Chapter 25: Darker...

Sans was unsure about this. Why would Toriel call him away like this? "so tori, what do ya need me for?" Sans asked, still trying to contain himself after the whole ship fest inside.

Toriel seemed hesitant to say whatever she wanted to say. "Sans, did you know about my son visiting last night?" She asked with slight concern. Toriel had been waiting for Asriel the whole time after she found he was not in bed. When Sans called her and said Asriel was in his house, she freaked out.

Sans winked, "of course i did tori. i was watching to make sure nothing went wrong. What about it?" This was getting odd. Sans had a nagging feeling in the back of his head about what she may be about to ask.

"Well," She paused a bit. "After that night, Asriel was happier than we had seen him in awhile. It was nice seeing a change." When Asriel came home, he had his positive attitude back. He had only shown this before the first time he… died. Toriel scolded him for leaving at night, but couldn't help but smile when he was finally happy again.

"heh, yeah, but where are you going with this?" Sans said, getting more curious.

"Sans, you know that your house isn't the best living condition for a child…" She said, crossing her arms. "And, he has nowhere else to go."

"yeah... i've been thinking about that. but, he finally feels welcome here tori." Sans said glancing to the side. "you can't just send him off or anything." Sans's suspicions were being confirmed. If she said what he thought she was about to say...

"Which is why, I want to take him into our family." Toriel said with affirmity.

"Y-you mean that Tori?" Sans asked in surprise. Actually, he shouldn't have been surprised. Toriel was always a motherly figure. She had just confirmed what he was thinking, but he didn't think she was actually going to say it.

"Why wouldn't I Sans?" She asked. "He has made everyone here very happy before… that. I wasn't sure at first, but you know how Asriel is." Toriel reflected on the memory. She had accidently mentioned if that was a possibility while talking to Asriel the previous night and his eyes lit up. He kept trying to convince her to go through with this. Toriel eventually gave in.

"heh, yep." Sans had begun sweating. "this has all happened so fast. how are you going to tell him?"

"Well, that's what I was worried about." She gazed off into the distance where Undyne and Alphys were now being harassed by Mettaton. "After all, we have seen both of his personalities…" Toriel had noticed one thing in particular about me. I seemed a lot more calm now.

Sans put a reassuring hand on Toriel's shoulder. "tori, i can assure you that if you carry through with this, he will be the happiest kid in this world."

"Sans, thank you."

"hey, no problem tori." He said. "should we check to make sure papyrus hasn't killed them with his spaghetti yet?"

"Ah yes, we should." She responded.

"AND THAT'S HOW OUR DATE WENT!"

I was confused so much. Just when I thought I had heard about the weirdest things in life. "I no longer fear death."

Asriel was seemingly contemplating his life choices. "Frisk… why did you think that was a good idea?" He said, hiding his face in his ears.

"WELL, FRISK FLIRTED WITH ME DURING OUR FIGHT. I THOUGHT THAT IF I WENT ON A DATE WITH THEM MY TRUE FEELINGS WOULD COME UNEARTHED." Papyrus exclaimed. "IT DIDN'T WORK. I DIDN'T LIKE FRISK THE WAY THEY LIKED ME."

Frisk began rapidly signing, their face flushing red. "It was an innocent flirt. I wasn't expecting a date."

The front door opened. It seemed that Toriel and Sans were done talking about whatever they were talking about. Whatever it was, no one wanted me knowing… I was going to figure them out at some point.

Toriel's eyes seemed to light up when she looked at me. "Ah, I see that it fits nicely on you." She said with glee. "I was rather worried if it would be too big on you."

"Toriel, please, it's fine." I said. She was always worried about something. But, that's what makes her Toriel I guess.

"Alright, I guess I will stop worrying." She said giggling. She caught a glance at Asriel who was still hiding in his ears. "Oh, my child, what happened?"

Frisk quietly giggled, trying to sign at the same time. "There ya have it, Toriel can't stop worrying for even a few seconds."

Toriel didn't seem to notice. I was trying not to laugh. Asriel however… "Papyrus told us about how he and Frisk went on a date."

Toriel raised an eyebrow at Frisk. The child simply shrugged. "Frisk…" Toriel tapped her foot. "Exactly how many monsters did you flirt with in the underground?"

"About… all of them." Frisk signed, eyes darting around the room.

Toriel groaned. Papyrus's eyes bulged out of his eye sockets. Sans was trying to contain his laughter. I had facepalmed. Asriel… "Frisk flirted with me when they fell into the underground."

In a brilliant moment, I did the most amazing thing anyone could have done at that moment. "THE SHIP IS COMPLEEEEEEETE!"

The room was filled with a large succession of hands meeting faces. Papyrus was the ONLY one with me on that one. After a big moment of silence, Sans looked me straight in the eyes, and said, "just no."

Toriel shook her head in udder confusion. "Frisk, can you try… to contain your urges to flirt. It makes everyone uncomfortable and…" She motioned towards me. "It makes him do this so called "shipping."

I put my hands up in surrender. "I am not ashamed."

Frisk lowered their head in pretend shame. "Sorry mom."

Toriel took her phone out of a purse that she had been holding. She seemed to have been checking the time. "Ah, Alphys and Undyne will be here in a bit. Would all of you be up for a trip to the city?"

Before any of us could answer, we heard a "NGAAAAAAAH!" from outside. It looked like the reporters ticked Undyne off. That's probably one of the worst mistakes you could ever make in your life.

We all took a glance out the window to see Undyne charging out her door. She had a spear in one hand and Alphys's hand in another. Various reporters leapt out of the way to avoid Undyne's wrath. The duo proceeded to run straight to Sans and Papyrus's house.

Toriel swiftly opened the door, the two flying in, coming into a heap on the floor. Toriel was unamused. "Undyne… could you please try a more calm way to enter a house?"

The fish monster sprung up, pulling Alphys off the ground with her. "Uh, sorry Toriel." Undyne apologized, a bit embarrassed. Undyne's gaze shifted to me. A wide toothy grin spread across her face. "NGAH, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN PUNK?!"

Before Undyne could try to force tackle me to the ground for the second time, Toriel gave a stare, a long, cold death stare. "Undyne… No horseplay indoors." She growled, crossing her arms.

"Uh… heh, yeah… Sorry Toriel."

Alphys let out a squeal, rushing over to me. "O-o-o-oh no, w-who t-t-took off the r-restraint?" She grabbed my arm and began inspecting it, much to my discomfort.

For a moment, I could have sworn Alphys's normal lab coat was on. At the moment she was wearing an anime shirt with yoga pants. Why did I see that? "FRET NOT ALPHYS! I TOOK IT OFF AND…"

"he didn't stop hurling for at least two hours." Sans finished Papyrus's sentence for him.

"OMG!" Did Alphys really just say omg? "Ididn'tthinkitwouldbethatbadohmygosh." Alphys blabbered out, frantically jittering her fingers around.

"Alphys, I'm fine." I reassured her.

Undyne was looking about the room, as if scanning for something. "Hey, where is Asgore?"

Toriel rolled her eyes. "He bluntly refused to come." She scoffed in annoyance. "I can't believe him."

Great, now I was tearing families further apart. "Toriel, he has a right to be mad at me." I said, shoving my hands into my pockets. I knew Toriel was going to protest at that. Those two always had tension between them.

"well, are we gonna continue on to the city or…" Sans began, trying to break tension.

"Well, as long as Bennett is okay with going somewhere then yes." Toriel said, giving me a questioning look.

How were they perfectly fine letting me come with them? I had my magic again and I could easily run off at any given time. Did they really trust me that much. Then, I realized, they knew I wouldn't run off. The monsters could read me like a book, and it was really unnerving. "Yeah, it'd be nice to get out of the house." I responded, still pondering on the thought.

I knew Sans would keep a sharp eye socket on me anyway. He ALWAYS knew what I was doing. "alright everyone, follow me, i know a shortcut." Sans said winking. Everyone groaned, realizing what Sans was about to do. He snapped his fingers, and we were all gone.

As soon as we reappeared, the sounds of busy streets met our ears. It had been a long time since I had visited this place. The last time I was here was before Sans took me in.

To think it hadn't been too long since that happened. We had reappeared where no humans would see us. We didn't want to call too much attention. Although, an alleyway probably wasn't the best place to teleport to. People could be here. And the whole cliche getting mugged in an alley thing could also happen.

We emerged onto the streets. The city was really busy. Amongst the bustle of the people, there were actually very few monsters. That was probably because of how hostile humans were to monsters.

Asriel was surprised on how far the buildings reached to the sky. He hadn't been here before. Everything to him was amazing. Some humans gave us weird looks while passing by. I didn't pay attention to it to avoid wanting to strangle one of them.

Toriel was the first to ask where we wanted to go to first. Frisk had mentioned a park they saw when the monsters first came through the town. I remembered it very well. Chara and I had passed it on the way to the Town Hall.

The first time I was able to meet Chara again wasn't too long ago either. I just wish I could've been faster. No, I had to keep these thoughts out of my head. The monsters were trying to help me. If they were going to, I had to at least have some faith in myself.

Just as I thought, Sans was keeping close tabs on me. He wouldn't let me out of his sight to avoid any problems. Asriel had been more full of energy than ever. He pointed out every little thing along the way and asking what it was. Frisk would gladly describe it, sometimes asking me for pointers.

Luckily, I hadn't hallucinated at all yet. Maybe they were finally over? I wasn't too sure being that they were completely random. Most of them only corresponded with the underground. I shut my eyes, trying to get rid of all the negative thoughts. In a sense, I was like Toriel, always worrying.

By the time we reached the park, it was nearly noon. Why couldn't Sans have just teleported us closer. Honestly, I had no desire to eat anything yet. Monster children and human children alike were running around, having a blast. Some moms conversed on the sidelines, watching their children with worry.

Frisk and Asriel ran off to join an armless kid in the distance. They must be friends with him. I subconsciously smiled at how happy they all were. If only Chara was here to see their brother now… No, snap out of it. I told myself.

After a few minutes, Alphys and Undyne split off from our little group to go explore more of the city. Papyrus and Sans were arguing about something. Sans most likely made a horrible pun. Toriel was just watching Frisk and Asriel, but I could tell something was on her mind. She was horrible about hiding it.

I found my way to one of the park benches. It was a really a nice day out. The fresh air was a nice change from the normal spaghetti smell of Sans and Papyrus's house. From what it looked like, Frisk, Asriel, and the other monster were all playing tag with each other.

I never got to play with the other kids. I was always left alone. Chara was the only one who would actually pay attention to me. But now? I thought it was too late. I had grown up too much to learn how to be a child again. I had the body of a child, but not the soul of one. That part of me died years ago.

I gave off a sad laugh, reflecting on that thought. Had I really never gotten the chance to be a child? But, the answer was loud and clear. That opportunity was gone. My head shot up when I felt a soft hand on my shoulder. I looked up, seeing Toriel looking over me with a kind expression. "May I sit with you young one?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure." I deadpanned.

Toriel took her place right next to me on the bench. We didn't speak or look at each other for an extended period of time. Something was definitely on her mind. There was no doubt now. Toriel let out a long sigh, "Young one, are you feeling alright?"

No, I wasn't. To be honest, I was nearly never alright. There was always something wrong with me. "Yeah, I'm just thinking." I responded. Thinking about how slow you are to get to the point.

"Well, my ch- young one," That raised a red flag in my head. "I have been meaning to talk to you about something lately." She said, with a slight hint of hesitation in her voice. "Um… I don't know how to say this…"

I rolled my eyes playfully, "C'mon Toriel, I'm sure what you have to say isn't THAT bad."

She gave a half hearted grin. "Alright then. I have been meaning to ask you if… maybe, I'm not saying you have to…" Toriel was really good at not giving an answer. "I was wondering how you'd like to be part of our family."

The reaction was immediate. My teeth clenched. My eyes widened, my left threatening to activate. So many questions instantly flooded my head. What did she mean? Was she joking? Was I somehow hallucinating again? "D-Do you mean that?" I asked, struggling for words. No, she couldn't have actually meant that. I did so many horrible things.

Who would even want me- "Why wouldn't I? I know you blame yourself for running off, but it was our fault. We shouldn't have pushed you to your limit." She put a hand on my shoulder. "Truthfully, I want you to choose whatever makes you happy. If you don't accept, I understand."

No one would have ever said that to me. Why were these monsters so nice to me. "I… alright…" I said, trying to hold back tears. This was too much. I had never thought anyone would so much as bother to do this for me. "I-I… why are you all even doing this for me?

Before I knew it, I was pulled into Toriel's warm embrace. "Shhh, my child. Everything is fine." She said in the comforting voice. "We do this because we all love you very much." That was what broke the walls I had put up. No one had ever said that before. Not that I could remember anyways. Before I knew it, I was sobbing next to Toriel, her arms still wrapped around me. "It's okay my child. We will take care of you for as long as you like."

"This… This isn't supposed to be happening!"

"First the prince, now the queen?"

"..."

"This is proving to be more troublesome that I thought."

"Alright then, this leaves me no choice."

"It seems that I must cut this life short…"

"Initiate phase 3."

The chapter started out happy, then went downhill from there.

Boy, I just can't make a happy chapter anymore can I?

Did I ever make a happy chapter? Hell if I know...

And you may be confused about the chapter name, well, that'll explain itself soon enough.

Thank you to anyone who followed me!

And before I forget! This story has hit above 3,500 views. The support you guys have given me is amazing, and I couldn't thank you enough.

Also, I have started a LoZ and UT crossover called TerminaTale if you are interested at all. No, this will not affect my posting schedule because I literally have no life.

Until the next chapter!

Bennetthedrummer Out