Chapter 55
Chara sat, thinking hard as they kicked their short legs that didn't quite touch the floor out and back, hearing the soft thump as they hit the sofa.
Who could have kidnapped the others? They racked their brain, red eyes clouded with confusion. They shook out their short, curly, brown hair and put their hand on their head as they lost themselves in thought.
It couldn't have been Paul. He's in prison. Could it have been…
They shuddered.
No. She's been dead or in prison since before I died. It couldn't have been her. Frisk came by and sat down next to them, their long legs easily reaching the ground.
What's wrong? They asked, their reddish brown eyes showing worry. Chara sighed.
"I'm wondering about the other kidnappings." Chara explained. "If your mom didn't kidnap them, then who did?" Frisk frowned.
Well…. Frisk ran their hands through their long, straight hair. It was a bit darker than Chara's own hair, and Chara suddenly found themselves slightly jealous.
I miss having long hair. They realized.
I have no clue. Frisk frowned. Can't think of anyone who can.
"Well, I'm sure it's got to be something." Chara insisted.
It can't just be some pedo, could it? Their mind drifted to the old man in Alice's old neighborhood.
I'm gonna have to ask Liliane to investigate him…I mean, we are still on good terms with her.
They sighed and laid their head on Frisk. Then, Alice walked in.
"Dogpile!" She yelled as she jumped on top of the two, laughing.
"Hey!" Chara yelped as Alice landed directly on them, and her side smacked Chara's face. Chara got up and pushed her off. "Revenge!" Chara jumped on top of Alice, who squealed. Frisk joined in, and the three were soon play fighting on the floor. It wasn't until a sudden scream from other other room interupted them that they stopped.
"That was mom." Chara realized, paling. They got up and ran to the kitchen, seeing Toriel kneeling on the ground, her paw on her chest. The goat looked up, and Chara saw a look of extreme pain on her face.
"T-t-the baby...She's coming!" Toriel yelped.
"What?" Chara gasped.
But the baby's not due for another month!
"Call Alphys." Toriel ordered, panting and wincing in pain.
"Yes ma'am!" Chara pulled out their and Frisk's phone, and dialed the lizard.
"H-hello?" Alphys picked up.
"Alphys, we need you ASAP." Chara said. "The baby's coming." A pause.
"What? S-she's not due for a month!" Alphys gasped. "I-I'm coming right over." The phone hung up. Chara ran to Toriel's side.
"Mom, where's Sans?" They asked.
"He...he's at Grillby's…" Toriel gasped.
"Mom, sit down." Chara ordered. Toriel sighed and sat down at the table, not removing her paw from her chest. The doorbell rang.
"Alice, go get it! It's Alphys." The girl nodded and ran to get the doorbell. When she let the golden lizard in, she ran straight to Toriel, holding up the same Soul screen that she had used on Chara. Alice stood next to Frisk near the door to the kitchen, staring in awe at her idol.
"A-alright, h-how long has she been in pain?" Alphys asked.
"About 20 minutes." Chara said.
"Okay, let's get this set up." Alphys set up the soul screen.
Eyes opened. The being realized it was his time. He knew that they were both in danger. He struggled out of his confines of space and time, knowng that every second counted.
If he lost his second chance for forgiveness…
"Okay, let's see…" Alphys pressed a few other buttons, as Alice spoke up.
"H-how does that work?" Alice asked.
"There a different settings for regular m-monsters, boss monsters, and humans, as well as if they have a child or not." Alphys explained. "For Toriel, I would p-press that she's a boss monster with child." She pressed said buttons, and Toriel's Soul popped up on the screen, with a smaller Soul inside of it. Chara put their hands to their mouth in shock as they realized that Toriel's Soul was starting to crack.
"Is that bad?" Alphys hesitated before reluctantly adding,
"Very. The baby's a month early. It's very unlikely that she'll survive being created. And with the way Toriel's Soul is breaking like that, there's a good chance that it'll kill her too."
"What!?" Alice gasped. "How d-does that work!?" She demanded.
"Monsters are made up of magic. Baby monsters take up the m-magic of their parent to create their bodies. Sometimes, it takes too much magic to create its body. If the p-parent doesn't have enough magic, then the baby will be u-unable to create their body, but still take the parent's magic, and due to that, the parent will be unable to exist without magic, and simply turn to dust." Alphys explained. "That's where monster's magic comes from. it's more likely to happen if it's interspecies, like, say, a bunny and a dog, or a s-skeleton and a boss monster." She looked back at Toriel at that last part.
"So the baby's taking up t-too much of Toriel's magic?" Alice asked.
"Basically." Alphys said. "The only w-way to keep it from happening is to force a late-term abortion. But t-the only person who knows how to do that…" Alphys let that sentence drift off. "F-forget I said that." Alphys muttered.
What's that about?
"Basically, there's no one who can do it." Alphys sighed.
"So there's nothing we can do?" Chara breathed, horrified.
"Nothing at all." Alphys confirmed, shaking her head sadly.
"Nothing at all."
The being pulled and pulled as hard as he could to get out of this void. He struggled, forcing his way up, pulling himself up as he felt himself slowly falling apart.
I have to stay together...for them...for him...for my son. He told himself, pulling himself together.
The truth was, he simply couldn't exist outside of this area...the Core, he recalled it being called. Jumping had been an act of cowardness, he had realized over the years. He didn't even know if he would be forgiven, or even remembered.
He just hoped that Sans would be greatful.
"Tori!" Sans teleported in, pain in his eyes.
"Get Flowey." Chara told Frisk, who nodded and ran upstairs. They turned back to Sans and Toriel.
"S-s-sans…" Toriel panted, wincing in pain.
"Is there anything we can do?" Sans asked Alphys, not taking his eyes off of his wife. Frisk came back in with Flowey, who they put on the counter. Flowey laid his petals back and collasped on himself, as though he were depressed.
"Nothing." Alphys frowned. "He's gone. No one else knows how to get rid of an unborn monster." Sans looked off in shock.
"No…" Sans said. "T-this c-c-can't be….!" Bright blue tears formed at his eye sockets. He buried his head in Toriel's side, muffling his sobs as Chara, too, felt hot, salty tears forming at their eyes. They started to hold it back, felling the tears pool up in their eyes and their gut wrench in complete and utter sorrow as they held their stomach, trying their hardest to be strong for everyone.
They felt the same sadness coming from Frisk, who had fallen to the ground, curled up against the wall with their face to their knees, their eyes squeezed shut and their glasses on top of their head to keep from getting dirty. Alphys wiped her face on her sleeve as Chara saw Alice leave the room. They swore that they heard her crying from the other room. Chara blinked back their tears and wiped their face on their sleeve, as they took one last look at the Soul screen.
Toriel's Soul was almost completely shattered.
He pulled himself out of the Core, and hurried up, flying towards the surface. He knew he didn't have much time.
Small memories were coming back. His family. His wife. Sans and Papyrus. The King and Queen. Why he jumped. His name.
Gaster. The word echoed through his head as he went to the house. He knew where to go as he possessed Toriel, infusing his own magic into the child. And he made it just in time.
If I had been even a second longer...Sans...
As Toriel's Soul reached the very bottom, just as it was about to shatter, it stopped. Chara looked up, seeing the Soul suddenly start to repair itself.
"Alphys." Chara said, their voice hoarse. She didn't hear them. "Alphys." They repeated, louder. She looked up, wiping her tears.
"Look." Chara said, pointing at the screen, which was miraculously showing Toriel's Soul being patched up.
"What?" Alphys gasped. "H-how is this happening?" Frisk and Flowey looked up at that, and Alice looked back into the room.
"It's fixing itself." Alphys looked up at that.
Suddenly, they saw Toriel's Soul, in real life, appear out of her body. A smaller, bright Soul dissolved out of it. They watched as the small, lean body formed in a glowing form around the Soul, which phased through several different colors, stopping at blue before fading back to white. Suddenly, all at once, the glowing stopped, and a small, tiny goat was in Toriel's arms.
"I..what happened?" Chara asked. Alice squealed.
"She's so cuuuuuuuuttte!" Alice whispered excitedly. "Have you decided on a name yet?"
"Mila." Sans said, suddenly. Toriel nodded weakly, agreeing. "Mila it is."
"Hi t-there, Mila." Alice cooed at the baby goat.
"It looks like she's asleep." Sans commented, blinking. Chara could have sworn he was deep in thought.
"Alphys, can I talk to ya real quick?" The two left the room. Chara sighed, looking at their baby sister.
Alice's right. She is really cute!
"Alright, what happened?" Sans asked.
"I don't know." Alphys sighed. "Obviously, we were a-all expecting the worst to happen. But it didn't."
"I think we both know who helped us to have Toriel and the baby." Sans said. Alphys looked away.
"He j-jumped long ago, Sans." Alphys reminded him. "Besides, remember everything he's done?"
"I know." Sans sighed. "But still, he's the only one who could have helped us."
"But your father was evil!" Alphys burst out quietly. "You know him. H-he was a selfish bastard."
"I know." Sans looked off. "But still, there's some part of me that can't help but wonder."
"And I u-understand that." Alphys nodded. "But you have to remember. His experiments were nothing short of torture on innocent monsters."
"And they were. I'm not denying that." Sans shook his head. "This doesn't redeem him. But it does show a side of him that I never saw growing up."
"...Well, I-I've got to get home. Congrats on your daughter." Alphys said, walking back to get her Soul screen.
"Thank you." Sans followed her. "I'll see you later."
"Goodbye, everyone!" Alphys waved goodbye to the family, all six of them with the addition of Mila.
Gaster, I don't know if you're behind this. And don't get me wrong, you were a terrible person before you fell. But...if you were behind this, thank you. Thank you so much.
*A/N And in comes baby Mila!
Review time!
FloweyTheFlower123: Thank you!
KiyumiArashi: Chara's body went back to normal as soon as they got into proximity with Frisk. They probably aren't going to tell Frisk about that.
Midnightthefirst: David as in the PTA dad? Possibly. I'm not 100% sure.
Child of Thanatos: Frisk is not white. Lilliane is darker skinned than Frisk though (Frisk is a deep tan)
Winter Break: I'll try that. Thank you :)
Guest (1) : Frisk is attracted to men, although they'll flirt with anyone. Alice doesn't really have an attraction to anyone because she's scared of strangers (her only fear that's not a direct result of her dad) and has trust issues, so I guess that would be demisexual? I'm not sure. Alex is a lesbian, Jimmy is straight, most of the PTA parents except for Iris and Adalia are straight, Sans, Toriel, and Ashore are straight, Papyrus is pansexual, Mettaton is gay, and Undyne and Alphas are lesbians. Chara is a demon, the forces of evil don't have time for love, what are you talking about? (Sims ref XD)
Greekgeek2015: It really depends on your POV, I had a whole argument with someone else on AO3 because they were being extremely insensitive about Liliane. She was suicidal because she gave up literally everyone who cared about her in her life for Frisk, and they ran away. She was extremely heartbroken, and it doesn't help that she didn't realize Quiet Hands was abusive. She didn't return them to Toriel right away because there was no way that she was going to settle for just seeing them occasionally after struggling with depression for two years with no support system, all because of her kid.
Alrighty, that's all! If I didn't answer you, it's spoilers ;)
See you next time~
Skater
