One step, and another. They had felt so heavy recently. The armor rattling, it had become so worn.

Luminous trees marked the path. A branch pushed aside, snapping. Parting as the monster continued. Navigating the tangled web that was the abandoned roads.

The air was staler than other places. Her eyes more tired than they used to be. The magic of her essence growing to ache. That was the norm, at least.

But for today. For today, the steps had become lighter. The armor nearly shining, in the luminescent light of the tall grass she pushed through.

A small drone flying beside her. Guiding the way, as they traveled. Piloted by a skeleton far away.

"gonna be...a left up here." The skeleton said, through the drone.

"Very well." The sorceress knight replied.

Toriels thoughts weren't composed in this moment. They were on a thousand little things. Her very being almost acting of its own volition, as she sought to sort this web of thought.

In this one location alone, she felt a dreadful state of deja vu. There were many paths, she had not patrolled in years now. Remnants of places she once visited, and knew. The captain of the guard pausing briefly, staring from beneath her helm at the remains of some sort of structure. It had a tall echo flower, blooming from it.

The drone stopping briefly, to examine why she had stopped. Noticing her reach out. Placing a hand against it.

"Chara was right. You're so nice, ."

There it was, that memory. When traversing it, she had felt she knew this path. And she was correct. Although it was overgrown and brought to ruin with the ravages of time, and death, it was 'this one.' The voice haunting her.

"tori...you okay?" Sans asked.

It had been years since she'd been here. Having done so with a human child, she'd encountered while on patrol. A girl whose eyes were glassy, and blind. Who stumbled, and smiled all the same. Kindness permeating her entire being.

When they had come here, it was to get a 'Hot Cat.' Which was just a hot dug, but with a funny face drawn on it in magic. She even remembered buying it from Papyrus, who was both sentry and vendor there for a bit.

The blind child had spoken those words in innocence. However, Toriel took them with shock at the time. Demanding an answer, scaring the child. Who ultimately fled from her presence, dying as a result.

This grim failure was merely one of the many over her lifetime. A moment where she let her composure drop. Where her confusion, took control of her. Where she wasn't certain. And it got someone killed.

She wondered if it was her legacy to fail? To watch as the innocent died around her, while she persisted? A meaningless life, guarding a dying world.

The drone flew before her. "Toriel." Sans said more firmly. "hey, c'mon, hey, earth to goat-lady."

"I hear you Sans." Toriel muttered back. "I'm just thinking."

"I did that once. it was such an awful experience, I can't stop thinking about it." Sans joked, getting no response. "not my best material, I guess. heh..." She was quiet. "c'mon, don't...get lost in your thoughts. it can be dangerous there."

"I know, dear, I know." Toriel replied, as they continued on.

Despite his request, her mind would not retain a silence that lasted. Instead, her thoughts turned to the reason for this travel. Her daughter, Chara.

When the girl first arrived, brought home by Asriel, dying of her injuries, it had been a surprise. The hesitation that followed, the child nervous of everything and anything, flinching when something got close, was understandable. The poor thing eventually explaining to the woman, that she believed she had fallen into hell, to suffer for an eternity.

Toriel couldn't imagine what sort of creatures would make a child believe themselves damned for eternity, but she imagined were they to meet, they wouldn't enjoy it much. It took months to convince the girl, that she wasn't in such a place. Even when she came to view its denizens in good lighting.

Afterward, it wasn't before the girl brightened, and become warm to the world around her. Though, at first, her method of 'play' were a touch alarming. But it became apparently, that Chara simply didn't know how. She would play pranks, and make jokes that were cruel. Always so surprised when she learned they weren't as funny as someone had told her they were.

Toriel could recall watching Chara play with Asriel. The two were close immediately. Even if their rough personalities clashed from time to time, they adored each other greatly. And learned, for better and worst in some cases, how to simply be children around one another.

As time passed, the child calmed. Her many little pranks and concerning jokes, being replaced with more harmless ones. Things she'd learned from watching, paying attention. She was a very observant child, even if she tended to forget things an awful lot despite that.

Sans asked. "what'cha thinkin bout tori?"

"A joke I heard once." Toriel replied, recalling a pun told by her child. "That I was the number one 'mom-ster,' as it were."

"guess the kid shared your sense of humor, huh?" Sans replied.

"She did." Toriel recalled.

It led Toriel to ask herself. If she didn't understand how delusional this all felt, and sounded? How utterly unrealistic the scenario was? And how likely it was, that it was merely another trap placed by those foul creatures.

And yet, here she was, despite the possibility. She had no way of knowing if this was true, or how it was even possible. However, Sans believed she was real, and physically present. Though, what Chara was, at this point, he could only guess.

They had talked about it, off and on. And her mind was once more on three of the most likely, of the impossibly unlikely possibilities before them. She turned her focus to the drone.

"You didn't finish telling me, about uhm...revenants." Toriel recalled.

Sans's hum could be heard from the drone. "you uh, didn't seem to like hearing it."

"I'll endure, Sansy. Please." Toriel requested.

Sans let out a long sigh, and began opening folders. This was just one of the possibilities before them. And the one he had originally thought the most likely. Though, he wouldn't tell her that just yet.

"a revenant is a lot like a monster. it's somewhere between a ghost, and well, a skeleton like me. at least, that's what stories say." Sans waited, but she didn't respond. "well, they haven't been seen in uh...well, anywhere besides myth. but story goes, that sometimes when humans die, if their soul breaks, pieces of it will seek out their body. and attempt to...live again." He flipped a paper. "this results in a revenant. sort of like a zombie, but usually with a goal. something they want, or feel they have to do. usually related to uh...how they died."

"And your theory was that, if this were the case, the reason is her desire to go home?" Toriels eyes were emptier as she asked, thankful the helmet was masking them. "You didn't say what happens when their goal is accomplished."

"well. there's, uh, only really speculation. but, some think they...break apart when that happens." Sans noticed her visibly twitch. "but that's just one idea, Tori. honestly, they're mostly myth so...there's no way to know."

This idea horrified her, and burned at a part of her very being. If it were true, then reuniting with Chara would mean killing her, in a way. Ending her life, the moment the child finally felt like she was home again. And that...that was a terrible thought, that she hoped wasn't the case.

When she didn't say anything, Sans spoke again. "the second theory, was..."

"A timeline mishap?" Toriel asked.

"sort of. well, uh, we discussed that." Sans recalled.

"I don't understand it well." Toriel admitted.

"so, as you know. we've been...keeping an eye on the timeline. flow of the world. recently, there's been...an anomaly." Sans tried to explain. "timelines hopping side to side. starting, resetting...in a manner of speaking."

Toriel turned to the drone. "Because of this anomaly?"

"I dunno." Sans sighed. "it's...big and complicated. but, there's the chance, that something may have...slipped in, from another world." He suggested. "essentially when something happened in another, a being wound up here. and that would be-"

"Chara." Toriel nodded. "So, if that's true...then, this isn't my child, specifically?"

"that's also complicated. judging by uh...the things the kid said. she seems to view you as family." Sans noted. "or, at least, with asriel as her brother. so...it's likely your counterpart in that world adopted her too. and, well-"

"It doesn't matter." Toriel replied.

"oh?" He asked.

"If that's the case, then it changes nothing." Toriel reasoned. "She is still my child, or, a version of her. Lost in an unfamiliar place." She turned a corner. "I couldn't just leave her alone. After all...you said something about, a way back being impossible?"

Sans sighed a long sigh. "to my knowledge no. it's not something people can willingly do. at least, that's the speculation. so."

"Then, all I could do, is my best to make her feel at home." Toriel said.

She didn't fully grasp all this talk of timelines, and variants. It was the kind of thing she never gave a thought to. Electing not to dwell on what was, or could have been. Her reality, was what it was. And she was content with it.

If the girl they went to find, was Chara, then that was enough. It wouldn't matter if she came from somewhere else. She was still family.

The pair came to a point where a bridge once stood. The drone floating around, examining it. The gap was fairly wide. In response to this, Toriel paused, took a few steps back, and started running. Leaping and landing with a thud on the other side.

Sans spoke. "I was uh...gonna suggest using the drone, maybe bouncing off that?"

"I appreciate the sentiment." Toriel dusted herself off. "Now, that last theory...I don't understand it."

"the uh 'vessel' thing?" Sans shifted uncomfortably. He had not provided her all the details.

"You believe the creatures may have constructed a vessel for her soul." Toriel tried to remember. "And are using her as bait?"

"that's...the idea." Sans was lying.

He didn't believe the creatures had done it. Not even the one that had ambition. No, they were likely as in the dark, as everyone else. No, his theory, was that it was planned. Staged.

That this event, this presence, had been scheduled to happen. Years in the making. By someone, who, by all accounts, simply didn't exist anymore.

"So...this would be...Chara, then?" Toriel asked, not fully understanding.

"ehhh, the soul would be." Sans replied. "technically, the uh, body would be like...'fabricated' possibly."

"I do not understand why they would do this, if they had her soul." Toriel pondered aloud. "Sans, I know you aren't telling me everything."

"look, I don't know 'why' they'd do it. or, if it was intentional." Sans hummed, adding. "maybe it wasn't?" He shrugged, composing himself some. "let's say...one of those grey things got the soul, somehow. well, they're soulless." He said. "so, having the soul may do something to em." He added. "human souls are...a lot tougher than a monsters soul. they carry the beings willpower, determination, or perseverance. like an echo of the human."

"Then, what you're suggesting. Is that the souls willpower may have overridden the creature. Making the body a vessel?" Toriel asked, trying to clarify the details.

"functionally, yeah." Sans replied. "it'd probably be a difficult process. likely leaving gaps in the memory, or little quirks that weren't there before." He then added. "hypothetically. again, I can't be certain but...it is a possibility."

"I see." Toriel didn't know how to respond to this one.

Were it the case, then the soul would be Charas. It was something that had gone missing, believed shattered, a long time ago. So, perhaps it wasn't impossible?

The grey children did resemble her. And they didn't know how a human soul would interact with those beings. So, again, it was feasible. But it wasn't the most comforting of prospects, either.

If the memories were incomplete, did they come back? Was the soul converting the vessel to resemble its old body? How did it all work, exactly? How would a creature have even found the missing soul? Did it matter?

She tiredly sighed. "I think...I need a break from...thinking about this. Sorry, Sans."

"that's okay, Tori. I get it." Sans thought for a moment. "look, I promise I'll figure it out. okay?"

"Thank you for telling me. Sans." Toriel said, noting. "It's...better to know the possibilities, I think. Than to be left in the dark."

The skeleton leaned in his chair, and took a shot. "no problem. honest." He straightened himself out. "okay, let's go find the kid."

With that exchange, they proceeded through the dark backroads of Waterfall. Various glowing eyes watching from the shadows. Observing their movements, curiously.