Two Worlds, Two Souls

Chapter 5: The 'Fun' Side of History

Frisk's Point of View:

The bed was cold when I woke up.

My bed was empty and I was holding onto the pillow my sister had used the night before. I jumped from the bed and hurried down the hallway to the living room where I guessed she would be. Upon making it there, I wasn't surprised to see my older sister there with a cup of something before her that she was sipping on, reading a book in front of her and making a hundred and one notes beside her. She was so lost in whatever book she was reading she didn't notice that I was up.

Which was incredibly rare let me tell you…

I couldn't tell just how many books she had already either attempted to read or had worked through with how long she had been up. I didn't know how long she had rested for after we went to bed the night before. She had slept for so long after Toriel brought us back that it was questionable. She may have had a nap and then been up for hours, or perhaps she did sleep for a while.

My sister was sipping on her drink and marking down more notes as I approached, wondering how long it would take for her to notice me. It was rare to see her so engrossed with anything besides myself. "Sis?"

She jumped lightly, blinked, before she focused on me a few feet away from her across the table. She sighed and set down her cup and closed the book she was working on. "Good morning… sorry about that. I had a sudden craving to learn more about this world and found a lot of Toriel's books and just… got lost in them. Sorry about that, Frisky."

"It's okay." I crawled up onto the table to look at the books she was reading. The decorative covers with a fancy written word of history was on the front. "History books?"

"Yeah, I've been combing through them for a while and found that monsters were shoved down here about a hundred years ago. Most monsters down here have never seen the light of the surface, humans forced them down here for unknown reasons, most likely political or to force submission back in the early nineteen hundreds. Kind of like how certain types of humans were separated and removed from their homes many years ago."

I frowned at that. "That's really mean…"

"I know, that's why I want to be educated on this before we meet any other monsters. I don't want to be ignorant of what our kind had done to them. After all, our family is one of the seven that put them down here."

My eyes widened at her words. "What? We are?"

"Yes." My sister passed over one of the large history books that she had her nose into that was filled with notes she'd taken. On the margin, she had names listed, where they were located on the surface surrounding Mt. Ebott and who she knew to be currently alive. "Seven families were the ones who originally locked the monsters away down here. Each of them representing a trait, as per what this book says. Our family, the Teirans, are determination. It was our great-great grandfather who assisted with putting monsters down here. Apparently, he agreed with the old ways and believed segregation was better than learning to live with the monsters. However, his mind changed as he grew with age. He was only a young man in his twenties when this event happened. The other families you may recognize from the meetings that our parents always used to have: Ahonui for patience, Ufair for bravery, Honora for integrity, Dante for perseverance, Charisse for kindness, and Masato for justice. Along with our family that held determination, the seven families sealed away the monsters underground. Not a care for their decision or the fact that they were going to let innocent people starve down here."

"That sounds really scary…" I worriedly looked through the pages that my sister had noted out into simpler text. Looking at all the information about what damage our own family had done to these creatures made me incredibly sad. We were the reason that terrible flower monster that attacked us tried to kill us. It was also the reason why Toriel was trapped down here. I hoped that most of the other monsters down here were a lot more like Toriel, but we wouldn't know until we explored.

My sister sighed and closed the book she was working on. "Speaking of monsters, did you see if Toriel was up yet?"

I shook my head. "Not yet. She was still sleeping."

My sister seemed to smile at that. "Well, we should make her a nice breakfast to show how thankful we are for her helping us. I was thinking we should take a look around to see what we could make."

My eyes instantly lit up at the mention of cooking or baking. My sister had always been such a good cook that it made me drool. "Can we do muffins?"

My sister chuckled at me. "I don't see why not."

We moved into the kitchen then, my sister attempting to stop me from digging into everything. My sister found all of the ingredients we needed to bake and soon she started her way into make a batch or two of muffins. My sister had to keep me from eating all the batter or the ingredients, since we were making blueberry and chocolate chip batches so Toriel had plenty to eat along with us.

It was just as we were placing the muffins in the oven just as Toriel stepped into the kitchen, captured by the scent of our baked goods. It had taken a while for my sister to get the oven started since I'm sure Toriel only used fire magic.

"Oh, what smells so good?" Toriel walked into the kitchen then with her nose smelling at the air. She licked her lips happily before she saw the two of us cooking. My sister had me starting on the dishes while she was watching our breakfast.

"Muffins!" I cheered. The soapy water splashed over the counter and my sister rolled her eyes at me while Toriel laughed.

"We wanted to surprise you with some breakfast after all the kindness you've shown us," my sister told her, standing from before the oven.

"Oh, my children, you are too sweet to me…" Toriel seemed to tear up at the small kindness we were giving her. "It smells wonderful, what kind will we have?"

"We made blueberry and chocolate chip." I giggled. "Angel didn't know what kind you'd like, so she made two different ones."

"Oh, the blueberry sounds delicious." Toriel stepped back then. "I'll wait in the living room then until then."

"Let me move my books out of the way." My sister hurried after her. "I was doing some research this morning and made… a bit of a mess…"

"Oh, that's no trouble!" Their voices drifted a bit as they walked into the other room. I could hear my sister's voice, but I was no longer able to tell what she was saying. They had become slightly muffled. I wasn't sure what my sister was saying, but as I looked back to check on her, my sister seemed to be asking Toriel about certain pieces of information about what she was researching. Toriel seemed intrigued by what she was working on and was discussing things with her.

I watched them for a few moments before I realized that the dishes still needed to be done. I hurried to finish them while the muffins baked and I was eager to explore the ruins. Toriel seemed hesitant to take us, but with all of us going as a group she seemed more likely to the idea.

Later That Day:

A few hours later, after our breakfast, (and after Toreil got clothes for both my sister and I to hold us over until she could alter them to fit us) Toriel had led us out of the front of her home to travel the path of the ruins. The front of her house was surrounded by these crystals that seemed to glow in the dark that provided light for us as we traveled. Some caverns didn't have them, but in those spots, Toriel seemed to use fire instead. She held it out before her to light the way as we traveled.

In between the long passage ways and the destroyed ruins, Toriel led us around to the spots where she knew other monsters she spent time with on our way would be. We met many people, like Froggit and Whimser. One surprise that even Toriel hadn't been expecting was a ghost named Napstablook. I had to laugh when the ghost scared Toriel nearly right out of her skin.

Toriel led us back to where she had found us a couple days ago and we watched the area carefully before stepping out. The flowers still held a beautiful glow to them like the night we fell, though we could still see the little bits of blood from my sister.

Needless to say, I tried to avoid those spots…

My sister walked under the hole where we'd fallen of just as we saw it raining through the barrier. Water fell and created a little river that flowed back the way we came from in the ruins. Angel held out her hand below the water and felt it running over her fingers.

"Angel…" Toriel slowly approached my sister, not wanting to ruin the quiet moment she was having. "You said you don't plan to go back to the surface, yes?"

Angel turned back to face our new friend with a curious expression. "Yes? There's nothing truly waiting for us up there, so the most logical thing is to live down here. No one would look for us, no one would dare cross the barrier knowing that they'd have to kill another in order to go back."

"You truly believe that no one would?" Toriel questioned.

"Well… that's what I'd like to believe. There are plenty of cruel people up there Toriel, but most humans are actually kind of wimps to be perfectly honest. Most people can't bring themselves to harm any living creature, let along one of their own kind. You also wouldn't believe the support of human kind these days. A lot of them are trying to invest in ways of breaking you all out of the underground. I remember some people we knew were working on that."

"Truly?!" Toreil gasped in surprise. I blinked my eyes at them. I knew my sister had told me about some of the research our parents were working on before they passed… were really working on that? She hadn't talked about it in years… "Tell me child, how far had they come?"

"They were trying to gather descendants of the same families that imprisoned you here to free you. They're souls would have been powerful enough together to break open the barrier, yet there was some conflict." My sister sighed and I knew she was thinking back to those mean kids that didn't agree with what our family was doing. "The seven families were split down the middle as for what to do. Some fought diligently to see you all free, others still basked in the old ways and thought your imprisonment was self-explanatory. One family sat in the middle, unsure of what would be the best choice of action. If I remember correctly… it was the Ahonui, Charisse and Teirans who fought for your freedom. Honora was the family who was undecided, while the families of Dante, Ufair and Mosato were against it. However, it was more due to fear then aggression."

"Oh my… I didn't realize it was that complicated up above." Toriel muttered as she began to think, choosing her words carefully. "Do you think…"

"As much as I'd like to believe that they would do it, it would take a hellish amount of convincing to get the other houses to agree." My sister shook her head. "And even if a house does or doesn't agree, there's been a lot of strife from whatever decision they decide on. It'll be a long time before anyone agrees to do something about it up there. It's really annoying to say the least."

"Oh…" Toriel's face dropped after that comment and I felt bad, but Angel was only being honest. The people up on top, while they were changing, hadn't changed enough for that kind of a task.

"Toriel?" I walked over to them and pulled on the goat monster's dress.

She turned back to me, trying to hide the fact she was distraught by my sister's words. "Yes my child?"

"What are the other monsters like? The ones that aren't here in the ruins? Are they nice like you?"

"Oh…" Toriel seemed hesitant to answer me. "Well… I know that many of them are kind; however, some of them harbor many ill feelings toward humans of course due to the century long imprisonment. Most of them being from the capital."

"The capital?" my sister questioned. "There's more down here than just the ruins?"

"Yes…" Toriel sighed before she grabbed a stick that she found lying on the ground and began to draw on the ground. I saw her draw out seven different areas, some of them much larger than others. The first one she drew saw small and had marked it as the ruins, where we were. The second was larger, called Snowdin. The third was called Waterfall, fourth she named Hot Lands, fifth she noted as Outskirts, sixth was the Capital and lastly was the castle and the barrier.

My sister watched her draw with interest. "Is this the world outside of the ruins?"

"Yes, beyond the ruins here where I live in a cold village called Snowdin." Toriel draw some lines to it. "I sometimes go there to gather supplies, but I try my best not leave the ruins."
"Why? Is there someone bad out there?" I questioned her.

"Yes, someone who would do anything to find me, as well as the two of you." She sighed and shook her head. "King Asgore, he's the current ruler of the monsters and a terrible person. He and his family have taken the lives of six human children that have fallen from the world above and stolen their souls to use in breaking open the barrier. He only needs one more before he can set us free."

My sister instantly tensed up at that and stepped back from Toreil, fear evident across her face while trying to stay determined and protect me from danger. She held out an arm to keep me back from the goat monster who now looked so sad that we'd distanced ourselves after such a fun day.

Why did I have to ask such a bad question?

"Isn't that a good thing for you? Why are you hiding us?" My sister was weary. "Wouldn't it help you to turn us over?"

"No!" Toriel snarled back, which startled my sister and I. I jumped and I felt my sister push me back further to keep me out of harm's way. Toriel quickly stopped her powerful remark and looked at her hands that fiddled with her dress, more nervous than ever. "Forgive me. I can't stand what he's done… I don't want to see any more innocent children die… That's why I've been hiding you here… to keep you safe from him."

"Did you know him personally?" My sister was still defensive, but she seemed to be less… aggressive at that point. "You look like someone who's been betrayed by him."

"You could say that…" Toriel sighed.

"I'm sorry Toriel." I wanted to give her a hug to apologize, but my sister still held me back, knowing exactly what I was going to do. "I didn't mean to make everything difficult."

"It's alright my child; I knew it would come up in time." Toriel looked at me with a softer look before it hardened at my sister. "Do you plan to leave the ruins?"

My sister hesitated a moment while thinking before speaking back. "While I am grateful that you've saved us and protected us, I can't say that I'm happy with being trapped down here. Not every monster must hate us, do they?"

"I can't say for certain, but the only way to remain safe would be to stay here." Toriel's explanation made sense, but at the same time, it made me want to go and explore all those other areas, to prove her wrong. "Asgore has his royal guard constantly watching out for humans who fall that transverse this land in order to take their souls. All he would need is one of you to completely free us from here. Could you stand having those constant fears over your heads of being killed and souls taken? That's not a world for children."

"We won't know until we try, yes?" My sister tried to argue with Toriel, but the monster slammed down her foot, face turning red in anger.

"I will not lose any more children!" Her outburst startled me and I scurried entirely behind my sister, squealing in shock. "I've made the constant mistake of letting children travel this world and be killed after loving them. I will not make that mistake again!"

"Toriel!" My sister stepped back herself a bit, also nervous of the goat monster.

"Do not ask this of me again! I will not let you be slain!" The female marched to the edge of the cavern, though when she stopped in the doorway, she turned to face us. "Come, we're going home."

It was after that moment that my sister sighed and slowly reached out for my hand. I took it carefully as we slowly followed behind a raging Toriel that my sister and I knew was only looking out for us, but still scared us. We followed the worried motherly creature to our new home, slightly worried that we would never see much beyond her four walls and the dangers that hovered just beyond them.

Witch's Note:

Oh boy… that was a chapter! Were any of you expecting a fight? Or were you expecting something else! I'd love to hear what you all were thinking about this as we learn about segregation of the monsters compared to humans and how the girls are directly related to the people who did it?!

Love you all and see you next week! Please review! I love to hear what you guys have to say!

Halloween Witch