"Do you smell that?" Toriel asked. "Surprise! It is a butterscotch-cinnamon pie. I thought we might celebrate your arrivals."
The Warners cheered, especially Wakko.
"I want you three to have a nice time living here. So I will hold off snail pie for tonight."
"Diiiiisgusting," Dot muttered.
"Is something burning...?"
Toriel realized she may have left the pie in the oven for a little too long.
"Um, make yourselves at home!"
She ran off, faster than she did the previous day. Now that she was gone, the Warners were able to finally explore the rest of the house. They went into the room next to their own, which was Toriel's. It was painted blue, despite a pot of two golden flowers being on top of a bookshelf. The nearest object to them was just a regular old bucket...of snails. Next to that was a desk.
"Oh," said Dot, "it's her diary. Let's read it!"
She read the circled passage.
"Why did the skeleton want a friend? Because she was feeling BONELY!"
Wakko played the drums to accompany the joke, then chuckled with his siblings. The rest of the diary was filled with puns, but most of them had to do with skeletons for whatever reason. After reading them all, they checked out the bed.
"Definitely bigger than a twin-sized bed," Wakko stated.
"Thanks, Captain Obvious."
Dot nudged his rib cage, making him giggle. Then she took out a random book from the bookshelf. It was an encyclopedia of subterranean plants; she opened it to the middle.
"'Typha' - A group of wetland flowering plants with brown, oblong seedpods. Known more commonly as 'water sausages.'"
Dot turned around and saw the plant in the corner, but it wasn't a water sausage. Instead, it was a cactus, the most tsundere of plants. Meanwhile, Yakko peeked inside Toriel's drawer and gasped.
"Scandalous!" he shouted.
"Don't get too horny," said Dot, "she's way outta your league!"
"Relax, it's just her sock drawer."
Dot rolled her eyes as he smirked at her.
"Boys," she simply stated.
They left the room to see the next one. The sign on the door said 'Room under renovations'. Next to it was a drawer with a flower on it. Inside were flower seeds and some broken crayons.
"Hmmmm," said Yakko, deep in thought.
There was something strange about this. Different sized shoes, a disparity of toys, and now broken crayons...she must've had kids of her own. But where were they now? He stopped thinking about it as they approached a mirror next to the water sausage in the corner of the hallway and saw their reflections.
"It's us!" said Yakko.
"Yakko?" Toriel called out. "Wakko? Dot? Dinner is ready!"
They rushed to the table and ate dinner, which consisted of more than just butterscotch-cinnamon pie. There was a distinct kind of food on the table, which almost resembled BBQ ribs. Dessert, of course, was a slice of pie for each sibling. It took Toriel a while to convince Wakko not to eat the rest of the pie, but she was mainly successful due to Yakko and Dot pinning him down.
"Welp," said Dot once the commotion was over, "I'm off to take a shower."
"Count me in," said Yakko.
"Me too!" said Wakko.
Toriel smiled as the Warners ran off and laughed. They came out after less than twenty minutes, in their pjs with fur all dried.
"Oh, my!" she exclaimed. "You are filled with knots! Come, I will brush them out."
She put them on their beds, then took out a comb. Choosing to work with Dot first, she found it surprisingly soothing and comfortable. She managed to stay awake as Toriel let her know she was finished.
"Thanks, Toriel."
Yakko was next. The same impact happened, except that it didn't affect Yakko as much. He was able to keep himself awake as memories of his mom flooded his mind, finding that Toriel bore a resemblance to her, though not just because she was being motherly. Their personalities were pretty much the same, yet Queen Angelina was more playful than Toriel seemed to let on.
"Thanks, Tori."
Finally, it was Wakko's turn. His tongue stuck out as he smiled and found himself half-asleep, being affected the most.
"Thanks, Goat Mom."
"Huh?" said Toriel, dropping the comb in shock. "Did you just call me...'mom'?"
"Yeah..." said Wakko, too unaware to notice what he said may have thrown her off a little.
"Well...I suppose..."
"You're takin' it pretty well," said Yakko, noticing she was rather touched by Wakko's nickname for her.
"Would that make you happy? To call me...'Mother?'"
Wakko nodded.
"Besides," said Yakko, "ya remind us of her."
"Well then, call me whatever you like!"
She tucked the Warners into bed, despite their insistence that they didn't need it.
"Good night, Warners."
She left the room, the Warners falling fast asleep within a second as she closed the door.
For the next few days, the Warners enjoyed spending time with Toriel. Unlike other "nice" people they've known like Prunella Flundergeist, she was believably sweet and didn't go to the point where it sounded overly-cheesy and false. They also got to help her get more of her playful side out. With it shining through, the full resemblance to their mother was uncanny. But soon, however, they got bored. Toriel often replaced the puzzles to keep the Warners busy, but they grew tired of the limited space. They read all her books, explored every nook and cranny in the ruins, the pie was finished, and they felt like there was nothing new, yet grew suspicious about Toriel constantly keeping them away from the stairs for whatever reason. Finally, when a week passed, Wakko had a nightmare. Standing in a cold purple room, Toriel had her back facing towards him.
"You want to leave so badly? Hmph. You are just like the others."
Wakko was in a confused state and wondered why Yakko and Dot weren't by his side.
"Goat Mom...?"
"There is only one solution to this. Prove yourself..."
Wakko tensed up.
"Prove to me you are strong enough to survive."
"Wha-?!"
The lights went dark and an encounter was initiated as Toriel blocked the way. As she shot fireballs at him to avoid, he tried his best not to hurt her. But believing she couldn't be spared after a few turns had passed, he forced himself to take out his mallet. He hit her right by the rib cage, making her collapse. Toriel knelt as she grabbed the scar and moaned in pain.
"Urgh..."
Wakko stood there in shock at what he had done.
"Toriel!" he shouted, running towards her.
He put his hand on the area where she was mortally wounded, panicking.
"You are stronger than I thought..." she muttered.
"I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to do that!"
He tried to reach for his first aid kit, but it was no use.
"Listen to me, small one..."
Wakko was horrified. Nothing was healing her.
"If you keep going beyond this door, keep walking as far as you can. Eventually you will reach an exit."
She paused momentarily as her breathing became heavy and her voice faltered.
"ASGORE...do not let ASGORE take your soul. His plan cannot be allowed to succeed."
Wakko hugged Toriel, holding her closer to him than ever as he shed a few tears, trying to stay strong. Why was he so attached to her? He didn't know, but he felt as if she was an old friend...and now she was dying. Because of him.
"Be good, won't you? My child."
After her last words, her body turned to dust, but her white monster soul merely trembled. after a few seconds, it split in half and shattered into pieces as Wakko finally cried. Everything went pitch black, but a voice he didn't recognize was calling from the distance and brought him out of his grieving.
"Please..."
"Who's there?" Wakko called.
He lifted his head, but couldn't see anyone.
"Wake up! You are the future of humans and monsters..."
He woke up in his bed. No, the bed Toriel provided for him. He panted, waking up his siblings.
"Wakko," said Yakko, groggy from the wake-up call, "it's the middle of the night."
He rubbed his eyes, but became concerned when he saw Wakko was filled with fear. He walked over to his brother.
"What's wrong?"
Wakko explained everything, then buried his face into Yakko's chest fur and whimpered. Yakko hugged Wakko and patted his back.
"There, there. It's ok, Wakko. It's just a bad dream."
He soothed Wakko, who stopped whimpering after a while.
"Better?" said Yakko.
He nodded as Dot woke up.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Nothin', he just had a nightmare. Go back to sleep before Toriel hears us."
The next morning, the Warners had enough. It was time for them to leave, yet they were worried on how Toriel would react. Would she understand, or would she behave like she did in Wakko's nightmare?
"Up already, I see?" said Toriel, who sat in her chair with a book and her reading glasses.
Normally she would have made the Warners breakfast, but they already ate some monster candy before joining her. Turns out it did taste like licorice.
"Um," she continued, "I want you to know how glad I am to have someone here. You have read my books, solved my puzzles, and enjoyed my company."
"Aw," said Yakko, "don't mention it."
"I would have prepared a curriculum for your education, but I do not think you will need it. After all, you outsmarted your teacher, did you not?"
"Yeah!" said Wakko.
"This may come as a surprise to you...but I have always wanted to be a teacher...actually, perhaps that isn't very surprising. STILL."
She scrunched up her face momentarily.
"I am glad to have you living here."
The Warners wished she would stop talking. All her gushing was making them feel bad for what they decided. Toriel probably wouldn't take it well, and they weren't comfortable with hurting her feelings. After all, she did nothing wrong. Regardless of their concerns, they had to keep going. They couldn't live in a confined place like the Ruins. Luckily, Toriel stopped.
"Oh, did you want something?"
"Yeah," said Yakko, deciding to be the one to pop the question and trying to be as nice as possible. "When can we go home?"
"What? This...this IS your home now."
"That escalated quickly," Wakko murmured, wanting to hide in his shirt.
"Um...would you like to hear about this book I am reading? It is called '72 Uses for Snails.' How about it?"
"Sure," said Dot.
"Here's an exciting snail fact. Did you know that snails sometimes flip their digestive systems as they mature?"
Wakko made a gookie and Yakko and Dot felt like throwing up.
"I didn't need to know that," said Yakko, clutching his stomach.
"Interesting," said Dot. "But does that book tell us how to leave the Ruins?"
"...I have to do something. Stay here."
She left, making the Warners feel very uncomfortable. They gave each other worried glances, not knowing what was going to happen next.