"You want to leave so badly? Hmph. You are just like the others."

No, I'm really not.

"There is only one solution to this."

Which is?

"Prove yourself... Prove to me you are strong enough to survive!" Toriel whirled around to face the child as she spoke, the gaze in her eyes hardened with a steely resolve. But it did nothing to unnerve them. They hadn't even so much as flinched, instead staring back at the older woman with a look that held more depth than should ever be in a child's eyes. It gave her pause, her expression faltering as she held their eyes.

"... Wait... Why are you looking at me like that?"

Like what?

"Like you have seen a ghost. Do you know something that I do not?" A long and eerie silence followed Toriel's inquiry, and even the child stiffened slightly as they looked up at her. Did she know? They hoped not; they just needed to get on with their task and get past her. They had wasted enough time in her wretched sanctuary as it was.

"No... That is impossible."

So something did click in her mind. But she was still unsure of herself, questioning if what she thought could ever possibly be a reality. Her thoughtful, shifty eyes were enough to catch the child off-guard, who felt something stir in their chest. Relent. They didn't even know they could feel anything anymore, but it was there, and the name came just as easily to their head with such a bitter tang to it. They didn't want to feel relent. Not now, right at the start. The Underground was waiting right behind the old woman, waiting for them to lay siege to it and render it barren for all eternity. But this goddamned woman would not move out of their way. Suddenly, out of their control, they felt their mouth open to say something. But they quickly closed it, refusing to allow themselves to say anything.

Not worth talking to.

In an abrupt blur of movement, Toriel swept her arm in a wide arc, and the child hissed as they felt a small flame whizz past and singe their right arm. Had they not moved in that instant, they would've been caught in the flurry of the rest that followed, dodging and weaving past hot red orbs that cut through the air. And it continued like that for a while. The cursed old woman had more endurance than the child first let on. More grit teeth here, an open-mouthed silent gasp there. Bits of the fabric of their blue and purple-striped shirt were darkened and smoking, and the burning scent filled their nose as they continued wearily to move through the fire that Toriel sent in fragments. They advanced closer while doing so, seeking to put an end to this pointless altercation that shouldn't have even began. Then just as they were about to close the rest of the distance remaining, they caught a glimpse of light above them and craned their head upward to see what it was. What they saw caused their eyes to widen with alarm- was that a literal hand of fire descending on them?- before their vision went white and their body was flung backward, colliding hard with the floor beneath them and stopping facedown. For a moment, they lost all feeling in their limbs and sound ceased to be coherent, a shrill ringing occupying their ears that gradually dulled as they struggled up to their knees. They had been too careless. Not watchful enough. Toriel was very certainly not just talk, and they knew that now.

Sputtering ever so quietly, they stood on wobbly feet and looked up to face Toriel once more.

She's... she's looking through me.

For a moment, the child thought that they were about to experience a thrill. That they were truly going to be tested, and that perhaps this wasn't a waste of their time after all. And then, their hopes were immediately shattered when Toriel swept her arm outward again. The flames no longer even felt close to him. They moved around him, burning into the walls and dissipating into the floor. They grimaced, feeling fury bubble inside of them. How dare she mock them like this? Continue to look upon them like a weakling who needed protecting? They took a step forward, then another step, seeing red appear in the corners of their vision and feeling a strong compulsion to rush forward and finish this swiftly. Then they stopped, remembered the attack that they had just been bombarded with. No, it wouldn't be smart to do what they were about to. As exciting as it might've been to challenge themselves against more offense of that caliber, it would take too much out of them. Even put them at risk of dying before they could make it out of the gates of the woman's residence. They had a new opportunity now, they realized.

And they needed to seize it.

The child let their features soften, allowed their muscles to go slack. Toriel flinched, seemingly confused by their actions and briefly halting her attacks. Another sphere of fire lit up in her hand, but they did not falter. They stood their ground, appearing resigned to her and keeping from moving. "What are you doing?" she asked, her voice relatively firm but undeniably expressing restraint underneath. She catapulted the sphere at them and let it split into pieces, which again moved around them and poised no threat to their presence. Her brows were narrowed, frustration contorting her face as she huffed indignantly. "Attack or run away!" The child still didn't move, allowing more fire to pass by them. The woman huffed again as she repeated the attack, the earlier one used to put distance between the two nowhere to be seen. She didn't even have the heart to hurt them enough to submit.

"What are you proving this way?"

That you have no conviction.

As if Toriel had heard what they were thinking, she produced a smaller orb of fire in her hand, then hurled it with a growl directly at the child. They collapsed to their knees as it made impact with their stomach, knocking out all the wind from them and making it hard for them to breathe right. Nonetheless, they eventually recovered, standing back up with silently heavy intakes and releases of air. Toriel looked at them incredulously, her voice becoming thunderous as she spoke again, "Fight me or leave!" And yet, she did nothing. The two simply stood and stared at one another, the tenseness from before returning to the atmosphere.

"Stop it." Another pause. "Stop looking at me that way." The memories which flitted through the child's head made it hard for them not to look the way they did. It was simply out of their power to control the saddened expression that adorned their features. Memories of sitting down by the fireplace while she read from one of those books of hers, of eating her delicious butterscotch pie at the dinner table and watering the flowers in the garden at the King's castle with her husband and their biological son. What was his name again...? Ah, that's right. Asriel. He was such a fun boy to play with. If only they had more time to do that... but he was dead now. The humans had slaughtered him while the two shared one body, leaving enough life left in him to go back to his family and die right before their very eyes. Oh, how they hated humanity even more for that. For treating their friend like that so terribly. They'd make them pay. All of them would pay for what they did to that boy. Unfortunately, if they were going to do that, the Underground had to be wiped out as well.

They were going to start clean. Everything that existed now would be expunged entirely.

"Go away!" Toriel suddenly shrieked, hurling another sphere which broke off into numerous little bits. Though they were now dangerously close to making contact with the child, none of them did. They remained in place, a new expression making itself present on their face.

One of determination.

Both of Toriel's hands were now set ablaze, her eyes crazed and delirious with anger. Why did this child refuse to do anything? And why could she not will herself to force them to do something? She searched deep within herself, looking for any small scrap of motivation she could find to push herself to make the child relent. In the end, she found none. And slowly, slowly but surely, she came to terms with that fact. She couldn't bring any more harm to them than she already had. That would be far too painful for her to live with. Even when she knew that there were already six before this one that she failed to save... she simply could not do it. In wordless surrender, she lowered her hands, allowing the infernos to fade into nothing. She kept her eyes closed and her head downcast for several long seconds, then raised it to again look upon the child, her features visibly crestfallen.

"I know you want to go home, but..." They stood there, actually feeling pity for the older woman's distress. If only she wouldn't allow herself to be weak.

"But please... go upstairs now."

That was never an option for me.

"I promise I will take good care of you here." The child nearly broke then, their grip on the stick held in their right hand tightening. Their jaw clenched, and they swallowed hard. More memories that wouldn't go away no matter how much they willed them to. It didn't help to see the regretful but inviting smile that was now on her face. They almost wanted to tell her "I know". But they kept silent.

"I know we do not have much, but..."

Just stop it already.

"We can live a good life here." The child still said nothing. Did nothing. They just stood there and watched the old woman break.

"Why are you making this so difficult? Please, go upstairs." More seconds of silence went by. A full minute of nothingness transpired. By this point, Toriel looked to be so disappointed in herself. In her failure to convince the child that they were safer under her care. Just like she had failed to convince the others. The monsters out there, beyond the gates behind her... they'd get to this one too. She just knew it. They wouldn't make it out there.

"Ha ha... Pathetic, is it not? I cannot save even a single child."

Determination.

At that moment, the child became an imperceptible blur, and Toriel felt a sharp sting making its way from her left shoulder down to her right hip. Her eyes widened with shock, she stared down at them and looked at the stick that they had brandished. With that and an unholy kind of power backing up their swing... they had struck her down. There were no noises that escaped her. She simply stared, disbelieving. And it was an image that engraved itself in the child's mind.

"... You... at my most vulnerable moment..." she croaked shakily. The child stepped backward, admittedly unwilling to be so close to her when she was looking at them the way she did. It was actually... unsettling.

"To think I was worried you wouldn't fit in out there..."

The child recoiled even further as a wicked smile pulled at the edges of Toriel's mouth, and maniacal laughter shook her body. It was a disturbing sound that they did not think they would ever hear from her.

"Eheheheh! You really are no different from them!"

More laughter came forth from her, echoing along the walls of the room the two of them stood in, then it died out as she fell to one knee and clutched her chest. Her eyes were closed, and an expression of acceptance settled on her features. She smiled to herself; this one would be fine after all. They would survive everything that awaited them in the Underground.

"Ha... ha..." Hearing her feeble voice was gut-wrenching, and with another moment's passing, they watched as the old woman faded into dust. They looked on as her SOUL lingered where she was once standing, vibrating erratically in the air in an attempt to hold itself together. And then, it shattered, falling into pieces that also disappeared amidst their environment. Now left on their lonesome, the child blinked and looked down at their hand that kept the stick in their grasp. It was trembling.

And it was covered in dust.

They remained there, staring blankly and absorbing the entirety what they had just done. For a time, remorse was brought to their mental surface as they came to grips with their action. Eventually, they settled. With a silent breath in and out, their hand stilled, and they pocketed the stick before making an approach towards the gates ahead of them. What was done was done. In truth, they could've gone back if they wanted to. But they weren't going to. If only for the boy wrongfully murdered, and the caretaker they were forced to do the same to, they were going to press ahead with only one goal in mind.

Erasing everything.

AN: Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this quick one-shot I've written for Undertale. I recently got back into my love of the game, and remembered in particular the exchange between Toriel and Frisk where she points out that they look like they've "seen a ghost", and that they "know something she does not" if you reset and replay the game after already having killed her. I decided to put a spin on this and let this translate into Chara- deep inside Frisk- recognizing Toriel while beginning their killing spree, and in general decided that I wanted to do some exploring in terms of how they might've felt in a Genocide Route where they opted for a betrayal instead of an outright killing.

Feel free to favorite and/or review! It'd be much appreciated if you did.