Chara had just shot up as it came, awakening from a nightmare of her own. Asriel groaned at the feeling of the shaking house and just laid there. She had had another nightmare of genocide run, this one more realistic than the others as she threw the covers off of her and silently raced out of her room to the next one over to which she sat and stared at the sleeping form for a few minutes to test if he was still breathing. Another strike of thunder came, not as loud as before but annoying enough to wake someone half asleep, Asriel rubbed his eye and muttered, "Stupid fucking thunder......Maybe some m-" He rolled on his side to get up but then just stares at Chara. She didn't turn away just continued staring as lightning flashed through the sky, illuminating the room enough for him to see the tear stains down her face. He quickly gained a concerned expression after seeing tear stains, "..Chara what's wrong?" She just hugs him with a slight sniffle. He gets onto the floor next to her hugging her tightly, "Chara what's wrong...." She shakes her head slightly and just hugs him. He sighs and just hugs tighter. A tear or two slip past closed eyes as another clap of thunder sounds out throughout the house. He rubs her back affectionately trying to calm her down from whatever happened, this rarely ever happens and when it does it worries him, and adding to it all she never says anything so he never finds out what even happened. Her breathing starts to level out as she starts to calm down though still a bit unsettled from the nightmare. He hesitated before murmuring, "Do you wanna stay in here..?" She nods slightly. ".....Can you tell me what happened...Please?" ".....Just a nightmare....." Her voice was soft and uneasy, wavering quite a bit as she spoke. "....Do you want to talk about it.....You know I'm always gonna be here for you....." She shakes her head, "I.......Just need a hug" He sighs tightening his grip, he wasn't expecting anything different. Her breathing starts to even out as she starts falling asleep, feeling safe in his arms. He notices and gets up picking her up in the process then locks the door and lays down in his bed with her and covers her up, I just want her to open up to me....I can't help if she never talks to me.....She can't act tough forever..... He closes his eyes tightening his hug. She smiles slightly and nuzzles into him. He gives a sad smile and goes back to sleep keeping her close to him with a tight grasp around her.

A Few Hours Pass And The Clock Strikes Nine, Asriel Yawns Rubbing His Eyes As He Wakes Up

She stayed as she was in a semi peaceful sleep for once. He opens his eyes looking at her. She shifts slightly. I'm gonna be here until she wakes up aren't I....... She stirs a bit a couple strands of hair falling on her face. He smiles slightly and puts the hair behind her ear not really sure what to do anyway. As he looks at her he starts to notice dark circles under her eyes. As he stares he starts to frown slightly, Like I guessed, she doesn't get the best sleep....This only proves that...... He sighs silently. She yawns and starts to wake up. He stayed as he was but ended up yawning too. She opens her eyes and yawns again. He chuckles. She looks at him and smiles, "Good morning" "Morning" She sits up and stretches. He just stretched his arms laying down. She looks around, "What time is it?" He looks at his clock, "9:03" She sits there for a minute, I'm not usually up this late... "There a problem with that?" She shakes her head, "No I just usually wake up earlier it surprises me is all" He nods slowly. She looks around his room. There wasn't much inside at all, only a desk with a computer some random picture hung on the wall a few shelf's with things on them, though one thing does stand out, the folder that had all her pictures she drew inside, it was laying on the table. She tilts her head to the side not able to tell exactly what was inside. Asriel sits up and manages to get out of bed stumbling in the process. She watches him. He looks at her, "Want anything since I'm going downstairs?" She shakes her head slightly. He nods starting out the door. She gets up and stretches heading back to her room. He grabs a glass of water and a slice of bread and goes back to his room with the bread hanging from his mouth. She takes out a sketchbook from behind her bed, but this one was different from the others, this one wasn't filled with mindless doodles or thought out pictures, It was filled with scribbles and sketches of every nightmare she ever had, from genocide to her past before she fell down Mt. Ebott, she would usually draw her nightmare out as soon as she wakes but last night was too real to the extent that she just desperately needed a hug. He walks into his room and glancing around goes to his computer noticing Chara wasn't in there. She started on her sketch, putting every little detail she remembered into the picture. She continued as a silent tear escapes her eye, landing on the paper. He put his glass down and took the bread out his mouth tearing a chunk off in the process and ate it as he turned on the computer. She finishes the picture ending with a very detailed drawing of Asri-Flowey with Asriel's face as she slashed down, ending his life in the top corner, a melting Undyne in the lower right, Papyrus's head somewhere on the paper, as well as Toriel with her look of shock that she had been struck down. She sighs and hides her sketchbook again and gets up grabbing some clothes to go take a shower. The sketchbook ends up falling being it wasn't placed correctly now in view. Midnight meowed in boredom and looked around then jumped onto a shelf and just walked along knocking books to the ground creating loud thuds. Asriel looked at the wall as concern crosses his face and he gets up going to her room. She was already down the hall entering the bathroom, unaware of what was going on. He didn't notice her walking inside to see a proud midnight on a shelf and a bunch of books on the ground, he rolls his eyes going over as midnight quickly jumps onto his head as he picks up the books putting them on the shelf. Midnight then jumps down pawing at the sketchbook, he'd always found it interesting looking at the pictures, he never knew what the meant but somehow knew how to tell if they were sad or happy pictures. Asriel tilted his head slowly walking over, "What about the sketchbook Midnight? If you wanna turn it into a cat scratcher I don't think that's a good idea" The sketchbook cover caught his eye since unlike the others it didn't have the original cover but was instead blacked out with scratched out letters spelling nightmares, it looked to be an old book having been aged over the years. He slowly started to gain a frown and slowly pulled it out to look at it, he was very apprehensive about looking at it, what if she came in? What if she hated him for looking through it? Of course he was curious but he didn't want to lose his best friend...Or girlfriend..That thought still new to his mind and he didn't want to lose her, but she never told him anything of her nightmares or her past, all he knew was the sole reason for falling into the underground was to commit suicide, that was the only thing he managed to get out of her all those years ago and he'd always wanted to know more but she never opened up more then that and it hurt him inside, why couldn't she tell him? He wouldn't laugh and nothing would change how he felt about her, but he wanted to be there for her-he wanted to understand why but was never given a chance to. Midnight sits next to him and stares at the book then looks to him wondering why he isn't looking at it as he nudges his hand a bit. He starts to realize this could be one of the only times he has the chance to find out about the Chara behind the protective shield. He bites his lip and sighs then looks at Midnight, "If I get in trouble with her I'm blaming you" He slowly opens it to a random page. The kitten meows and looks at the book. He opened to a page relatively close to the front, there was a date in the corner that read August 2 years ago, it was a genocide picture, one of the many in there, though this one wasn't as mad as almost all the other drawings in the book. This one depicted Chara surrounded by the dust of everyone with her creepy smile plastered on her face, upon closer inspection he could notice tears down her face as she stared at what she had done. He frowned and went to another random page. This one was dated spring of last year, another genocide this one appearing to only show white monster dust covering shaking hands with images of black creatures looking similar to everyone standing above the person in the picture with sinister, blaming glares. He went to another random page. This one was from last fall, different from the others though this depicted to people, obviously adults standing over a small child, their faces holding devilish grins. The male held what appeared to hold half of a broken beer bottle, the woman in the background watching the scene unfold. The child on the ground appeared motionless but Asriel had a feeling they weren't dead. As he studied it farther he could see darker spots on the child. The man was hunched over her with the beer bottle positioned as if he just hit something. He frowned more staring at it then turned to another random one, Was that her...Her parents? January 4th, this year, this one didn't appear to have the child in it, instead was drawn to look down from a tree where around 5 different kids stood looking around, some holding rocks, one with even a pocket knife. They didn't seem to mean well. He couldn't help but let a growl escape from his throat as he went to another. It was from earlier in the summer, July 9th. It was another picture with the child, her face still hidden as she huddled in the corner of an almost empty room, the page was split in half, that being on one half, the other having the two adults again, yelling up a flight of stairs, this time the woman drunk while the mans hands were in fists. He frowned looking it over then turned to another. July 28th, it was different from almost all of the other pictures looking as if you were looking through water, he could just make out a figure holding something next to the front, the entire picture looked like someone being held underwater. He frowned going to another. September 19, a genocide picture and he goes to another. October 31th, her and Frisk's birthday, it was the same child although her ace was visible this time, confirming his suspicions of it being Chara. They had their sleeves pulls up showing scars and they were cleaning the floor in a kitchen while through an open doorway there were quite a few people holding bottles and making a large commotion. Midnight meows, noticing he's getting closer to the end or more recent pictures. He sighs frowning and glands at Midnight, "Should I put it back now or keep going?" He meows, not giving much of an answer as he walks away, jumping on the bed to take a cat nap. He rolls his eyes and put it back anyway and got up going to the door. She had just finished her shower and was exiting the bathroom. He walks out the door closing it behind him and starts to his room. She looks at him as he exits and just stands there looking confused. He doesn't notice her and just goes into his room and picks up his piece of bread off his desk. She goes to her room and looks around, not noticing anything out of place except for a few books on the ground, Did he come in here to knock them off? Why was he in here? She closes the door a bit to loudly as she flinches slightly. He glances at the wal, Well fuck.....She saw me leave didn't she..... She shrugs and sits on her bed, petting midnight as she grabbed one of her normal sketchbooks and started doodling. He slowly finished off his bread and turned on the computer. She puts on some music, letting out a slight yawn.