The moonlight shone brightly, greeting the princess a happy birthday. However, she did not notice its address to her, nor did she listen to the crickets chirping in the garden or the sight of the buttercups dancing. She only glanced at the man in front of her, whose back faced to her.

She wanted to cry. Why would I? She wanted to bawl. Why would I? She wanted to fall. Why would I? She’s confused on what to do, until an idea struck her.

Gathering up enough courage, she embraced the skeleton, who was of course, surprised by the sudden action. After processing what happened, he turned back, hugging her back. “You do know that after this, I would never come back?” he whispered, tracing his fingers through her soft chocolate brown hair.

“Where did that intelligence of yours go? Why else would I squeeze you like this?” she sighed, as he only chuckled in retort. Looking up, she gazed at his white irises, “You bonehead! I should never have met you earlier.” She mumbled.

“Then you should’ve just looked where you’re going, eyes open.” He chuckled. “Like this?” she asked, hesitantly making a dangerous move; opening her eyes. It revealed her two gleaming golden irises, that glistened through the moonlit night. His reaction was priceless, staring straight at her beautiful gaze, mesmerized by its radiance. A few minutes have passed, and they were still there, looking at each other’s orbs, his white to her golden ones.

He chuckled, breaking the stare and silence, “The Princess of Light. Such sense.” This made her quickly close them shut, flustered. Pulling away from the embrace, he sighed, “Princess. We can’t be together.”

“I know.” She frowned sadly, “I’ll never meet a guy like you nor could I meet someone better.”

“You deserve to be with someone better. James, he’s not that bad.”

She scrunched her nose in annoyance. Did he just deliberately sell her out? How dare he! He’s, he’s… Just as she thought she found the one…

“Oh great, look at you. Giving up, finally deciding my future for me!” she exclaimed, glaring furiously at him.

“Hey, I’m not saying…”

“Not saying what, huh?” she interrupted, “Listen to yourself! It sounded stupid. You’re stupid! You’re just like any other man out there.” Tears started welling up her shut eyes, not holding it any longer. The pain… Was it because she opened what was not meant to be revealed? Mother taught me many kinds of darkness. Was this one of them? What kind of darkness is this? It hurts. Was this even darkness?

“You may leave…” she muttered, looking away. “Freya, I…” he started, but could not continue after the princess shushed him silent, “I said you may go!” she exclaimed, marching off to leave.

“Princess.”

“…”

“Your Highness.”

“…”

“Freya!”

You have no right and authority to call me by my name. She sobbed in thought.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Arriving at the door to her bedroom, she sighed, wiping her tears away. She didn’t want Chara to suddenly worry for her on her birthday. After all, she knew he did not ruin her special day, nor made it even better. Even though she wanted to come inside in silence, her door couldn’t help but creak.

“You’re here early.” Voiced the specter, gazing at the girl but didn’t seem to be surprised.

“Nah, I’ve been earlier.”

“Actually, you’re right!” exclaimed Chara, arching an eyebrow at her, “You always come back in here for like five minutes, since your fifteenth birthday. You’ll be complaining for hours about how horrible the party’s going. What’s with the sudden change? You’re back for like an hour!”

“It’s nothing. Just the same as always.” She grumbled.

“You know, Metatton has really outdone himself.”

“What?”

“You look unusually beautiful today, I have to admit.” The spirit complimented.

“Thanks!” she beamed, “I loved this dress so much.”

Gazing at her reflection in her huge hanging mirror, she smiled at the thought of her being pretty, one of the reasons for being the brightest of light. She swayed her lavender ball gown, blue swirls and beads adorned it matching her purple mask. Her soft silky shoulder-length chocolate brown hair was decorated with a golden vine accessory.

But after looking through her fine-looking image, she frowned, recalling the previous incident. Even after turning him down, she missed him. The times they talk to each other even when it’s all in one night, she wished for him to come back and apologize, but no. He was her stupid ‘love-at-first-sight’, yet because of his stubborn retort, he ruined it. For all she knew, it wasn’t her fault. It’s his.

It’s his fault she decided not to fall for anyone ever again!

It’s his fault she’ll never feel love!

She glanced back at the mirror, calming her mind down. Something is oddly missing, though. An accessory, the crest of the Luxian side of Dreemurrs, a golden Delta Rune engraved necklace that held out a heart-shaped amber gemstone in the center, has gone missing.

“Your necklace! Where is it?” gasped Chara, considering the fact that the jewelry was a very important symbol of Lux, “Mother will surely enrage if she finds out it’s gone.”

“I haven’t notice it gone.” Mumbled Freya, looking down at her bare neck. That was, until she realized something. The embrace. “The Princess of Light. Such sense.” Why that sly thief. She blushed in reminisce of the early incident, much to Chara’s surprise.

“What? Was it something I said?” asked the specter.

“Oh, nothing. I-I’ll continue painting…” she stammered, flustered. She shakily grabbed her paintbrush, which caused her to accidentally push the black paint to spill all over the floor below. “Now I can’t paint anything.” She shrugged in frustration.

“Sure you can, there’s other colors to paint with.” Chara said, rolling her eyes.

“But I need black paint if I want to use just any color! How will I express the outlines now?”

“Well the only place that has black paint is…”

“The darkness…” she breathed, “Stygia.” The girl was in thought for a minute, which made her spirit friend very uncomfortable. She knows what she’s thinking, and she didn’t like the look of it.

“Nope! You’re not going there, it’s too dangerous. Plus, Mother will surely flip!” exclaimed Chara, crossing her arms.

“Come on, Chara! For goodness sake, it’s my birthday. I know you want me to be happy on my special day, especially now that it’s turning out to be the worst!” she whined, begging helplessly, “So please, sis! I promise it’ll be quick.”

“Your curiosity has really drowned you in, did it? Nevertheless, I couldn’t stop you, for I’m only a good-for-nothing ghost who only follows a nosy princess like you.” Chara sighed, “There is one problem, though. How do we get pass through the barrier to reach the border?”

“I know someone who could help us…”

-------------------------------------------------------------

“NO, NO, NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! DO YOU THINK I’M STUPID ENOUGH TO JUST LET YOU DO YOUR THING?” shrieked Papyrus, flailing his arms about.

“But, Papy. It won’t take long. I’ll be back as soon as I take at least a can.” She begged, clasping her hands together.

“IT IS NOT SAFE, YOUR HIGHNESS! THE QUEEN WILL BE FURIOUS IF SHE FINDS OUT I WAS THE ONE WHO LET HER DAUGHTER SNEAK OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. AND I TOLD YOU, I DO NOT WANT TO BE PART OF ANY OF YOUR CRAZY ACTS, OR ELSE SHE’LL NOT ONLY CUT MY HEAD OFF, BUT BURN ME ALIVE!”

“Papyrus, I won’t tell mum…”

“I DON’T CARE! I CARE FOR YOUR SAFETY, FREYA. NOW PLEASE, STOP THIS NONSENSE!” he scolded once more.

“It’s my birthday…” she mumbled sadly, until an idea struck her. A slightly painful one too.

“You leave me no choice.” She started, glowering, “As the princess of the Light Kingdom of Lux,”

“NO, YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME…”

“I, Princess Freya Licht Mercy Dreemurr,”

“PRINCESS, CAN’T YOU UNDERSTAND…”

“Order you Papyrus, my loyal personal royal guard,”

“I’M ONLY DOING THIS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD…”

“To let me pass to the Border.” She finished, much to the skeleton’s dismay. He sighed, after acknowledging his authority, hesitantly obeying, “YES… YOUR HIGHNESS.”

-------------------------------------------------------------

Arriving at the humongous golden gate that separated the kingdom from the Border, the skeletal royal guard unlocked it open.

“I COULD ONLY ESCORT YOU HERE.” He sighed, “YOU MAY ONLY ROAM THE BORDER, BUT CANNOT PROCEED TO THE DARK SIDE ITSELF. AT THE FURTHER SIDE OF THE BORDER, THERE STOOD A SHACK FILLED WITH VARIOUS THINGS. IT IS POSSIBLE TO FIND BLACK PAINT THERE.”

“Got that.” She whispered, starting to go but was held back by the skeleton, “BE CAREFUL OUT THERE, PRINCESS.”

“I will.” She smiled in reassurance before stepping into the snow-covered land of the Border.

Snow?  She gazed around, feeling the cold atmosphere, as perfectly-shaped snowflakes fall down from above. The Border is the land between Lux and Stygia, barricading the two, as both light and darkness was enveloped on it. But the balance of the two elements, are complicated. At day, the Border seemed to be a beautiful snow-covered wonderland, but at night… A dark haunted forest nightmare.

“Make sure your eyes are closed shut.” Warned Chara, “We can’t risk having you see the darkness.”

“I know that. It’s practically dimmer here, but as long as I know that you’ll be here guiding me, we’ll be fine, I guess.”

“You guess…”

They’ve spent several minutes, walking through the snowy pathway, giving out sounds of soft ‘crunch crunch’. But even after the long walks they’ve been through, there’s still no sign of the shack, or even anything. Just the wind blowing, the snow, and the seemingly black pine trees, which she recognized like the ones she drew in the painting.

It was still silent, and the coldness of the air increasing, making her shiver. She pulled her scarf up to reach and cover her nose, holding her cloak tightly, until she spotted a shack from a distance.

“There it is!” she clapped happily, moving faster than her current pace, excitedly eyeing the shack.

“H U M A N.” went a deep voice that sent shivers down the princess’ spine. She stopped on her tracks, but didn’t have the courage to turn around and wonder who might be the owner of the chilling voice.

“don’t ya know how to greet a new pal? turn around and shake my hand…” it went on. She hesitated, unsure of what to do. That was, until something clicked her. Light. In the Border, she actually felt a strong source of light, which she now felt near her. Behind her. Gulping, she turned around, only to face a figure hiding from the shadows, an ivory bony hand sticking out of the darkness, ordering her to shake.

Hesitantly, she shook the phalange as not to act rudely. Instantly, pain rushed through her hand fast making her yelp in ache, as the feeling of an irritating sting filled her hand. She looked on in horror, eyes welling up tears, hissing in pain, as she noticed her bleeding palm. She glanced back at the figure, who sounded very amused.

“ya fool. don’t ya even know?” he laughed, his menacing wide grin visibly flashing through the darkness.

“here in the underground, it’s kill…” he started, thumping of footsteps was heard, revealing himself to the light. A skeleton who wore a gray turtleneck sweater underneath his black hoodie, whose outlines adorned with similarly black fluff, and a pair of black dress pants, its ends tucked in his black and blue-coloured boots. His skull held up his creepy wide smile, and his eye sockets emptily dark, showing no signs of emotion.

Holding up his bony fingers, as if to click them together, he smiled, “or be killed.” He finished, snapping his fingers, igniting his left eye two a blue blazing flame. She only trembled, gaping in fear.

“boo.” He laughed, and with that one word, she dashed off, running swiftly towards the dark woods.

“ya can run, but ya can’t hide from me, little human!” he exclaimed, chuckling at the sight of her disappearing deeper.

“this ain’t some fairytale where ya’ll have your happy ending.” his cackle echoed through the darkness of Snowdin Forest.