(11)

Now that the duo had crossed through the hidden wall's path, water could be heard beneath them, and what sounded like wood creaked beneath L's weight as they walked. A wall ahead was lined with writings like the "wishing room" ones. As they walked side by side, L read them silently to himself.

'The war of humans and monsters… why did the humans attack? Indeed, it seemed they had nothing to fear… humans are unbelievably strong, it would take the soul of nearly every monster just to equal the power of a single human soul… but humans have one weakness. Ironically, it is the strength of their soul. Its power allows it to persist outside the human body, even after death… if a monster defeats a human, they can take its soul. A monster with a human soul… a horrible beast with unfathomable power.'

The next marking was an illustration of a creature that looked eerily similar to one of the Four Kings he had fought back in the Abyss, it almost seemed to be a near outline of it. He had to stop and stare for a moment, wondering just how powerful it could really be. True, it had a human soul… but did human souls really go that far for empowering monsters that just one made them strong enough to rival the things above? He doubted it.

'Soul power is soul power, and these wall markings are most likely out of reference of relativity. If they met the Four Kings…'

The markings also put into perspective just what would happen if Asgore or some other monster got a hold of his soul if that power wasn't just relative.

The wooden boardwalk ended at a raft landing. L let Toriel step on first then took his place at the back of the raft with the oar to guide them across to the other side. The water was deeper here, but shallow enough for L to use the long oar to push off the bottom to guide them. As they were about to land, L went to the front of the raft and met the landing with his boot, softening the impact. He held the raft steady to let Toriel get off, then disembarked as well. They were now on an even longer boardwalk, and this one only went in one direction. Large pillars were to their left, and open darkness and water on their right.

L eyed the pillars, he and Toriel had yet to move. 'The base of the pillars is large enough to walk on…'

A slight flash of blue in the dark caught his eye.

Toriel was about to take the first step, when L put his hand on her shoulder to stop her, causing her to look at him in confusion. "What is the matter, L?"

L let his hand fall from her shoulder. "...I do not like this situation…" L took a step forward. "let me see-" Just as his foot came down, a shining blue spear dropped from above and skewered the planks where Toriel would have been if she walked forward. She stepped back, eyes wide, and L kicked the spear out of the boards and towards a pillar.

L watched the pillar as the spear impaled it. Sure enough, Undyne walked out from behind it, her gauntleted hands raised to summon up more spears.

"Toriel, run! I will block the spears!" Toriel did her best not to hesitate and ran ahead as Undyne began firing off spears at L. He held his shield up as three of the magic projectiles raced towards him and was relieved when they solidly bounced off its reflective silver-plated surface. He jogged behind Toriel as she ran, blocking the groups of spears Undyne strafe-fired at him from the pillars.

Just ahead, the board path was getting twisty, and Toriel looked behind herself to see what was going on… she didn't see the turn coming and fell off, just barely grabbing onto the path in time. L turned when he heard her splash into the water, then ran to catch up to her so he could lift her back up onto the path.

As he knelt over and took Toriel's hands to pull her up, L felt spears tag him in the back, the magic projectiles bouncing off his armor. He lifted her out of the water and back onto the boards, turning back to Undyne just in time to block the next volley of projectiles. Toriel's soaked robes slowed her down considerably as she kept going, and the twisting path was not helping.

L was beginning to get annoyed with Undyne's constant attacks. He reached down to his talisman on his claymore and gripped it, readying a Vow of Silence miracle that would prevent her from casting. He took his hand from the cloth, a glowing purple aura surrounding it.

"Enough of this!" He hurled the aural orb like a fireball, and it landed against the pillar in front of Undyne. The orb exploded into a vast sphere, catching Undyne inside. She was surprised by the sphere, and tried to counter with more spears… but found herself unable to lob any or summon them at all. She made to angrily yell at the human, but found she had been silenced… both magically, and vocally.

L watched as the angry knight shook her fists at him, then became amused as she tried to break a part of the pillar off to throw at him instead, only denting her gauntlets in her efforts. Toriel had gotten far ahead of him, so he ran to catch up to her once more. He wondered how long it would take Undyne to figure out the spell was a radial area of effect only…

Another spear flying overhead answered that well enough… she had also jumped from the base of the pillars over to the path and was giving chase. Just as he thought he'd have to use a slowing Tranquil Walk miracle, L and Toriel spotted a large area of tall grass ahead.

"You hide in the grass, I have a spell to more effectively blend in." Toriel silently nodded and disappeared into the grass. L watched Undyne's approaching figure as he did the same as Toriel, touching the handle of his claymore and using it to cast a Chameleon spell, disguising himself as the tall grass around him, becoming just another part of the foliage. He was hidden more towards the beginning of the patch and watched as Undyne waded into the grassy sea. She was walking about slowly, trying to find him. She seemed to have found something. She raised her hand… and plunged it into the grass. As she brought her hand back up, L saw….

The monster kid? And he was smiling…

Undyne silently stared at the kid as she held onto him by his face, then gently set him back down in the grass, heading back the way she had come. Once she had gone back down the path plenty a ways, L broke his Chameleon spell and quietly called Toriel's name.

Toriel stood up and looked over the grass, seeing him standing tall above it at the entrance. "How did you hide there?"

"A Chameleon spell, I disguised as the grass. It worked quite well this time, it usually gets mixed results… anyways." He made his way over to where the monster kid was, then saw the boy rush out of the grass as he neared his hiding spot.

The boy was excitedly running in circles as Toriel and L got out of the grass, then he couldn't stop himself from joyfully shouting. "Whoa, did you see that! Undyne just TOUCHED me! Man, are you… un… lucky?" He noticed L's deadpan look. "Oh yeah… was supposed to stay hidden… whoops."

L crossed his arms and gave the kid a stern look of disapproval. "I thought I told you to go back. This is not a place for you to be right now."

Toriel stood next to him and fiddled with her hands, summoning magical flames to dry herself off with while looking at the scuffed and dirtied boy. "Well, he is rather deep into the caverns, making him go back on his own now would be more than irresponsible on our behalf as adults. Child, please stay out of Undyne and L's way, and we will take you back to your parents when we-"

The kid looked panicky at the mention of his parents and started backing away. "Yo, no way! You two are gonna tell my parents!" Toriel took a step forward to him, and he made to run further into the caverns.

"Wait, no! Child, do not-" He ran full sprint, tripping onto his face again, before jumping back up and running again.

"-run." She gave a dejected sigh. "Children never seem to listen to me…"

L stood next to her and gave her a look of understanding. "Do not worry, Toriel. I think he has been here before, he snuck through up to this point. But we should keep an eye on him if we see him again. We need to keep moving."

vvv

Sans was baffled as to how he managed to convince his lazy self to do this, but he had decided to leave Grillby's without finishing his burger. He was just too concerned about what was happening with Toriel and L. He "took a shortcut" into the Waterfall Cavern, standing at a junction he'd been to many times before. Most of the times he'd brought a prank telescope… but now? He was just trying to see how Toriel and L were doing. He'd been waiting for a while, when, as usual, that one monster kid ran by him, not paying attention to him at all.

'they'll be here soon.' Just as he expected, he heard metallic footfalls off in the distance. He then saw L and Toriel walking next to each other, talking amicably. They stopped their conversation once they noticed him, and instead took on looks of confusion.

'time to put on my trademark statuesque outer appearance.' Sans changed literally nothing, he was already standing just as he always was, and had his skeletal smile just as wide as ever. 'perfect.'

As he got closer, L looked at Sans questioningly, then looked behind himself and back again. "Sans…?"

"yup, that's my name, don't wear it out." He winked at the human, then leaned on the wall behind him. "so, how's the waterfall cavern treatin' ya? you two run into undyne?"

Toriel and L shared a look, then L addressed Sans' question. "...Yes, twice now. The second time she was hurling glowing blue spears at me. Sans… how did you get-"

Sans interrupted him with a shrug. "shortcuts, pal, i know my way around better than most."

"Shortcuts…? Would you mind enlightening us on these shortcuts? Because everyone except us seems to know of them."

Sans shifted against the wall. "nah, i wouldn't mind… if you had fifty-thousand gold on ya."

L swore he saw that the skeleton's smile had become even more mirthful at his expense. "I will just take that as a no, then."

Toriel felt like addressing the elephant in the room. "Sans, is there any particular reason why you felt like coming this deep into the Waterfall cavern?"

"nah, not really. i was thinking of starting a telescope business, but i only have this one prank telescope that leaves a purple spot on your eye when you look through it… but i forgot to bring it. after that, i just felt kinda like…" His eye sockets narrowed a little, making him look amused, as if he were about to…

"chillin."

Toriel was helpless to stop the little snort and laugh that followed once she realized Sans' pun. L smirked a bit, but he was still a little wary of Sans.

Toriel finally managed to recover from the laughing fit. "Well, it has been nice seeing you Sans, but we must keep going. Who knows what Undyne will be setting up ahead for poor L here if we do not hurry."

The two started moving forward again, L glancing back to get one last look at Sans before continuing on.

'yeah, be seeing you, tori…'

vvv

Just ahead of where they met Sans, the duo found themselves in a room with crystalline-blue glowing water, the light from luminescent crystals in the water's bed shining up and out, illuminating the area in a brilliant blue hue. L's silvery armor caught the light, making the armor appear to be a reflective blue. Cat-tails sprouted from the water, and odd looking trees grew on what land there was. Small bio-luminescent blades of grass were underfoot. The "stars" above completed the picture, a perfectly serene image of beauty.

L decided Toriel certainly wasn't wrong about what she said earlier…"Toriel, it is just like you said... this is incredible-"

Toriel smiled at L's amazed look, then took in the sight herself. For a few moments, the two enjoyed the beauty of the cavern, L for the first time ever, Toriel for the first time after a long absence thanks to her isolation. So taken with the spectacle were the two that neither noticed L was about to bump into Toriel as he made to continue walking, still looking above and around himself.

The contact was brief, but the effect was immediate. L again felt warmth seep into his body from where he'd accidentally nudged Toriel, and Toriel was brought crashing back to reality with yet another episode of embarrassment and (thankfully hard to see in the lighting) reddening when she realized what had happened. As Toriel began to murmur somewhat uncontrollably, L backed away and apologized, still feeling the warmth seeping into his system as it had all those times he'd touched her before.

"Erm… apologies, Toriel. I was not looking, the cavern distracted me-"

Toriel managed to get some actual words out, interrupting L. "No no, do not worry, it is fine…" Not exactly words that helped the situation, though. For a few moments, the two stood awkwardly across from one another, L subconsciously putting a hand to the warmed spot on his body and Toriel avoiding eye contact with the man.

Toriel managed to work through the embarrassment and look at L, firmly stating "Let us continue" in an oddly stern voice.

L would have been more surprised by the sudden change in Toriel's behavior had he not caught the briefest glimpse of her still-blushing face as she quickly turned to take the lead. He wordlessly followed behind her, an introspective running through his head on the interaction.

After that, they had crossed many bridges and paths, eventually coming to a way through the grandly shining ponds and waterfalls. There was another wall marking next to it…

'The power to take their souls. This is the power that the humans feared.'

Both L and Toriel had read the writing and found that the still slightly buzzing mood from the incident was extinguished immediately.

After passing the chilling historical piece, the duo kept on the path. Now they were walking on a narrow strip of land, which was surrounded on both sides by slightly fainter glowing water. As they traversed the path, a shifting in the water caught their attention.

They watched as a large, bulbous head broke the water's surface and stared at them with its shifty eyes as they went. The thing hadn't shown its mouth, but they could see a blush on its face. They awkwardly kept walking as it continued to stare at them silently before it dove back under the water when they neared the exit out of the room.

Toriel gave a rather blank look at the room they had just left. "I do not recall seeing that monster in here last time I passed through."

L gave a shrug, he had seen stranger things.

Far stranger things.

The duo turned around and noticed they were now in a circular room featuring a column of water flowing straight down into a hole in its center. L also took note of a fishlike monster sitting in one of the corners of the room, hiding its face. The two decided not to bother the shy monster, and instead they inspected a more recent looking set of wall markings on the other side of the room.

L read the markings aloud. "The northern room hides a great treasure…" He was eerily reminded of the messages left by other undead, usually meant to trick others into traps or dangerous areas. He looked to Toriel. "Should we check the room?"

Toriel looked like she was remembering this room… "No. There is something there that should be left to rest."

L had no issue just ignoring the message, he was used to doing that at this point. "Fine by me, let us continue on."

The two took the East path as usual, opting to leave the "great treasure" to rest.

In reality, it was not a treasure, but something left in remembrance of a lost angel, a child's first and favorite shiny red ball, untouched since the boy's mother locked it away when she last passed through here…

More wall markings awaited them in the East path. "This power has no counter. Indeed, a human cannot take a monster's soul. When a monster dies, its soul disappears. And an incredible power would be needed to take the soul of a living monster… there is only one exception. The soul of a special species of monster called a 'Boss Monster'. A Boss Monster's soul is strong enough to persist after death… if only for a few moments. A human could absorb this soul. But this has never happened. And now it never will."

The two kept going. Just ahead, there was a statue, sitting in a pillar of light against the wall. Water drops fell on it from above, eroding it away… Toriel recognized this statue, and she sadly realized it wasn't working anymore. She did not tell L about her past with the statue and "treasure." The two walked on, L passing the statue without any knowledge as to what it was.

Another memorial left by a child's parent, this one meant to play a magical music box contained within, a music box which played a tune the mother would play on her piano for her young son… it was special, it was his song. The music box had been damaged by the rain, and no longer worked.

Toriel fought back tears at the defacing of her memorials to Asriel. She was brought from her sadness when L opened up a red umbrella over her. She looked at the umbrella, then noticed a bin with a bunch of them, all waiting to be used.

L both held it above her and offered it to her, giving her a warm smile. "The walk ahead is rather rainy, you may want this."

Toriel felt the tears subside. She had to be strong. "Thank you, L." She took the umbrella from him and the two proceeded down the "rainy" path, L only adjusting his cloak and pulling his hood up to stay dry.

The walk through the raining corridor went without incident, and they walked out of a break in the Waterfall Cavern, leading to the main Underground cavern. In the distance, they could see the Castle and its surrounding city of New Home, with large shining stones high above. It looked to be a peaceful night over a castle and its city, stars twinkling above…

Toriel and L stood taking in the view for a while. While Toriel looked on in determination, L took a few moments to appreciate the view. His attention then shifted from the city and castle to the woman next to him, and his hand crept back to the part of his body he'd bumped into her with.

As L looked at her, he began to realize that she'd done more than simply help him. She'd done something radical to him, changed him. He felt it was for the better.

He looked back to the capital of the Monster Kingdom, now sharing in the feeling of determination Toriel practically radiated.

(11)