(A/N) No, I do not know what I'm doing here. This is my first crackfic and I'm not ready.
Long ago, two races ruled over earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS.
One day, war broke out between the two races.
After a long battle, the humans were victorious.
They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell.
Many years later…
MT. EBOTT
201X
Legends say that those who climb the mountain never return.
So, every now and then a child gets curious and- wait, what?
The child tripped over a root and nearly fell, but was caught before that could happen.
"H-huh?"
"What were you thinking?" The other person asks in a calm manner.
"I… uh…" The child turns around, looking at the person. "What?"
What the child sees is a teenager, who is probably a few years older than them, with short, black hair wearing a gray hoodie with the word 'Hoodie' on it, a pair of sweatpants, what seems to be a blue shirt underneath and a red cape on their back.
The teenager now has an annoyed look on their face. "Don't give me that. I highly doubt you don't know the tale of this mountain. Why did you think it was a good idea to come here?"
"Well- I-"
"Let me guess. You wanted to explore, didn't you." That was not a question.
The child suddenly found great interest in their feet. Their answer was rather quiet. "… Maybe."
The teenager can only sigh in response. "I can't believe you. Your family must be worried sick about you, so allow me to do this."
The child looks up again. "Wait, what?"
They were promptly picked up by their elder. "This bitch empty! YEET!"
Suddenly, the child is at the bottom of the mountain, back in their town.
"Well, my work here is done. Time for me to go. My people need me. Hey, Narrator!"
Who? Me?
"Yeah, you! Do your thing!"
Do you mean my narration?
"No, I mean your apple pie- of course I mean your narration!"
Okay, jeez, no need to be rude. Ahem.
The teen promptly jumped into the hole that leads to the Underground. "CANNONBALL!"
But, unlucky as they are, they missed the flower bed that would've broken their fall and broke every single bone in their body instead. "Rude." And… suddenly regrew them all and stood back up. What?
"Don't question it. Anyway, thanks for that. I wanted that fall to be awesome. I will not be needing you for now, thank you!"
You're welcome? Ugh, you really ruined the moment. Don't contact me ever again.
"Bye! Love you too!" The teen waves towards the air, smiling. "Wow, you left already. Rude."
Our hero(?) moved forward, through the only visible door of the room they're in. They then found themselves in a room with someone waiting for them. A smiling flower with yellow leaves, to be exact.
"Howdy! I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!" Oh god, the flower talks.
"What a creative name."
"Don't patronize me." Despite losing the smile for a second, the flower keeps an upbeat tone in its voice. "Hmmm… You're new to the Underground, aren'tcha?"
"Depends. What do you define as 'new' and 'Underground'? Because I've been through an emo phase-"
It seemingly made the conscious decision to ignore that last statement. "Golly, you must be so confused."
"Nah, I've seen stranger. One time, I found some magic triangles."
"Will you just let me finish, dang it?" The flower loses its cheery tone for once.
"Fine, fine, I'll shut up."
"Thank you." It seems to clear its throat and continues. "Someone ought to teach you how things work around here. I guess little old me will have to do. Ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
"Great! Here we go!"
The world darkens and color seems to vanish. All the teen sees is the white outline of Flowey's more prominent features, like his face. But they can still hear their new "friend". "See that heart? That is your Soul, the very culmination of- wait, why is it black, it's supposed to be red."
The teen answers in an obviously fake, deep voice. "Ah sorry, I lied. I still am in my emo phase." Out of nowhere, their hair grows out and covers their eyes.
Flowey seems uneasy at the revelation, but continues anyway. "Your Soul starts off weak, but can grow strong if you-"
Back to their usual self, the caped human raises their hand and answers. "Oh! I know! I know! I have to eat my vegetables!"
"Wait, what-"
"You seem like one!" The human rips Flowey out of the ground and promptly eats him, only to spit him out again. "Ew, you taste like dust."
Flowey, who couldn't even react to the attack, was now in pieces. But those pieces somehow vanished into the ground.
The teenager is now hearing footsteps, making them turn to the door opposite from the one they entered through. A humanoid goat, who is a good bit taller than the human and wears a purple garb, comes in and looks around.
"Well, looks like this could become the sixth wildest fever dream I've had so far." With that sentence, they quickly got the goats attention.
"Ah, I was lucky this time. Good, I got here before him." Noticing the lack of a proper introduction, the goat walks towards the human. "Do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through this place everyday to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time."
The human thought it was now finally time for some snark. "Wow, what a coincidence. I also just fell down here. If this was a story, it'd be the laziest writing I've ever seen. Like, seriously. You've goat to be kidding me."
The goat chuckles a little. "I suppose so? If you don't mind me asking, what's your name?"
The no longer nameless teen shifts into 'Drama Mode(tm)'. "Oh? I go by many names. The bringer of doom, the harvester of darkness, that one person that keeps making jokes and seems depressed but you don't wanna talk to them about it because it isn't quite clear and you might just break them if you're not careful, the prince of evil and many others. But you, mortal, have the special right to call me by my true name. So please, address me as Penguin, if you will."
Making a mental note to talk to this kid about that third title at a more appropriate time, Toriel smiles. "Alright, Penguin, nice to meet you. I assume you wish for a place to rest after such a massive shift in environment."
"I would like that a lot, yes. My back still hurts from the fall."
"Then please come with me. I will guide you through the catacombs."
"That's very nice, thank you." While Penguin was mostly joking around, breaking all their bones was rather painful and sleeping sounds really good right now.
With nothing more than a gentle smile, Toriel grabs their hand and leads the way through the door she used to come in. After climbing some stairs, Penguin feels something.
Deep in their chest. They're filled with D- wait, no, it's The Horny. Penguin is filled with The Horny. God save the Queen.
Luckily, Toriel doesn't notice that, and instead prepares to explain the next challenge Penguin will face. A bunch of puzzles. The first is simple, just 6 buttons of which one needs to hit the 4 unmarked ones and then flick the switch on the wall, all of that shown in a demonstration by her solving it.
The next is less of a puzzle and more of a guessing game. Penguin needs to flip some more switches which Toriel already labeled. He has to fight the temptation to hit the one that isn't labeled, but otherwise manages to go through without any trouble.
But then, she tells them something. "As a human living in the Underground, monsters may attack you. You will need to be prepared for this situation. However, worry not!"
"Well if you say so, I guess I have no choice."
She just sighs in response. "The process is simple. When you encounter a monster, you will enter a fight. While you are in a fight, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time. I will come to resolve the conflict. Practice talking to the dummy."
"Why are you encouraging me talking to myself?"
"I mean the dummy over there, you joker." Toriel points at a puppet on the other side of the room.
Penguin now looks at it, because they most definitely haven't noticed it before. "Alright. Thanks for the tutoriel." They feel their mood rise up at her suppressed laughter.
That laughter wouldn't last long, though.
After a bit of closer inspection, Penguin knew that talking wouldn't cut it. They got out a cross and started chanting. "The power of Christ compels you, the power of Christ compels you, the power of Christ compels you, THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU-"
While the chanting continued, Toriel got quite confused. She wanted to intervene, but then a piercing screech came out of the dummy. Suddenly, a spirit seemingly came out of it, continuing to make that noise. Penguin just kept on chanting and waving around the cross, visibly hurting the spirit. It seems to try a counterattack, but it just can't get past the power of Jesus. Slowly but surely, the ghost starts to burn. After a few seconds, it has completely vanished in flames, leaving the dummy behind with it looking somehow more lifeless than before.
"Wow. That guy seriously just ghosted me like that!" As Penguin turns to Toriel, they see how visibly disturbed she is, making them feel the need to apologize. "Look, I'm sorry. I know I was supposed to talk to it... but I technically did! Plus, you never said exorcisms were off the table."
"N-no, it's just- why- what- how did you know-"
"Intuition."
"You know what? We'll just pretend this never happened and continue, okay?" She is visibly doing her best to pull herself together.
"Sounds good to me."
"Alright." She goes ahead into the next room.
Penguin quickly follows and sees that she has calmed down a little.
"There is another puzzle in this room… I wonder if you can solve it?"
"Probably not, I'm a dumbass."
She scrunches up her face. "Now, now. Don't talk about yourself like that. You've just shown how… attentive you are." Wow, looks like self deprecation isn't on the menu. Bummer.
The pair goes through a narrow path, only for the human to be attacked by a Froggit. This time, Penguin will give conversation a chance. A 'compliment' shall suffice. They clear their throat in anticipation. "I like ya cut, g."
The Froggit is not fooled by the kind words or tone. It takes the statement for what is: a threat. The real attacker, Usain Bolt, takes off the convincing costume and sprints off to avoid the attack. He shall live to see another day.
Toriel has made the decision to not question it and just keep going with Penguin following close behind, with them quickly reaching a bed of spikes surrounded by water and stopping. "Well, this is the puzzle, but…"
"Nope, not a puzzle. This is little more than a murder weapon."
She sighs. "I admit, this is far from safe. Here, take my hand for a moment." She holds their hand and leads the way in a zigzag line, making Penguin wonder why they didn't just swim around. "Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now."
"No kidding. Although I gotta ask, how did you memorize the way?" Penguin lets their curiosity do the talking.
"Trial and error." All emotion is lost in her voice right now.
As they keep going to the next room, Toriel lets go of their hand. "You have done… excellently… thus far, my child. However… I have a difficult request to ask of you. I would like you to walk to the end of this room by yourself." After a pause, she continues. "Forgive me for this." She runs ahead and because of the set camera angle, the teen cannot see her hiding behind a pillar at the other end of the room. No, sir.
After summoning the speed of a… was it a green porcupine? …they were at the other end fairly quickly. Because of that, Toriel comes out of hiding.
"Greetings, my child. Do not worry, I did not leave you; I was merely behind this pillar the whole time. Thank you for trusting me. However, there was an important reason for this exercise."
"That reason being? This did come out of nowhere to me."
"…It was to test your independence. I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while. Please remain here."
"Fine, I will remain here." They will not remain here.
"Thank you. It's dangerous to explore by yourself." After thinking for a second, she keeps going. "I have an idea. I will give you a cell phone. If you have a need for anything, just call. Be good, alright?"
"Alright, I will not froggit to listen to you."
After some more chuckling, she smiles and keeps going, leaving the caped human behind. They decide to kill some time by looking at the cell phone first. It's an old phone with buttons, no touchscreen in sight. Considering how close this is to human technology and the fact, that it has some very minor scratch marks, they come to the conclusion that a bunch of years ago some people visited the mountain and dropped it. These old phones seem to be indestructible, after all.
After that, they finally go forward, now sure that Toriel will not be there to see them not listening to what she said. And cosmic irony be damned, that's the moment in which she decides to call. Penguin decides to pick up. "Hello."
"Hello? This is Toriel. You have not left the room, have you?"
"No, I have not." They lie.
"Good. There are a few puzzles ahead that I have yet to explain. It would be dangerous to try to solve them yourself."
"Dummy-level dangerous or Pool-of-Spikes-level dangerous?"
"Considering what happened with the dummy, I'd say the two aren't that far apart." She's audibly still coping. "Anyway, please be good, alright?"
"Alright, I promise."
"Good. See you later!"
"See ya." They keep going.
Penguin sees a small hall and a room. Taking a peek into the room, they see some candy on a pedestal in the center of the room. A sign on the pedestal is saying "Take one." They extend an arm from the door and do as they're told.
Penguin keeps going and is once again filled with The Horny.
As they continue on, they suddenly step on some less than safe floors and broke through, falling again. And although leaves were laid out exactly under the unstable floor, a gust of wind came and blew them away, resulting in broken legs, making them regrow their bones once more.
After solving that "puzzle" and climbing back up, somebody called again. "Hello? This is Toriel."
"Heya."
"For no reason in particular… Which do you prefer-"
Penguin answered with no hesitation. "Cinnamon."
"What?"
"Between butterscotch and cinnamon, I'm always a slut for cinnamon."
Toriel chooses ignore the teen's foul mouth. "Oh, I see. Thank you very much! Goodbye."
"Bye."
Taking another step, a new call comes in.
"Hello? This is Toriel."
"Really? Would've never guessed." Penguin decides to play around a little.
Luckily, she sees some humor in that and chuckles. "Anyway, you do not dislike butterscotch, do you? I know what your preference is, but… Would you turn up your nose if you found it on your plate?"
"Toriel, I'm a teenager. You could feed me a bike and I wouldn't show hesitation in eating it."
She actually let out a quiet but hearty laugh at that one. "Right, right, I understand. Thank you for being so patient, by the way." This time, she ended the call without a goodbye. Must be getting self-aware.
Putting the phone away, Penguin finally looks around the room and sees spikes, a rock and a button. Attentive as they are, they see that this problem is unsolvable. They get out their secret technique, the BLJ. The unnaturally high momentum resulted in the human flying over the spikes in that room, the unstable floor of the next one and the stones and spikes after that, breaking through a few walls in the process. Once they are on the other side of the final set of spikes, they decide to spit across the room at the stone on the south and bolt.
In the next room, Penguin finds a piece of cheese and more determination to stay The Horny. The cheese is apparently stuck to the table. Sucks to be that mouse in the wall, huh.
Continuing on the quest home, the next thing our hero finds is a ghost sleeping with its eyes open. Upon closer inspection, it's just saying 'z' repeatedly. Penguin tries to go around it, but suddenly the fight menu opens. Hooray.
Turns out, the ghost is called Nabstablook and looks like its ready to cry any minute now. Penguin starts to think for over a second seconds for once. 'Well, this guy looks depressed. Maybe I can help him! Positivity, go!' Penguin gives the ghost a kind smile.
He visibly brightened up at that and started to cry. Upside down. He made a top hat. "i call it 'dapper blook', do you like it…"
"Hell yeah, that's awesome. I want one myself now." Penguin starts to aggressively cry, making his own top hat and a walking stick and just dances. After a short while, Nabstablook decides to go away, not being used to positive reinforcement.
After submitting themselves to capitalism and leaving 7G in a web to get a donut from some spiders and having philosophical discussions with some Froggits, it's time for yet another call.
"Hello? I just realized that is has been a while since I have cleaned up. I was not expecting to have company so soon."
"I'd be more surprised if you did expect me, to be frank."
"That's fair. But there are probably a lot of things lying about here and there. You can pick them up, but do not carry more than you need; someday you might see something you really like and you will want to leave room in your pockets for that."
Surprised at the somewhat helpful tip, Penguin responds. "I'll keep that in mind. See you later."
"See you later!"
In the next room, Penguin falls through the floor and breaks their legs a few more times.
Once to pick up a faded ribbon, because they feel like they need to be "fancy as fuck" and one time to flick yet another switch and get rid of some spikes.
Next, Penguin doesn't want to deal with switches, so they just walk through the next spikes, their legs being broken anyway, eventually getting to a tree in front of a house.
"Oh dear, that took longer than I thought it would." Toriel walks up next to the tree and gets out her phone to call the human, only to notice them being just a few feet away from her.
And… being a lot shorter? They were crawling for some reason while their legs were in mint condition. "My child? Are you-"
Cutting her off, the thing that looks like Penguin shows its face. It's completely unrecognizable. The facial features are melted off, instead of eyes it has gaping holes and quite a lot of blood is on it. As the creature tries to attack the goat, it suddenly gets its head blown off and turns into a dark mist, dissipating.
"W-WHAT THE-"
The real Penguin comes in, shotgun in hand. "Freakish doppelganger. Did it hit you?"
"N-no? What's going on here?!"
"This happens sometimes. Just shoot it and you'll be okay. Just don't question it." They say as the put the firearm back into their hammerspace.
Seemingly close to going insane, Toriel decides that this is all some illusion and that she's just tired, returning to her (now fake) calm demeanor. "How did you get here, my child? Are you hurt?"
"Not that much. My broken legs are already healed."
"YOU BROKE YOUR LEGS?!"
"Yes, but they're mostly healed now."
She takes a deep sigh. "Well, then let me heal them fully." After saying that, she sends a bit of green magic energy towards Penguin's legs, ridding them of any leftover injuries. "I should not have left you alone for so long. It was irresponsible to try to surprise you like this." At this point, the goat realizes she said too much. "Er… Well, I suppose I cannot hide it any longer."
"What? The butterscotch-cinnamon pie? It was rather obvious, but I don't mind." Penguin chuckles, leaving the gentle smile on their face afterwards.
Toriel blushed at that. "Was it really? I apologize. Well, then just follow me, if you will." She goes into the aforementioned house, closely followed by Penguin, who is once again filled with The Horny.
After entering the main room with two doors leading somewhere and a staircase going downwards, there is something the human notices. "Man. It smells amazing."
"Well, I thought we should celebrate your arrival."
"I've been here for an hour at most and told you my preferences like 20 minutes ago, how are you already done?"
Toriel just smiles. "Magic." Penguin wasn't quite sure whether she was genuine or joking, but they quickly found out that they didn't really care. "Also, I want you to have a nice time living here, so I will hold off on snail pie for tonight."
"Awww, but they're so crunchy!"
Her smile falters a little. "You… you realize you're supposed to take the shells off, right?"
"Wait, you are?"
"You scare me a bit, my child."
Penguin responds with a grin. "It's my natural charm."
Toriel can't stop chuckling with this kid. "I suppose that's true. Here, I have another surprise for you." She walks towards a corridor with a bunch of doors, the human following suit. They stop in front of the first door to the left. "There it is, a room of your own. I hope you like it!" After giving them a quick headpat, she notices a burned smell and leaves Penguin to their own devices.
Of course, being a bratty teen, they snooped around. For some reason, they found the mirror to be interesting. It put a message in their head. 'It's you.'
"No shit, Chara."
The spirit of a brown haired human girl in a green shirt with a yellow stripe and brown pants appeared. 'Wait, what?'
"Please, you think I don't know you're there?"
'We have not met in this timeline and you haven't reset once. How would you?'
"True, true. I suppose it's just… my luck, that's what it is. Why haven't you appeared until now?"
'You've skipped over doing anything the normal way, when would I have had the chance to talk to you?'
"That's fair. Well, time to go to Toriel's room."
'Wait, what? Why?'
"I'm looking for something."
Being forced to come along due to some weird bond their Souls have, Chara enters the room alongside Penguin.
It's a room with an atmosphere that can only be described as a calming blue. It has a bed, a shelf with tons of books and some plants on top of it and a small cabinet with a lamp on and a large picture over it. Speaking of pictures, there's 2 smaller ones above the bed. Alongside a few more plants spread across the room, there's a desk with an open book on it.
The book is apparently the only thing of interest, as the still alive human looks at it, reads a little and starts to copy some of its content on a sheet of paper they pulled out of nowhere.
'What are you doing?'
"This is a book filled with puns. I'm copying them to get new ideas." They answer her question like it's the most natural thing in the world.
After a few minutes, they leave the room and enter the one Toriel prepared for them with Chara following suit.
This room lacks the calmness of Toriel's and instead has a warm red atmosphere. It also features a bed, a cupboard and a closet. Ditching the multiple pictures on the wall, it instead has a single painting of a flower. How quaint. A few lamps, toys and plushies are also spread around, although none interest the duo.
"So…"
'What?'
"I hope you don't take this personally, but why are you still making yourself visible to me? You've been invisible this whole time."
'No reason. You actually knowing and acknowledging that I exist is new, so talking to someone beats continuing to be lonely.'
"Yeesh, poor kid."
'Don't give me that. You obviously know more than you let on, so tell me. Where is Frisk? They were supposed to be here, not you.'
"Wow, that's cold. I saved them from their fall and sent them to their village, isn't that a good deed?"
'The problem is that you're meddling with things far beyond ordinary human comprehension. Why are you doing that?'
"No reason, really. Just like you, I am very bored." Chara gives Penguin a stern look at that, which they shrug off. "Welp, I'm tired, good night." They throw themselves onto the bed, timeskipping towards the night before Chara can react.
After standing up, they see a plate with some pie on it in the middle of the room, which is also a lot darker now.
Chara is surprised at the sudden shift in brightness. 'Wait, what? How-'
"Well, looks like I ripped you out of the universe. Sorry, timeskips will now also be 'skips' for you."
'W-what have you done-'
"Calm down. It'll only lead to a minor lack of time comprehension and spacial awareness, nothing necessary."
'What do you mean-'
"Anyway, time for the important part." Penguin grabs the pie and puts it into a small bag.
'Wait, why aren't you just eating it now?'
Penguin gives her a blank stare. "You and I both know I can't stay here."
Chara talks to them in a nearly disgusted tone. 'Really? You're leaving all this behind?'
"Mhm. It's not entirely my choice, if that makes things better."
'I can't believe you.'
While paying a visit to the living room, the pair sees Toriel reading something on a chair at the fireplace. After hearing Penguin's footsteps, she decides to look up and notices them.
"Up already, I see?"
"That I am."
"Um, I want you to know how glad I am to have someone here. There are so many old books I want to share. I want to show you my favorite bug-hunting spot. I've also prepared a curriculum for your education. Well, this may come as a surprise to you, but I have always wanted to be a teacher." After pausing for a little, Toriel must've realized something. "…Actually, perhaps it isn't very surprising."
"Yeah, not really." Penguin allowed themselves a silent laughter.
"STILL, I am glad to have you living here." She took another pause. "Oh, did you want something? What is it?"
'Yeah, jackass. What is it?'
Pushing aside the obvious guilt, Penguin decides truthfully. "When can I go home?"
Toriel gets silent for one second. "What? This… this IS your home now." This time, her pause was filled with awkwardness. "Um… would you like to hear about this book I am reading? It is called '72 Uses for Snails'. How about it?"
"Please do not dodge my question. How do I exit the Ruins?"
She now remains silent for a little longer. "… I have to do something. Stay here."
She stands up and swiftly walks towards the main room with the stairs. Penguin and Chara follow her down the stairs, even if the latter does so involuntarily.
They quickly catch up inside a tunnel under the house, but Toriel does not turn around to them.
"You wish to know how to return 'home', do you not?" Penguin doesn't answer. The shame at leaving this poor old lady alone starts to hit. "Ahead of us lies the end of the Ruins. A one-way exit to the rest of the Underground. I am going to destroy it. No one will ever be able to leave again."
The human now forces themselves to talk. "Excuse me-"
Toriel's voice now becomes more forceful. "Now be a good child and go upstairs." She continues on, leaving the kids behind.
Chara sighs at the sight. 'Do you really think this is worth it?'
"I believe this is necessary, Chara."
'Stop making it sound like you're on some important quest. Frisk would've had a good reason. You are just-' Penguin decides to follow Toriel, ignoring the spirit. 'Ugh, I can't believe you.'
After catching up with the goat, she starts to talk again, this time seemingly being incapable of keeping herself together. "Every human that falls down here meets the same fate. I have seen it again and again.
They come.
They leave.
They die.
You naive child. If you leave the Ruins… They… Asgore… Will kill you. I am only protecting you, do you understand?"
"Of course I do, but I need to leave. I cannot stay here."
"… go to your room." She goes further, Penguin and therefore also Chara follow. "Do not try to stop me. This is your final warning." The monster has decided to hide her emotions behind a mask of stoicism and goes towards a massive gate at the end of the tunnel.
Once more, Penguin decides to catch up.
That mask Toriel just kept up so well has already shattered at the persistence, the facade only being kept up by having her back turned, which visibly saddens Chara. "You want to leave so badly? Hmph. You are just like the others." She finally turns around. "There is only one solution to this. Prove yourself… Prove to me that you are strong enough to survive."
The world darkens and all that is left of Toriel is a white outline of her more prominent features. The battle has begun.
'T-Toriel blocks the way.'
Penguin actually considers talking things out, but no topics of conversation come to mind. Toriel turns around to attack with loads of fire, some of it doing minor damage towards the teen, although most of it is getting dodged.
'Toriel looks through you.'
Still no conversation topics and only more fire. They dodge and dodge, but some flames still cause holes in their red cape.
'Toriel is acting aloof.'
Can't think of anything. Why is talking suddenly becoming so hard? Just moments ago, Penguin could ignore any and all emotional baggage, so why is talking now so hard!? They've known of each other's existence for a few hours at most, why do they feel such a strong connection to her? This time, they managed to completely dodge any damage, even to their cape.
'Toriel looks through you.'
Talking doesn't seem to be the solution. But why? Why can't they talk? Are they just that empathetic to Chara that they feel the same pain now? Maybe it's the few experiences they did have? They did save her life by shooting that doppelganger, after all. Being lost in thought, Penguin forgets to dodge, getting hit quite a lot because of that.
'Toriel prepares a magical attack.'
They now ignore the opportunity to talk. There is nothing to be discussed. With a laser-focus on dodging, Penguin manages to fare much better than last time. Although they noticed the attacks getting more aimless and sparse.
'Toriel is acting aloof.'
This round, they get hit a bit more. At least they get to prove their observation. With how damaged the teen is now, Toriel shows how little she wants to hurt them. The fire is no longer aimed at them and should it get too close, she immediately redirects it away. The fire is now more of a warning than an attack. She even looks like she wants to say something, but can't.
'Toriel looks through you.'
Even though no words are coming out, Penguin finally feels able to give her a serious and determined look.
"What are you doing?"
More fire. Less aiming. No movement by the attacked human.
'Toriel is acting aloof.'
"Attack or run away!" Toriel almost screams.
"No. I refuse to fight you in any way, shape or form."
This time, there's just a pause, no attack.
'Toriel looks right at you.'
"What are you proving this way?"
"I'm proving you right. This conflict doesn't need to be resolved through violence."
No fire again. She just looks to the side.
'Toriel is looking away.'
"Fight me or leave." She is visibly getting emotional. Tears come out of her eyes.
"No."
No fire.
'Toriel prepares a magical attack.'
This time, Penguin paid attention to what Chara said. She still wants to attack? That doesn't make their determination falter, though.
"Stop it." She's starting to get angry.
There's fire again. It remains aimless, since even in her deepest fury Toriel refuses to hurt someone she cares for. But why is Penguin on that list?
'Toriel looks… through you?'
"Stop looking at me this way."
She's not looking through Penguin. She's imagining someone else in their place. The humans that have fallen down before them, that must be it. Once more, there's no fire.
'Toriel is acting anything but aloof.'
"Go away!" She's yelling again.
"No."
Fire again. Aimless as always. Penguin hasn't moved an inch in a few turns by now.
'Toriel is no longer prepared for any magical attacks.'
There's no words coming from either side. And no attacks, either.
'Toriel looks at you.'
Both remain silent. Words are getting harder and harder to form.
'Toriel has a sorrowful look in her eyes.'
"I know you want to go home, but…"
"Then-"
"But please… go upstairs now."
"I-"
"I promise I will take good care of you here." Tears keep coming, but she's forcing herself to smile.
Penguin feels like they can't get mad at her. "Please-"
"I know we do not have much, but… We can have a good life here."
"How good can-"
She can't stop crying. "Why are you making this so difficult? Please, go upstairs."
The human stops trying to talk, communicating through a pleading look instead.
After more silence, Toriel gives a pitiful laugh from herself. "Pathetic, is it not? I cannot even save a single child."
More silence. It's starting to physically hurt both of them.
After a few moments, she talks again. "No, I understand. You would just be unhappy trapped down here." She looks down. "The Ruins are very small once you get used to them. It would not be right for you to grow up in a place like this.
My expectations…
My loneliness…
My fear…
For you, my child… I will put them aside."
The world lightens up again. The battle is now really over. She continues. "If you truly wish to leave the Ruins, I will not stop you. However, when you leave…
Please do no come back.
I hope you understand." She bows down and gives the teenager a hug. "Goodbye, my child." While walking away, she looks back for a second, but quickly keeps going.
It was at the point she left that Penguin realizes something. Chara had been silent for a while now. "I'm sorry."
'I hate you.' She looks at the path that Toriel left on, refusing to acknowledge their presence with their eyes.
"I understand." Sadly, they are still chained to each other, so when Penguin enters the gate and begins to leave the Ruins, she follows suit.
The path out of the ruins is long and thin. It's completely silent and soul-crushing, considering the pair's circumstances. At the end of that path, a dark chamber awaits. And in it, an old friend.
'H-how- Y-you-'
"Clever. Verrrryyy clever." Flowey just stays there. Alive and well. He turns around to the spirit. "Also, hey, Chara. Nice to see you showing your beautiful face again. Anyway." He turns back towards the living human, ignoring her obvious confusion. "You think you're really smart, don't you?"
"Not really. I'm a dumbass and I know it."
"Shut up, will you?" The flower is obviously still mad. "In this world, it's kill or be killed. But you were able to play by your own rules. You spared the life of a single person."
"I've spared quite a lot, actually. I even avoided encounters with monsters. I only killed a doppelganger that tried to attack Toriel and, well, you. But you're back, so forgive and forget?"
"Forgive? Forget it." After letting out some steam, the flower chuckles. "Hee hee hee, I bet you feel really great. You kept permanent death to a minimum! But what will you do if you meet a relentless killer?"
Penguin just smiles. "Simple, this." They spit at the flower and as soon as the spit his, it bursts into flames, burning alive and screeching. All that is left is ash.
Chara finally breaks out of her stupor and becomes furious. 'WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?'
"Please. We both know he meant himself with 'relentless killer', he was asking for it."
'ASKING FOR IT, MY FOOT! WHY DID YOU NEED TO KILL HIM?!'
"Don't lie to yourself. We both know he's immortal. He even proved it by being here. He'll be back, I just wanted him out of my hair for now."
That got her to at least calm down a little. 'Ugh, you're such a piece of shit!'
"Don't flatter me."
Still chained together, they keep going.
Undertale: Quest for The Skeleton Husbando
Story by ILiekPenguinz
Original Game by Toby Fox and Temmie Chang
"Oh, hey! The narrator is back!"
Shut up. I still refuse to talk to you.