Chapter 3
Mask said nothing after those three mere words. "I know her." Frisk wish that it said more, because now she stood stone still, trying to not address Mask as this woman offered a slender hand to Frisk.
"Fear not, small one. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruined Woods. I walk this path every day to see if anyone has gotten lost. Are you lost, my child?"
Struggling to find her voice, Frisk replied, "A-a little. I'm afraid that I don't fully remember how I ended up here."
Frisk could not see Toriel's expression behind her goat mask. All she had was Toriel's calming voice to depend on when the woman said, "Come with me. I have a spare bedroom in which you may sleep until we find your family. My child, they must be so worried about you."
As she bit back her depressing remark, Frisk finally reached out and accepted Toriel's extended hand. Toriel was gentle as she wrapped her fingers around Frisk's. The touch was warm and reassuring despite everything about this situation telling Frisk that this was a dangerous idea.
"Never follow a stranger, especially to their house," her father used to always tell her.
"Not everyone who acts friendly is a friend," her mother would say other times.
Yet despite her parents' voices telling her to not follow this woman, Frisk gave in. She had promised to help Mask remember who it was. If Mask knew this woman, then this was Frisk's start to fulfilling that promise.
While she walked hand-in-hand behind Toriel, Frisk looked at Mask. She had hoped her demeanor would express the questions she couldn't ask, but then she remembered she was wearing a mask that covered her whole face. It seemed that facial expressions could no longer be a signal of anything felt or thoughts silently communicated.
However, Mask did not need her prompting. "It was weird just now. I saw this woman, heard her voice, and I just knew I had met her before. Yet the more I saw her and the more I heard her speak, even that feeling is gone. Do I really know her, or was I just desperate for something, anything no matter how small, to tell me who I am?"
By this point, Frisk wondered if Mask could think to itself. It asked questions and made comments on things without seeming as if it was talking to Frisk. Perhaps, Frisk began to think, Mask kept talking for fear that maybe she, too, could no longer hear what it was Mask had to say.
As with Flowey, Toriel did not comment on a floating mask beside Frisk. She neither acted as if she heard anything Mask said. Truly, it appeared Frisk was the only one who could see and hear Mask.
How terrible, Frisk thought. Not only does Mask not know its name, but I'm the only one who can communicate with it. Mask must feel so lonely being like this.
"From where are you, small one?" Toriel asked as she led Frisk through the forest.
"Oh, umm," Frisk look around as if an answer to the question were hidden in the trees, "not around here."
There was a falter in Toriel's steps, but she kept moving all the same. "Then how did you end up all the way over here? This is the end of Ebott Forest."
"I don't remember," Frisk said, finding comfort that she was telling the truth. "I remember leaving home, but I do not remember ending up here."
"Hmmm," Toriel hummed. "How strange. The border for Ruined Woods is a day's walk away. Even if you are from the edge of Snowdin Lane, someone should have found you long before you ended up all the way over here."
"Be careful, Frisk," Mask said. "If Flowey wanted you to wear that mask, then it is possibly for the best that nobody learns that you are from the outside."
Frisk wanted to reply but didn't. Not with Toriel right there. However, she was sure Mask had a point and wanted to communicate as much. Since Toriel was facing away from Frisk, the child nodded her head. Frisk hoped Mask knew that she was responding to it and not the woman leading her deeper and deeper into this strange forest.
"What is your name, child?" Toriel finally asked.
"My name is Frisk."
"Frisk? What a precious name. Is it your surname or given name?"
"Given."
"And what is your surname?"
"I don't have one," Frisk answered as she hoped Toriel couldn't hear the lie in her voice. It was already bad enough Frisk was following a stranger. She didn't need to give this stranger her full name until Frisk could be sure it was safe to do so.
"A lack of surname will make finding your family difficult," Toriel stated, "but I promise to do my best regardless. You see, I know everyone who lives in Ruined Woods. If anyone hears of a family with a missing daughter, word will eventually reach me. Worry not, Frisk, you will be home soon enough."
As much as I wish for that to be true, I have a promise to fulfill. Frisk tried looking at Mask from the corner of her eye, but the mask she wore obscured her view. She was quickly learning to dislike the limitations of these masks.
Toriel did not led Frisk for long before they came out of the thick of the forest and into a small town. The little homes and shops were built out of wood, and people wearing unique masks like Flowey's and Toriel's walked along the streets. There were frog masks, carrot masks, and even bug masks. Despite the masks worn by every single person out and about, however, Frisk did not find this town any different from her own. Children ran in the streets, women shopped, and men worked. She and Toriel walked off a forest floor filled with crunchy autumn leaves to a dirt path covered in footprints. The smell of sweat and dust filled Frisk's nostrils. Laughter and chatter from the townspeople filled the air in a chorus of life within the town. Frisk smelled baked goods sitting on windowsills to cool. The taste of dust caked her dry lips.
Frisk, still following Toriel, watched as Mask flew ahead to take in their surroundings. It looked this way and that, observing the town just as much as Frisk was. Flying close to Frisk and staying close her face, Mask began to speak.
"I am unsure if I know this place or not. There is a sense of familiarity, but I do not know if it is because I have been to this town before or if I am from a similar village. Unfortunately, it seems I know that I know something, but I do not know what it is that I know."
As much as Frisk wanted to nod to signal she understood, she did not. They were in a public place now. She needed to be careful to not draw attention to herself, or at least not any more than she was receiving by holding Toriel's hand and following behind the woman.
"Madam Toriel," greeted an older man with a chipping fox mask with peeling paint, "how are you doing this fine day?"
"I am doing well, Renart," Toriel answered. "And how are you?"
"No different than usual." Renart peeked behind Toriel and looked at Frisk. In response, Frisk squeezed Toriel's hand and moved further behind the woman. "I see you have found another child, Madam Toriel."
Frisk's blood turned to ice. Another child?
"What does he mean by 'another'?" Mask asked, unknowingly voicing Frisk's thoughts.
Without having an answer, Frisk tried to slip her hand out of Toriel's. However, Toriel tightened her own grip on the child. Frisk's heart jumped to her throat.
"This child is lost and needs help locating her family," Toriel replied, sounding as if she would argue with Renart if she felt the need.
Renart shook his head. "You cannot keep doing this, ma'am. Not every child you find is Char—"
"I know!" Toriel snapped, and Frisk began to realize just how bad an idea it was to follow a stranger after all.
When Toriel didn't continue, Renart held up his palms as if giving Toriel a peace offering and explained, "Look, ma'am, I worry about you. After your children died, you have not been the same. Remember that little girl you found shortly after Asriel disappeared?"
Almost instinctively, Toriel's free hand flew to the faded pink ribbon tied in her hair. "Nothing such as that will ever happen again."
Before Renart could reply, Toriel marched forward and tugged Frisk along. "Come, my child," Toriel ordered, leaving no room for Frisk to argue.
As Frisk was being drug away, she helplessly looked over her shoulder at Renart. He watched as Toriel dragged away the lost child, but he did nothing to stop it. Instead he merely looked at Frisk and offered her one piece of advice.
"Whatever you do, young one, don't fight Madam Toriel."
Go peacefully, was how Frisk interpreted the advice. Don't cause trouble.
"This may be a bad idea after all," Mask said. Frisk didn't need Mask to tell her such.
Frisk wanted to talk to Mask. If she could communicate with Mask without arising suspicion, she would. Yet she knew it was in her best interest to act as if there was no ghostlike entity only she could see and hear following her around.
"Just pretend everything is okay for now," Mask told her as Toriel led Frisk out of the village and deeper into the forest. "Once the opportunity arises, run."
Mask didn't need to tell Frisk twice.