“Missing folks from home?” Barry asks, kindly but not looking them in the eye, in case they’d like to pretend they didn’t hear him. He’s fortunate that he has so much of his family here, doesn’t know what he’d do without them, and he’s certainly sympathetic to everyone who’s arrived here alone.
He nods when they mention the robbing, like he’s seriously considering the point, and then says, “People don’t–They don’t usually go for an in-person mugging without reason. And, not to typecast, but that’s especially weird for a kid.”
“And you’re not trying to rob me anymore, which gives me a great opportunity to be ‘nice’. I mean, you–you’re right, it’d be much harder to help you if you were still trying to stab at me.”
“…There’s–I’ve had people who were there for me through many of my darkest times. And I’ve had dark times without them, too, so I know how it can be. I think–I think it’s important to help people out, when I can.”
Do they ever miss “folks from home.” Their real home, in the Underground, where they belonged. They’d thrown it all away and for what? To die miserably, painfully, and accomplish nothing at all? From the very moment they’d stepped through the Barrier, they’d hated to leave their family behind - only determination had pushed them forward.
And now Asriel was gone too.
“You have no idea,” Chara says softly.
Chara listens to the explanation, but they only raise an eyebrow.
“That’s surprisingly naïve, for an adult. They won’t ever help you in return.”
There’s a short pause where they say nothing, and then, in spite of themselves, they continue speaking.
“But Asriel... Toriel... Asgore... my family... they all believed the same thing you did. That you helped people because it was... the right thing to do. Not because you expected anything in return.”
“I thought I’d give back what they gave me. And all I did was betray every one of them.”
