A short time prior...
Memory was a plague upon the monster. It brought with it, torture, and woe. It brought with it anger, and distress. An inability to sleep, an inability to process or function in many situations. Not that she functioned well without it. Not that sleep helped.
Lying on the bed, with broken glass at the base. A bottle shattered, and the room reeking of some alcoholic thing. Toriel pressed her hand against her head, shaking as bad as she did the night before. She was exhausted, critically in need of just one night's rest. Just one, where it wasn't nightmares.
Her good eye scanning the dark. They had gotten so much worst recently. So much...darker, than normal. Her eyes coming to close, despite how restless she felt. Dragging her, squirming, and pained, into sleep. It didn't take long, for the dreams to start.
A sharp breath, a cold breath. The entirety of her being felt like ice. A spark of fire providing some illumination for the abyssal place she found herself. It was...immediately familiar, yet inalienably foreign. The fallen sovereign hearing chatter from somewhere, turning, examining the space. Noticing something shine in the distance.
Each step was heavy, but they always felt heavy recently. Wandering to the shining object, she found it was a switch. Her desire to pull it was non-existent. But she did anyways.
The distant humming of old lights came to her attention. Looking up to find a hall, with flickering lights. Leading to...she heard speaking. Raising a brow, she proceeded down the hall. Blinking, and glancing back for a moment. A cold breath escaping her lips. It felt like she was being watched.
Tenser now, moving to the source of the noise, it became all the clearer. It sounded like...her? Speaking...
"Gorey, dearest. What is my favorite vegetable?" Her voice asked, as she got nearer, finding light coming from the room.
"Hmmm... Carrots, right?" Asgores voice said back.
"No no no! My favorite vegetable is...Eda-MOM-e... get it?" Her voice said.
Toriel turned the corner, finding what appeared to be a living room. Not dissimilar to her own. With an old TV Set, and a series of vhs tapes on the side. The screen was flickering with static. Filling the dark with traces of light.
"What...the hells?" Toriel asked, as the VHS began to fast forward.
Clicking, and playing, Asgores voice. "Hohoho!" His dumb laugh. "You sure are excited to have this child. You know, if you keep making jokes like this..."
She felt the memory replaying, whispering. "One day, you could be..."
"... a famous MOMedian." The VHS finished, before it clicked off.
The only noise beyond her breathing, being static. It felt like her heart would break in her chest. She struggled to remain standing, before hearing a sound. Turning and igniting flame, before finding herself in her house. In her living room, facing the entranceway. The hall, the path beyond this small, limited living space.
It was dark there. Darker than dark, perhaps. Abyssal, and staggeringly silent. A set of eyes appearing in it. A hand, bearing a hole in it reaching out. Holding something, a golden flower. The second hand reaching out, holding something else. A locket of some variety.
"What is this?" She asked.
There was no response. Save the chill. Steadily, she concluded the purpose. As though something was speaking to her, something she couldn't hear. Couldn't understand. A choice. Did she want things to stay as they were - The Flower. Or did she want another chance. - The Locket.
"How do I know I can trust you?" She asked instinctively, and although she couldn't see it, she could feel the wicker grin aimed back. "Beast." The hands began to draw back. "W-wait...wait..." She hesitated, before stepping nearer. "I..."
She knew it would tell her nothing. A piece of her mind reminding her...it was just a dream. Just a dream... She reached out and took the locket. Another chance.
When she awoke from the strange dream, it was immediate. Leaving her groggy, a long-singed alarm clock going off again. Reminding her to awaken. Slouching in her depressed state, she could help but cry some. It was...it all felt like too much.
When she finally stirred from bed, she followed her usual pattern of behavior. Eating whatever thing was left in the fridge. Drinking whatever happened to be lying around. Getting dressed, before heading out to secure the ruins.
In the process she heard a little sound, glancing at her phone, and the spare she usually kept. Checking it, it indicated she had missed a call, from 'Funny-Bones.' She groaned a bit.
"Shit." She muttered. "Well...there goes my morning."
With this tone of defeat, she progressed with her day. She knew well that she wouldn't get an answer if she called back. Since the assumption would be that she was busy, and thus, her called would go do something else.
Everything followed the usual morning behavior. Resetting the traps. Checking on certain groups of individual monsters who resided there. Ensuring they had no intent to try anything. A few scare tactics, a brief fight or two. It kept the peace. After all, it wasn't like they were any real threat to her.
However, she began to debate the reality of her day. Right around the point that it got strange. When something she hadn't anticipated, occurred.
Sometimes, she liked to go to the flowerbed, in the back of the ruins. Just to see if another human had fallen down. True, it had been...a long time since the last one, but, at least it'd be company...perhaps. She was almost there, coming to the room before the staircase heading down, when she stopped. Was it even worth the effort?
She doubted it very much. Deigning instead to go drink herself back to sleep again. Maybe she'd actually sleep this time. And then, it happened.
"Toriel?" A hauntingly familiar called out. "Can you...hear me?"
"Chara?" She asked this, the feeling, hearing it. It wasn't...the ghost. Unless...had he, discovered what she sounded like? The thought caused her incredibly distress, and anger.
Turning however, she was greeted with a sight. For a moment, she believed it to be the dummy he liked to torment her with. When she wasn't sober, and capable of falling for his perverse and cruel acts. But this...was different. Before her, in...a different shirt than she remembered, was a child she most certainly did. One of hers, Chara.
The rest of the encounter, and the time spent with her felt like the strangest dream she'd had in a long time. To her, it felt like talking with a memory. The girl acting as though little time had passed, save when she asked if Toriel was okay. Each time aching, more and more. What a terrible dream this was. So much worse than the rest.
Eventually, she decided she couldn't...she couldn't handle it. It was insistent, relentless. Felt real...the whole thing felt real. And she knew it couldn't be. So, she came up with an excuse to depart. But noticing the concerned look, she gave one of the phones away. It wouldn't matter. And she hoped she could ignore it, should the time come. Drown it out with whatever else, she could do in this strange little nightmare.
And with that, she left. First igniting torches on the path. Having to remind herself, it wasn't real. It wasn't real. It couldn't...be real. She just hadn't woken up yet. It was like those dreams, when everyone was still together...right before it turned into a full-blown nightmare. And she wasn't...willing to see that happen in this one.
When she finally got home, she felt in a haze. Taking a moment to sit on her chair, drifting out. Fading out of the dream. Or so she imagined.
It was about ten minutes later, when she awoke with a gasp. Looking around, initially confused. Had she...fallen asleep on her chair. Groaning she slowly got up.
Blinking and looking around, she coughed some, while standing up from her seat. A little huff, following, brushing her fur, and ears back some. Checking her phone, she sighed. Sleeping through her alarms, great.
Toriel debated what to do next. But figured, she'd try and make something. She felt...like having something sweet. Something sweet, and not good for herself. So she could sulk for a while. Trekking into the kitchen, she began dusting off various things.
"When did I last cook?" She asked herself, removing her outer robes, setting them on the side of the counter.
Leaving her with her with a set of jeans, and a somewhat shredded-up hoodie beneath. The clothes weren't exactly as durable, or protective as her robes. But, then again...it wasn't like anyone was dumb enough to barge into her home. Well, maybe one person, but...that was different. Opening the fridge, the light caused her to wince, looking at the contents.
She picked up the milk, sniffing it. It smelled bad. She hummed and took a drink. Before gagging some, then spitting it out in her sink. Turns out, it had gone bad. She dragged her claws across her tongue, huffing some, while dumping the rest. She would have to use the canned kind. How terrible, she thought.
The process of baking wasn't entirely new to her. And it was easy to get back into. She wondered about making some things, bringing them to some people. Before concluding that probably wasn't the wisest idea.
While that was starting, she went out and starting the fire in her living room area. "Me day." She decided. It would be nice to just...lounge around and wait for death. She decided she'd read something. Yeah, it'd be a good day.
Her plans, however, were destined to be interrupted. Once back inside the kitchen, she continued checking things, and working on her food. When she thought she heard a sound. Talking?
An intruder? She felt her temper rise. "What fucking idiot-" Turning the corner she was greeted with...Chara.
"Are you okay?" Chara asked.
Toriel felt the world almost lose sense around her. She...had woken up right? Her eyes turning to the creature on Chara's arm. One she knew well, very well. The craven of the Ruins. The Flower, or, as he called himself 'Flowey.' He looked, bigger, almost stronger than normal. But it wasn't her main concern.
What was, was the internal question of 'What the hell was going on?'