CinderellaFell: Uh-oh, looks like the girls and their lovers aren't out of the woods yet. They got Asriel hunting them down now.
(WOW, this got long)
It takes him a while, almost three months to be more precise - but finally, finally Asriel has found where Chara and her other fugitive accomplices are hiding.
It’s some sort of woodland area. There’s a pair of log cabins that are a bit larger than standard (as if he were anticipating more members of the household...), and he correctly assumes Papyrus must have constructed them. Several uniform plots of dirt behind medium length fences catch his eye for a moment, the tall plants that pushed past the soil already bearing fruit.
A short ways away, as he’s navigating through the area, he almost bumps into one of the two clotheslines, freshly washed laundry drying in the sun’s rays and fluttering in the breeze. In the center of it all was a fire pit, and a wide cooking pot was resting atop it.
It would seem the runaways had set up a nice cozy camp for themselves, perhaps believing it to be a forever home for them. But something else quickly catches Asriel’s attention.
Over in a field of flowers, he spots Papyrus, the ex-Vice Captain of the Royal Guard, and his once-upon-a-time bride standing under the shade of a tree, their hands clasped as they stare deeply into one another’s eyes.
Chara is wearing a long, flowing dress and a veil, but it is not the one that she escaped the Underground in. No, the colors are much softer, gentle, and the design is far less intricate. And yet, she seems happy wearing the fabric, happier than Asriel can ever recall seeing her.
And there’s Papyrus’s imbecile of a brother, reading some pamphlet and having difficulty pronouncing everything written on it, but the taller skeleton doesn’t seem to mind, only nodding at him encouragingly when he trips over his words. Asriel can’t hear what is being said, so he creeps closer, hoping he won’t be caught because of his curiosity.
He listens to Sans mumble a bit more, sounding as incomprehensible as ever - but what he says next, even with his accent muddling his sentences, is crystal clear to Asriel.
“...ya may now kiss the bride.”
It was a wedding.
At that moment, and before Asriel can so much as utter a single sound of protest, the two summon their SOULs - they mingle with one another, converging, creating beautiful beams of red and white and orange light as Papyrus gathers Chara up in his arms, picking her up to press his mouth against hers.
Her own arms are flung around his neck, holding him tightly as if she’d slip away forever should she let go. And they kissed and they kissed, for what felt like an agonizing eternity to Asriel before they ever separated.
And when they did, she was smiling. Smiling so brightly. Asriel couldn’t help but stare. If someone had struck him from behind, he wouldn’t bother turning around, he was so captivated.
Was Chara... always this beautiful?
But that beautiful smile was not meant for him. It was intended for Papyrus, her... husband.
His mind is a blur as the newly wedded couple slipped their rings on each other’s fingers. When the prince found enough sense to pay attention, he noticed Sans and that second human were also wearing matching rings. They looked happy together too - the brunette was clasping his hands with a tearful smile, and the shorter skeleton’s grin was genuine, for the first time.
Asriel slipped away silently, not sparing the sweet sight another look. He wanders in the opposite direction. He wanders and wanders until nightfall, and he stares up at the stars until daybreak.
He peers down at the SOUL inside its container, contemplative. He couldn’t take his bride back now - SOULbonding is a precious and permanent thing. Taking revenge quickly came to mind. He could swallow it, absorb it, and fight the four of them; he’d take the brunette’s SOUL, and Chara could become the seventh instead.
If he couldn’t have Chara, then no one could.
...But he finds himself discarding that thought almost as swiftly as it came. His mind drifts to the mental image, the captured memory of Chara’s radiant smile earlier.
Asriel was angry. He felt betrayed. He thinks he hates her for this.
...And yet, he can’t bring himself to destroy her happiness.
He looks at the green SOUL once more, then unscrews the lid to the container. After a few seconds, it floats out, lingering only for a moment before heading skyward.
Then it disappears in a soft sparkle of light.