Two Worlds, Two Souls
Chapter 3: Adapting
Angel's Point of View:
I couldn't remember how long I slept, but it was the most restful sleep I'd had in a long time. It may have been possible that I'd slept so long that I was groggy from too much rather than too little.
I struggled with sitting up. Soon I was able to do so after a few minutes of fighting with myself, wanting to go back to bed. Once I was to a sitting position, I took a few moments to gather in my surroundings while my body continued to wake.
I was in the middle of a room colored pink. It seemed most features of the entire room seemed to be this color, toys, walls, even the bed sheets. Only the desk of a wooden color and the floor seemed to escape its warpath, ignoring the rug that covered half it, of course.
I pushed back the covers and left the warm bed before seeing the single wooden door that hid in the corner. I stood from the bed, feeling stronger than I had in a while from that monster's healing.
Though, I was starving…
The rumbling of my stomach roused me to move across the floor and open the door into the hallway. I was greeted with a soft pastel yellow colored hallway that seemed to house two other rooms before it led out to a larger living room space where I could hear laughter. I strode down the hallway, more energy to my step then I knew what to do with before I came face to face with a living room where my sister was curled up with the goat monster in a large recliner. I could barely see the title of the book the monster held, but I see something that included puns and jokes.
I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped me. "Oh lord…"
My sister was drawn to my voice in an instant. "Angel!"
She leapt from the chair and was too me in an instant. My sister leapt up into my arms and I couldn't handle the force, nor the weight. I slipped down onto my ass while trying to keep her from getting hurt. She hugged me too tightly to care, happy to see me awake and well compared to when I was last.
"Hey Frisky." I rustled her hair, ignoring the pain in my behind as I held her to me. "You okay?"
"I'm sorry." She ignored my question and looked up at me with tears in her eyes. She seemed to be traumatized from what it was that we went through. I could only imagine the fear and the pain after our fall, but I could only recall the demonic flower. I couldn't remember anything else before we had hit the bottom. "I said all those mean things to you and got us into this mess… I'm so sorry…"
"Well, it didn't turn out too badly." I looked back behind her to see the goat monster looking at us with a soft expression. She seemed happy to see the two of us together and with her. I could only imagine how lonely it is to live alone in a house so large.
Or at least, that's what I had gathered from the first five minutes from being awake.
"Good evening child. I am Toriel, caretaker and guardian of the ruins." The goat monster gave us a soft smile as we sat there together with her. "And you must be Angel."
"Yes," I let out a sigh while I relished in the feeling of having my sister in my arms. "Thank you so much for helping us. I don't know what we would've done without you."
"It was no trouble at all." Toriel stood for her chair, setting down the book and her reading glasses on the nightstand to the side. "Come child, you must be starving. Frisk told me of how you hadn't eaten the night before you fell."
My eyes widened and I felt my mouth turn dry at the mention of food and drink. "You have food?"
"She even made a pie Sis!" I looked down at my sister who drooled at the mention of it. "She made a butterscotch-cinnamon pie! It was really yummy!"
"And you had probably too many slices for your own good." Toriel chuckled. "Forgive me, child. She snuck a third when I wasn't looking after dinner."
I narrowed my eyes down at my sister. "Three pieces of pie? I hope you had a good dinner to go with it."
"Yeah! Toriel made me lots of vegetables. And she made spaghetti!" Frisk giggled and seemed quite pleased with the homemade meal. "It was really yummy."
"Good, I should probably get some for myself."
My sister finally let me up from the floor and the three of us traveled to the kitchen entrance behind Toriel. She made a plate from the food she had on the counters and I saw her use fire magic to heat it back up to a steaming state. Once she was done, she handed me the plate and I took a moment then to sit down and eat at it.
Toriel's cooking was delicious. I was ravenous as I ate at her meal, starved for the last day or however long it had been since we'd fallen. All that I truly remembered was that I hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning before we fell. Due to that long time in between, my stomach was nearly ready to curl in on itself in its hunger.
"My, you are hungry. You poor child." Toriel cast me a worried glance as we all sat at the dining room table.
"I'm fine, I've been through worse." I didn't watch my words too carefully as I inhaled the food quickly, too starved to care much more.
"Now that you're up Angel, I'm gonna go get into a bath." Frisk noted while hoping down from her seat. "I wanted to wait until you got up so I wouldn't take away the only bathroom from you."
"Thanks Frisky. Once you're done, drain it so I can get cleaned up too, okay?" I ruffled her dirty hair before she hurried off. From a ways down in the house, I could hear the pipes shifting as she began to use the hot water.
"My child," Toriel began slowly as my meal was nearly gone and she set a slice of pie before me to enjoy. My sister no longer in hearing range as I knew the monster would begin to ask questions. "May I ask how it is you arrived down here? Or… perhaps why your clothes were nothing more than rags? Frisk had told me as far that it was her fault, but little more than that."
I felt the dread fall over me instantly as I thought back to my last memories of being on the surface. Normally I would have ignored the question entirely if it hadn't of been for the kind soul that I could feel coming from Toriel. She was very kind, a pacifist, and reminded me much of my own mother. It was only due to those feelings she gave off that I decided to open up a tad to her.
"It wasn't a choice if that's what you're asking. I chased up the mountain after Frisk. We've been… struggling for a while. I've been her caretaker for the last four years. We didn't have much compared to where we were at before, but we made it work. She and I got into an argument that led to her running blindly up the mountain in her frustration. I chased her up, but once we finally both had calmed down, the piece of mountain we stood on gave way. That's how we fell…"
"Oh my!" Toriel gasped in utter shock. "I'm so sorry…"
I shook my head at her. "It's not your fault. I'm going to be honest. Being down here has been the best thing that's happened to us so far out of all of this." I smiled at her, leaning my head into my hands. "I mean, we met you, didn't we?"
"I suppose…" Toriel hesitated for a moment. "I'm actually surprised the two of you haven't been asking for a way back to the surface."
I sighed. Thinking back to life up there, it was so dreadful. Struggling on the small paychecks I made and constantly running. Not a single person was looking for us for any good reason. So, there was no reason to go back.
"Not a reason to."
Toriel seemed to frown at that. "There's not a single person who's waiting for you?"
"Maybe our land lady who we rented a room from? Probably not thought." I shrugged and took a bite of the pie to calm my nerves with some sugar. The creamy slice under homemade crust captured my taste buds in a heartbeat. "This is really good; you should show me how you make this."
Toriel didn't like the change in conversation. I could feel the curiosity and worry from her soul pressing against my own. My sixth sense was feeling pressured by the intense motherly feelings. Yet, something held her back. Curtesy? Respect? I wasn't sure what, but she didn't pry further, and that felt absolutely wonderful.
I didn't like it when people would pry into something that wasn't their own business.
"Well… you two are more than welcome to spend as long as you'd like here. I have plenty of space for the two of you… and I'm sure I could make another bed so that you two have some space."
I waved her off. "Frisk and I share a bed all the time. She and I actually are extreme cuddlers, can't sleep without something or someone to hold onto. We'll be fine." Yet I still smiled at her. "But… if you don't mind us staying with you a while… I think we could use a better place to stay for a bit."
"Oh, how wonderful!" The goat monster cheered, trying to hold in her excitement as to not frighten me. "Let me go work on something for you for the night. I think I have some night dresses you could wear until I can make you some other clothes. Your sister has taken to some old clothes my own children used to wear before they out grew them."
I bowed my head slightly to her. "Thank you."
"Now finish up that pie and go wash yourself up before bed. I know your sister must be having a ball of fun in there."
I chuckled and nodded at the female. She left me then at the table to finish my last few bites in peace. Once the creamy pie was eaten, I picked up my plate and headed over to the sink to set down my plate before walking back through the house to the bathroom. I could hear my sister's laughter from the door that Toriel had left open for me to follow to where I could get cleaned up myself.
Upon entering the bathroom, Toriel stood there with a towel out for my sister. She hopped from the tub, leaving behind some dirty water in her wake. We had been quite filthy after our fall from the human world above. I knew that I needed one too.
"There you go, Frisk." Toriel handed her a fluffy towel that she wrapped herself in. "Let's drain the tub so you sister can get clean."
"Just drain it for me." I stretched my arms over my head. "I'll take a quick shower first before I bathe. I don't wanna think about what's coming off of me and soaking in it."
Toriel simply nodded to me. "Of course. Just stay here a moment and I'll get some night clothes for the both of you."
The monster then left the room and us two sisters were left in peace for a moment. I quickly stripped of my clothes and hurried into the deep white tub that held a shower head over me that I quickly turned on. The steam and hot water felt lovely on my skin and I felt myself breathing a sigh of relief as the dried blood and dirt fell off of me in waves.
"Sis?" Frisk tapped at the curtain I'd pulled between us to keep water from spilling everywhere.
I poked my head out around the curtain. "Yeah?"
"Are we staying here awhile?"
"Well… that's what I told Toriel."
"So… we're not going back?"
I narrowed my eyes at her. "Are you disappointed by that?"
"I'm… sort of indifferent." I was surprised by her choice in words, especially since I had no idea she even knew that word. I could only assume she picked it up from me or the library we always spent time at. "What about Grandma?"
I sighed and reached out to touch her. "As far as I'm aware, she never woke up, and she may never. I don't plan on taking you back to be with some terrible asshole who didn't give a shit about us. I'd need quite a better reason to go back."
"So… we'll live down here the rest of our lives?"
"If it means living more freely then how we were before in the world above, then yes."
"That's so cool!" Frisk cheered. "I like Toriel a lot. She's been really nice since we got here last night. She's been reading me jokes and books, helping me to learn and checking on you."
I smiled at her response and returned to being under the water to scrub myself off and get clean. "It's more than I would have expected from anyone."
Toriel appeared again after that point to stop our conversation unintentionally. Frisk finished drying herself off then and was handed an old nightgown by the woman who had taken us in. I looked around the curtain to see Frisk in a light blue nightgown that flowed down to her ankles. It was almost too big for her. Frisk was still incredibly small, even for a twelve-year-old. It was a trait in our family that most of our members didn't grow until later in their young years. I was more like a traditional girl, I started my growth at age nine around the time where I became more… womanly… Frisk was more of a late bloomer and hadn't hit either of the peaks yet, which is why she barely reached my chest in height.
I dreaded for when she had her first period through…
I pulled back once more then to grab some shampoo that smelled like berries to scrub my hair with. I assaulted my scalp with my nails to get every grain of dirt and grime out from between my chocolate colored locks.
"I'll leave your nightdress here on the sink for you, Angel." I peeked through the curtain again while Toriel set the clothing of a green nightgown on the implied area for me once I was done. "I'm going to get changed in my room and then I'll meet you girls in the morning. I'm a bit tired…"
I nodded to her. "Don't worry about us Toriel, we'll head to bed after this. I might need some more sleep and I know that my sister will probably get tired soon."
"Can we explore the ruins tomorrow with you?" Frisk questioned the monster.
"Well… if you girls would like. I don't see why not." The female nodded slowly. "Are you sure you want to do that? The ruins are so… sad looking at times, and there are other monsters here besides me."
"It would be good for us to get out for a bit." I noted. "I would like to as well. Now that my time table has freed up, I'd love to do some research about the underground."
"If that's what you would like," Toriel nodded to us before leaving the doorway. "Goodnight my children."
Once she was gone once more, I sighed and scrubbed my body, watching as the grim that flowed in the water was less and less. Once I was satisfied that I was clean, I shut off the shower and started the tub to fill and soak a bit before I'd go to bed with my sister.
"It was fun playing in the tub." I glanced over at my sister when she leaned against the white object I sat in. "There's so much room in it, you could fit both of us!"
"I bet we could, and after being out in the ruins tomorrow, we'll probably need another bath." I reached out from the water and ruffled her hair. She squealed and pulled away from me, but still stayed within a few feet of the tub.
After soaking a bit longer and enjoying the felling, I knew my sister would need to go to bed shortly. I rose from the water and drained the tub, accepting the fluffy towel that my sister handed over to me to dry off with.
Once I was dry, I looked over at the pile of fabric I was given. The nightgown had no sleeves too it but did have dainty looking straps. When I lifted the fabric up to unwrap it, it rolled to the floor and some more. The straps were much too large, more made for Toriel's body then my own.
My sister giggled at the size, trying to hide it behind her fingers. I narrowed my eyes at her before tugging at the straps, seeing if there was any sort of way to shorten them. I soon found a clasp in the back that I could use to do as such. I pulled on them, doubling up the fabric until the strap was near non-existent, but at least the gown was not too beyond the floor anymore. I pulled it over my head, it was incredibly baggy and many sizes too large.
But it would do for the night.
"Come on little sister, let's get to bed." I urged my sister from the bathroom and to our own. My sister followed after me, holding onto my hands as I led her back down the hallway that was darkened other than the faded light peeking through the crack of Toriel's door. My sister and I walked over to the bed before we both crawled in, leaving the door cracked for a bit of light as we curled up together, clean, happy, and for once, safe.
I hadn't felt so at ease in a long time that I drifted back to sleep with little care in the world.
Witch's Note:
Oo! So, Angel and Frisk have agreed to stay with Toriel for a while! There's also so rush to go back to the surface? Why not? What the heck is going on with our leading ladies?
You'll just have to keep reding to find out!
I hope you guys are excited for the next chapter! Angel will get semi-introduced to one of my favorite characters!
Love you all and see you next week! Don't forget to review please!
Halloween Witch
