The Fallen:
I do not own Undertale, Toby Fox does!
This story is for [Shibuya Operation - Story Storm]!
…
Part 1: The Cavern:
Putting his foot down on the rock, pointing up to the mountain, Archie exclaimed, "We're going to explore Mount Ebott!"
"You can't be serious!" Todd instantly took ahold of Winnie's hand, sending a scowl as Archie put his foot down from the rock. "We can't go up there!"
The curly haired boy gave a frown, meeting Todd's eyes. "Aw, come on... Why shouldn't we go up there?"
"You know what the elders have said!" retorted Todd as he shook his head, pointing towards the dark grassy slope as he put in, "No one ever comes back from Mount Ebott..."
It was well known that Mount Ebott was a cursed mountain, a place that people disappeared on. Todd knew the elders weren't making up stories to tease them, but to stop them from going up it. They were always grave when they spoke of it, and would scold almost any child if they joked about it. If that wasn't enough, the mere mention of monsters set them off like it was murder. Bed monsters, vampires, werewolves… they would yell at the very person who mentioned them as if monsters were swear words, or as if it was taboo. Even Mount Ebott got them ranting to almost no end… and Todd didn't want to find out why the elders were so aggravated about the mountain. He didn't want his sister or his friends to try their luck with it.
"We're not little kids anymore, Todd," retorted Marley as she sent him a sharp look, crossing her dark-skinned arms as she snorted, "Don't be a baby, those stories can't be real."
"But when you think about it, they can be, Marley," Edgar said with a sigh, shaking his head at her unimpressed as always. "It's been proven that wildlife can kill you if you're not prepared for that danger."
"And… that's why I asked Todd to come!" cried Archie with a grin, nodding to him as he made his fingers move to resemble a pistol. "He's got that revolver his father gave him! And he can use it to-" He made abrupt gestures with his 'pistols' "Bam! Bam! No more danger!" With a grin, he thumped his fist into his now open palm. "That's the best protection we got! So we need you, Tod-"
Todd instantly turned, pulling his sister along as he growled, "I'm not going to put Winnie in danger! This is completely ridiculous, Archie!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! W-Wait, I just said we need you, Todd!"
"My father's revolver is not a toy, Archie!" spat Todd as he quickened his pace, hearing Winnie squeak as he guided her down the mountain. "We could seriously get hurt if we go up that mountain!"
Just as he left the dark shroud of trees, he stopped when he saw someone running towards him and squinted his eyes. If it hadn't been nighttime, he could have easily figured out who it was. So it took him a few moments of squinting his eyes at them before the person halted in front of him.
"Angie?" he breathed in bewilderment as she leaned over and panted, allowing Todd an opportunity to ask her, "What are you doing here?"
"Archie told me everyone was meeting up around this time…" she wheezed before she straightened, gasping in a deep breath before she finished, "So… I'm here..."
"And you took a long time!" Before Todd could turn around, Archie sprang out from Todd's left side to land beside him before Archie joined Angie's side. He put his arm around her shoulder and sighed. "Angie, we've been waiting for you for ten minutes! So what was the holdup this time?"
"I didn't want to rush over here, Archie…" she said flatly, brushing his arm aside from her shoulder and stepped away. "Plus, I had to make sure my little brother was asleep before I came over here." As soon as she faced him, her bright green eyes shimmered as she breathed, "Other than that, the sky looked pretty cool tonight. There were constellations I've never had a chance to see before, so I think taking a moment to gaze at them was worth it."
"Tsk, the night sky is not as cool as what we're going to do!" said Archie with a grin, pointing towards the mountain as Edgar and Marley passed through the trees. "C'mon, we still have enough time to go up that mountain and down it before our parents find out we're gone!"
"I already said we're not going!" Todd growled as he narrowed his eyes, tightening his hold on his sister's hand as he shook his head. "It's bad enough you got me and Winnie outside in the first place, and our parents could be worried…"
"Our parents don't care about us," said Marley as she fluffed her wavy black hair, wrinkling her nose as she rolled her eyes. "I can come home anytime after my ballet practice, and they don't say anything." She tilted her head up in the air, sniffing as she went on, "In fact, if I come home and sleep all day tomorrow, they won't get on my case."
"That's because they know it's my job to keep you in line." Edgar fixed his round glasses, half closing his brown eyes as he frowned. "And you know they hate how you don't listen to them."
"It's because they suck!" she retorted bitterly, whipping to her twin with annoyance brewing in her eyes. "Why can't we do what we want? Why can't we have fun!?"
"That's because your sense of 'fun' gets you in trouble."
"Ugh!" The eleven-year-old at once growled, shaking as she snapped, "Why did you come with me in the first place!?"
"As always, to make sure you don't do something you'll regret," replied Edgar flatly, tipping his glasses up. "Sadly enough."
Todd knew Edgar and Marley were inseparable... for different reasons than many would think. People expected twins to never want to leave each other's side because of the close bond they shared, but that was not the case for them. From what he had heard from Edgar, from the moment they were born they were raised in a way that made them grow up to be different than each other. As strange as it was to him, he could understand that it created a quite rift between them instead of the usual sibling bond that he had with Winnie.
Edgar loved quiet activities where he could have peace and time to himself, while Marley loved loud activities where she could feed off the attention she got. Often times Todd found that neither of them could stand in the same place and get along, instead argue like there was no tomorrow. Todd would never argue with Winnie... he couldn't bare making Winnie sad, or be angry towards her. He would never in his life want to make Winnie upset if it was over something so meaningless...
"Anyways..." Archie slurred dramatically as he grinned, stomping down to draw their attention. He thumped his chest before he exclaimed, "I'm sure all of you have at least once wanted to see what Mount Ebott has in store, right?" He pointed at Todd. "Even you, Todd! Don't tell me you lied about that one time you said you would like to know what it's like up there, because I heard you say you wanted to see it!"
"That was when we were five years old, Archie, and we got in trouble with the elders," replied Todd with a shake of his head. "We're older now, and I like to think that we're smart enough to know when to stay away from places we shouldn't be."
The curly haired boy heaved out a sigh, looking somewhat deflated by what Todd said. For a second Todd finally felt that Archie understood he didn't want to go, but then Archie came over.
As he came over, he leaned towards Todd before he whispered, "Can't you at least spend five minutes with us up there? We don't spend as much time as we used to... and we might not have as much time in the future to do stuff!" For a moment he paused before he put in sadly, "I-I... you're my best friend, Todd, and I can't imagine doing this without you."
Todd frowned at once, turning to Archie as uncertainty swelled in his heart. It was true; they had been neighbors all their life... everything they did they did together. That was, until Winnie was old enough to play outside and Todd's parents left him in charge of her whenever they went to work. Nonetheless, Archie was his best friend, and in a sense, Todd felt that he may wound their friendship more than Archie's hope.
"Okay..." Todd let go of Winnie's hand, crossing his arms as he inhaled. He met Archie's brown eyes with his dark blue. "Me and Winnie can leave, only after being five minutes up there." After a second he smiled. "Will that be enough time for you?"
"Of course, Todd!" exclaimed Archie heartily as he patted Todd's shoulder, grinning as he chirped, "You're my wingman, my best friend! You can do that!" He gave a wink, and Todd felt as though he was looking past him at Winnie. "If Big Bro wants Lil Sis to get her sleep, I can't complain! Since, y'know, I don't have any sibs!"
Todd sighed. 'Really, Archie...'
He knew that Archie was trying hard to get on his good side, most likely to make Todd squeeze in a few more minutes with them when they were on Mount Ebott. So Todd hoped Archie wouldn't try to persuade him again.
As they started up the slope, Todd could literally feel his ears throb as Marley spoke, "But seriously, did you have to drag me out of the studio, Archie?"
Todd sighed mentally, disliking the fact that Marley was still stressing about the earlier events that happened between her and Archie today. He wished she could let it go, but it wasn't like her to do that... sadly enough. All she could do was dwell on the past…
"You were taking too long, Marley!" protested Archie as he led the way, throwing up his hands as he growled, "Sheesh! I know you like your ballet, I know how you want to stay as the best dancer... but you could practice at home!"
Almost at once, she hastened her steps to walk alongside the orange haired boy, abruptly jabbing her finger at him. "You didn't have to grab my bag, and run off with it yelling at me that we had to be at the base of this stupid mountain!" she screeched as she clenched her dark hands. "My bag is not like your raggedy backpack! You can't just swing it over your shoulder and haul it around!"
"A bag is a bag!" yelled Archie as he quickened his pace, and Todd imagined he was trying to get away from her. "You carry stuff in it!"
"My duffle bag has delicate fabric that shouldn't be roughhoused with, and it can be torn easily!" she snarled as she sped up her pace.
"Then you shouldn't use that dainty purse to carry your stuff with!"
"It's not a dainty purse, it's a duffle bag!"
Todd didn't say anything; he didn't want to get involved with the argument. It was better to say nothing; that was the advice that he got from Edgar when he had a bad first encounter with Marley when he was walking home with Edgar one day.
He turned to Edgar when the black boy whispered, "Archie sure suckered you into this... I'm not surprised."
"Archie didn't do that," Todd pointed out as they went over a few rocks. "He's my best friend."
"Well then, your best friend pulled the guilt trip on you," noted Edgar unimpressed as he crawled over the rocks after Winnie. "And you fell for it… which makes sense because you have a little sister."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" asked Todd in confusion as he helped his sister gain her balance.
"She could sucker you into doing things for her too."
"Big Brother is always nice to me!" chirped Winnie as she stood beside him, squeaking in surprise as her puffy-sleeved bright green dress skirt and rosy pink apron fluttered in the sudden torrent of wind. After the wind subsided, she blinked her bright blue eyes as she added, "I would never be mean to him!"
Todd smiled at that, soon frowning when he met Edgar's eyes that glinted from behind his black glasses. It was then that Angie joined them, her sneakers tapping the stony terrain as she found a spot to stand. "Ow…" She sucked in air for a few moments, grimacing as she did so, before she scowled at her sneakers. "Climbing Mount Ebott with only sneakers is horrible!" she said with annoyance. "If only Archie had told us what we would be doing… then I could have worn some good old hiking boots!"
She widened her eyes suddenly, turning to Winnie as she put her hand on the seven year old's shoulder. "Oh, and speaking of that… Are you okay, Winnie?" she asked in concern, clicking her tongue as she mused sadly, "Oh dear, it must be harder for you since you're wearing Mary Janes."
Winnie blinked at her black and white shoes before she looked up, shaking her head at once. With a smile she chirped, clinging suddenly to Todd's arm with a giggle, "I'm okay! I'm tough like my Big Brother!"
The brown haired girl gave chuckle at that, "Of course you are, Winnie!"
Winnie grinned at that, closing her eyes as she gave a nod. "Yeah!"
"What are you guys doing?" Todd turned to see Archie waving his hands at them, then turned to wave them towards the slope of the mountain. "We don't have all night, let's go!"
"We know that, Archie!" shouted Angie as she used one of her hands to cup around her mouth. "Mount Ebott isn't going anywhere, so don't rush us!"
Archie turned to made a face at that before he ran towards the slope.
"I can't believe him…" muttered Angie as she stared forward with a frown. "I just can't believe him at all…"
"Just because he's a year older than almost all of us, doesn't mean he's wiser than us, Angie," said Edgar as he sighed, shaking his head.
"Yeah, I know..." replied Angie as she idly kicked a pebble away, giving a sigh as well. "If he keeps racing off, or pushes us forward... he could land us in danger." For a few seconds she was silent before she shook her head. "...Or worse, we could all get injured."
"Eh, I think that mostly applies to him." Edgar gave a shrug.
"Guys... I think it's more of how he's excited about exploring Mount Ebott," Todd put in with a smile, remembering fondly all the times Archie ranted about the mountain. "He's always wanted to since we were younger, so I guess it's a dream come true for him."
Angie nodded, crossing her arms as she replied, "Well yeah, we all know that." She gave a slight smile as she shook her head. "I guess I can't blame him then. After all, we all have our dreams."
"We should go then." Todd turned and started walking, hearing Winnie dash to join his side as he called over his shoulder, "We shouldn't keep Archie and Marley waiting."
As soon as Todd led Winnie up to where everyone else had stopped, he scanned the area around him the best he could. The area was craggy, the ground was slightly irregular underneath his feet as he stood staring into the darkness before him. It was a bit disappointing in a way that Archie wanted them to all to explore it at night, Todd couldn't see anything up here. In fact, it was dangerous... He gave a look to Archie as the boy held a grin, looking overly excited about their surroundings unlike how Todd felt suddenly nervous about them.
"Okay, so now that we're here…" Angie crossed her arms, looking at Archie expectantly as she asked, "What now?"
"Well, we should all look around and see what there is!" Archie cried as he waved his hands.
"If it weren't dark outside, we could, Archie!" Marley walked ahead of them. As soon as she stopped, she turned around to stare at them. "Plus, we can't go any higher than this!"
"Aw c'mon…" Archie grinned as he walked over to her, putting a hand on her bare shoulder as he waved his other hand across him. "I'm sure there's plenty of things to see! We just need to spread out!"
Marley gave a huff, stepping aside from Archie before she walked forward. "Spread out where? There's no way we can see where we're go-ING" A shriek tore out of Marley's mouth, alarming Todd as he saw her spin and fall backwards.
At once Todd dashed forward as Archie leaned down, and Todd felt lucky that he had at least enough light from the moon to see that Marley was clinging to Archie's hands that held her own. He watched as Archie tried to tug her up, only to skid forward a little. "Help me!" hissed Archie as Todd heard some dirt shift below him. "She's slipping!"
Todd at once leaned down beside Archie, at once grabbing ahold of Marley's other hand. He could see how her brown eyes were wide with terror as he tried to pull her up, but then he heard Archie cry out as something fell nearby them. Before he knew it, Todd jerked downward abruptly and his grip loosened. This prompted Marley to let out a scream, "What's wrong with you!? Don't let go of me!"
"It's your stupid dainty purse, Marley!" snapped Archie as Todd noticed he was closer to the edge now than he had been earlier. "It's making me-"
Without warning Todd watched in horror as Archie fell down, hearing the curly haired boy's scream ebb the moment the dark abyss before Todd engulfed him. He felt Marley's nails dig into his wrist, but he still held on despite feeling his heart ache.
He heard someone join his side, numbly staring down into the hole as he heard Angie speak, "A-Archie… no…"
"We have to get away from here!" Edgar seemed to have joined them as well, but Todd barely heard him. "It's not safe!"
"Hello! I need to be pulled up!" cried Marley as Todd felt a tinge of pain prick his wrist. He saw her dangling arm swing up, making it harder to hold onto her hand for a while until she seemed to have grabbed onto something that was below Todd's feet. "Do you want me to die!?"
"Don't do that!" shouted Edgar, and Todd looked up in surprise to see him backing away. "You're going to shift the ground!"
"What do you mean by-"
Before Marley could finish, Todd felt the ground crumble from below him, feeling air uselessly try to catch him as his vision was instantly engulfed in darkness. Within moments he felt brief pain strike through his body before he felt nothing.
Todd blinked, instantly squinting the moment golden light blinded his vision. He groaned as he tried to get up, only to let himself stay lying down on what seemed to be something soft. It took him a few minutes until he realized it wasn't nighttime anymore, and for a moment he smiled, thinking it was only a bad dream…
"Ugh! Where's, my, duffle bag!?"
He frowned at once, knowing that Marley didn't sleep in his bed. He turned his head to the right, noticing he was surrounded by golden flowers and a couple of his friends.
At once Todd pushed himself up to sit, letting his hands support him as he looked around the area. It appeared to be that they were in some kind of cavern, surrounded by a few columns that seemed to be slightly worn away. He blinked as he noticed Archie and Edgar were standing off to the side, examining one of the columns while Marley was stomping around and yelling about her duffle bag. Angie seemed to be still on the patch of flowers with him, along with Winnie who was lying on her side… motionless.
"Winnie!" he cried in horror as he crawled over to her, putting his hand on her puffy sleeve and shook her. "Wake up! You can't be dead!"
He heard his sister groan, letting go of her shoulder as she rolled over onto her back, blinking her clear crystal blue eyes at him in surprise. "Big Brother?"
"Oh thank goodness!" he exclaimed as he pulled her up into his arms and held her close, feeling one of her blonde pigtails brush against his shaggy hair as he sighed. "You're okay…"
"But you're not…" sniffled Winnie suddenly.
Todd froze, soon letting go of her. He briefly took a moment to see that his hands were grazed, and that there was a throbbing in his shoulder that he hadn't noticed until now. He frowned, glancing at his dark brown pants that were grass stained, slightly ripped along with his yellow shirt. He quickly rummaged through his pockets, finding the pouch of bullets he kept on him was still there, and then he checked his holster to see that his father's revolver was gone. But then he saw it, a feet away from him so he moved towards it. With a yelp he fell forward, managing stop himself from crashing to the ground before he went to get it. As soon as he leaned down to pick it up, he felt a strange feeling go through him as he slid it back to where it belonged.
Suddenly he saw his cowboy hat was thrust before him, it looked a bit dirty but he didn't care about that. Instead of taking it, he turned to see that Winnie was standing by his side as her clear crystal blue eyes stared at him. "Big Brother… your hat," she said nervously, holding it up above her head as she bounced up and down on the tips of her feet. Todd soon understood what she wanted, leaning down to let her put it back on him. She at once giggled, soon hugging him as she squeaked happily, "Perfect!"
Todd couldn't help but smile. His sister got him that cowboy hat for his ninth birthday, and she never liked it when he didn't have it on. In a way, he felt like she thought that if he didn't wear it he must have hated it so he always had it on despite how the kids at school (other than his friends) would constantly mock him about it. He even got in trouble with a teacher for wearing a hat in school…
"Help!" He flinched when he heard Marley scream, "Help! We're stuck down here!" He turned to see her standing nearby, waving her arms in the air as her pink tutu swayed rapidly from the motion. "Somebody! Help us!"
"Give it a rest, Marley," said Edgar with a sigh as he walked over to her, and Todd noticed how his dark purple sweater vest, black dress shirt, and white tie looked messy and his black dress pants were slightly ripped. "Nobody will hear you."
"Excuse me!? We're stuck down here!" cried Marley as she swung around to face him, her dark hand shooting up towards the gaping hole above them as she growled, "I'm not going to stand here and starve, Edgar! What else can we do!?"
"First of all, no one goes up Mount Ebott, so who will hear you calling?" asked the black haired boy as he sighed, shaking his head as he stared at her. "Second, there's no way we can get back up there because it's too high for us to climb." Upon looking up, he sighed. "Oh, and by the way… you might want to get used to wearing your leotard and tutu, Marley."
"What do you mean by that!?" she asked angrily, her brown eyes narrowed as she poked him. "If this is one of your annoying ways of saying we'll never get out-"
"No, not at all." The black boy sighed, turning his sister around despite her protest and pointed up. "It's just that getting your bag down will be impossible."
Todd looked up as well, flinching the moment Marley screamed as he noticed how her duffle bag was dangling from a jutting rock. Upon looking back down, Marley was shaking as she grabbed onto her wavy black hair as she screamed again, "No, this can't be happening! The clothing I was going to change into is in there!"
"I told you your dainty purse was stupid!" called Archie as he trotted over to join them. Todd couldn't help but stare at him, seeing how his arms and legs were slightly red from the blood that had crusted over them. At once Todd strode towards him, stopping when Marley swung around to glare at Archie.
"My duffle bag is not stupid, Archie!" cried Marley angrily as she stomped up to him, pushing him back and making him cry out. "What were you doing when you got it up there!?"
"'Cuse me, but I was too busy falling and trying to grab onto something to save myself from dying!" The orange haired boy clenched his fists, glaring at her as he crossed his injured arms the moment Todd got beside him. "That thing weighs too much for anyone to carry, and it was because of your stupid bag that I fell!"
Todd at once pushed himself between the two, making sure there was a good enough space between them so they couldn't claw at each other from either side of him. "Stop, This isn't helping anyone!" he said in frustration as he looked back and forth at them. "Right now, we should worry about getting out, not going for each other's throat."
"He does have a point," said Edgar aloud as he walked over. "We should really look for a way out."
Todd turned to see Archie and Marley were glaring at each other, Marley looked a bit more sour while Archie was clenching his arms tightly with his hands. But then they looked away as Archie let out a growl, "Alright, as long as Marley keeps her whining to a minimum…"
"Hey!" yelled Marley as she glared at him again. "I do not whine, I only voice my opinions!"
"Eh, close enough," said Archie with a huff, soon letting go of his arms that looked terrible. "I just want to get outta here soon."
Todd gave a sigh of relief; stepping away from his friends now that he was convinced they weren't going to attack each other. As he walked over to Edgar, Todd was joined by Winnie as she looked up at Archie with wide eyes, "But you're also hurt!"
"I'm fine, Winnie!" The curly haired boy gave a smirk as he clenched his hand. "I got a lot of grit, and it takes more than a fall to take me out! After all, I'm a man! And men don't go so easily from scrapes and scratches."
"Archie, don't you dare say you're fine, you look terrible," scolded Angie as she came up from behind Winnie, and Todd noticed how intense her glare was. "You took the worst fall from out of all of us, and almost everyone landed on you." When Archie was about to open his mouth, Angie's voice went sharp. "You have to rest!"
"I don't need rest…" said Archie as he clenched his fists. "Todd and Edgar are right, we need to get out as quickly as possible."
"Have you looked at yourself, Archie?" asked Angie pointedly as she shook. "If you run off now, you'll injure yourself more!" She then huffed, "We need to rest for a while. I don't know how long we need to rest, but you need to let your injuries heal, Archie."
"For how long!?" snapped Archie.
"Maybe a few hours, maybe a day or two-"
At once Marley shot Angie a glare. "That will take ages! I can't stay in a leotard and tutu for that long!"
"So what do you suggest?" Edgar asked.
"An exit has to be nearby!" she said sharply, turning in a direction where it looked like it was a deeper part of the cave that they were in. "All caves have exits! And it can't be too far because it doesn't look like we're that deep!"
"And what if we're in a large cave?" asked Edgar again, giving a sigh as he closed his eyes. "Then it might not be a good idea for wandering off."
Marley at once gave a growl, pointing upwards sharply as she yelled, "Look, there's loads of sunlight! So we can't be that far!"
Edgar was about to reply to that when Archie piped up, "Yeah! Why should we stay in a dingy cave when the exit is nearby? We should go now!"
"But, Arc-" Angie shot him a glare.
"What if it is?" asked Winnie, making everyone look down at her as she breathed excitedly, "We can be home then!"
Angie's expression suddenly became pained; her mouth was slightly open as she stared at Winnie then looked at everyone. Todd blinked as she closed her eyes as her expression twisted more. "We should wait."
"We can't wait!" Todd widened his eyes and gave his attention to Archie, who was scowling at her. "If we stay here, if the exit is right close by… then we're sitting here for nothing!" Before anyone could say anything, he stomped down. "If you want to wait here, then wait! Everyone else will go!"
At once he turned to dash away, soon stopping to whip back to stare at them. "What are you waiting for, guys? Let's go!"
Todd only stared back, shaking slightly as he wanted to follow, yet for some reason his feet wouldn't move. He wanted to get Winnie home as soon as possible, he wanted to make sure everyone did… Yet he could only stare at his best friend, his throat felt dry, and he could hardly bring himself to keep breathing.
He could imagine it was possible it was that close, but something in his gut told him something didn't feel right. It then occurred to him that they didn't know what was outside of this room. They might walk out and find themselves in darkness, blindly walking around for ages until they collapsed from exhaustion… They could go out, only to meet a dangerous animal that could maul them to death on the spot… …Anything could be there.
"G-Guys?" Archie breathed shakily, his expression softening to confusion as he waved behind himself. "C-C'mon, we have to go."
"Archie…" Todd said slowly, stepping forward until he stood with Archie. "We shouldn't rush out of here when we don't know where we're going."
"We fell into a cave, Todd!" exclaimed Archie with a few airy chuckles as he threw up his arms. "How can we when we haven't been here before!?"
For a few seconds the shaggy haired boy stared at Archie, narrowing his eyes as he thought bitterly, 'What is wrong with you? Why are you acting as though this is nothing!? You shouldn't be laughing this off like it was a joke!'
"We shouldn't be here in the first place, Archie!" spat Todd harshly as he took a step back, clenching his hands into fists. He saw Archie's eyes go wide with shock as he shouted, "We shouldn't have climbed this mountain in the first place! We shouldn't have listened to you in the first place!" After a pause he shouted louder as he shut his dark blue eyes tightly, "We should have listened to the elders, Archie! I don't know what you were thinking when you called us yesterday to come here, but now you're trying to lead us forward again without an idea of what's out there! You're going to get us all hurt again!"
As Todd opened his eyes, he saw Archie staring at him blankly. No one spoke, no one moved, and Todd couldn't help but break it. He took one step forward and growled, "Think for a moment! But if you think you're thinking, go on ahead without us!"
With that, Todd swung around and stomped back to his friends, only stopping after a few seconds the moment they stared at him. The only person he could focus on was Winnie, who was shaking, who was completely pale as her eyes brimmed with tears. At once he wanted to run up to her and apologize for what he did, but Marley came forward, and he braced himself for any verbal lashes… but she didn't. All she did was stride past him, and he turned around to see her stop beside Archie.
"We'll go find an exit, and we'll be back," said Marley in a level, bitter voice as she shook. "If you think we don't know what we're doing, we do. We want to get out of here." With that she shot Todd a scowl from over her shoulder before she started to stomp forward.
Todd let his shoulders droop. 'I want that too. I want that for everyone.'
As Todd glanced at Archie, his best friend soon lowered his gaze. Before Todd could say anything Archie spoke, his usual energy was clearly sapped from how downcast he sounded, "Until we get back, keep them safe, Todd." Todd's breath hitched as he reached towards Archie as he took a step forward, only stopping as the curly haired boy turned around to follow after Marley. All Todd did was watch Archie walk away, giving a sigh the moment he was gone.
'I will, Archie.'
The harsh sunlight was weaker… Todd stared at the ceiling's hole as he thought about his earlier actions. He knew he shouldn't have yelled at Archie like that, but he couldn't take how Archie was acting so inconsiderate at that moment in time. Todd guessed the situation had gotten to him, just like the rest of them…
As he looked back at Winnie, she gave him a sad look that made his heart strain.
He couldn't take how he hurt Winnie as well. She always got upset when he got angry, so he always tried to keep his anger under control for her. Yet for some reason he couldn't this time…
Angie sighed from beside him. "Someone had to break it to him, Todd."
"I didn't mean to yell at him," said Todd meekly, looking down at his lap as he went on, "I should have controlled myself better."
"But no one else could have gotten through to him." When Todd glanced at Edgar, he found it hard to see the black haired boy's eyes from behind his glasses that the sunlight bounced off of. "If it came from us, I don't think Archie would have taken our word."
The dark brown haired boy closed his eyes. "But I still shouldn't have done that."
"Archie tends to listen to you, Todd," replied Edgar sternly. "Every time I tell him to stop leaving his underwear at my house, he doesn't."
"And why would he do that…?" asked Angie suspiciously.
The black haired boy sighed. "I made the mistake of letting him stay the night once, and ever since then he thinks it's okay for him to make sure his clothing is there if he needs to stay ever again." Edgar paused for a while before he grumbled, "My mother keeps mistaking his underwear for mine, yells at me for leaving it around the house, and I keep telling her it's his yet she doesn't believe me."
As Todd opened his eyes, he noticed how Edgar was holding a purple book that he was writing in. "What's that?" he asked curiously, instantly making Edgar pause.
"My notebook," replied Edgar as he started to write again. "it's good to keep something like this around."
"What are you writing in it?" asked Todd when Edgar clicked the top of the pen, closing his notebook.
"A reminder to ask you to tell Archie to stop leaving his clothing at my house," said Edgar flatly as he put the notebook down on the patch of grass. "After five years of telling him not to, I think you can finally convince him for me."
'Okay…' Todd frowned at that. 'Good to know?'
"Speaking of Archie, they have been gone for a long time," said Angie suddenly.
"Huh?" Todd frowned.
"Marley and Archie." Angie looked at him, blinking as she spoke, "They're still not back."
"Yeah…" said Todd as he sighed, turning his head in the direction he last saw them. "It's been, like, thirty or more minutes, right?"
"It's been longer," said Edgar as Todd frowned at that. Upon looking at all of their blank expressions, Edgar gave a sigh as he explained, "Judging by the amount of light we have, they left in the morning, so it has to be past noon now."
"So what you're saying is…" Todd took a moment to think it over before he said, "They have been gone instead for three or four hours?"
"Exactly." Edgar got up, dusting himself off before he mused, "I have to guess the exit wasn't close then."
"Should we wait more, or should we go after them?" asked Angie as she got up, not bothering to dust off her dark jean overalls as she strode out of the patch of golden flowers. "I'm kind of getting worried."
At once Winnie shot Todd a worried look, her eyes were flashing with fear as she murmured, "Big Brother?"
'Something doesn't feel right… they should have gotten back by now.' Todd looked at his lap again, closing his eyes for a minute before he sighed. 'I think we should go after them.'
Pushing himself up, he stared at the darkness before them as he nodded. "Let's go."
As he waited for his sister to get up, her rosy pink apron limply swung forward and Winnie at once squeaked. She grabbed both of the laces of the apron, bringing them to her back as her small hands fiddled with it. It was a while until Todd sighed, gently pulling them from Winnie as he murmured, "Allow me to do it, Winnie." He easily tied them together, soon making a bow within a minute then let go. "There you go."
His sister spun on the spot, her skirt ruffling from the current she created as she giggled. When she stopped she gave him a hug, soon chirping with glee, "Thank you, Big Brother!"
"You're welcome," he replied, soon smiling as she grabbed ahold of his hand.
"Now that you're done that, we should go…" said Edgar as his mouth pulled back a bit.
"Right, right…" Todd said as he glanced at Winnie before he started to walk forward, bracing himself as he left the sunlight. As he inched towards the darker area, he soon noticed something coming into the distance. It was a strange purple arch, having a winged symbol on the top with three triangles, the middle one upside-down, below it. He studied it for a moment before he heard scribbles, and turned to see that Edgar was writing in his notebook again. "Writing down another reminder?"
"No, I'm making a note of this," said Edgar flatly, clicking the pen before he put it away. "If we get out of here, it'll be good to let people know what we saw."
"Well, okay then," said Todd with a shrug, wondering if anyone would actually believe them about this before he went through the archway. As he got to the other side, he kept going forward, over the patch of grass where a smaller portion of sunlight shone down. Again there was an identical archway, but this time when he entered through it he found himself in a brightly lit room.
"Whoa…" Angie had joined him, instantly taking a few steps forward as she pointed towards two sets of stairs before them that led up to a purple-bricked structure. "Who would have thought we'd see this?"
"Well, it shouldn't be there," mused Edgar as he went past Angie to lean down, sliding his hand along one of the steps carefully before he looked back. "Or, maybe this cave isn't quite what we thought it would be…"
"Yeah, maybe it is…" Todd started up the steps, making sure he didn't go too fast for his sister until he got to the top. As he felt her let go, he turned to Edgar who reached the top. Upon looking up, Todd saw that there was a plaque above the entrance, but he couldn't read it it all. So instead of trying to read what it said in vain, he followed Edgar through the entrance.
This time they were in a smaller room, yet Todd couldn't help but stare at the door that remained closed. Nearby were some lightly coloured tiles along with a plaque that Edgar was reading. As Todd joined him, Edgar spoke, "It seems to be a puzzle."
"Why would there be a puzzle here?" asked Angie as she came in, furrowing her eyebrows.
"I don't know." Edgar sighed. "I don't explore caves often."
Todd turned around to speak when he noticed that Winnie was about to put her foot down on one of the tiles, causing Edgar to cry out. "Don't-" Winnie froze, soon looking at Edgar as he guided her away from it as he hissed, "Those are tiles that must be linked to the puzzle, Winnie! Don't disturb them!"
"I'm sorry…" whimpered Winnie with a sniffle, looking down at her feet at once. "I didn't mean to…"
Todd came over and sighed, resting his hand on her shoulder as he spoke gently, "It's not your fault, Winnie." As he sent a scowl to Edgar, he went on, "We just need to be careful about the things we don't know about."
"Yes, you should be," said Edgar flatly, adjusting his glasses before he gestured to the six tiles. "There has to be a certain pattern to open the door, and if we accidentally use the wrong one…"
"We could meet a terrible, unfortunate fate?" suggested Angie as she idly fixed her one of her overall straps.
"Yes." Edgar shook his head. "That."
The brown haired girl grimaced. "Well then, which one should we press, Eddy?"
Tapping his chin for a while, Edgar leaned down and started writing in his notebook again. Angie shared a bewildered look with Todd before they watched Edgar continue to write, soon stepping on one of the corners tiles before moving off of it. As he tried the next corner tile, Todd couldn't help but wonder if he should help him when Edgar spoke, gesturing to the last two corner tiles. "Okay, I need you Todd and Angie to stand on those last two tiles."
"Why do you think those ones will work?" asked Angie as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"The plaque had a riddle, and I think my hypothesis will only be true if you do what I ask, Angie," replied Edgar as he sighed.
"Well, it would be nice if you told us." Sighed Angie as she stopped beside the pads that Edgar had gestured her to. "And you seemed to have had everything under control by doing the puzzle yourself."
"And it would be swell if you did what I said," replied Edgar unimpressed. "I want to have some group participation happen."
Angie grimaced, soon stepping onto the pad with a roll of her eyes and a few mutters.
As soon as Todd got on the one Edgar indicated, he blinked as a click sounded. As he turned towards the sound, the door was open.
"Well done, everyone." Edgar quickly wrote down something before he clicked the top of his pen again, soon walking towards the door without hesitation. "Let's hop on over to the next area."
Todd gave a brief look to Angie before they strode after him, going through the door into a wide room. What he first noticed was that there were three switches were nearby, each of them tarnished in shade of either copper, silver, or gold. And when he turned his attention to his right, there was a stream that cut them off from the next part of the room, and from afar there would seem to be a similar one that sliced through the final part. As Winnie joined him, Todd knitted his eyebrows as he looked at Edgar. 'Three switches, huh? I have to wonder if it's another puzzle?'
"Hey, there's another plaque," remarked Angie as she went over to it, studying it for a few seconds before she read it aloud, "Before you stretches options, but choose wisely if you so wish to pass. Only one can be chosen, choose wrong and you will fall back. But in the end, not choosing is not the option."
"But not choosing is an option," said Edgar with a shake of his head as he pointed towards the nearby stream. "That stream over there is not too wide for us to jump across it…" He then put his hand on his chin. "Although, I have to wonder what would happen if we did."
"I could find that out for us," said Todd as he centered himself in the middle of the path, preparing himself for the jump. "And I'm pretty sure I won't be killed from doing that."
"But, Big Brother, you're hurt!" protested Winnie in distress as she ran over to hug him, making him relax into a casual position as she cried, "What if you don't land right!?"
"Don't worry, Winnie," said Todd as he smiled at her. "My leg isn't busted up after falling, so I'm pretty sure I will be fine." He put his hand on her head. "You have to trust me on this."
"But I'm still worried!" squeaked Winnie as he gently pulled away from her. "What if you don't land right!?"
"Your brother won't die, Winnie," said Edgar with a sigh, shaking his head as he crossed his arms. "Just let him try." For a few seconds Edgar held his gaze with Todd as he said, "Unless… you somehow sucker him out of it."
As Todd looked back at Winnie, she blinked as she asked curiously, "What does Edgar mean by sucker?"
"How about we have that conversation later, Winnie," said Todd as he scowled at Edgar, mouthing his annoyance and shaking his head at the black boy before he breathed in deeply. "Anyway, it will only take me a second to check, Winnie. Trust me."
Winnie stared at him for a long while, biting her lip only for a second or two before she lowered her head and stepped back. "Okay…" she murmured sadly.
As Todd breathed out a sigh of relief, he braced himself before he pushed hard on his feet. Just as he got to the edge, he leapt into the air… It was a few seconds later that he realized he was falling towards Edgar. 'What the-'
He let out a yelp as pain struck through his body the moment he crashed into his friend, soon finding himself laying on the ground. Todd got up slowly, groaning as he settled in a sitting position as his sister ran over to throw her arms around him.
"Big Brother, are you okay!?" she cried out tearfully as he grimaced, finding that the pressure she was adding to his body wasn't helping to stop the pain. He merely frowned as she squeaked, "Are you okay!?"
"I'm fine…" he replied, although he was pretty unsure if he really was. "I think Edgar broke my fall."
"Not really…" Edgar hissed in a breath as he fished his glasses from the ground, adjusting them promptly before he rubbed his arm. "It's not really true that people don't get hurt if they fall on someone, so your bones must have suffered some damage like mine, Todd."
Todd grimaced at that, getting up only after his sister let go of him. The moment he found his balance, he heard Winnie squeak tearfully, "You're only hurt because you didn't land right!"
"Although he did find out why not choosing to use the switch was not an option," grunted Edgar as he got up as well, hissing in another breath sharply before he sighed. "When I said, 'I have to wonder what would happen if we did', I didn't mean you should do that."
"But you said I should try…" pointed out Todd.
"I didn't mean-" Edgar pushed his glasses up, breathing out deeply. "You didn't have to actually try that."
Todd let out a groan. 'You made it sound like someone should…'
"Hey guys," said Angie as she shook her head, soon tapping at the plaque. "It has more to say."
"Why didn't you tell us that sooner, Angie?" asked Edgar unimpressed.
"I was going to," said Angie as she crossed her lightly-coloured arms. "But you guys seemed to be more interested in seeing whether or not we could skip the switches…"
The black haired boy sighed at that. "I see your point."
"So what does the rest say?" asked Todd curiously as he walked over to her, taking one look at the plaque before he faced her when she spoke.
"It says that 'We loved the sunlight'." The brown haired girl sighed. "But I don't quite get it."
'Hmm…' Todd put his hand on chin for a few seconds before he faced the switches. 'What does that have to do with the switches?'
"That doesn't help us…" said Edgar as he sighed, shaking his head as he mused, "Is that supposed to be a hint, or a fact?"
"Well, it should be a hint, said Angie as she closed her green eyes. "Why else would it be here?"
"That's a good point," said Todd as he noticed that Winnie had walked over to the switches, soon drawing his attention back to his friends. "It doesn't make sense to just talk about facts like that…"
"Ah, that would be the case... unless the person who wrote that was trying to confuse us." The black haired boy took out his notebook, writing something down before he sighed. "Does anyone else have-"
A click sounded from behind them, and Todd had only a second to wonder what that was before he heard the swishing of water. As he turned towards the stream, he saw that a few stones were rising from beneath the water, soon stopping its flow as an erected path blocked it.
'How did…' As he turned to his sister, he noticed how the golden tinted lever had been pulled down. 'Oh…'
"Why did you do that?" asked Edgar sharply as he shot a glare at Winnie.
"It was so shiny!" chirped Winnie as her eyes sparkled.
"Were you paying attention to our discussion!?" barked Edgar as he pointed his pen at her. "What if that was the wrong switch!?"
As Winnie looked down, Todd turned sharply to Edgar as he spat, "Winnie didn't mean to do that, Edgar!"
"Then why did she pull the switch?" asked Edgar curtly. "No one else was close enough to do it."
"Ugh, she's seven-years-old, Edgar!" spat Todd before he grabbed Winnie's hand and led her away. "You shouldn't blame her!"
As they got across the stone bridge, Todd spotted an identical set of switches that were on the wall, along with another plaque. As he walked over to it, he took a moment to read:
We will never be blessed again by the moonlight
As Todd smiled, he sort of understood what was going on. So far the messages spoke about certain things that hid a colour in them… and since he guessed that the gold switch represented the sunlight, he could only assume that the next switch would be the silver one.
The moment he flipped the next switch, stones rose from the water again, creating an identical path across the water. As he turned around, Edgar nodded to him as he spoke, "Well then, it looks like you didn't need much time to figure that one out."
"Well, I get what the puzzle means now," replied Todd with a shrug.
After he crossed over to the next area of the room, he noticed a row of meancing spikes were blocking off a certain part. He could only guess this was the end of the room as he approached the last plaque.
The last thing we saw was the sunset
"Okay then, so it's the gold switch, right?" asked Angie as she reached towards the said switch.
"Not quite, Angie," rebuked Edgar as he grabbed her hand, drawing it back as he put in, "You said that only one choice could be made, right?"
"Um, yeah… I did." Angie tilted her head to one side, making her loose ponytail that she tied up with a red ribbon slide sideways. "But why wouldn't it be the gold switch?"
With a click of his tongue, Edgar shook his head. "We already chose gold, so only copper is left." As Edgar pulled down the copper one, the spikes abruptly shot down into the ground. Todd could only be amazed that Edgar corrected Angie's choice so quickly…
The girl in the cyan and white striped t-shirt crossed her arms as Edgar started to write in his notebook again. "Okay… why was it copper?"
"Sunsets tend to be more of a orange colour rather than gold," explained Edgar as he put his notebook away. "And copper is a darker shade of orange, so I can only expect that you understand the rest of my explanation."
With a huff, Angie gave a humourless laugh, "Of course I do."
Todd sighed, smiling slightly as he thought, 'I can't imagine a day where Edgar never outsmarts us all…' As he turned back to the end of the room, he blinked as he thought on, 'And if it wasn't for him, we might've been stuck in this room for who knows how long.'
As they went along, they kept to the path, which shortly brought them to another room. Todd thought it was strange how this room was so barren, unlike the other rooms they had been in. He couldn't help but stare at the winding path before him, wondering if there were any invisible walls or something that they had to get around. After all, they kept coming along to puzzles, so it made sense there was one. But as they walked along to the other side of the room, they didn't come across anything that was remotely one. And when they exited the room, Angie went ahead of them to a plaque that was on the long wall.
After a few seconds of staring at it, Angie slightly turned back to them as she called, "Hey, Edgar, could you come over here and see this?"
With a sigh, the dark skinned boy went over as he sighed. "What, does the plaque have something interesting?"
"It is interesting, because I can't quite figure out what it means by 'The western room is the eastern room's blueprint'," Angie said hopelessly as he joined her side. "Since you seem to be a puzzle master, can you tell me what you think it means?"
"Well, it would seem, clearly, that two rooms are connected and are a puzzle," replied Edgar curtly as he stared at the plaque, shifting his glasses a little before he turned his head to her as he mused, "So I guess we need to pay attention to whatever is in the first room in order to get through the next one."
Todd gave a shrug as he spoke hesitantly, "Well, the only thing I saw in the last room was the path, so I don't think this will be an easy one."
Edgar turned to meet his eye. "Todd, I think you got it."
"But I only said I saw the path." Todd frowned as his friend sighed.
"Todd, it's the path."
The only thing Todd did in response to that was drawing his hand back to rub the nape of his neck. "Oh, I guess that makes sense why the path is strangely designed."
"So does that mean we have to memorize the path?" asked Angie as she and Edgar walked back to them. "It will take a long time if we do."
"Unless we draw the outline of it," said Edgar as he held up his notebook, giving out a sigh as he put in flatly, "But that will take long as well."
"Oh, there's no rush, guys," said Todd brightly as he smiled. "We shouldn't go forward until we're sure we know what it is."
"Right, then how about you two check out the next room, and me and Eddy will get started here?" As Todd gave her a thumbs up, Angie started to walk back to the other room.
"I wish you could stop calling me that, Angie," grumbled Edgar as he followed after her.
"Eddy has a nice ring to it," came Angie's lax response. "I like it."
As the two of them disappeared into the distance, Todd could only smile when Winnie asked sadly, "Why don't they get along, Big Brother?"
"They do get along," chuckled Todd in amusement. "If they go through a whole day without acting like that, I would think they're not getting along."
Winnie only made a face at that. "That makes no sense..."
"Don't worry, Winnie, it will make a lot of sense when you're older." Todd nudged her gently towards the other way. "C'mon, let's go and scout out the next room for Angie and Edgar."
"Okay!" Winnie chirped cheerfully as Todd led her away.
They soon came up to a huge body of water that stretched a good distance to the other side. From where Todd stood, he could tell the next room could only be reached that way. Although, it certainly was shallow for such a large pool, so he held onto his chin as he wondered why they even needed the last room's blueprint if the water was shallow enough to wade through.
"Can't we go now?" asked Winnie as her blue eyes seemed to focus on the water when he gave her a glance.
"Not yet." The shaggy haired boy shook his head before he looked back at the still water. "We don't know why we need the path, so it's safer if we try to not cross it and not find out why we shouldn't go straight through."
Winnie gave a giggle. "You're so smart, Big Brother."
"Eh, not as much as Edgar," said Todd truthfully, rubbing the back of his neck.
The only thing Winnie did in response to that was give him a hug. "I still think you're pretty smart!"
'But that's not it. I just don't want to head straight into danger, I'm not that smart,' thought Todd sadly as he returned her hug, soon pulling back when something hard pressed against him. 'Huh…?'
"…Winnie, don't tell me you brought a frying pan along…" he said slowly with a sigh. He watched as his sister flinched, soon withdrawing it from the pocket of her apron. It was a small one, probably good for frying up one egg.
"Uh huh," hummed Winnie with a smile, holding it up above her. "I wanted to make sure I could defend myself like you can, Big Brother!"
"Winnie, there are certain times when we should defend ourselves," said Todd sternly as he sighed. "I can't just pull out dad's revolver whenever I wanted to and shoot anything or anyone who crosses my path. So I don't want to see you using your frying pan on anything that just moves."
"You mean, like the time I hit you?" asked Winnie sadly as she gave a sniffle.
Todd could only grimace. "Y-Yes… y-you shouldn't hit things like you did that one time…"
Winnie one time mistook him for a burglar when she was younger, although it made sense because it was during the times that their parents started to work night shifts and that made her feel insecure. Todd had only been minding his own business getting a glass of water when he accidentally dropped it, and he cut himself with the glass. And when he went to try and find the first-aid kit in the hallway closet, he might have made too much noise because it spooked Winnie. …It took many days for the nasty bruises on his arm to go away.
The blonde lowered her gaze. "I didn't mean to last time…"
"I know you didn't, Winnie," said Todd gently as he gave her a hug. "And I know it wasn't your fault."
As Winnie's head rose, meeting his gaze timidly, they both flinched at the sound of croaking. At once they moved apart, looking around until Todd spotted two strange looking white frogs standing nearby them. What really creeped him out was how between their front legs, something was blinking at him…
"Oh look!" Winnie chirped as a grin formed on her face. "Froggies, Big Brother!"
Todd could only stare at them, feeling a strange sense of fear engulf him as they continued to croak, hopping closer. He took a step back, biting his lip. 'These frogs… they're not normal...'
Right away he pulled Winnie close to him, reaching back with his other hand to hover it near the handle of his revolver. He kept his gaze on the frogs, hearing Winnie's cry of confusion as they hopped closer, "Big Brother, what's wrong!?"
"Stay close to me, Winnie," said Todd in a low tone of voice as he narrowed his eyes, watching as the two white frogs blinked their eyes before they croaked. As Winnie was beginning to speak, one frog sprung towards them, making Todd step back as he cried out, "Look out!"
For a brief moment he tottered backwards, swinging his arms around to try regain his balance when the other frog leapt at him, knocking him into the cold water. As he cried out in shock, pain suddenly struck through his back, making him jump and roll over in surprise onto his stomach. He tilted his head up, trying not to inhale the water that swooshed near his mouth, hearing Winnie's cry of fear. Despite how his back ached, he pushed himself up only to find that the first frog had her backed up to the wall.
"Winnie!" he yelled as horror sliced through him.
"Big Brother, help!" cried Winnie as she raised her frying pan up shakily. "It's attacking me!"
"Don't worry, I'll protect you!" he shouted frantically as he took a step forward, crying out when something sharp struck through his foot. As he drew his foot back, he hissed in a painful breath before he widened his eyes, watching as some flies came from almost thin air and began whirling around Winnie. Upon hearing her terrified screaming, he growled before he reached for his revolver, swiftly scooping three bullets out of his pouch and popped them into three of the revolving chambers of his revolver.
Right away he readied his revolver before he squinted his eyes, trying to aim it the best he could at the frog. He wished his father could have taught him more about how to use a revolver, he only had one or two lessons before his father started getting called in for work so frequently he almost had no time to spend with Todd. He tried to will away the tears that welled up in the sides of his eyes, trying to make his shaky hands remain steady as he pulled the trigger.
The bullet struck the ground right beside the frog's foot, making it leap into the air in shock before it turned its eyes to him the moment it landed. At once it began to make strange rapid croaking, most likely scared by the shot Todd made, then began to hop towards him. At once Todd readied his next shot, feeling relieved his sister was no longer in danger, and not at all did he mind the fact that he put himself in more danger than Winnie.
He only wished he knew where to step down… then he would be able to deal with the frogs better. It would seem as though something sharp, something very pointy was hidden underwater. If he wasn't careful, he could badly injure his feet… and probably get killed by the frogs.
As they hopped into the water, waving their legs around as they began inching towards him, he raised the revolver again, trying his best to aim while Winnie cried out for him fearfully. He wanted his sister to stop being scared, he couldn't focus when his sister was in distress.
He waded backwards through the water, finding that he seemed to be stepping on a safe area as the frogs came closer. He felt his hands slide suddenly, and he cried out in dismay when the revolver fell into the water, "No!"
"What's going on!?" As Todd's head whipped up, he noticed that Edgar was now standing beside Winnie while Angie ran straight towards the water. "Todd!"
"They're attacking him!" came Winnie's cry as a frog nearly met up with him, and he tried his best to lean down and paw at the bottom for his revolver. "Help my Big Brother, please!"
"We will, Winnie!" said Angie boldly as she turned back towards the water.
"Don't move, Todd!" shouted Edgar urgently as he waved at him. "You don't know where to move!"
"I know that, Edgar!" hissed Todd in frustration. His fingers managed to brush against his revolver when a frog leapt right into him, pushing him backwards (luckily not onto anything sharp) and bounced back.
"Don't worry, Todd, I'm coming!" called Angie as Todd got up, feeling the water weigh him down a bit from his drenched clothing as he leant forward too much to grab his revolver. He barely managed to sidestep away when the frog tried to leap at him again.
As he heard Angie splashing through the water, he widened his eyes as he saw what she was holding. 'Is that a…?' He shook his head before he cried out in disbelief, "Why do you have a knife!?"
"It's my brother's toy knife, he was poking me with it too much, I took it away from him, and right now, that's all I'm going to explain because this isn't a time to talk about this!" shouted Angie quickly in frustration as she slashed it towards the nearest frog, nearly hitting it which caused it to croak in fear. "Get away from my friend!"
"That doesn't look like a toy knife!" cried Todd fearfully as the frog nearby him leapt at him again, and he thrust his revolver to its side in front of him to shove the frog back. As it landed, he took aim again, trying to hold onto his revolver as firmly as possible before he moved his finger to the trigger.
But as soon as he met its eyes, he couldn't help but notice how scared it was. Its croaking was so rapid, so weak, he just knew it was scared. He lowered his revolver slightly, feeling strange as it stared at him. 'Am I the reason its scared?'
Suddenly he heard Angie cry out, and he heard a splash nearby. Looking promptly in her direction, he saw her flailing in the water, barely keeping her head above it as she cried out, "Help! Something's snagged on my overalls!"
He widened his dark blue eyes, watching as the frog nearby Angie croaked, and once again, flies started flying through the air towards her this time. He once again raised his revolver, aiming it towards the frog when something shot past his ear. Right in front of the frog fire landed and was quickly extinguished by the water, making the frog croak out in shock before its head whipped towards him. When Todd turned his head around, he choked on his breath.
Entering the water on the other side, a large white bipedal goat in a purple robe raised its paws up, with fire promptly flaring up above them and was shot towards Todd. Todd was about to duck to avoid the attack when it landed right beside him, scaring off the frog that he was occupied with. Before the goat could send the remaining fireball at the other frog, the frog quickly turned and swam back the way it came, with the other one trailing behind. For a moment Todd thought they were going to attack Winnie and Edgar, but that wasn't the case because they bounded right past them without a pause. The moment they were gone, Todd lowered his revolver, heaving out a heavy exhale. 'I'm so glad that's over…'
As the sound of splashing from behind him alerted him, he right away raised the revolver again and aimed it towards the bipedal goat, making it stop as it stared at him in shock. He was about to bring his finger to the trigger when he heard it speak in surprise, "My child, you have nothing to fear. I will not hurt you."
His eyes widened in shock, his arm going limp as it swung his revolver down. "Y-You can talk!?"
"Of course I can talk," said the goat in a pleasant note, and Todd guessed it was female because its voice was higher pitched. "All of us Monsters have been talking since we were taught by our parents to speak, just like you children have."
As Todd felt his throat dry up, he suddenly turned the moment he heard Angie's harsh coughing. He moved towards her, only to cry out when something sharp came in contact with his foot again.
"Stay where you are, my child. There are spikes under the water," warned the female goat as she quickly walked in a winded route across the water, soon passing him and reaching Angie. "I am so sorry that the puzzle has put you in this horrible ordeal… I should really change it."
"What are you!?" shouted out Edgar in horror as he stepped in front of Winnie, shaking as the goat looked at him. "Y-You're-"
"I am a Monster, and my name is Toriel," said Toriel as she leaned down, tilting her head as her paw dipped gently into the water. "I am the caretaker of the Ruins."
Todd looked at Edgar for a second, seeing his own disbelief mirrored by Edgar's expression.
As Todd looked back and watched as Toriel's arm move back and forth, Angie soon stood up and looked at the goat woman with surprise. "Th-Thank you…" said Angie breathlessly, sputtering out a few coughs afterwards.
"Oh, you are welcome," said the goat woman pleasantly as she brought her paws together. "I can not bare to watch innocent humans suffer."
Soon she looked towards Edgar and Winnie again, gesturing behind herself. "Come, I know the path across."
The moment she turned around, she started walking back towards Todd while Todd's sister and friends quickly followed her. As soon as Toriel passed him, he began to wade through the same areas she did, soon finding himself at the other side while everyone else joined him. For a few seconds he blinked, feeling a bit dazed as he thought, 'I can't believe this happened… Why did she save us?'
"What happened to your hair, Angie!?" asked Winnie in shock.
Todd turned back to see that her hair wasn't in a ponytail anymore, instead it was wet and was loosely hanging down to her shoulders now.
All Angie did was sigh. "I think the frog stole my ribbon."
"Ah, those were not frogs," Toriel chimed in as she blinked her dark red eyes. "Those were Froggits, some of the Monsters that live in the Ruins."
"That's good to know," said Todd with a grimace. "So do all, Monsters, attack people?"
"People?" echoed Toriel in confusion.
"You know… people?" said Todd, confused about why Toriel didn't seem to know what a person was.
"Oh, do you mean, 'Humans'?" asked Toriel brightly, closing her eyes as she mused, "I have not heard that term in a long time, my child, so pardon me for not understanding it."
Edgar frowned. "There's nothing to be sorry about."
"Oh, that is a relief," murmured Toriel as she brought her hand to her chest, breathing out a sigh. "I am happy that I did not offend you."
"And there's nothing to offend us for," pointed out Edgar with a sigh, shaking his head. "Anyway, why were you here?"
"I…" For a moment the white-furred goat frowned, moving her gaze away from all of them as she murmured, "I often visit the Golden Flowers... where you can see the Surface above them."
"Surface?" echoed Angie in confusion.
"The world above the Underground, the world where you children have come from," explained Toriel as she suddenly looked back, her face becoming concerned instantly as she noted, "But that aside, I have noticed that you children are soaked…"
Todd instantly grimaced, looking down at himself before he looked up sheepishly. "Yeah… we kind of are."
"Worry not, I can dry you off simply in a moment," said Toriel cheerfully. "If you wish for me to do so."
As the shaggy haired boy shared looks with his sister and friends, he shivered for a moment before nodding. "I think that would be great."
"Hang on a moment," said Edgar doubtfully as he took a step back. "How are you going to do that…?"
"Worry not, I shall use my fire magic to warm you children up. Nothing more, my child," she explained gently, slowly creating some flames in the middle of her cupped paws and closed her eyes. As waves of heat brushed over him, he soon felt his clothing stop sticking to his body, soon limply hanging like it did normally. As he blinked, he quickly started to smooth out his hair in order to not have it frizz up like Archie's hair.
The moment she let the fire die, she opened her eyes and smiled. "I am done, my children."
"This is pretty neat!" remarked Angie as she blinked her wide eyes, rubbing her fingers against her blue and white striped t-shirt before she stared back at Toriel. "Thank you so much."
"Thank you, Miss Toriel!" chirped Winnie as she ambled over and gave Toriel a hug, causing Toriel to widen her eyes when Winnie giggled, "I feel toasty warm now! Hehehe~"
For a while Toriel stood frozen, shaking slightly before she stiffly moved her paw to rub the top of Winnie's head. "You are welcome, my child," she murmured gently. "I am happy to have helped you." As soon as Winnie let go of her, she frowned as she mused, "If you children are here, that could only mean you fell down…"
"Yeah..." said Edgar curtly. "My sister, Marley, made us all fall down." With a sigh, he shook his head. "And if it wasn't for Archie, we wouldn't have gone up Mount Ebott."
Toriel blankly looked at him, soon asking, "Are those Humans as well?"
"Yeah." Todd nodded. "They should have gone through here a few hours ago…"
"Oh, did one of them have a peculiar bandana?" asked Toriel brightly as her eyes lit up.
"Err… could you explain how it was peculiar?" asked Todd with a grimace.
Toriel put her paw on her chin. "It had abs drawn on it."
"That was Archie then," said Angie with a sigh of relief. "Then that must mean you saw Marley?"
"Was she dark skinned like you?" asked Toriel as she turned to Edgar.
"Yes, she was," curtly replied the black boy with a sigh, adjusting his glasses. "We may not look exactly the same, but she's sadly my twin."
Toriel slowly gave a nod at that. "I was going to approach them, but they ran away before I could come close enough."
"Oh…" Todd furrowed his eyebrows. "They did?"
"Yes, I was done helping some spiders out when they saw me and ran away," explained Toriel as she sighed. "I was going to ask them if they needed a place to stay…"
"A place to stay?" repeated Edgar suspiciously.
The white-furred goat woman nodded as she smiled. "At the end of the Ruins is my home." After a few seconds she asked, "Would you like to stay there for the time being?"
Todd could only stare at her, blinking as he shared looks with his sister and friends. It was then that Winnie chirpred, "I want to see your home! It must be as nice as you!"
Instantly Toriel's brief worried expression brightened, and she closed her eyes as she smiled. "Excellent. I will lead you to it." At once Toriel turned around, walking away.
Edgar instantly scowled at Winnie. "We don't know if we can trust her, Winnie! Why did you say that?"
The blonde lowered her gaze, sniffling as she whimpered, "I'm sorry… She seemed so nice."
"And we should be careful of her," hissed Edgar as he took out his notebook, writing in it quickly as he continued, "We have no clue who she is, and there's always a chance she could kill us when we least expect it."
"Don't be paranoid, Eddy," said Angie as she chuckled. "I kind of want to see her home myself."
"And Toriel also said her home is at the end of the Ruins!" added Todd excitedly with a nod. "Her home could be the end of this cavern!"
Everyone's faces lit up with realization, and even Edgar seemed excited as he fixed his glasses. "Yeah… You're actually right about that, Todd."
"What are we waiting for?" asked Angie merrily as she started trotting after Toriel. "Let's go!"
It must have been at least two hours or more of following Toriel that Todd spotted some sort of infrastructure. Todd guessed it must have been the home she was talking about because Toriel was heading straight towards it, turning briefly to them as she stopped beside a tree that was full of red foliage. She gave a smile as she breathed, "We have arrived, my children."
"So that's your home?" asked Winnie with surprise, blinking her wide blue eyes as she pointed past Toriel. "It's… different?"
"I understand your own homes must be different on the Surface as well," she said with a chuckle, bringing a paw to her mouth before her dark red eyes blinked. "But I believe they are not as different for what they are."
"Will there be enough room for all of us?" asked Angie as crossed her arms, tilting her head to one side as she stared at Toriel. "I mean, you did say you lived alone…"
"I will try my best to accommodate all of you," replied Toriel as she nodded, bringing her paws together as she frowned slightly. "However, I didn't expect any of you today, so I sadly had no time to prepare for your arrival. So I will do so as timely as possible."
Todd nodded, soon sharing a look with Edgar as Toriel started towards her home. At once Todd led Winnie towards the building, finding it was a structure with indents on each side and was coloured dark magenta, with piles of red leaves blanketing the base. He found it odd how there were lights inside, especially how it couldn't have been possible for the Monsters to conduct electricity underground. But Todd didn't question it; he was too tired to think about that. All he wanted to do was rest with his friends now that they were away from the other Monsters.
Upon entering, Todd couldn't be more amazed at how similar the interior looked to any home he might have been in. The beige coloured walls of the hall seemed to sprawl across the length of the home, the railing to the downstairs was huge but that made sense because Toriel was larger than them, and there were a few other decorations that Todd didn't pay attention to... He felt his eyelids briefly flutter down before he jerked himself awake, looking to where Toriel stood a foot in front of him on his left side.
"I still might have some pie left over if you're hungry." Toriel had her paws together again before she gestured behind herself. "But I can always make something for you children if you want something fresh."
At once Todd felt his sister wiggle her hand out of his, and he turned to her sharply as she squealed happily, "Can I help, Miss Toriel? I love cooking!"
Toriel smiled warmly, leaning down as she looked at Winnie. "That's wonderful. I would certainly love the help, my child."
Winnie nodded, bringing up her frying pan in the air as she giggled, looping her thin arm around Todd's. "I'm really good! My big brother likes everything I make!"
As the dark brown shaggy haired boy smiled, he met Toriel's eyes as he said truthfully, "She really is great…"
"But aren't you tired, Winnie?" asked Edgar sternly as he stared at her. "It was a pretty long walk."
Suddenly Winnie widened her eyes, shaking her head wildly before she squeaked, "I'm not tired!"
As Todd noticed Toriel's eyes flash with concern, he looked down at his sister and gently nudged her forward. "I know you're not." Winnie looked up at him, her eyes sparkled as he murmured, "Go ahead and have fun, Winnie."
With a grin, Winnie hugged him, making him try to stifle his painful grunt the best he could when her frying pan smacked his back. As she followed Toriel into the kitchen, Edgar gave him an unimpressed look.
"You were soft on her…" Edgar shook his head.
"Winnie becomes a ball of energy when cooking is involved," replied Todd gently, closing his eyes briefly as a yawn escaped his lips. "I think it's one of the things she misses most, Edgar…"
"We should rest." Angie poked him in the arm, making him jerk forward with a start. Upon hearing a soft thud, he reached down sluggishly to retrieve his hat that had fallen. When he stood up upon putting on his hat, Angie continued gently, "Especially you, Todd… We nearly got killed by those… Froggits, and I think you've run yourself ragged during the walk here."
After another yawn, Todd nodded. He couldn't deny it, all he wanted now was to lie down and sleep…
Edgar sighed. "But she didn't tell us where."
"Oh, I'll go and check-" Todd was stopped by Angie, who gave him a stern look.
"No, Todd, you stay here and I'll go check." The brown haired girl briskly walked over in the direction that he saw Winnie go with Toriel, soon disappearing around a corner before Todd could stop another of his yawns.
It was five minutes later when Angie trotted back, holding up a key that looked quite old as she halted in front of him and Edgar. "She said we could unlock the closest room and use it." Soon her expression fell when she muttered, "Except there's one problem… one bed."
At once Edgar frowned, fixing his glasses as he mused, "And I assume you don't want to share a room with us guys, right, Angie?"
With a nod, the girl with overalls sighed, putting her available hand on her hip. "No, no I don't." She briefly nibbled at her lip before she grimaced. "I can only guess she doesn't normally have company here."
"Exactly." The dark skinned boy gave a look to Todd as he slowly blinked back. "I mean, she took us in without reserve, which can only mean she's lonesome. And if we stay here long, she might get attached."
"We're not pets, Edgar," Todd pointed out sleepily, feeling his head sag down a bit before he jerked it up. "I'm pretty sure she's just happy to have visitors."
"Which can lead to her getting attached us." The black haired boy padded towards the hall to the right, holding his notebook firmly as he continued, "So right now, we can only stay for a short while, and the first thing we need to do is sleep."
Angie sighed. "And what do you propose we do, Eddy? We shouldn't sleep in the same room."
Edgar stopped right at the corner, turning his head slightly. "Let's see how big the bed is before we decide that."
The brown haired girl huffed, shaking her head before she put her hand on Todd's shoulder. "C'mon, Todd. We should get this over with, and get you some sleep."
Todd sighed, nodding as he walked forward, feeling his body protest from the effort. But he went on, trying his best to not fall asleep when they entered the hall, soon reaching the first door that Edgar stood in front of.
"I have to wonder why she locked it," mused Edgar thoughtfully as Angie slid the key into the hole, taking a while to turn it as he put in, "Normally bedrooms aren't locked…"
"Well, she must have her reasons," Todd responded in a yawn, stepping in after Angie as she went through. As soon as he entered, Todd knew something seemed off.
There was a small bed, small enough for a child; a closet with its door slightly ajar, and from a glance Todd saw one small green jacket peeking out; and there was a single drawing of a flower that was eerily similar to the ones he fell onto with his friends and sister the night before.
"Indeed." As Edgar came in, he went straight to the bed. "This looks too small for us."
"Yeah… it does," agreed Angie with a sigh, putting a hand on her cheek as she grimaced. "So, is it girls or boys who have dibs on the bed?"
For a moment, Edgar gave a look to Todd before the shaggy haired boy sighed. "I don't think Winnie would like to sleep somewhere other than a bed. Plus, it would be mean to take it from her."
Instantly Edgar rolled his eyes. "I had a feeling you would say that."
"Well, I know my little sister," replied Todd wearily. "She wouldn't want to sleep on the floor, even if there's a mattress."
"Okay, so… do we girls get the room?" Angie raised an eyebrow as she took a seat on the bed. "Or should we have a thumb war over who get dibs?"
"You can have it," said Edgar unimpressed, giving a sigh.
Todd knew that Angie was very good at thumb war. Every time she did it with Edgar, she always won, only breaking his thumb the last time that they did it. So Todd knew Edgar wouldn't be so keen on having another round with her anytime soon…
With a nod, Todd took a seat beside Angie. She took a look at him for a while before she smiled. "Well, I'm sure Winnie will be pleased."
"Yeah…" Todd closed his eyes for a few seconds before blinking. "But where will we sleep?"
"I don't know, but maybe Toriel will let the both of you rough it out on that big chair she has in her living room?" suggested Angie with a shrug, pushing her hand into her large overall pocket before freezing. For a few seconds she moved her hand back and forth in the pocket before Todd heard her mutter, "No… this can't be happening-"
"What's wrong?" Todd asked in confusion as she stood up suddenly.
"You know how I took away my little brother's toy knife?" asked Angie in frustration, earning a nod from Todd while Edgar stared at her blankly. She instantly kicked at the floor before she huffed, "I just found out my overall pocket has a hole, which was probably made when my overalls got snagged on that underwater spike, and my little brother's toy knife is not there!"
Todd widened his dark blue eyes. "You can't be serious-"
"Oh I am so serious, Todd," groaned Angie as she shoved her face into her hands, flopping down onto the bed. "My little brother is going to throw the worst fit in existence if I don't find his toy knife…"
"Just don't," replied Edgar with a sigh, crossing his arms. "We shouldn't go out when it's dangerous."
Angie shot him a look. "You don't know what it's like living with my little brother, Edgar. He will literally make your life horrible if you lose his favorite toy, and I just did that!"
"Okay, chill." The glasses wearing boy sighed, shaking his head. "Maybe we could ask that monster lady if she could go fetch it…"
"Why do that when I could do it myself?" asked Angie crossly, crossing her arms as she took in a deep breath.
"You mean, 'we' and 'ourselves', right?" asked Todd sleepily, feeling his eyes close again. Right now his thoughts were starting to go fuzzy and slowed down.
"…Yeah, us..."
That was the last thing Todd heard before he fell asleep.
It was after a very interesting dinner (the food they ate, that is) that Todd and Edgar were waiting for Toriel to prepare her own room for them to sleep in, who said that they shouldn't have to sleep without comfort like Angie and Winnie. Todd thought the gesture was nice, but he did feel bad the Monster was going to have to sleep in her rocking chair for the night. In a way, he didn't like cheating her out of her own bed, but he didn't dwell on it because he was very tired. So as soon as she was done, the two of them went straight to bed. However, the next morning came all too soon for Todd.
The moment he woke up, he sat up and blearily made out his surroundings. He was somewhat disorientated by the fact that he wasn't in his own room (yet again), taking a few seconds to remember where he was before he sighed.
Todd closed his eyes as he shook his head. 'We can't stay here.'
As nice as it was that Toriel offered to let them stay here, he couldn't help but be homesick. He licked his lips, wanting to smell his mother's and Winnie's pancakes that were being fried downstairs; he wanted to be able to see his father and mother off as they left for work, wishing them good luck… Almost all of those memories of his home became vivid at once, and it became painful when it set in that he wasn't there. He was in the Underground; he was in Toriel's home. He knew this wasn't home, and this would never become his home. It didn't feel right at all to him, and he knew they had to leave sometime soon…
He retrieved his cowboy hat from where he left it on Toriel's desk, soon slipping on his sneakers before he silently departed from the room. For a moment he was surprised by how the lights in the hallway were still on, but then he told himself Toriel must have been awake as he walked forward, treading across it towards the living room.
Toriel was sitting in her large chair, absorbed in the worn blue book she was reading as Todd entered the room. When he was nearly in front of her, she looked up, blinking her dark red eyes as she murmured with a smile, "Good morning, my child. I see that you are up."
"Good morning, Toriel," he greeted with a nod, standing for a few seconds before he sighed. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
As the large white-furred Monster put down her book, shedding her reading glasses, she nodded as she stared at him attentively. "Of course you can, my child. What would you like to talk about?"
Todd inhaled, recollecting his thoughts before he nervously began, "I know how you want to make sure we have a place to stay, but I know that we can't live here."
At once Toriel's expression fell, her gaze lowered before she quietly spoke, "I see."
"It's not that we don't like it here," continued Todd quickly as he came over, putting a hand on her paw as she continued to look down. "And we're so grateful for what you have done for us… but we all have our own homes to return to… on the Surface." He paused for a moment, looking down at his feet as he sighed. "Our own parents must be worried about us, and I don't like the idea of keeping them upset that they don't know where we've gone." He trembled for a moment before he couldn't take it anymore, choking the rest out, "A-And… I-I miss them so much… I-I want to see them again!"
For a while Toriel was silent, and that Todd feel a lot worse that he was making her feel bad that he didn't want to be there. But then he felt something rest on his cheek suddenly, making him whip his head up in surprise to find her smiling. "Do not be upset, my child... I understand. I do not want to steal you away from your parents by keeping you here." As he breathed in sharply, she added gently, "You do not have to worry about me."
After a few heartbeats of staring at her numbly, Todd slowly relaxed, calming down as happiness swelled in his heart. But soon Toriel spoke, catching him off guard when her soothing tone twisted into a crestfallen one, "But I must warn you, my child, of the dangers that you, your sister, and friends will be in if you do leave the Ruins."
"D-Danger?" he echoed uneasily, meeting her sad dark red eyes as he asked, "I-I already thought the Monsters that attacked us were dangerous enough?"
"No, they should not be the ones you should be worried about," she replied, narrowing her eyes as she explained seriously, "You need to be careful of the Royal Guards and…" Upon tapering off her speech, her dark red eyes slowly became slits right before she finished, "King Asgore."
"But why?" he asked nervously as he felt a sudden chill go down his spine. The way she said that name made him feel intimidated for some reason.
"Our ruler of the Underground, King Asgore, has declared war against Humans. He will strike down any that come his way," she replied grimly as she tightened her hold on his hand, frowning deeply when she saw him stare at her in dismay before she closed her eyes tightly. "He has enlisted his Royal Guards to kill any Humans they come across, even if they do not intend to kill Monsters." After inhaling shakily, she quietly put in, "A lot of Monsters in the Underground are still furious about Humans after their families were killed by them, and being trapped down here forever by their magic."
At once Todd frowned, sliding his hand out of Toriel's as he edged away. Upon gazing at her solemn face, he shook his head distraughtly. "H-Humans killed Monsters? Th-That's… horrible…"
"I was there at the time, and I did not like what had happened," continued Toriel glumly. "We used to be on good terms with Humans, but then a tragedy occurred one day between some Human and Monster children. Two of the children, a Monster and a Human, got into an argument… Their barbed words became fists raised against each other, and the Monster child took the Human child's life. The Human child's parents were distraught, and attacked the Monster child's family out of grief and rage, and that soon triggered the war between Humans and Monsters decades ago."
The dark brown haired boy looked down, his chest felt heavy suddenly as he thought over the information. He couldn't believe that happened, he couldn't believe something that tragic caused the Monsters to be trapped Underground. He couldn't believe Humans did that to them. The Monsters didn't deserve to be trapped down here… no one did.
For a while they shared silence between each other, then Toriel soon inhaled shakily. "Now King Asgore has decided to bring about a new one after what had happened in the Underground a few months ago." She clenched her paw, which was resting on her book, into a trembling fist. "I can not stand the idea of innocent children, such as yourselves, being killed by Asgore... I had thought that if you children stayed here, then maybe you would not have to face him if you were under my protection…"
"But why wouldn't he attack us here?" Todd asked seriously, frowning as he heard her breath hitch. "If he's the ruler, can't he go anywhere he wants?"
Her gaze lowered as she breathed sternly, "He will never come back to the Ruins, not if I am here."
Todd was about to ask about what she meant when he heard footsteps. Upon turning around, he saw Edgar leading Winnie into the room, and Todd instantly felt alarmed the moment he saw Winnie was crying. He dashed straight towards her, putting a hand on her shoulder as he asked worriedly, "What's wrong, Winnie?"
The seven-year-old let out a sob, instantly throwing her arms around him and pushing all of his oxygen out of his body. She cried loudly as he stared down at her, not replying as he repeated the question, "What's wrong, Winnie?"
"Did you see Angie this morning?" asked Edgar seriously, apparently deciding to answer instead of Todd's sister, as he frowned. "Apparently Winnie woke up to find that Angie was gone and got scared."
Todd instantly wrapped his arms around his sister, rubbing her back as Toriel joined them. "I have not seen her, I have only stayed in the living room since I woke up," she said with concern. "I assumed she was still in bed from when I checked up on you children during the night."
Edgar suddenly met Todd's gaze. "You don't think she went outside?"
"There's no reason for her go outside, Edgar," said Todd uneasily as he shook. "What possible reason does she need to go outside for?"
"If you have forgotten, there is one," responded Edgar curtly, frowning deeply as he put in worriedly, "Remember that she was so worried about how she lost her brother's toy knife."
Instantly Todd's blood went cold. 'She… couldn't have…' He stiffened as his sister cried louder. 'She couldn't have gone outside!'
Toriel at once started to run, alarming all of them as she called out sharply, "Stay here, my children, I will find her!"
As soon as the sound of the front door slamming rang through the house, Edgar let out a sigh as he shook his head. "That was abrupt…"
"She must be as worried as we are," said Todd worriedly as he held his sister closer.
"But she's only known her… us, for roughly half a day," Edgar pointed out seriously as he crossed his arms. "I find her behavior creepy if you ask me."
Todd was about to say something regarding that, but then he stopped himself. He remembered what Toriel had said earlier about not letting innocent Humans die, so he could only assume she must have cared about them deeply, even when the war between Humans and Monsters happened… even when she had known them for less than a day. For a moment, he juggled around the idea of telling Edgar about this, then he stopped himself. He didn't know why, but he had a sense that he shouldn't repeat the information for now, not when Angie was missing…
It would make the situation worse.
The dark brown haired boy closed his eyes, not replying to Edgar's statement. All he did was rub Winnie's back, whispering words to comfort her, all the while desperately hoping that Angie wasn't dead.
It was a long time before Todd heard a door creak open, and he looked towards the hallway from the table he and Winnie were sitting at. Toriel walked into the room with Angie nestled in her arms, who wasn't moving. At once Todd stood up, heading straight towards Toriel as he cried out in alarm, "Angie!" As soon as he reached the goat woman, he looked up at her as he asked worriedly, "What happened to her, Toriel!?"
"I found her barely awake nearby the overlook of our old city," explained Toriel as she walked past Todd, leaning over to rest Angie down on her large chair. "Some miserable creatures were about to take her life…"
"That's awful!" squeaked Winnie shrilly as she covered her mouth. "Why would they do that!?"
"I can only assume they saw her as a threat," replied the white-furred goat woman sternly as she straightened, turning around with a sigh. "It did not take long for me to scare them away."
"But then why did it take you so long to come back?" asked Edgar as he put the book he had been reading before Toriel returned back on Toriel's bookshelf.
"Her wounds were great, and my ability to heal her took longer because of that," explained Toriel as she gathered her paws together, dipping her head. "One of the Monsters got away with a strange looking knife for some reason, and I can not fathom why they had it."
"That was the toy knife she was looking for!" cried out Todd, soon explaining when Toriel gave him a blank look, "It's… it's a fake knife, not a real one! It's for playing with, not fighting."
"Ah, I might understand why they attacked her then," replied Toriel sadly. "Ever since we have been trapped down here, Monsters have been wary of any weapons that Humans hold. In a way, the Monsters attack so that the Humans do not attack them first."
The memory of when the Froggits attacked them flashed through his mind at once. The Froggits that attacked him earlier must have only did it because they knew he had a weapon, and they thought Angie did as well…
"So you're saying that they might have thought Angie was going to kill them then?" asked Todd aghast, feeling sick to his stomach at the thought.
"Yes, I do believe that's the reason, my child," breathed Toriel sadly, starting to amble towards the hallway. "I am going to fetch a few blankets for her, my children. I will be back soon."
He could only stare wide-eyed at her until she was out of sight before he lowered his head, shaking as he thought agitatedly, 'That's why the Froggits were scared of me! They thought I was going to kill them so they attacked us!' At once Todd closed his dark blue eyes tightly, clenching his hands into fists as he felt heat behind his eyes. 'That's it, we're never going to be safe here! Toriel can't protect us! We need to go home! We can't stay here anymore, we need to leave!'
Instantly Todd turned to Edgar and met the boy's eyes, fighting the urge to cry. "We should leave."
"But we got here yesterday!" protested Winnie shrilly. "And Miss Toriel is looking after us!"
"That doesn't matter!" snapped Todd angrily, breathing heavily as he yelled with fraught, "Toriel's home isn't our home, Winnie! We need to go back home!"
As he watched regretfully as his sister's eyes spilled out tears, and Todd could only close his eyes as he let himself cry, trying to pretend he didn't do that. He felt terrible for snapping at his sister, even making her burst into tears... but he couldn't help it! All he did was try to pretend that he wasn't standing here, he tried to will away the reality that he was in. He could only hope this was all but a bad dream, only it would seem as though the wish would never come true. He was in a Monster's house for less than a day; he was in a cavern for less than 2 days; he yelled at his best friend and sister; he was homesick; he just couldn't take it anymore!
There was no way he could stay here; this place was too dangerous to be home.
To be continued…
I hope you enjoyed the chapter! =3
...
EeveeGen9988: "Hi everyone! As you can see… *she sweat drops* I wrote a long chapter (as always…)… and it took a long time to edit. I couldn't take out any of the scenes to make it shorter, but they sort of had to happen! *falls over from exhaustion* I've never written something this long in ages… *she gets up after a minute* But anyway, this story will be a five part story! And I'm pretty sure the next chapter won't be as long as this one… *grins sheepishly* hopefully...
It felt nice writing again, seeing how I haven't had much time in the past few months to write… So I might be a bit rusty with writing, but it sure was refreshing! I wanted to do this story for a long time, and I'm excited that I'm finally writing it! *blasts a lot of confetti in the air* Yay!
Well, see you guys in the next two weeks for the next part! =D
*EeveeGen9988 watches as confetti rains down on her, grimacing as she realizes blasting a lot of confetti in the air wasn't a good idea because she's the one that has to clean it up, so with a sigh, she throws the broom to the side and goes to find a vacuum*"
...
Fun facts!
- Edgar's original name was going to be Booker, although it sounded cheesy to me so I looked for a better name! When I started writing I wanted to change Edgar's name to Raymond, but then I decided that Edgar fit the best.
- Of all the 6 Humans, deciding on Marley's name took the longest!
- Angie was originally going to be called Chloe, Marley, or Lucy…
- Todd's and Archie's name didn't change like most of the characters.
- The scene where the group splits up turned out differently than I thought it would! O_O
- The original name of the story was going to be Our Hearts Beat As One, but then I wanted something that portrayed the story better so I chose The Fallen Children… which morphed into The Fallen after a while, which sounds a bit cooler if you ask me.
- I got the idea for this story near the end of August 2016… Wow, it's been almost four and a half months since then!
