((She had no Appetite.))

This story helped introduce Chara and her fear of monsters.

((Chara had no appetite. She stared at Toriel in the kitchen, who hummed a song and bounced on her feet as she crossed to the stove. The same confusion every time. Chara counted the seconds it took for Toriel to remember that her fire magic no longer worked. Exactly six. Toriel laughed to herself and turned to Chara. "Hey, sweetie, would you like to help me in the kitchen?" Chara knew exactly what was going through Toriel's mind. "Family bonding".

Chara decided to humour Toriel and joined her in the kitchen. She even pretended to smile and said, "Sure, Mother." and seeing Toriel's face light up made Chara's smile genuine. What a stupid woman. Chara stood beside Toriel, looking up into her piercing eyes. Being this close to such a creature made Chara's hands tremble, so she made a tight fist.

"Here, child, you can cut up the carrots!" Toriel offered Chara a knife with a big smile. Chara's hands felt ice cold; the knife, the sharp edges catching the light; Toriel's disgusting, monstrous grin; her claws grasping the handle. Chara raised a hand to her mouth to cover her disgust and rushed out of the kitchen without a word. Toriel watched her leave, a confused tilt in her head.

That night, Chara didn't eat. Or the next, or the night after that. Toriel and Asgore were concerned, but being that they didn't know much about humans, they had assumed she only had a different diet than them. And in any case, the other monsters were getting curious about Chara's existence and wanted answers, so they arranged a QnA at the castle- with Chara's permission, of course.

Today was the day of the QNA. Chara calmed her nerves and looked out on the crowd full of horrible creatures. She had no appetite. Her stomach ached. Her hands twitched. Her mouth curled into a sickening grin. As she approached the monsters, Asriel finally caught up to her side, out of breath. "Are you excited?" Asriel asked, an innocent squeak in his voice. Chara stroked his soft ear.

Suddenly, Chara felt puny and defenseless against the towering, snarling, grinning monsters. They clawed for answers. Chara's own breath suffocated her. She could hardly feel her feet as they sprinted toward any semblance of safety. But every corner was unknown, full of terrible surprises. Chara collapsed, finally, on a secluded ledge in Waterfall, curled into a ball of sobs and fear.

Chara heard something behind her and jolted to attack. The second before her fist was about to land, she pulled away. It was only Asriel. Asriel was shaken, but continued toward her anyway, his eyes large with surprise. "Why'd you run away, Chara?" Chara caught her breath, soothed by his childish voice.

"It's hard to... to be the only one of your kind in a big, scary new world. Can you imagine if you landed in a world with only humans, no friends?" Chara explained. Asriel paused for a moment, then sat down in front of her. "You have me! We are friends, right?" Asriel held his breath as he waited for Chara's response. Chara smiled and pet Asriel, "Yeah. It's just you and me against the world, buddy."

Toriel searched for Chara and Asriel, the worst in her mind. She worried this would happen, with Chara's skittish behavior around other monsters. Finally, Toriel found them in Waterfall. When she asked what happened, Asriel stood up and said "Chara and I wanted to go for a swim." Toriel furrowed her brow. Asriel was only six years old, he had never lied to her before. Asriel clutched Chara's sleeve with a nervous smile.))