***Hello, everyone! I wanted to get at least one more chapter out before I left on my trip later this month, if not two more. So, here it is! Toriel and Gaster (as well as any other characters like them) belong to Toby Fox, any SOUL kids belong to me, and let's roll!
Chapter Eleven: A New Hope
Just because Anna loved her new family didn't make all of her problems go away.
The biggest one being her missing lower leg. She hated hobbling around on crutches. She missed the days where she could hum a tune and start dancing. Now, if she heard any sort of song, she would have to block it out and keep limping along.
Not to mention, Leah and Chara both found it entertaining to hide her crutches whilst she slept, and she would have to search for them.
But a new bit of hope would spark when she saw the most intelligent of her siblings... even thought that sibling had never spoken a word.
XxX
Meredith had a special attachment to this sort of time. She would just sit at the kitchen table while Toriel baked, did housework, or whatever she needed to be done. And Meredith would sit there, smiling, writing in her beloved notebook. She certainly couldn't hear Toriel, but she knew that the kind monster was there. She knew that she had someone to turn to, especially since her siblings could be a bit too reckless for her liking sometimes. Although that was an understatement for Sean, Leah, and Chara...
Suddenly seeing one of her sisters sit down next to her snapped her out of her thoughts. Anna waved, propping her crutches up against the table. She knew that Meredith could read lips, as long as she spoke somewhat slowly.
"You're smart, aren't you?" she asked.
Meredith flipped to a clean page in her notebook and adjusted her glasses before she began to write. I would like to think so, yes, she had written to show, since she, Toriel, and Asgore seemed to be the only ones who could sign.
"Great. Do you know anything about a replacement for where my leg was amputated? Like... a fake one?" Anna asked.
Meredith tapped on her cheek with the eraser end of her pencil as she thought for several moments on it. Then, she got to writing. It took a few moments, but she eventually put her pencil down.
There's such a thing as a prosthetic leg. Since you claimed to be a dancer before all of this, an automail leg might be a bit heavy, and you're quite young... but, it would tolerate the most use from physical activity. And if you got one, it would have to have a working knee joint, which would take a while to construct. Of course, there would be an adjustment period and physiotherapy as you learned to walk on it. But in the end, the pros far outweigh the cons and you would be much happier overall, she'd written.
Anna blinked once. "... you're really smart, you know that?" she asked.
Meredith nodded as a thank-you. Then, she scribbled down a new message: Why don't you go ask Mom about it? I mean, she is the queen of the Underground, and she probably has connections to someone who can make a prosthetic for you.
Anna looked over at Toriel. The boss monster was tidying up her kitchen, humming to herself. "I will. Thanks," Anna said.
Meredith nodded once more. She flipped back to the page she had been on previously and resumed writing what she had been before being interrupted.
Anna got up and limped over to Toriel. "Hey, Mom? Can I ask you something?" she asked.
Toriel paused in her cleaning and walked over to one of her many daughters. "Yes, my child? What can I do for you?" she asked kindly.
"Do you know someone who can make a prosthetic leg for me? In all honesty, these crutches can get pretty annoying, and I miss being able to dance," Anna said.
Toriel thought about it for several moments, tapping on her cheek as she did so.
"I believe I know someone."
XxX
Dr. W. D. Gaster wasn't expecting any visitors. So he was surprised to see the queen and two of her many children appear while he was working.
"Your Majesty? You should have warned me beforehand that you were coming. I would have tidied up my lab a bit if you had called me," he said.
Sure enough, Toriel was standing in his lab of what he called organized chaos with Anna and Meredith. "It's quite alright, Doctor. Anna was the one who came to me with this idea," Toriel said.
"What is it, then?" Gaster asked.
"Can you make me a prosthetic leg? You're the Royal Scientist and all, and you've probably built things way more complex than that. But I was curious," Anna said.
Gaster looked her over, thinking about it for a few moments. "...I believe I can do that for you. If you will all follow me, then we can get into more detail on the matter," he eventually said.
He lead the girls off further into the lab. When Meredith was sitting down to the side while Gaster was discussing the details with Anna and Toriel, she wrote down only one sentence in her notebook:
This is a new hope for my sister.
***Meredith had to call it automail, alright? I love Fullmetal Alchemist. Anyways, I imagined that Gaster would still be the Royal Scientist because he was probably the Royal Scientist around the time of Chara and Asriel's plan, which was the prologue to this story. That aside, I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you all in the next one! Bye!