This is may be repetitive, but it would be wise to read Memory of the SOUL before reading this chapter. From this point onward, nearly everything in this fanfic will be tied with MOTS. Last warning, I promise =)

Frisk POV

"Get away from me!" The girl shrieked. "Get away!"

"HEY! Stop it!" Flowey called from behind me. "All that screaming is giving me a headache!"

I tried to grab their hand but she slapped mine away with another shriek. The girl stumbled to her feet and backed away as I rose and picked up Flowey. Tears were running down her cheeks. "What did you do to her? How are you here?"

Flowey and I exchanged confused looks. We had never met this girl; nor did we know who she was talking about. I tried to calm her down. "Did you lose track of someone? We can help you lo-"

"Did you kill her!?" Her screams became so high that her voice broke. "You killed her! YOU KILLED HER!" The girl covered her head with arms and started crying while wailing.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Flowey yelled back in a mixture of annoyance and bewilderment.

"P-please calm down!" I was becoming frantic. "I don't understand!"

"GET AWAY!" She screamed even louder. "GET AWAY FROM ME, CHARA!"

Flowey gasped. The air turned cold: a thick blanket of ice pressed against my chest. My lungs constricted, driving the air out? "I-I… I'm not Chara."

The girl was about to scream again when she suddenly stopped. She took in my face, my skin, my eyes, my shirt, my voice. Realization shone in her wide eyes. "You… You're not…" The shock must have drained her; the girl's knees gave out and I barely caught her before she hit the floor. She leaned on me as she gasped for air.

I looked down at Flowey who I was holding behind her back. "What do we do with her?"

Flowey shrugged, or at least tried. It was more like wobbled his head and bent his stem. "I guess we should take her back to her house." We tried to ask where she lived, but the girl didn't react at all. Flowey grunted angrily. "This isn't working. Let's just take her back to our home."

We made our way out of the Underground and back to the bus shuttle. The process was much longer due to the mysterious girl having to be half-dragged. Once we were on the empty bus, not including the driver, we sat in the middle and laid her on the seat next to ours. It was early in the evening now; the sky was turning orange with yellow streaks.

We rode in silence for a few minutes. The girl had fallen asleep, breathing softly. Flowey was sitting next to the window. I didn't want to provoke him, but we had to talk about it. "How did she know about Chara?"

Flowey shook his head slowly. "I don't know." He said quietly. Whenever we talked about Chara, Flowey seemed to deflate, losing his usual angry energy. I don't blame him.

"Could she have known them before Chara fell?" I pressed on, feeling sick every time I said their name.

"Not possible." Flowey whispered. "They would be an adult by now. Plus, Chara was never close to anyone on the Surface." He lapsed back into silence. I thought it was better to stop questioning him. My phone buzzed. I pulled it out and saw a new message:

/I hope you are safe, my child. I must apologize. After the meeting, I was checking the closet when I found a box with the cookbook inside. I am sorry that I sent you to the Underground. We are meeting at Muffet's, so please meet us at her bakery when you return

-Toriel/

I've told her countless times that she doesn't have to sign her name after each message, but she refused to listen. I relayed the message to Flowey and got a grunt as a response.

The bus rattled into the city. I put Flowey in my backpack, woke up the girl, and we made our way down the street. Once we walked/dragged into Fountain Ring, I lead the group across the garden to the bakery on the other side. Through the window, I saw the group seated together, lost in chatter and laughter. We entered the Spider Nest Bakery, a bell chiming as the door opened. Undyne and Sans waved, Toriel and the others had their backs to us.

"HEY, punk!" Undyne greeted. "Who's that with you?"

Papyrus, upon hearing this, spun out of his chair and flew towards the girl. "IT SEEMS YOU HAVE MADE A NEW FRIEND!" He shook the girl's hand. "HELLO! I AM PAPYRUS, BUT YOU MAY CALL ME THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NICE TO MEET YOU!"

The girl gave a confused squeal

Sans leaned back in his chair. "come one, bro. you're scaring her."

Toriel rose from her chair, cup of tea in hand, and walked towards us. A warm smile lifted her face. She tried to see the girl, but Papyrus's flailing about made that near impossible. "Would you mind moving, Papyrus? I would like to meet them." As the Papyrus moved aside, the girl gave my arm a painful squeeze. "Hello. My name is-"

"Toriel," the girl whispered.

Toriel's cup shattered on the tiled floor, leaving a puddle of yellow liquid spreading from a burst of shards. The customers turned their heads towards Toriel in concern. Muffet paused behind the counter while restocking the shelves. Disbelief was written on Toriel's face, not a trace of a smile remained. Tears flooded her eyes as the girl cried, "M-mother!"

Everything froze, a second that stretched across hours. Toriel fell to her knees and pulled the girl into her embrace. Sobs wracked the two, the only sound in the bakery was their crying. Between sobs, Toriel choked out, "I'm so sorry. Grizzy, I'm sorry my child."

Grizzy POV

Nothing here made any sense. Toriel sat me down in a chair in front of a purple table with a pattern of black connecting lines. A spider monster wearing an apron ushered all but a handful of customers out of the bakery. The ones that remained were an odd bunch.

Sitting across from me was the talking flower and child that found me. I would say boy or girl, but I couldn't tell. To my right was an empty chair, then a lizard monster with yellow scales with brown ones speckled across her nose. She wore glasses, sweatpants, and a gray t-shirt with a red cartoon fish on the front. Next to her was monster that looked like she had walked right out of the ocean: she had blue skin and red fins on her head, an eyepatch over her left eye, black jeans, and a red t-shirt with a yellow lizard of the same design as the former monster's.

Sitting to my left was Toriel, tears in her eyes, holding my shoulder. She had on the same robe she always wore in the Ruins. Next to her were a pair of skeletons. The first one was tall, wearing what looked like a Halloween costume, and a red scarf. The other skeleton was sitting next to the child and flower. He was short and wore a blue hoodie, white shirt, black shorts with white strips on the side, and fuzzy, pink slippers.

The flower leaned over to whisper something in the shorter skeleton's would-be ear. His eyes disappeared and then reappeared a moment later.

The Spider monster came over and placed a large tray of cookies in the middle of the table. They were still hot from the oven. As a tense silence passed over the table, Toriel was the first to speak.

"I-I'm sorry for being so shaken. I should introduce all of you," Toriel used her free hand to gesture towards me. "This is Grizelda, one of the children who fell into the Underground. Grizelda, this is Frisk, Flowey, Undyne, Alphys, Papyrus, and Sans." She pointed at each monster as she listed them off. "Oh! And that's Muffet. She is the owner of this bakery." The spider monster waved at me.

"Um…" Alphys was trying to say something. "S-sorry i-if this is rude, b-but h-h-how-"

"How are you alive?" Undyne finished.

Toriel gasped. "Undyne!"

"I'm sorry, Tori, but we have to know." Undyne said. "Asgore collected her SOUL and her body was buried. Also, all of the other SOULs vanished after the Barrier was shattered. We thought they had been destroyed."

Toriel shook her head. "Undyne! This is not the time for-"

"Its okay, Toriel." I patted her hand. I looked around at the gathered monsters. "I'll answer any question you have, if I can answer them. It might help me make sense of this."

Toriel shifted uncomfortably, but didn't stop them. After a few awkward glances, Flowey gave the first question: "How did you die?"

Toriel stifled a cry as I shuddered, but I won't falter. "When I was living with Toriel, there was another girl, too. One night, she just disappeared. After weeks of waiting, she never came back. I couldn't take it anymore, so I went to look for them. I got lost in the forest without any way of finding help. I… it was cold and… I couldn't…"

"That's enough, my child." Toriel said gently. "You've said enough. Do you want to proceed?"

"Yes, please." I replied.

"Alright. Does anyone else have any questions to ask Grizelda?"

Alphys hesitantly raised her hand. "H-how did you come back t-to life? I've never h-heard of something like that e-ever h-happening before." Alphys drew a notepad and pen from her pocket.

I shook my head. "I don't know how. After… it happened, the only thing I remember is being in the dark, like I was swimming through it. I saw something standing on top of the darkness, so I grabbed it. I pulled and pulled, but the thing resisted. It pulled back, yanking me out of the abyss. The next thing I know I'm waking up in the forest."

Sans, Flowey, and Frisk shot each other a strange look. Alphys's pen was scribbling along the pad. "Did you have any other strange encounters before?"

I was about to say no when a blurry memory suddenly surfaced. "One I can't recall very well. There were swirling colors and mad laughter." Another piece clicked into place. "And other kids were there. Five of them, including Annie."

"Annie?" Alphys asked.

"The other girl who fell down." Toriel clarified.

I continued. As I talked, the memory became more vivid. "I could see something, like a double vision. I was looking through someone else's eyes." I gasped. "I saw Frisk!" Seven heads turned towards them. Another part of the memory became clear, but seeing their faces, I decided to keep to myself. "We were trapped, but one of the other kids freed us. They would reach out and surround each of us with light that was warm and comforting. When we were all free, we fought back and the chaos broke. I was back in the darkness until today."

As Alphys placed her pen on the table, my stomach growled. Toriel took one of the cookies and handed it to me. I took a bite, warm, gooey chocolate filled my mouth. I finished the cookie and inhaled five more.

Nobody had anything else to ask me. Alphys said, "We should go to my lab. Running some tests might help us determine how you came back."

Toriel rose and declared in a regal voice, "No, that's enough for tonight. Grizelda has had a troubled time and she should rest. This is not up for debate." No one argued.

The group said their goodbyes and the skeletons followed Undyne and Alphys out the door, leaving me, Toriel, Flowey, Frisk, and Muffet in the bakery. As Toriel was waving farewell to Sans from the window, Muffet walked up to me and handed over a white box. "Here, dearie~ These are some of my favorite donuts. Twenty-four in total, eight flavors, three of each kind. The purple ones are my signature Spider Donuts. Enjoy, ahuhu~"

A shiver ran down my spine as she chuckled. Even with her creepy appearance, I felt a friendly aura around the baker. I smiled at her kind gesture. "Thank you."

"If you need anything, you come find me. After you get settled in, I have to ask you about something. Have a goodnight, dearie~" Muffet returned to her counter as Toriel took my hand and guided me to the door. I was curious about what Muffet wanted to ask me, but it was clumped together with so many other confusing mysteries that it was lost in the maelstrom.

Toriel went back to pay Muffet, leaving me with Frisk and Flowey. Frisk faced me with a confused look on their face. Flowey kept his head down. "Here." Frisk reached into their pocket and pulled out a strip of red fabric. My heart jumped with joy.

"My ribbon!" I took my precious possession from their hand and ran the soft cloth between my fingers.

"I fell into the Underground, too." I looked Frisk in the eyes: bright, golden colored orbs shaded by their dark brown hair. They were wearing a blue and purple striped shirt, brown shorts, and a pink leather glove on their left hand. "I found items that belonged to the other fallen children and sometimes I wear them."

"That's weird." I stated. Flowey gave a weak laugh.

"No, no! I didn't mean it to be anything strange!" They said hurriedly. "I wear them out of respect. Just as a way for them to be remembered." They held up their gloved hand. I compared my ribbon to the glove: both relatively worthless items, but held such important meanings for us.

I shifted the ribbon between my hands. "Then I have to thank you."

"For what?" They were genuinely puzzled.

"For finding this." I held up the ribbon. "And… for keeping some part of me alive after all these years."

Frisk smiled. "It was a honor, but I'm glad its not my job anymore."

"So am I!" I chuckled.

As Toriel came back, I tied the ribbon through my hair to form a bow holding a ponytail in place. Even though the color had faded, the ribbon still wavered with the red streaks in my hair.

"Are you ready, my children?"

"Yes," We answered.

As we made our way across the garden around the fountain, the moonlight shone down on us as the clouds floated lazily across the night sky. The moon was a crescent: just starting to take shape. I held Toriel's right hand as Frisk held the left. I looked up at the stars, the countless glimmers of light, and a weight was lifted off my shoulders, making me feel as if I could leave everything that happened behind under the mountain.

Now the real fun begins! Be ready =)