't like.