Chapter 2: A Companion
Toriel encounters another fallen human.
Toriel moved purposefully through the Ruins. She cut down long and empty halls of ancient stone. She disrupted piles of ruby leaves, sending the decaying foliage fluttering frantically out of her way. Whenever she happened upon any of the smaller monsters making the Ruins their home, a single look was enough to send them scrambling in whatever direction qualified as "further away" from her.
She took care of the Ruins. She took care of herself. Things were fine that way.
The violet skirts of her regal gown rippled as she wove through winding halls. Amber eyes flickered across darkened corners and crumbling crevices, scanning every familiar surface for that tell-tale sign. She watched for glittering trails of dried slime. Snails. She knew just where to look for them.
Toriel rested a paw against the worn handle of her basket. Tucked into the crook of her elbow, it bounced against her swaying hip. Several unlucky mollusks bumbled around the bottom of it. The former queen almost felt sorry for these little creatures. They had been so suddenly plucked from a life of slow, comfortable familiarity. Now they were destined for a cauldron of bubbling, salted water.
A sparkling line captured the monstress' gaze. She followed it. Discovered a cluster of snails. Toriel plucked at each tiny delicacy with stunted claws and dropped them into the bottom of that little, thatched basket. They tumbled around when she moved.
She had six.
It was an uncomfortable number. "Six." It made her think of all the children she had guided through these pathways. They were empty shells now. Corpses. After all, ASGORE only needed their souls to break the barrier.
Toriel noticed another pair of snails only inches from her foot. She stooped down and grabbed at the duo. One clung to the shell of the other. That shell was empty. She pried it off and tossed it down. She didn't need an empty shell.
The remaining snail pressed inquisitively against her palm, curious about the disappearance of its partner. It dribbled a sparkling trail over her short, white fur.
That snail joined its pitiable fellows in the basket.
Every child had relied on her and she had let every child walk to certain death.
Monsters only one more soul to break the barrier that trapping them all in the Underground. She'd met them. The seventh soul. She'd held their tiny, little hand in her own large paw. Toriel had been so determined to do better than she had with the previous children. They'd looked at her with such trust. Such admiration. They'd called her mother.
That little child had been so determined to leave. The pained expression on its sweet little face had almost been too much as she closed the door between them. They were gone. It was no use thinking about them. The path they took, it would end in death.
And it was his fault. That seventh child would die because of him if they hadn't already. It was his fault things had gone so wrong. His fault things continued to go wrong. It was always his fault.
When the barrier broke, she would stay in the Ruins. She took care of the Ruins. She took care of herself. Things were fine that way.
Toriel physically shook the thoughts from her head, long ears flopping back and forth across her shoulders. She needed to forget about it. There was nothing an exiled queen could do. She should focus on finding more snails.
Toriel padded softly through the corridors now. Snail pie seemed less enticing, but it would be better to finish what she started. A dull trail of goo led the monstress to a moldsmal, that upon being discovered, wiggled desperately away from her.
She was alone here. That miserable solitude was always more pronounced whenever a human had come and gone.
But she had her duties. She took care of the Ruins. Alone. She took care of herself. Alone.
Toriel lifted her skirts and hurried through the Ruins. She did not have time for these feelings. There was nothing she could do about them anyway. It would be more productive if she just focussed on finding snails.
Even if she had to do it alone.
The Delta Rune loomed overhead as Toriel moved beneath the crumbling threshold. Hints of a breeze rolled by her, carrying a familiar fragrance. Sunshine and Flowers. This place was as close to the surface as the old queen could ever be.
Mollusks bumped around in her thatched basket as she moved toward that solitary bed of golden foliage. A beam of light radiated from the world above. In this cold cavern, that single oasis of the sun's rays could always warm her fur and cast away some of her darker thoughts.
And at the same time it was here, spotlighted by the surface, that Toriel felt herself exposed. It always felt like someone was watching her as she stood in the light. It was a silly feeling, though. It had to be. No one was watching. No one was even waiting for her here.
Except.
In those rare, treasured moments when an unlucky human simply fell into her life. Then she came to them. She offered them love and kindness. She promised to care for them just as she cared for all things within the Ruins. And they would take her kindness, and yes, some of her loneliness too. But that never lasted long. They always left her.
Alone.
Toriel moved towards the bed of yellow flowers. This would be her second time in the space, before she greeted the day's end. Earlier in the morning, the floral faces had stretched eagerly up to the sky. Now, their faces curled around something else entirely. The breath vanished from her lungs when she saw what the flowers seemed to be inspecting.
Crumpled and unmoving, the shape of a young - human - woman curled into herself. Small, limp hands curled against into an unmoving chest. The yellow flowers curled around the human, almost protectively, watching over the motionless figure.
It was odd, how the flowers ignored the energizing beams from above. How they chose to face the human instead. They acted as though this unmoving being would provide them the sustaining energy they needed to exist.
Toriel moved closer, her feet maneuvering around yellow petals. She did not see the human's chest rise. Nor did she see it fall. In fact the only movement the monstress could see from this young woman was the gentle, wind-tousled hair as it curled out from beneath a faded orange cap. Beneath the shadow of a frayed bill, Toriel noted, the human's eyes were sealed shut.
Toriel crouched down, setting her dinner basket aside. Tonight's food was no longer a priority. Her paws hovered around the human, uncertain about touching the still creature. The sunbeam's bounced from the human's rumpled, white clothing, looking strangely like a halo.
Toriel gently laid a paw on the human's cheek, bracing herself for the chill that accompanied human bodies devoid of life.
The unexpected warmth was a welcome surprise. The former queen could feel the steady pulse of life that humans had, one akin to the magical hum living monsters radiated.
Toriel exhaled a long but relieved sigh. The yellow glow in this cavern washed out any color the human's skin may have had. And the human had appeared so lifeless. But. This steady, persistent thump of life against the monster's palm argued otherwise.
Warmth from the human's skin threaded through the fur on Toriel's palm. She breathed in slowly now, her brow knitting together in concentration.
She drew magic into her palm, willing it to spill into the unmoving human. It trickled from her hand onto the human's cheek. From there it unfurled over the unconscious woman, slowly covering its entire figure in a gentle green glow.
The minor scuffs faded. Every drop of magic worked to rewind the fallen human's injuries. Beneath the exiled queen's touch, health was restored. The monstress ceased her flow of magic. Her work was done..
The unconscious woman shivered. Toriel saw the woman's hands twitch. Eyes began moving beneath closed lids. Lashes fluttered. A long, drawn out groan reverbated from the human's throat. Then she was still.
This time, however, Toriel was reassured by the gentle rise and fall of this unexpected visitor's chest, a deep breath now flowing in and out. It was a great relief.
Toriel lifted the sleeping woman into her arms and cradled them into her chest. She stood with a small smile now present on her furred snout. Things would be okay.
Toriel heard something shift across the earth. Her head twisted towards the darkest part of the cavern, but her eyes could make out nothing in that absence of light. She clutched the human tighter. It was that feeling - of being watched - making her fur stand on end.
The patch of yellow flowers felt like a spotlight. It exposed her. The human. She needed to go somewhere else - home - it was safe at home.
Toriel never worried for her own safety. As a boss monster, there were very few individuals in the Underground that could shake her sense of safety. But things were different now that she had someone to take off: the unconscious human in her arms. She needed to keep them safe. It's safety was suddenly at the top of her list of worries. Without her arms to cast, Toriel would struggle to generate any protective magic.
The earth shifted again, somewhere else. Toriel turned her head and found the source of noise also came from a corner too dark to see into.
It was time to go.
Toriel let the thought guide her, forgetting entirely about the basket of snails nestled within the glowing flowers. She could come back for them later, anyways. What mattered now was getting this human somewhere she could rest in relative safety.
Toriel tried not to smile as she hurried away spotlighted flowers.
She'd have to tidy up her home. It had fallen into a state of minor neglect after the seventh child's departure. The former queen could not have imagined having company so soon after hosting that sweet, little child. Her smile grew at the thought of this new guest. She'd have to gather the ingredients necessary to make her famous butterscotch-cinnamon pie, again. That was a good problem.
She was just happy not to be alone.