(WARNING: THIS CHAPTER HAS MILD THEMES OF CHILD ABUSE.)

(PLEASE, DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO THESE TOPICS)

In her hands was the fragile human soul, on the verge of shattering. She heard it whisper to her, something so quiet that she can't remember. But, she accepted what it told her. She accepted everything that would happen from that point onward- and…

And then she woke up somewhere somewhat comfortable, with a searing pain in her chest and in her mind. Her first thoughts were covered by pain, her vision still dark with a light shining right on her eyelids. Voices lay beyond her mind, leaving her only to try to remember what happened before it all went dark. She blinked open an eye, first to find a glaringly bright light above her, with a white ceiling. Then she glanced over to the source of the voices, a sudden chill of fear running through her.

A very light blue wallpaper with little stars on them, and in front of them had three people. A doctor with her mouth being her entire head, with bright pink lips and a little white hat on the top of them. She didn't exactly have arms, but if she did, they were being hidden under a white nurse's dress. Next to her stood a rather worried goat monster, wearing a purple dress and a black sweater, and next to her… Her blood ran cold.

A red dragon stood, looking disgruntled and somewhat out of it. His golden yellow eyes glared between the two, his large white horns with something red on the tips of one of the horns. He wore a white sleeveless top and torn jeans, but he didn't even bother to wear shoes. When he saw her looking at him, he glared right back, a bit of smoke puffing out of his nostrils in anger. Not him- was she… She slowly put it together that she, based off of her hospital gown and environment, that she had blacked out and been dragged to the hospital. Oh, she was going to get beat for this- her family couldn't pay any sort of bill. They could hardly afford to live in their apartment, let alone the fees for staying in a hospital for who knows how long. But out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a bit of green and yellow, noticing that Kris was sitting in a plastic blue chair, hands resting on his knees as he looked down without a word.

"Hey, Kris…" Susie's head was still reeling, but whenever she saw her father's glare it made that go away, fear taking over. "What happened..?" The last thing she could remember where those whispers from Kris' soul, the world seemingly stopping around her before she blacked out.

He glanced up, before looking back down silently. His voice was slightly raspy, "I don't know, either… From what my Mom's told me, I was… Well, I tried to stab something that wasn't there, and then you did something." He paused, "Then you just passed out." A very, very tiny smile appeared on his face, but he didn't say anything as it faded away into a frown.

"How long have I been… you know. Out?" She slowly scooted up to a normal sitting position, watching her father closely as he talked with the Nurse and Toriel. The two had both seemed to notice that she was awake, but where too busy discussing something to confront her just yet.

"A day or two. I was apparently out for a little bit too." His frown grew as he stood up, walking over to the bed and sitting on the side of it next to her. "They said something about your SOUL, that something had thrown it out of balance… They had to call in the only guy who knew about SOUL's to make sure you weren't dying."

Susie tried to laugh, but that was a little worrying. A sharp pain was still cradled deep in her chest. Was that her soul..? Now that she thought about it, she had seen her own when she saw Kris' soul. And… The only other time she had seen a soul before was when she was in the DarkWorld, but she only saw Kris'. Not her own, or anyone else's. It was odd, to say the least. "So, who's the guy?"

"A guy…" A snarl grew on his face, "Who, let's just say… 'Befriended' my mom the other day."

"Did he fuck your mom?"

"What! I-... Maybe."

The two chuckled, as the sound of footsteps approached them, and before Susie knew it she was wrapped in a hug. A nice, warm, and furry hug… She wasn't used to hugs before, and the last time she had gotten a hug was when her biological mother was still around, and before she got into that crash. "Child, I was worried sick about you!" Toriel let her be free of that nice, friendly hug. She almost wanted to leap back into her arms for another. Almost. "Are you alright? Are you-"

"I'm fine, Mrs. Toriel." She tried to smile, but the topaz yellow eyes glaring her down from the corner of the room put her on edge.

"Good, I'm so sorry for what happened, I-" She put a hand to her face, "What happened?"

She stared into her eyes awkwardly, a little voice in the back of her mind told her that it likely wasn't wise to tell her what she thought really happened. "I just uh- went out because of shock, I think." To be fair, that could be truthful, but she didn't know.

"Uh- Ma'am-" The Nurse had walked up behind her, but she was cut off.

"I'm really sorry, from what I've heard whatever happened to you is quite serious…" Worry spread across her eyes, as she stood. "But I'll help your father cover some of the hospital bills. I feel that this was my fault, after all."

"No, it's fine-" She began to say before those topaz eyes glared her down from nearby. A scowl was worn across the dragons face, and it spoke volumes. To her, at least.

"Nonsense."

" ...May I speak now?" The Mouth-monster growled as Toriel nodded sheepishly, suddenly realizing that she had interrupted her. She stepped out of the way, letting her continue. "Either way, you're going to have to stay for a while longer. According to that… weird skeleton man… It'll be a while until your SOUL fully recovers. And you'll need a fair amount of rest…"

"Uh- how long?" A bead of sweat was beginning to form on her forehead, she didn't want to stay here long. She and Kris hadn't even gone to the DarkWorld, after all. She still wanted to see Lancer, too. Maybe ask if Ralsei knew anything about souls, he seemed like someone who would know a lot about them.

"He's making calculations right now. But everyone needs to leave." A frown appeared on both of their., as the mouth monster looked around at everyone in the room. "Visitation hours are over, and they have been."

Kris sighed and slowly stood up, as the dragon spoke up. "I need a moment to talk with my daughter alone… If you wouldn't mind."

Her one bead of sweat turned to multiple, was the room suddenly hot? Either way, she couldn't be in that room alone with him. Though she suddenly lost the ability to hear words, she knew that the nurse say a disgruntled 'fine'. She knew that Toriel called for Kris to leave, and he waved goodbye to her with a smile. She didn't need to hear the footsteps to know that the Nurse, Toriel, and Kris were all leaving. Static was in her ears, why was she suddenly getting nervous? It was just her adopted father, nothing more, nothing less.

...

She remembered why when she found her head slammed loudly against the hospital wall, a crushingly hard, somewhat scaley hand pressing her head against it. "How fucking dare you…" She heard the dragon hiss, as he grabbed onto her hair, pulling her away from the wall to slam her against it once more. "You know we can't afford to pay for our home…"

Another loud, painful thud against the wall. "And your stupid ass thought that you could just get hurt?! And then try to deny that bitch who wanted to give us money to help pay?" He let go of her, but she couldn't feel it. Her head was beginning to reel, she could only hear the words. A bit of blood began to dribble down the side of her face, a small puncture made by the blood red scales of the dragon. It was nothing compared to what she could feel on the side of her head, and her pumping and exhausted soul wasn't helping her. "And now you've got my claw a bit bloody... You're a lucky girl, you know that, right?" He turned away angrily, "You got a roof over your head, clothes on your back, food in your mouth… Yet you still do all of this shit to us. I don't understand why we adopted you, and why we haven't thrown your ass back into the system."

A pang of anger began to form in her, but she didn't have the energy to act on it, as she slowly let herself slump back down into laying position on the bed. Someone was going to have to wash the blood off of that wall, and she didn't even have to know that they would have to. The pain she felt on her side told her that already, but her mind began to draw a blank. She didn't know what to think, she didn't know how to feel other than pain. She wasn't surprised, she was just...

The sound of a door creaking shut gave her relief, as that monster left the room. Something began to dribble down her cheek. Was it blood, or was it tears? She didn't know. She didn't care. All she wanted right now was her friends, for someone to walk back into that room and to give her a hug, to tell her that she didn't have to put up with this. Or anyone, even. A part of her regretted leaving the DarkWorld. At least there she wouldn't have to put up with those monsters she had to call 'mom' and 'dad'. She wanted to be with Kris, to be with Lancer, maybe even Ralsei. Anyone. She just didn't want to be alone.

But here she was. All alone.

Don't worry, guys! It does, in fact, get better for Susie. :)

What, you think I'd just write about my (second) favorite character's issues and then not give them a happy ending?

Hah!

If that where the case, I wouldn't be on this site! The next chapter is already written, but I'm trying to stay one ahead at all times. Dunno when I'll update again, but it'll probably be soon.