:):

Now we're getting somewhere...

xxx

You Can Call Me "Mom"

xxx

Backtracking to the cross made of red leaves, The child headed to what she felt was the final room.

Probably.

Inside the room, a bare blackened tree stood, its red leaves decorating the ground around it.

"Oh dear, that took longer than I thought it would."

Hearing, the kind goat lady's voice in real life this time, the little girl immediately perked up, a smile lighting up her face. Said goat lady, came into sight as she walked over to stand next to the blackened tree. Taking out her own cell phone she tapped on it for a moment then put it to her ear.

*Ring*

The child's pocket chimed.

Toriel looked over in confusion and spotted the wayward child. With a small gasp, she quickly made her way over. Kneeling down, she worriedly examined the human. "How did you get here, my child? Are you hurt?" Her eyes narrowed as she discovered all the bumps and scrapes, not to mention their clothes were mysteriously wet. All in all, the tiny human looked like a poor bedraggled kitten. "Who did this to you?" The kind goat lady asked, her maternal instincts activating. "You will get an apology." She vowed.

"I'm sorry for leaving the room." The child apologized. "I just got kind of..." Amber eyes fell to the side and the sentence was left unfinished.

Toriel sighed in understanding. "I should not have left you alone for so long." She said, feeling genuinely ashamed. "It was irresponsible to try to surprise you like this."

"Surprise?" The child picked up on that in a flash. Surprises were good, right?

"Err..." Too late did Toriel realize her slip up. Such a quick child. Sighing again, the kind goat lady smiled warmly. "Well, I suppose I cannot hide it any longer. Come, small one!" She urged, leading the way forward.

"I'm not small..." The small child pouted for a moment before running to catch up to the nice goat lady.

Following Toriel into a large house, the child looked around curiously. This was obviously her home and it had a pleasant homey feel to it. Smiling, the human let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. She felt safe here.

"Do you smell that?" Toriel asked eagerly. She watched as the child sniffed the air for a few seconds before a hungry look befell their features, their stomach growling quietly. "Surprise! It's butterscotch-cinnamon pie. I thought we might celebrate your arrival. I want you to have a nice time living here. So I will hold off on snail pie for tonight."

"Is snail pie good too?" The child ask with great interest. She hadn't been aware of just how hungry she was until right at this very moment! "When can we eat?"

"In a bit." Toriel answered with a humored smile as she stared down at this precious child. She knew it was a bad idea to grow too attached to this human. Odds are she would eventually lose them as well. But even so... Her protective barrier that she had spent years building was being steadily chipped away by every little thing this small child said or did. They were just too unusual. Too different than all the other children that had fallen into the underground. This child, she wanted desperately to protect. To care for. Possibly to love.

"First things first." Toriel said as she again took in the state of the child. "I think somebody needs a bath before anything else. You look chilled to the bone."

The child caught the secret smirk the kind goat lady had tried to hide after saying that. Was that an inside joke or something? Wait! That wasn't even important right now. "A-a bath?! But I don't want to!"

"Hush." Toriel laughed as she walked down the hall. "You'll feel much better once you're warmed up and in some dry clothes. Come along now, my child."

The human made a small grumpy noise but followed after her nontheless. She was probably right. Though the little girl would much rather have pie instead!

Turning into the room Toriel had entered, the child stopped suddenly in surprise. The goat lady was heating some water in a large tub and she was doing it with fire. Fire coming from her hands! Fire Magic! Rushing over, the tiny human stared in fascination.

"Careful now, my child. Don't get too close or you could get burnt." Toriel warned nervously. This child's endless curiosity never failed to amaze her. Humans would normally be running away from her, not running to her. They reminded her of a baby animal that had not yet learned to fear properly. More evidence that this tiny human needed constant protection and guidance.

With the bath water now adequately warm, Toriel helped the small child out of their wet clothes. She set aside the strange attire that consisted of mostly worn leather dyed in red and yellow and fastened together with numerous loosely tied leather straps. Underneath all of the seemingly unnecessarily complicated clothing, Toriel discovered a little girl. Honestly, she wasn't quite sure what she would find since the child's nature was a little ambiguous. Humans tended to try to display their gender through what they wore, didn't they? Maybe this particular human didn't feel the need to yet. She was still quite young. The small girl was most likely not even a decade old yet.

The child splashed around in the suds as the warmth of the water soaked into her body. The goat lady was right. This was a great idea after all. There were many bottles of liquids in assorted colors lined up on the nearby counter. Many of them were some type of fragrant fur detangler. The kind goat lady had chosen a light purple gel that smelled of lavender and was gentle enough to be used on delicate skin. It was slimy at first but foamed up quickly, adding to the already overabundance of suds in the bathtub.

Once the soap was completely rinsed away, Toriel lifted the little girl out of the water and wrapped her in a large fluffy blue towel. The child had been dirtier than the kind goat lady had realized. Not only had she been covered in a thin layer of grime but for some reason she also had a few leaves tangled in her short auburn hair as well as some type of strange vegetable juice spattered here and there. In all honesty, the small child had been a real mess. Now however, much to Toriel's great relief, the human was sparkling clean and smelled much better than before.

Opening the bathroom door, Toriel held her hand out to the human. "Come, my child, I have another surprise for you."

"What is it?" The little girl asked, eagerly taking the goat monster's hand. "Is it food?"

Toriel held back a laugh. This child had a one track mind and it was obviously in her stomach. "Patience, young one. In a few minutes the pie will be ready but for now I have something else to show you." Leading the way down the hall, she stopped in front of a closed door. "This is it..." She smiled. "A room of your own. I hope you like it!"

"It's my room?" The little girl asked. Looking up at the motherly monster, her amber eyes filled with excitement and wonder. She'd never had her own room before, since she always had to share with the smallest children. This was like some kind of privilege and she wasn't quite sure how she had earned it. Looking back to the closed door, she suddenly felt unworthy of such a gift.

Toriel looked down at the small child still bundled in the large blue bath towel. There was a look of uncertainty on her face as she stared at the closed door. Reaching down, the kind goat lady placed a comforting hand to the child's damp hair. Once she had regained the little one's attention, she gave her a warm smile and opened the door. "There are some fresh clothes in the wardrobe, I'm sure some of the smaller ones will fit you. Pick whichever you like. When you're done, come find me. I will be just down the hall."

Watching the child wander into the room filled Toriel with a strange kind of happiness she hadn't felt in many years. Memories of previous lost children bubbled up in her mind. Some were more pleasant than others. Before she made the mistake of letting herself reminisce on past events, a smoky aroma wafted into her nose. "Is something burning...?" The pie! Eyes widening in alarm, Toriel quickly told the child to make herself at home before dashing away towards the kitchen.

The little girl gave the departing goat lady a strange look before she returned to exploring her new room. It was a reasonably sized room with walls that had been painted a soft orange and a large rectangular area rug in the center of the floor that shared the same color. A small twin sized bed on the right side of the room was neatly made with a dark orange bedspread.

Walking over to the small wooden box in front of the bed, the child found a bunch of cool toys, though none of them really interested her. She was far too old for toys!

On the shelf, she found a dusty old picture frame, though for some reason, it was empty. She didn't know why, but it felt sad. Beside the shelf, another wooden box sat. Inside of this box was an assortment of mismatched children's shoes of varying sizes. A few of them might have fit this particular human child but, alas, none of them had a match.

Looking inside the old wardrobe, the little girl discovered plenty of shirts hanging from hangers. Below them were stacks of pants that had been neatly folded. Upon closer inspection, the child noticed a distinct pattern. All of the shirts came in various colors but for some reason they were all striped. No solid colors anywhere to be seen. Not that it really mattered of course...

Tugging at the long sleeve of a dark red shirt with broad yellow bands, the child freed it from its hanger. This article of clothing was obviously too big for her. Regardless of this fact, the little girl dropped the towel she was wrapped in and wiggled into the fabric with glee. The hem of the shirt easily fell past her hips and the sleeves would definitely need to be rolled up. But this was the one she wanted! She threw on some dark pants to complete her new outfit and before you could say "Was that a human?" the human had sped out of the room in search of pie.

Toriel sighed to herself in relief; the pie hadn't burnt. If fact, it had turned out perfect. Holding the plate that held the large cinnamon-butterscotch pie with both hands, she turned to take it to the dinning table. Before she could take a single step, however, she gave a start of surprise. A single amber eye was spying on her from behind the wall in the dinning room. "Oh! You startled me." Toriel admitted in a rush.

The little girl, knowing she had been spotted, stepped out from behind the wall and grinned widely. "Is that a pie?"

"It is." Toriel nodded, smiling warmly. "Why don't we both have a slice or two?" The child's eyes lit up instantly and she followed the goat monster to the dinning table.

When a slice of pie was finally set in front of the little girl, she inhaled the aroma hungrily. Whatever this cinnamon or butterscotch was, it smelled delicious! Before digging in the, child hesitated when a silver forked object was placed next to her plate. Sneaking a glance at the goat lady, she saw her pick up her own silver stick and scoop some of the pie onto it before lifting it to her mouth.

Grabbing the silver object, the little girl crudely mimicked Toriel. It took a couple tries but finally she was able to stuff her mouth with pie. A burst of flavor exploded inside her mouth and she greedily stuffed even more in. It was so good!

"Slow down, my child." Toriel warned quickly. "You don't want to choke." This small human must have actually been starving. The kind goat lady watched in slight worry as the child pretty much ignored her and continued devouring the slice of pie in a ravenous flurry. She didn't want to ask right away, but the question of where this child had come from was becoming more pressing to her. It was strange, the human's clothes were not exactly old fashioned and yet at the same time they were. Not to mention, the previous fallen children had been dressed in more modern clothing with more modern gadgets and accessories. This one had nothing but the clothes on her back and the appetite of at least three children. She also didn't seem to know how to properly use dinning utensils...

"Can I have some more?" The little girl asked as she eyed the rest of the pie. The size of it was intimidating but she had the Courage to try!

"Maybe you should wait a little while for what you already ate to settle first." Toriel tried to reason.

"Please?" The child practically pleaded. "It's really yummy!"

"Monster food is made with magic, dear." Toriel tried again to reason. "It might be better to see how your stomach handles it first."

"I once ate a caterpillar by accident." The child revealed. "And I didn't even get sick!"

"Say no more, my child..." Toriel conceded weakly, her own stomach turning as she slid another slice over to the black hole disguised as a small human girl.

Once the child had finally had her fill of butterscotch-cinnamon pie, a heavy feeling of drowsiness befell her. Yawning, she had placed her head on the dinning table next to her half empty plate. She hadn't been this full in like forever...

Toriel had carried the sleepy child to her new room and tucked her into bed. The poor dear was absolutely exhausted. Without much thought, the kind goat lady brushed the dark hair from the child's face with her large furry hand. Amber eyes fluttered open at the touch and a small smile appeared on the child's face as she turned towards her. "This must be what it's like to have a mom..."

Toriel felt her heart skip a beat at the small child's words. She hadn't been referred to as a 'mom' in so very long. She knew she didn't deserve it either. After all, she had failed at being a mother. There was no other way of looking at it. Still... Did this child not have a mother? Was this little girl an orphan perhaps? There were so many questions she wanted to ask but now wasn't the time. Staring down at the small human, Toriel felt warmth rise in her chest. She knew it was a bad idea to get attached, but... "You can call me Mom if that would make you happy."

Eyes now closed and a peaceful look on her face, the little girl was fast asleep. Toriel smiled sadly. It was probably for the best that her offer went unanswered.

"Sleep well, young one."

xxx

The plot unfolds a little in the next chapter.

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More's on the way~

Sheii Bae