Chapter 8
Frisk woke neither gradually nor peacefully. Instead, flooded with the memory of nearly drowning, she bolted upright so quickly her vision went black and she felt lightheaded. Holding her head, Frisk tried to let the air flowing into her lungs tell her that she was alive and all right, not sinking deeper and deeper into the unforgiving river.
"You weren't out for very long," she heard Mask say.
Once her vision returned to her, or as much of it that she had while wearing the mask, Frisk looked to where Mask hovered in the corner of her room. As usual, the painted face on its mask gave away nothing her ghost friend might have been feeling. However, Frisk sensed Mask might have felt relieved that she was now conscious.
"What happened?" Frisk asked, surprised to feel her throat and tongue very dry. In her disbelieving state of mind, she wondered if it was possible to have a dry mouth after nearly drowning, especially if she wasn't out for as long as Mask said.
"You slipped into the river, and there was nothing I could do to help," Mask explained, sounding a little angry at its words. "Then Flowey, who must have heard you calling after him, jumped in to save you. Although unconscious, you were breathing and appeared to be mostly unharmed. He took you to Toriel, and she brought you here, lied you on the bed, and went to make some golden flower tea for when you awoke. She hasn't been gone for more than ten minutes before you nearly threw yourself off that mattress."
Pulling the covers up to her shoulders, Frisk closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She nearly drowned. In a forest full of monsters, it was merely drowning that almost killed her. The urge to vomit rose in her throat. If waking up in the Ebott Forest wasn't proof enough already, then nearly fulfilling her intentions to die by walking into the forest nobody ever returned from was proof enough that Frisk truly made a mistake in coming here.
"I believe our theory of Flowey being a childhood friend of Asriel and Chara's might have a major flaw in it," Mask said, probably trying to change the subject for Frisk's sake. "When Flowey brought you to Toriel, she acted as if she had never seen Flowey before."
"Flowey could have been Asriel and Chara's friend without Toriel having met him before," Frisk argued, frowning.
"Possibly," Mask agreed, "but it is odd nonetheless."
"How about Flowey? He knew to bring me to Toriel. What do you think he knows about her?"
Mask was silent a moment before saying, "It is hard to say. It was clear to me that he did not want to spend more time with Toriel than was necessary, but I cannot imagine why. Is he afraid of Toriel? Did he not like how it might have looked to her for him to bring an unconscious child to her doorstep? Or, if we are correct to assume his connection, does he not want Toriel finding out something about her sons' death that she does not know about?"
Crossing her arms, Frisk let out a deep breath. "I suppose now is a better than time any to talk to Toriel."
"After nearly drowning?" Frisk couldn't tell if Mask was amused or annoyed.
"If I wait any longer," Frisk said, "it will get too hard to bring them up to her. There's never going to be a right time. I already tried waiting for that, and you got frustrated with me. Might as well get it over with, right?"
After a moment, Mask replied, "I wish there was more I could do to help. You cannot imagine how useless I feel to be an unseen entity by your side, forced to spectate but never interact."
"You're going to tell me how to get out of here, something I can't do on my own very well," Frisk reminded Mask. "That's a fair amount of help, considering the situation."
Without another word between them, Frisk braced herself and walked out of the room. She slowly walked down the hall and into the living room. There, sitting in the big reading chair, was Toriel gripping the book in her hands so hard her knuckles were whiter than her hair. There was a kettle hanging over the fireplace. The smell of golden flowers filled the room.
Frisk didn't have to say a word. Before the child could announce her presence, Toriel looked up and dropped the book. The woman was on her feet and approaching Frisk in a heartbeat.
Pulling Frisk close against her, Toriel exclaimed, "Do not scare me like that! I was so afraid when that man brought you to me. Are you hurt? What happened? Please, promise me you will not endanger yourself like that again!"
"I'm all right. I'm sorry. It was an accident." Frisk found herself returning the woman's hug and burying her face in Toriel's bosom. Hot tears stung her eyes. The weight of what happened suddenly hit. Frisk balled the fabric of Toriel's dress in her hands to stop them from shaking.
"Shh, there, there," Toriel soothed, rubbing Frisk's back. This made Frisk realize that her shoulders were shaking, and the kindness showed to her pushed Frisk to burst into tears. She buried her face further into Toriel's chest, and Toriel responded by holding Frisk closer and promising her that everything was okay and that it was going to continue to be okay.
Once Frisk had calmed down, Toriel held Frisk at arm's length. Frisk could not see the expression Toriel's faceless features would have shown behind the goat mask. However, Frisk believed with all her heart that Toriel looked at Frisk with nothing but kindness and concern.
"Tell me, my child, what happened?" Toriel asked softly, as if to let Frisk know she did not have to answer until she was ready.
Taking a shaky breath, Frisk calmly told Toriel what had happened. Of course she left out her interactions with Mask and that she slipped in while trying to get to Flowey, but Frisk still feared she was sharing too much. Yet if Toriel sensed Frisk was hiding anything, she did not speak about it.
Toriel listened intently to Frisk, and after Frisk finished telling her what happened, Toriel ran her fingers through Frisk's hair and told her to be more careful in the future. It was such a sweet gesture, and it made Frisk's heart feel heavy. If Frisk never asked Toriel about the drawings on the wall now, she might never work up the courage again.
"Ms. Toriel, there's been something I have been meaning to ask," was how Frisk began.
Sounding nothing but concerned, Toriel asked, "What is it, my child?"
Frisk took a deep breath and answered, "Those pictures in the bedroom . . . They were drawn by your children, weren't they? What happened to them?"
Toriel's arms fell lifelessly to her sides. For a moment, she didn't speak. She didn't move. Frisk started to feel her blood turn to ice as Toriel stood within her brokenness.
"That is a mystery that haunts me to this day," Toriel finally said after minutes, hours, an eternity later. "Chara . . . I was the one to discover the body. No matter how much all of Ebott Forest searched, Asriel was never seen again. We think . . . No! Asriel would have never done such a thing! I refuse to believe that he had killed the child."
"What?" Frisk furrowed her brows. Asriel might have killed Chara?
Mask voiced some of the questions running through Frisk's mind. "Why would anyone think Asriel killed Chara? What would motivate him to kill a brother?"
When it was clear to her that Toriel would not offer any more information on her own, Frisk gently prompted, "Why would Asriel kill Chara?"
"He didn't!" Toriel snapped, causing Frisk to jump.
"Okay." Frisk tried to remain calm even though her heart raced faster and faster with each passing second. "But why do some people think he did?"
Hesitating for a moment or two too long, Toriel replied through unsteady breaths, "Chara was not from Ebott Forest. We . . . we never knew from where he truly was. When I found the body, his face – he had a face behind that mask he wore! – was ripped away. As we could not find Asriel, it was speculated that he took Chara's face and left Ebott Forest.
"But Asriel would never do that! He loved Chara as his own brother! Asriel never would have succumbed to our animalistic nature to steal the face from those who do not bear our curse. He was a good child. A pure child. His love for Chara would have been stronger than his desire to leave this forsaken place!"
By this point, Toriel fell to her knees and began to wail. Frisk was too stunned to do anything except watch. She had to throw out a hand and steady herself against a wall lest she too fall to the ground.
"So, Chara . . . was like you," Mask finally said, putting to words what Frisk struggled to fully realize herself. "He wasn't from here. You were right to fear what would happen if anyone saw your face."
"But . . . ," Frisk trailed off, grateful Toriel did not seem to notice Frisk starting to speak. Flowey did not attack me when he saw my face. What animalistic nature is Toriel speaking about? Do only some monsters feel it? Are there some exceptions?
"I heard of some people being found here and being killed that way," Frisk said, not knowing why she was bringing it up. She doubted Toriel would be surprised to hear Frisk mention something that was bound to be common knowledge, yet there were still so many details she didn't know and wasn't sure she should know.
Nodding as if to herself, Toriel muttered, "Lily was like Chara. She got lost in this forest a couple of years after I lost Chara and Asriel. I . . . I could only protect her for so long."
At those words, Toriel brought a hand up to the ribbon she always had tied in her white hair. It was old and faded and worn. Frisk's heart nearly stopped when she realized that this ribbon had once belonged to someone like her, someone who now no longer lived.
Before Frisk could think of a response, Toriel said matter-of-factly, "You are like them, are you not? From the outside world?"
Frisk's heart stopped. Mask cursed. Everything inside of Frisk told her that she should run away, but her shoes were nailed to the ground.
Looking in Frisks direction, Toriel merely stated, "If I were to take off your mask right now, what are the chances I will find a face underneath?"