Colors | Chara x Papyrus

Chapter Seven: Ease the Tension

❤︎ Chara's List of Emotions ❤︎
Red: Anger
Blue: Sadness
Light Blue: Loneliness
Yellow: Happiness
Green: Envy
Blue-Gray: Guilt

• • •

Chara storms out of her quarter and into the living room abruptly, Sans and Papyrus awaiting her on the couch.
Sans acts as if she hadn't entered, but Chara can see his shifts. The almost unnoticeable flinch, the tightening grip on the remote, even a subtle aura change. It's untrusting and hardly sensible, but Chara can see it and hates how easily she can.
He doesn't matter though, Papyrus is who she came for.
Chara walks up to him with haste. It happened again, the sensation crept up on her without delay. She was simply lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling when it happened. The feeling coiled around her heart, and Chara had to suppress a groan. She was reluctant to leave her room, but she also didn't want to know how the emotion might infect her if it festered.
"GOOD AFTERNOON, CHARA! I'M GLAD YOU COULD JOIN US! DID YOU MISS THE COMPANY OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS?" He asks, thick with pride. Chara can't stand how easily he reads her, but at the same time it's somewhat nice.
She leans in, ignoring Sans' stiffening while she hovers beside his ear.
     "Light blue alert, take me somewhere," she silently demands. Papyrus is quiet, staring expectantly at her. It clicks, and Chara sighs.
"Please," she grumbles, glaring when Papyrus beams.
"OF COURSE CHARA! WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO?"
Sans is looking at them now and Chara's glare at Papyrus deepens.
     He, for some idiotic reason, doesn't realize that his brother is a massive prick with something verging on a brother complex.
"Just pick, and tell the whole world while you're at it."
"I'M AFRAID IT'D TAKE TOO LONG TO DO THAT, BUT I'LL GLADLY TELL YOU!"
Chara holds to bridge of her nose with furrowed brows, wondering how she even manages friendship with the tall skeleton.
"IN FACT, I ALREADY KNOW THE PERFECT PLACE! LET US BE OFF THEN!"
Someone clears their throat loudly, interrupting their conversation. Chara looks up with shut eyes, enjoying a moment of peace before dealing with the inevitable.
"WHAT SEEMS TO BE RATTLING YOUR BONES, BROTHER?"
"Papyrus, don't ask," Chara mumbles though she knows it's too late.
"Well Paps, I'm having a skeleton of issues with your plans," Sans says casually, winking even.
     Chara knows he's afraid of leaving his precious brother with her, but his ability to hide his concerns are almost unreal.
"DO NOT FRET BROTHER! I GUARANTEE CHARA WILL BE SAFE!"
     "It's not her safety I'm worried about," he silently grumbles, and Chara doesn't want to admit to herself how surprisingly angry that claim made her.
     Her own developed likeliness of injuring Papyrus is so slim, it's near offensive to assume she'd even think of doing so.
She's been trying so desperately to ignore her past, the past that hurt others, but she'd be lying if at times she didn't want to grab Sans by the collar of his hoodie and slam him into a nearby wall. Repeatedly.
That's probably what he wants, isn't it? A reason to label her as a freak, a monster. Everything seems to burn, and she realizes that she's gripping the ends of her shirt. Papyrus gets up and leaves, announcing that he's going to get ready, but Sans stays, and peers down at her shivering hands.
"Bet ya wish you were holding something else," he semi-whispered, then leaned back into the couch.
She is going to burst. Chara spins around and heads into her room, slamming the door much louder than she had intended. The force made her feel better, but only temporarily.

• • •

The air is cool and the wind light. Chara can't help but hug herself, creating faint heat through friction. Despite the brown knit beanie on her head that seldom covered her ears and the thick, wooly socks given to her by Frisk, Chara is cold.
She growls roughly to herself. The worst thing about the inability to understand her emotions is her tendency to overthink.
Cold and empty. That's what she feels, that's what she is. Chara now wants the chill to devour her. She'll go numb, and never experience again. She's forced to consider how cold the lab was when she awoke, or how cold the inside of her felt when undoubtedly alone.
She doesn't want to think of the frost in Sans' stare, and how it engulfs her in flames rather than incasing her in inescapable ice. What's with that? Why does it burn through her as if her body is a mere, weak forest?
Only when fabric is placed upon her does she notice the trembling of her fists.
It's not from the weather.