LOUDERTALE

by Superdimentio77

When Lincoln wins a free reservation at a resort, he of course invites all of his family to join him. But when said resort is standing next to a certain mountain, their visit up the mount might extend the Loud Siblings' trek by a little bit. What friendship and trials await them? Look out Underground, here come the Louds.

7. Ruins, Part 5

LOUDERTALE

Arc 1 : Ruins

Part 5 : Heartbreak...

Author's Note : *Stares at computer like a broken doll*

"I'm on TV Tropes..."

*Silence... then everything starts to blow up*

HOLY SH-

(Our team is currently experiencing some intense madness problems. Please wait, our program shall soon... wait, what's that dolphin doing here ?)

[Trois Hours later...]

Sorry, sorry, just had to get something out of my system. Seriously though, a dolphin ? But anyway, I am just so happy that my other Loud House story, 'It's Not a Date', has officially been recommended on the FanficRec section of the Loud House TV Tropes' Page !

(*Canned Clapping and Cheers*)

I just can't believe I made it there ! Thank you Second_banana, who recommended my little fic ! Now, I'll be working hard for this here fic to make it as well !

Yeah, hard work... which has been a little hard those last few weeks. The truth is, I wrote way better and faster when I was at my school, but now it's closed until September. I keep writing, but it comes out in smaller bursts. So don't be surprised if it takes a tad longer for chapters to come out...

But enough rambling, you're here for a brand new chapter ! And you know which one is it, so you have nothing to worry about ! Sure it'll be sad for a moment, but surely this chapter will end in a big pile of hugs and understanding... right ?

Again, many thanks for your numerous reviews and support, and please, enjoy the story.

But again, a dolphin ?!

Undertale is owned by Toby Fox, and The Loud House by Chris Savino and Nickelodeon.

---

The Ruins were usually a very peaceful and quiet place, few monsters ever going over 60 decibels of general volume. Yet since a certain pack of humans had arrived, the place had certainly become a lot more lively and, well, Loud. A certain house was the most proeminent source of noises, but also the one place the monsters didn't dare to get too close to, by fear of angering its fiery householder.

Questionnable jokes, scratchy singing, small disputes, and "Goooaaaal !" shouts were usually heard at the very beginning of the day. The monsters inhabiting Home managed to get a good view of those strange humans, all siblings apparently, as they went to the market with their Goat Guardian. The Louds were a little unnerved at first, not because of all the monsters' different shapes and faces, but because of the way they fixed their gaze on them. As if they had been expected to come for a really long time...

Of course those looks would all shy away once Big T. threw in her motherly glare. But the kids still managed to make friendly conversations with them. The Looxes had apparently taken Luna's demand to heart, and had spread the word of friendship in favour of the Louds. The monsters ironically found them a little odd at first, but quickly warmed up to their presence and didn't dare to drag any of the children in a fight, not just because Toriel was always there to oversee the encounters.

But although Toriel was on her toes when any of the children would interract with another monster, she found pleasure in seeing them get along fine, especially with monster children, like a little Whimsun that apparently became a little braver thanks to them. He was still shaking like a leaf seen by someone suffering from Parkinson's disease, but the little thing was still talking with them, without sorry tears or fainting on the spot.

Still, it was at Toriel's place that the 'Loud Effect' was at its peak. And Toriel adored every minute of that loudness.

The Loud kids weren't careless though, they knew that although Toriel was very capable, she would quickly get overwhelmed if they adopted their general attitude from back home. Their parents had gotten the hang of it, with each child adding on the family chaos, but slowly so, letting time to the parents to adapt and discover. Here, it was eleven lively youths arriving all at once, and their status on the Michigan supermarkets' black lists was how it was for a reason. As such, Lori quickly called for a 'secret' meeting, and a schedule was made for when which Loud was to have their turn with Toriel, plus some rules to keep things secured.

For exemple, no dispute should ever get so bad that it would become necessary to apply the Sister Fight Protocole. Also, no going solo anywhere in the Ruins, always in group, and with at least a sister of age between Luan and Lori. And yes, that included Leni. Toriel had insisted that the pretty blonde could be trusted with that kind of responsibility. Leni had been full of joy and pride that day.

So with this pinch of order, the general chaos brought by the siblings was diminished to a more manageable level, and it gave Toriel the opportunity to bond with each of the kids.

With Leni, she got to exchange sewing tips, and discover a world she never knew truly existed : Human Fashion. The orchid purple gown the teen had made for Goat Mom was truly ravishing, and though Toriel kept on wearing her Royal Purple Robes most of the time, she put it on while going to the market, under the monsters' baffled and slightly enamoured looks. And on the side, Toriel did her best to teach the sweet teen, even if she had to go through Elementary stuff rather than usual high school work. Using Mall prices for maths also helped Toriel a lot to get her student invested.

With Luna, she assisted at impressive household solos. And those weren't named like that because they only took place in her home, it was also because the purple rocker used different items of the house to produce her vibes. But even without any instrument, Luna knew how to make some rad tunes, even with just a simple wooden spoon and a tap. Toriel heavily thought of finding her a real instrument at some point, so that she could have a sample of that Mick Swagger fellow's music, a man that Luna apparently idolized, seeing as she would give the brightest of smiles any time he was brought into the conversation. Luna's Karaoke night was also a big success, with Toriel's hilarious tentatives to sound 'hip', and a voice that managed to move the Louds to tears.

With Luan, the answer was pretty obvious. The comedian would share her best work with Toriel, bringing her her most successful routines and funniest jokes, so funny that they actually got a snicker or two from the other Louds, who still had heard the humour brand hundreds of times arleady. Luan would also throw in some juggling and accrobatic acts, though the last one got her shooting herself straight into the bookcase. As Luan had put it, it was one way to hit the books. The only odd thing in this punny exchange was that Toriel seemed unexplicably fond of skeleton jokes... but Luan didn't care, because puns competitions were still a blast, and Toriel was still very humerus.

With Lynn, it was about sport demonstration. The athlete wasn't shy to show what she knew, from basketball to soccer, from tennis to ping-pong, from Karate to Wrestling (with Lincoln as 'assistant'), she had them all. She also dragged Goat Mom into a football throwing session, and Lynn didn't hold anything back, confident that Toriel would catch the makeshift oval ball with ease. Well not only she did, but Toriel also got to show her own inner strength, as Lynn flew 10 meters backwards (about 33 feet) by the impact of the ball thrown back at her. But he sportgirl wasn't mad at all, she was actually thrilled and her respect for Goat Mom grew, who she now nicknamed Toripedo during the next sessions.

That only resumed after she managed to talk the worried woman out of nursing her like she had shattered her entire spine. Seriously, Lynn wasn't even sure how many pillows Toriel had stacked behind her head. It hurt her pride a bit, but she didn't find the lack of heart to tell Nurse Toriel that.

With Lincoln, Toriel got to hear the tales of the Loud House, or at least the ones he could remember. The boy's narration was so effective, Toriel could almost swear she was in it, and thought it was a pretty good idea of their human mother to jolt them down, those adventures could become quite interesting if put on paper. Or better yet, on TV ! (*Rimshot*)

Anyway, there were also the reenactment of his favourite Ace Savvy adventures – underwear inside the pants this time – and some questions about her life and the Ruins. Toriel proved a bit dodgy on the first, only answering to preferences and certain activities of her past, and on the second, could not provide any answer on 'Bright stars' or 'Narrator spirits'. Lincoln did not press on the subject, as he didn't want to worry Goat Mom over nothing serious. Or at least, what he hoped was nothing serious...

With Lucy, a new view on poetry appeared to Toriel's crimson eyes. She got to experience the chilling, yet beautiful works of brilliant authors like Edgar Allan Poe or Emily Dickinson. She then heard about the little goth's passion about everything, well, gothic, as well as her fondness for spooky mythology, both ancient and recent. Though the goat woman wondered, were those vampires and werewolves as attractive as the pale child was making them sound to be ? Oh well, she could roll with it, if it made her happy. Well, Lucy-happy anyway.

Also, Toriel learned that she was becoming one of Lucy's new muses for her poems and haïkus. The last one, entilted 'White and Purple' was... interesting, to say the least. The black-haired child also got to see her ghost friend from time to time, though according to the others, the two would usually just lay there, unmoving. Lucy interpreted it as a "break from the weight of the world on our shoulders" and a "way for her body to know what it'd become once Death would come to free her spirit from her fleshed prison". Toriel managed to take it in good stride, and commended her for her very diversified vocabulary. The little dark princess was pleased by that.

With Lana, action was the main theme. The little tyke was full of energy, and always eager to roll herself in every ounce of mud, filth, and other yucky stuff the Ruins had to offer. But Toriel didn't mind, kids would be kids after all. The visits to the bug-hunting spot were a hoot too. Many insects had the habit to come here, some very rare and special as Lisa had pointed out before. Lana even managed to find a crimson red Hercules beetle, with golden wings ! Toriel helped the excited tomboy to build a small terrarium for freshly named "Diego" to live, and Lana would always remember his feeding time. Sometimes, she would pluck some fresh insects from his bowl as a snack for herself.

There was one rule that didn't quite please Lana though. She could be as messy as she wanted during the day, but by 7 o'clock, it was obligatory bath time. And it wasn't just rinsing, Toriel would orchestrate the symphony of soap to make sure it also got behind the ears, no matter how grumpy the small blonde was about it. But even then, Toriel would manage to make this 'clean punishment' a fun time for Lana, with many fun games and wild water adventures that often resulted in dripping fur that would become humourously poofy once dried up.

With Lola, Toriel got to unlock her true beauty. Well, the little pink pageant queen said so anyway. She didn't manage to find any shoe that fit Goat Mom's huge feet, but it didn't stop Lola from trying to give the rest of her self a complete makeover. Whether Toriel accepted because of the savviness that emanated from Lola's speech or because she sounded adorable while saying it was anyone's guess, but what mattered was that Toriel did.

The three rounds went... um... The first one was rather benign, with a simple sleek dress, plus some rouge and lipstick. The second one, more heavy this time, got some strange reactions out of the Louds, with Lincoln giving himself a slap for some reason. And the third one got an unexpected twist when Toriel lit a scented candle with her hand and got the flame too close to her face smeared with make-up for a little too long.

It took a whole hour to convince the terrified Lola out of the closet, and that none of the revengeful Geisha ghosts Lucy had told her about were out to get her.

The little princess was also less demanding to Toriel than she normally was, barely raising her voice against her and only asking for one bedtime story. All of that without Toriel having to scold her once, only sending a meaningful stare each time she'd get a little too 'off-limits'. But bratty as she could sound sometimes, Toriel loved her little princess all the same.

With Lisa, Toriel had to activate her whole teacher knowledge. Lisa was an immense reservoir of knowledge that only begged to be filled up as much as possible. Toriel thus taught her most of what she knew about the basics of Monster Physionomy, Architecture, and some of their History, though she was a tad scarce on the last one.

In return, Lisa shared her science 'mumbo-jumbo' as some called it, with the latest findings and inventions made by man. Toriel was impressed by how much this 'Internet' was influencing the world today, although she could swear she had heard something similar around some monsters. As for her experiments, Toriel idly donated some fur and her fingerprints, though she insisted that her work was to be carried outside.

The first and only inside-the-house experiment result had left quite the sour taste, a horrible stench, and part of the roof to be fixed. Thank goodness for Lana and Lynn's quickness and experience in the roofing domain.

All in all, the eagerness of Toriel to both learn and share knowledge always managed to bring an eager smile to the small genius, as well as a profound respect for her praticality and swift reasoning. Also, the praising she would be given did get to her little cardiac muscle, she had to admit that fact.

But among all the Louds, none bonded more with Goat Mom than the two extremes of the kids' age chart.

With Lori, the teen managed to see a figure to follow in Toriel. Her calm in all situations. Managing to state that she meant business without raising her voice. Devising on the fly ways to please eleven kids of different ages and radically different interests. Lori felt that she could learn a whole lot from Toriel, and wanted to as well. And since her phone couldn't get any signal and needed to keep its battery preserved when it eventually would, the prime Loud sister spent most of her time around Toriel, trying to understand what it took to become a become a better leader and role model for her younger siblings, without them knowing it of course.

What Lori simply loved about Toriel was how unjudgemental she was of her, only giving her solutions and gentle talks about what she got wrong. There was never any word about failure, only ways to improve. And the teenager felt compelled to meet Toriel's expectations, trying her best to pacify her squabbling siblings instead of resorting to body-twisting threats. Sometimes she succeeded, other times she had to bear her fangs.

Toriel also seduced Lori's more refined tastes by showing her everything about making a delicious cup of tea, setting a refined table, or how to bake her signature scrumptious pies. Lori of course couldn't heat it up with fire magic like Toriel did, but made up for it by adding decoration on the pies, which Toriel commended as a wonderful idea. Lori couldn't stop grinning for the next twenty minutes afterwards.

And finally with baby Lily, their relation was based on a pure toddler-mother loving bond. Lily loved everything about Toriel. Her huge fuzzy arms, her soft robes she could nap on, her fluffy ears that she would lightly munch on, her kind voice, her tender eyes, her overall reassuring presence, and of course her yummy pies. Toriel had many toys for the little dumpling to play with. Lily got particularly fond of a light purple squeaky hammer, one that didn't leave an ouchie on her little fingers like the mean yellow one at her home. As for Toriel herself, the baby's adorableness and energy was enough to get a big smile out of her every time, and they got to share many fun and educational activities together.

One thing that everybody remembered the most between the two was that one time when Toriel fell right asleep with Lily while reading a book. When the Louds had come to check on the two, they found the woman laid in a messy way that they hadn't imagined possible for her to be in. Legs sprawled out, drooling, her reading glasses slightly falling off her nose, the sight was beyond amusing. After managing to stiffle their chuckles, the Louds awakened her, and Toriel, realizing the exemple she was setting, tried to brush the akwardness of the moment under the rug by pretending to read a book. The only problem was that instead of a book, she had grabbed Lily, kinda rendering her excuse null and void, and prompting great laughs from the children, which Toriel eventually joined in.

All in all, the fun simply never ended with Toriel. Games, stories, laughs, hugs, and much more to enjoy. With her, the Louds had their little oasis of comfort in the strange world of the Ruins, and safe from any attack from a certain flower. Curiously though, Flowey never reappeared after they had attained Toriel's house, not even as a yellow blur behind them. It was a little suspicious, but the kids barely cared. The longer Poppy the Psycho was out of their hair, the better.

Even the snail pies got a surprisingly unanimous acclaim. It took time to convince some of the youngsters to taste it, with Lola and Leni almost fainting on the spot while Lana, of course, immediately gobbled her slice whole. However, the taste proved to be very chicken-like, the filling was not as slimy as they expected, and the perfect mix of spices added to it made this dish a rousing success, worthy of being asked seconds.

Oh yeah, there was enough pie for everyone to get seconds.

...Was there anything this woman could not do ?

The kids were thus mostly free activity-wise, but there were two things that they were truly tasked to not do. First, eating a chocolate bar that was mysteriously resting in the back of the fridge. This proved quite the challenge for the chocoholics that were the Loud sisters, but Toriel insisted to keep it wrapped and uneaten. No detail as to why, but the Louds decided to accept it, though Lincoln felt a pang of sadness coursing his SOUL for some reason...

Then, there was the mysterious staircase in Toriel's entrance hall. None of the kids could play downstairs or explore what was in it. Toriel kept claiming it was because it was unfit for young children to play in, but there was something strange about her insistence over that single dark hallway. And no matter who would try, the Goat Mom would always be there to get them out of it, like some weird power conferred by her maternal instinct. She even caught Lucy in the act ! But oh well, if Toriel said it was a bad idea, it had to be for a good reason...

Despite that, all was good and well... but in the midst of having so much fun, the Louds seriously lost track of the time. Before they even knew it, six days had passed ! And the kids weren't even realizing that, they were in fact already planning on things to do for the next two weeks ! It wasn't without a decent reason, but it seemed that the Louds were forgetting what they were meant to do, where they were meant to go.

But as they got tuckered in for this seventh night, a reminder was about to make itself known to one of them...

---

*Plic, ploc...*

The constant sound of drops hitting the ground was what began to stir Lincoln out of his daze. The boy groaned as he shivered on what felt like a cold hard ground, with a cool wind assaulting his face.

'Whu... wha ?' mumbled the Loud boy internally. 'What's that noise ? Am I sleeping in the bathtub again ? Wait no, Toriel wouldn't have let me... But, it can't be rain. We're underground, how can rain fall underground ? Is it another weird thing this place can do ? Wait no, Toriel said there is no weather down here.' The boy's eyes began to flutter open. 'What the heck is going on ?'

After a few tries, Lincoln managed to fully pry his eyelids open, and was met with the view of a cloudy sky. Yes, the sky. No purple stone roof, the true and honest sky. To say that Lincoln was confused was an understatement.

"When did we... how did we... was it all a dream dream ?" mumbled Lincoln to himself. The dots were simply not connecting in the pre-teen's mind. One minute he was inside Toriel's house, comfortably resting with his sisters, the next he was in... in... "Where am I anyways ?"

Lincoln slowly picked himself up, and began to look around. He first saw a bare tree, very much like the one in front of Toriel's house, but he could tell it looked different, and not just because of the black crows standing on it. Looking down, the boy could see the ground he stood on was composed of grey marble, with grass and dirt around it. Then, he saw some rocks, but those rocks weren't natural. They were carved, in line, most of them with crosses on top of them.

Lincoln's eyes widened. He had accompanied Lucy at enough of her grave-digging competitions and funeral practices to understand that he was now standing in a Cemetery.

"H-How did I get here ?" said Lincoln a tad fearfully. He tried to breathe calmly, but every breath of cold air he took did little to reassure him. "Where am I ? If all of this was a dream, I should be under my tent on the mountain, right next to- *Gasp* where are the girls ?!" He began to quickly pace around, calling his sisters' names. "Lori ?! Luna ?! Lily ! Girls, if you hear me, give me a sign, I'll take anything ! Even a chinese burn from you Lynn !"

But all he got for an answer was the never-ending clattering sound of the raindrops falling on the ground. Things were starting to look grim, and if it wasn't through his little black-haired sister, then there was something truly wrong going on.

Lincoln gulped, and asked again, meekly this time. "Please, is there someone out there ?"

"Thank you all for coming in such large numbers despite the unpleasant weather."

"Yargh !" yelped Lincoln, startled by the strange gritty voice, which he could tell was from none of his sisters and didn't sound anything like the one that usually played out in his head. As he looked around for the source, he spotted blurred forms in the distance. With curiosity and a bit of hope, Lincoln walked towards them. "Um, hello ? I-I'm sorry to interrupt, but can someone tell me where I am ?"

"We are gathered here, to say our final good-byes to those who have vanished." continued the voice, completely ignoring the boy's question. Upon approaching, Lincoln recognized one of the undertakers from Royal Woods' death care industry.

'But... I'm not supposed to be in Royal Woods.' thought Lincoln, holding his head as he could feel it swelling up with questions. Still, he tried to adress the man by reaching to his dark coat. "Sir, I'm really sorry, but could you tell me- AH !" Lincoln yelled as he saw his hand passing through the grey-skinned man's coat and body. He quickly retracted his hand, and heard the man going on with his duty, as if the boy wasn't here at all.

"We will honour their memories, we will honour them for who they were." recited the man swiftly, years of experience showing in his monotone yet compassionate voice. "For the friendships they kindled. For the brothers and sisters they were, even without the link of the blood. And... for the wonderful and full-of-life children that they were."

"Wha- children ? But... who died ?" asked Lincoln, once again not getting any response. His focus shifted however when he heard sobbing. Well it seemed to be a funeral, so that'd be normal to hear someone crying. But he knew that sobbing. He remembered all too well the night of the day Lynn had attempted a dangerous 1440° on her board to impress her pals, and had been put in intensive care after her skull had landed hard on a metal bar. He had to wait for hours in the hospital hallway, between a just as concerned Luan and his sobbing...

"Mom ?" murmured Lincoln, turning his head to see a crowd assembled, all wearing black garments and protected from the rain by black umbrellas. And sure enough, in the absolute front row, was Rita Loud, right next to her husband. And the poor woman was busy crying her eyes out, doing to Lynn Sr.'s shoulder what the rain could not do. Only the rain could not make it this sad.

"I c-can't believe it... my babies, my poor babies..." sobbed the woman as her husband tried to reassure her with a pat on the back. But although he tried to stay strong, the father was crying just as much.

To Lincoln, the sight was simply heartwrenching. He tried to signal his presence by waving his hand in front of their faces and to poke them, but once again saw his hand passing through them like they were ghosts.

Or like he was a ghost.

"Mom, Dad, what is going on ? Why're you crying ?" Lincoln begged for an answer.

"My babies, why did you have to go ? Please, come back, I'll do anything..." repeated Rita, her form still rocked by sobs.

"What are you talking about, Mom ?! What... babies ?.."

Lincoln's voice all but disappeared on the last word. Certainly she could not be implying...

Slowly, Lincoln turned around to take a good view of the grave, or rather the huge tombstone behind the still-reading undertaker. He walked a little closer to take a good look, and almost as if knowing it, a flash of lightning lit up the place and the name engraved in the grey stone.

Or rather, the names engraved in it.

"No..." whispered Lincoln in horror.

In memory of Rita and Lynn Loud's beloved children:

Lori Loud

Leni Loud

Luna Loud

Luan Loud

Lynn jr. Loud

Lincoln Loud

Lucy Loud

Lana Loud

Lola Loud

Lisa Loud

Lily Loud

May they rest in peace.

Lincoln recoiled, aghast of what he was witnessing. This was no mere tombstone, it was THEIR tombstone. But that simply made no sense ! Lincoln turned back to the crowd, and began to see the people in the crowd more clearly.

There was Clyde with his dads, bawling like an infant. The poor boy had in one swoop, lost what was pratically his brother, and the love of his life. But seeing as the name he was constantly blubbering was not Lori's, it was clear who he was truly missing the most here.

Bobby was there too, and looking no better. The special connection between the jack of all trades and the eldest Loud child was admittedly sickening at times, but was just too pure to be truly dissed by their siblings. And as Bobby could demonstrate it through various and very well-thought-out romantic gestures, he was displaying it here by the unhealthy amount of grief and tears rolling down his face.

Lincoln recognized many other familiar faces, all close friends to either him or his sisters. Zach, Liam, Rusty, but also Polly, Giggles, Tabby, Haiku, Rocky, Chunk, Maggie, Margo, all of Lynn's football team, , and many others. But all of them looked so broken, so sad that it almost got Lincoln crying too. Even was there, tears of regret and unadmitted compassion for the children washing down his wrinkled cheeks.

But what truly put the final nail in the coffin for Lincoln Loud, was the person that now stood directly in front of the tombstone. She lacked her shorts and purple hoodie, but Lincoln could recognize that hair and those adorable freckles anywhere. The hispanic girl just stood there, looking at something in her hands. Lincoln crept a little closer, and choked on his breath when he saw the item.

It was the photo they took after they won the Swords and Cyborgs National Tournament. A simple but heartwarming photo taken by Clyde, where the two shared an embrace after Lincoln gave out the huge trophy to her. It simply began with a few playful hits in the shoulder to one another, then romance played out.

And it was this picture, neatly put in a frame, that the girl's tears slowly fell on. Nothing of the tough tomboy remained in her stance or expression, only grief and sadness. The girl who would look at The Harverster II: The Gathering and laugh it off, was now trembling and hiccuping. Seeing her so frail and vulnerable simply did not sit well with Lincoln.

And then, she spoke.

"You promised..." she murmured in a shattered whisper. "You promised you'd come back, you promised. W-Why did you lie to me ?" she hiccupped, before falling on her knees, not giving a damn about the foot of her black dress splashing into the mud. "You can't just go like that, y-y-you lame-o. I... I love you..."

"Ronnie-Anne ! Look Ronnie-Anne, I'm right here !" yelled Lincoln, trying all he could do for her to notice him. But his presence remained non-existant, with his hands still grasping nothing no matter how much he tried. The uselessness of his actions was enough for despair to worm its way into his mind. He turned to the sobbing crowd of his loved ones, and desperately tried to reach out to them. "I'm here ! M-Me and the girls are not dead ! We're fine ! Please stop crying ! Stop crying !"

But his cries all fell on deaf ears, and the crowd's wailing only intensified, as did the pouring of the rain. It was just too much for poor Lincoln, who crashed on his knees, the heavy atmosphere taking its toll on him. But it was upon this action that Lincoln realized that something was wrong here. When he touched the floor, he simply felt a cold, dry texture. Plus, there was a shower falling above him, and yet he couldn't feel a single drop touching him. Water absolutely everywhere, and Lincoln simply wouldn't feel it.

As he tried harder, he suddenly saw the ground ripple under his feet, as did the all-grey background around him, with nothing even close to be distinguishable. Suddenly, it all made sense to Lincoln. "I'm... I'm just dreaming." said Lincoln, feeling a whole lot more relieved. "It's just a very bad dream..."

*But it will not stay that way for long.

The sudden voice scared Lincoln good, but he quickly made up for it by looking around to find the source, to see who had finally noticed his presence. And he found it right where the undertaker had been a moment ago. When taking a good look, Lincoln felt an odd sense of familiarity, despite the fact that he was sure that he had never seen this person before in his life.

The person appeared to be human, a child even, looking just as old and tall as him. The child had brown hair in a bowl cut, light brown pants, brown shoes, and a green sweater with a yellow stripe. The last piece of clothing seemed quite ruffled and dirty, as was their hair. They also looked like they hadn't eaten in quite a while. The oddest part of their form however, was their face. Their cheeks were rosey as if they were made of porcelain, and their red eyes shone behind their messy bangs, although they were not as concealing as Lucy's were.

The strange human stood there, completely still. The look on their face however was not peaceful by a iota, sending a downright hateful glare in the Loud brother's direction. The spite and share disgust in their eyes was enough to make Lincoln's knees quiver, even if he didn't have the foggiest idea of what he had done to deserve this treatement.

But as afraid as he was, Lincoln felt he still had to try communicate with this strange person. "Um... hey there ? Do I... know you from somewhere ?"

The brown-haired child didn't move an inch and kept glaring, but responded nontheless.

*I see that you've already forgotten me. But then again, you do seem to have this nasty habit.

"I've heard your voice before, I'm sure of it." said Lincoln, intensely scratching his chin. Then the answer crashed onto him faster that the aftermath of an overdose of Zombie Bran. "Wait, you're that voice in my head, aren't you ?!"

*Who I am does not matter. Look around you.

Lincoln obeyed, but only saw the greyed out image of his loved ones still crying for his and sisters' death. "W-What am I supposed to see ?" he asked sadly.

*What you see is what the future could most likely become. This is the pain and sorrow you and your siblings will inflict to these people.

"B-But that can't be ! We're alive !"

*It can, because the fact that you are alive changes nothing. You have vanished on Mount Ebbot, and you know the legend. Everyone knows the legend. But why defending yourself ? It's not like any of this matters to you.

"What are you talking about ? Of course they matter, they're my friends and family !" rebuked Lincoln, starting to feel a little frustrated by this whole act. His bravado ended however when the mysterious human's glare became even harsher, if that was even possible.

*I've been through your mind and memories, human. You're having fun with Toriel. So much fun that you've forgotten what you were supposed to do. Who you were supposed to get back to.

"T-That's not true..." whimpered Lincoln pitifully.

*Oh ? You dare say that the thought of staying here forever never crossed your mind ? Look into my eyes, and tell me that you've never thought of remaining permanently into those Ruins.

Lincoln opened his mouth, but the words just wouldn't climb out of his throat. He could feel his SOUL shake with uncertainty, but upon close inspection, he could see that the multicoloured contour that was usually around his SOUL was gone, and that a small red string was attached to it. Following it, Lincoln saw that the string linked him to a hollow red heart-shaped outline, that floated just before the strange human's chest.

The human, not hearing any interruption, kept going.

*You can't say it, can you ? You know that would be a lie. Because despite the fact that you're a human, you still have a conscience. But you just can't admit that. I truly thought you would be different, but...

The enigmatic child's voice was now dripping with resentment, and despite bowing his head, they kept their red irises onto the human.

*You humans truly are all the same.

Lincoln arched an eyebrow. "Wait, but aren't you human too-" He cut himself with a yelp, because in the blink of an eye, the child was standing in front of him, fixing a death glare on the boy.

*NEVER SAY THAT AGAIN. I am not like you. I will never be like you. I do not hurt my...

The apparently non-human hesitated for a second, then shook their head to get back to the business at hand.

*But we're not talking about me. We're talking about you and your sisters. And what your selfishness is doing to your parents and friends as we speak. This dream you see here is only a product of your subconcious, because deep down, you yourself know your crime.

Lincoln kept being at a loss for words. He looked at everyone, his parents, Clyde, Ronnie-Anne, and all he could feel was shame. For a moment, Lincoln thought that this strange being that had decided to accommodate itself in his head was the one trying to make him feel bad to pierce his spirit or something, but the boy quickly saw that he was getting into denial.

He wasn't sure about Ronnie-Anne, or Clyde, or the others, but he knew that those downright shattered expressions his parents had here, were certainly the very ones his real parents were sporting right at this very instant, crying themselves to sleep over losing all of their children. Heck, if they were even sleeping at all. After all those fine words back when they first arrived, they had all but forgotten it, for their own personnal amusement...

"Y-You're right..." murmured Lincoln with a heavy sniffle. "We didn't mean to, but we did... Mom, dad, everyone... We're disgusting..."

*Now is not the time for self-pity, Lincoln Loud. If you wanna prove that you are better than that, then you must ACT upon your awakening. It will not be easy... but you will have to say good-bye to Toriel.

Another needle pricked Lincoln's heavy heart. Saying good-bye to Goat Mom ? That would mean... leaving her all alone. But the words she had used when they had arrived...

"Life has been a tad lonely for me lately, and to see all rassembled here... it means a lot to me. Thank you for being here."

Lincoln shakily looked up at the sweater-clad child, who kept gazing at him coldly. "But... can't she just accompany us to the surface ?" he asked pleadingly.

The child remained stoic, but a hint of pity passed in their eyes. They put their quite skinny hand on his shoulder, and spoke in their usual neutral tone.

*That is impossible. For many reasons that you will soon discover. Now though, I need to see you wake up, in more sense than one.

Their red eyes gained a dangerous glow.

*Or else, you might quickly lose control of more than your own destiny...

Suddenly, Lincoln felt something wrapping up around his leg. Looking down, he saw a big thorny vine coil around his pant leg. He tried shaking it off, but not only did the vine hold strong, more of them quickly joined in. Once both of his legs were all wrapped up with the plants, they tripped him up, and began to pull the poor boy away.

"Aaah ! What's happening ?! Help me !" called Lincoln to the child. But when he looked up, there was no trace of the mysterious spirit. Lincoln tried clawing his hands into the dirt to stop himself, but the vines kept pulling him towards the open hole that had mysteriously appeared.

And once he was close, the vines yanked him right inside. The white-haired child called for help, for his sisters, for Toriel, for anyone...

But nobody came...

The vines took advantage of his fear to creep higher on his body, sinuating around his arms, chest, and finally mouth. Lincoln's cries for help were muffled, but that didn't stop him from trashing around to free himself.

"Oh, now that's just adorable."

Lincoln's entire being froze. That voice. That awful, awful voice...

"You want to stay here forever, don'tcha ?"

His forehead was quickly drenched in sweat and a couple of frightened tears stinging the corner of his eyes, Lincoln slowly turned around, despite his conciousness screaming him to stay put. He thought he was going to find something horrible.

He found much, much worse.

It was indeed Flowey standing there, but in a more monstruous form, measuring twice Lincoln's size, and his terrifying smile now full of razor-sharp teeth dripping with drool. His demonic voice had lowered in pitch, sounding even more horrific and dangerous. Dozens of bulky vines full of thorns danced around his petaled head, all looking eager to make mincemeat out of the poor trembling child.

"Well, I believe I can help you with that right now ! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !" cackled the flower dementedly, making the very air and atmosphere ripple.

In a flash, the deadly vines all lashed out towards Lincoln's direction, who could only watch in horror the hundreds of them approaching closer, and closer, and closer...

UNTIL-

---

*GASP !*

Lincoln took several gulps of precious oxygen to calm himself down, feeling his heart quite litterally assaulting his chest. He was covered in cold sweat and pratically crying, trying to convince himself that all of this had just been a messed up nightmare. Looking around, all he could see was the soothing sight of his dozing sisters, with Luna and Luan on his sides. The simple fact of seeing the two mumbling in their sleep, one singing and the other one telling bad jokes, was enough to slowly but surely ease Lincoln's worry.

A bit of it returned when the creaking noise of the door opening startled the boy. A familiar furry face appeared by the little open space. "Lincoln, child, are you quite alright ?" softly asked Toriel with a smidge of worry lacing her voice.

Lincoln hesitated, remembering the words of the mysterious child. But... perhaps it could wait a little longer. "Y-Yeah, just a little nightmare. But I'm alright, and my sheets are dry, so don't worry about it." feigned Lincoln, putting on the most convincing smile he could right now.

Toriel's expression went from a worried frown to a warm smile. "Ah, I see. In that case, have a nice rest. And if you get frightened, know that I'm always avaliable to talk about it, alright ?"

"Yeah, thanks Goat Mom. Good night." nodded Lincoln.

Toriel quietly chuckled, wished him a good night too, and closed the door. In darkness once more, Lincoln's smile fell down, and his head descended on his pillow. He looked at the ceiling, already brainstorming his future choices.

*You seem to be more of a night chicken than a night owl.

"Oh shush." whispered Lincoln, feeling annoyed. "It's the middle of the night, I can bother her and my sisters in the morning. Besides, if you've been through my memories, then you should know what most of my sisters will do to me if I try to wake them up that early."

*...True. But I wonder what new excuse you'll find in the morning.

"I guess we'll find out in said morning. Now let me sleep !" Lincoln ushed the voice. It didn't fire back, making Lincoln the winner of this round. With a sigh, he put his sweaty hands back in his big sisters' clean ones. When he felt their gentle squeeze, he flashed a reassured smile and closed his peepers. He'd find a solution in the morning, he was sure of it.

Well, almost sure of it, yeah...

---

"Alright sleepyheads, everybody litterally wake up !"

Lincoln's eyelids creaked open, and a morning groan escaped his lungs. When Toriel was busy with breakfast, that meant Lori's bossy voice was the first thing greeting them upon waking up. But it also meant that the younger siblings could forget about five more minutes of sleep, unless they'd like to be litteraly kicked off their matresses.

Luna yawned, oddly hitting the right note, and gave a tired smile to her little bro. "Hey bro, you slept well ?"

"It was okay, had a little nightmare, but I got better." replied Lincoln. He nervously scratched his ear, thinking of how he could approach this sensible topic. "Luna, could I ask you something ? Not just you, but everyone too ?"

"Can it wait until after breakfast, bro ? I can smell Tori's yummy piecakes from here, and my stomach's on full hunger solo here." chuckled Luna as she held her growling tummy, which only resonated with the ones of every youth present, Lincoln's included.

The sole brother blushed a little, feeling both relieved and disappointed by this answer. But yes, he reasoned, the girls would certainly be in a much better listening mood once their stomachs were full. Lana and Lola were pratically walking and grunting like zombies, slowly following the sweet scent of batter flesh and syrupy blood.

"Yeah, I guess some grub does sound nice right about now." said Lincoln. As the sisters all trudged outside the room, Lincoln took a moment to reflect upon himself, and what he'd have to do after breakfast. He turned to the camera, and let out a sigh. "Maybe breakfast will give me some ideas, because right now, I just don't know how I'm gonna tell them..."

Without any better plan, Lincoln got up, stretched his limbs, and exited the room, hoping he would manage to swallow Toriel's delicious breakfast.

---

After a good breakfast and queuing up in front of the bathroom, the Loud children were rassembled in the red room, with the sisters all chatting jovially.

"I still do not have the foggiest idea of what our Guardian puts in those delicacies, but I swear on my Junior Nobel Prize that I'll find out someday." said Lisa, contently rubbing her little stomach while her baby sister immitated her.

"Not sure if it's good for my diet, but I so don't care." added Lynn with a little burp.

"I can't wait for Toriel to take us to the market place again. I wanna try those weird berries that Vegetoid was selling the other day !" whooped Lana as she and her twin sister were bouncing on the bed again.

"Oooh, and maybe that cute dress too. It'll totes look great with that new headband I got last time !" chirped Leni as she put the final arrangements on her nail painting.

"I wonder if Napstablook will be here today. I haven't seen him for two days. Did I say something wrong to him ? Sigh, I may never know..." mumbled Lucy, feeling a bit downhearted today. The more upbeat Luan patted her back reassuringly, feeling sorry for the little goth.

The excited chit-chat running around the room should've made Lincoln feel better, but it had quite the opposite effect. All he could think about was the downpour he was about to put on his sisters' sunny mood. The breakfast had not been much better, as though Lincoln had managed to eat, the smiles and laughs shared with the kind Goat monster only served to make him feel worse.

But he knew it had to be done. He could still vividly remember his nightmare, his parents, friends, and girlfriend bawling their eyes out because of what they were doing. This was something he simply couldn't let happen while his mind was straight. All he needed right now was a little push.

And Luna unconsciously obliged by bumping his bro's shoulder and chillingly saying, "Well bro, what was it you wanted to tell everyone earlier ?"

Silence immediately fell at that, with the girls looking more or less interested in what their brother had to say. Lincoln felt his nervosity triple, even as he kept telling himself that he had given speeches to so many people before. But he knew that this time, it was different, and that he couldn't get out of it.

So with a shaky sigh, Lincoln managed to find his voice. "Guys, I wanted to ask you something. Something... important."

"Shoot away, Lincs my good man." piped Luan with a toothful smile.

"How much longer are we gonna stay here ?"

All eyes widened around Lincoln, certainly not expecting that kind of question, nor truly understanding it. "What's that question supposed to mean ?" said Lola, trying not to sound too confused.

"It means, shouldn't we be trying to go home ?" added the boy.

Lynn tilted her head. "Home ? I ain't following you here."

Lincoln's hand felt that his face was feeling lonely, so she decided to join it as quickly and hard as possible. Lincoln couldn't believe it. He knew his jock of a sister could be a little dense at times, but she couldn't be implying what Lincoln felt that she was implying. He decided to try a different approach.

"Can any one of you tell me how much time we've been here please ?"

"Two minutes ! I win !" Leni celebrated like she had won the lottery. It seemed that in her book, a little victory was a victory worth celebrating for.

"I'm afraid your guess is off-topic, Leni. Our brother was clearly referring to the time we've passed here in this household." pointed out Lisa.

"And the answer is ..?" pressed on Lincoln, starting to grind his teeth in sheer annoyance.

Lisa referred to the abacus offered to her by Toriel. "I'd say... approximatively 6 and a half days." she analyzed, then arching an eyebrow, "But I fail to see your reasonnement here."

"You cannot seriously tell me that you don't see the problem in what you just said." said Lincoln, now starting to lose his temper. But he chose to calm down, as he reminded himself that he was just as guilty in this affair.

"Alright Lincoln, let's litteraly stop with your annoying little act, and cut right up to the chase." sneered Lori hautingly. "What is the problem here ?"

"The problem is that we've been stagnating for over six days ! We've forgotten what we were supposed to do in the first place ! Going back up there !" bellowed Lincoln, pointing at the ceiling.

Seeing her bro getting so riled up, Luna immediately felt necessary to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Bro, calm down. We didn't forget, we're just, you know, enjoying the scenery a little. And what a scenery it is ! Besides, it ain't like we're hurting anyone..."

Hearing this sentence from one of his sisters was already bad for Lincoln, but to hear it from wise Luna simply proved to much for the brother, who could feel his blood boil anew. "Not hurting anyone ?" he began heatedly, slapping away Luna's hand, much to the shock of his sisters. "Are you for real right now ?! Don't you understand the kind of horrible monsters we are being right now ?!"

"Okay, what's gotten into you ?!" interrupted Lori, getting fed up of her brother's recent attitude. "Since this morning, you've been looking worse than the time they cancelled the animated series of Ace Savvy, and now you're lashing out on us !"

"Yeah Lincs, you're being all weird right now. What's the problem ?" said Lana, feeling a bit scared of her big bro's visible, but confusing anger.

"Poo-poo ?" asked Lily with a small whine.

Lincoln took a sharp breather throug his nose, and exhaled it as slowly as he could. He was coming up as weird and crazy right now, he needed solid context. He didn't like how blunt he knew he was about to be, but convincing them he had to.

"I... had a nightmare last night. In it... I saw the owner of the voice that's been talking through me since we fell down." Lincoln started his tale.

Lucy perked up at the mention of the enigmatic spirit, and quickly approached her surprised brother. "You've come in contact with the presence haunting you, and without the help of any séance. Unprecedented, but insightful. Was it a he or a she ? Was it even human ? How many eyes did they possess ?" The others were quite surprised of seeing Lucy talking so much, so quickly, and most importantly, with so much interest and emotion.

"No, it was human, and I'm not sure what gender he or she was. But that's not important !" said Lincoln, gently pushing his little sister away. "What matters is what they showed me. It was a funeral." The boy bowed his head, not eager to see their reactions. "Our funeral..."

A sharp gasp rose in the room. The girls could feel a strange shiver passing down their spines, but none could find the right words to reply at such a story. And they had a feeling that it would soon get worse, as Lincoln spoke again.

"Apparently, we were believed to have just vanished from the surface of the earth. Kinda like we are right now." said Lincoln, uttering a small dry chuckle. "But it wasn't us being dead that was the worst part, far from it. It was the people attending, all the people we know were there, crying for our disappearance. And upfront... were Mom and Dad." Lincoln's voice cracked a little at the end.

An immense feeling of sadness began to take over the children as Lincoln's words started to hit home.

"Mom was crying on Dad's shoulder, calling for us, begging for her children to come back. Dad couldn't even say anything, too busy crying as well." He stopped an instant to both let it sink in and steel himself for the end of this story. "Then, the voice told me that it was what we were doing to them right now. And the worst is, they're most likely right. To just imagine how crushed they must be right now... and all while we are having fun down there. Fun that apparently isn't harming anybody."

As his eyes began to moister, Lincoln looked back up at his sisters. The guilt, shame and sadness were all too apparent, some of them even starting to cry. The worst one though had to be Luna, who was downright trembling and hiccupping in regret of being so selfishly careless, with her fashionista of a big sister trying to hug her out of her funk, although tears were rolling down her cheeks too.

Seeing all this regret, Lincoln decided it was time to soften up a bit. "Guys, I'm not saying that to make you all feel bad, alright ? I'm no better after all. It's just... what we're doing here, it's not right. We can't keep doing this, not while there's a chance we can go back to them, not while we make them suffer like this." Wetness began trailing down his cheeks. Great, now he was starting to cry too. "I know it's not easy to admit... but we have to go. We have to say good-bye to Toriel."

"But wait, can't she just come with us ?" attempted Lana rather meekly, with Lola nodding behind her. "S-She can show us the way back home. Or better yet, come with us to the Surface ! I-I'm sure she can settle somewhere on the mountain, and we'll come to visit !"

Lincoln stayed silent for a moment. He could remember and feel the presence's disapproval on the matter. Impossible, they said. But one glance at the sad, yet slightly hopeful faces of the twins was enough to make him think. He was forced to admit, for Toriel to follow them back to the Surface would be wonderful. It wouldn't hurt to try asking, would it ? As such, Lincoln chose to skip on that small detail.

"Yeah, I guess we can ask her. But what truly matters here is, we gotta go. Today."

Lincoln sighed in relief, despite the argument not being quite over yet. He had done his part, exposed his woes and resolution. The ball was in his sisters' court now, and he could only wait to see if they'd either follow his reasonnement, or let their fondness for the kind substitute mother win them over.

All looked uncertain about this. Lisa was meaninglessly scribbling down her thoughts, Leni was gazing into Lily's eyes as if looking into a magic 8-ball for an answer, Lynn made her lucky baseball bounce once against the wall before gazing at it, Lucy sat in the corner with her head against her knees, mumbling to herself, Lana and Lola were sadly looking down at the floor, Luan tried thinking of a little joke to warm up the atmosphere, but without any success, and plopped down on one of the matresses against the wall right by her roomate's side, who was busy reminiscing herself the lyrics of her favourite Englishman to find some enlightenment in them.

However, the uncertainty was fairly weaker in one Lori's mind, but the frustration was much more potent. She couldn't believe that once again, Lincoln was the voice of reason. How could she have let this happen ? She was supposed to safely lead her siblings back home, but instead she had let herself being lured into this selfishly comfortable stagnation. If she could've given herself a slap without looking like a cuckoo-clock, Lori would've done it without hesitation.

But now was not the time for this. Now was the time to get things done, and to move forward. Patience had run out, time for action.

"Girls, Lincoln is absolutely right." Lori's tongue stung a bit admitting that part. "If there's an exit, Toriel is bound to know where it is. Or at least a way out of those Ruins. This Underground place litteraly has to be bigger than this old city."

"And that's not all." perked up Lucy, now close to her yelping big sister. "When I read Toriel's books about Monster lore, there were many references about some kind of barrier, like in Lincoln's legend. If that place is anything like I think it is and we can find it, then we might have a chance to meet the sun again. Well, the surface anyway, I couldn't care less about that shiny poser."

"Ah come on, the sun ain't no poser. He's been a real world star for a long time now, hahahaha !" guffawed Luan, feeling her energy getting back to her.

Lisa stood a bit straighter, and rearranged her glasses' position. "Joke and pessimism aside, this does seem to be the better option. Besides, I am rather curious as to where the monsters this city had be built for went, or where this King of theirs presently resides."

"Oh yeah, the King ! I bet he has a super big castle, with Gold everywhere !" fantasized Lola, her pupils once again taking the shape of dollar signs.

Lynn jumped on her feet and punched her open palm, a renewed fire in her eyes. "Then what the heck are we waiting for ? Let's go see Goat Mom, and start jogging our way to freedom !" rallied the brown-haired athlete.

"YEAH !" cheered the kids, with Lincoln smiling the brightest. Now that he had his sisters with him, failure didn't feel like a possibility anymore.

With that said, the Louds exited the room, ready to 'confront' Toriel for a way out of the Ruins. They of course turned the lights off, plunging the room into obscurity.

Thus took off the last children, ending the room's mission by leaving it empty once more, and this time, forever.

---

The siblings arrived in the living room, and found Toriel in her usual reading spot, comfortably seated and reading a good book while humming a soft little tune to herself. Seeing her so full of mirth made a dry feeling appear in the Louds' throats. But they all knew that they couldn't back down, not while their parents could be drowning in their woes. Besides, nothing said that they had to part ways with her yet.

So they carefully stepped forward to Toriel, who finally noticed them and adressed them her iconic motherly smile. "Oh, hello children." she warmly greeted, being none the wiser of what was about to happen. "Are you ready for our trip to the market already ? We shall be going in about a quarter of hour. And do not worry, I have not forgotten about all the places you want to visit, including the library." She smiled at Lisa and Lucy, who responded with a smile of their own, trying to hide their nervosity.

Lincoln looked at all his sisters, and couldn't help but share their nervousness. A lone trickle of cold sweat was descending down his forehead, and he could feel his legs turning into Moldsmals. Perhaps... perhaps they could wait a little longer. Maybe they could discuss that after the trip to the market, when Toriel would feel more disposed, and...

*Are you that eager to prove me right ?

Lincoln's eyes widened a little, closed... then reopened with acceptance and conviction. The voice was right. Backing down was simply not an option. If having to leave Toriel was the price to reach freedom and their loved ones... then so be it.

"Um, actually, we wanted to ask you something else. It's uh, kind of important."

Toriel looked a tad confused by the boy's request, but she still grinned back, not seeing the harm in it. "Oh, do ask children. Is it about the book I'm reading ? It's quite the fascinating read, even if perhaps more for me than for you. Can you believe how many uses there are for-"

"When can we go home ?" said Lincoln in one breath.

And just like that, everything froze. It was as if a gentle and soothing music had suddenly stopped, taking the entire warm and fuzzy atmosphere with it. The only thing that could be heard now was the crackling of the fire, but even it seemed to have quiet down.

That change of ambience in the house was all linked to its owner. Her smile was still there, but her eyes barely held calm and kindness now. Instead, the siblings could only find panic and a strange sorrow. The woman began to shake a little, and her voice, while still soft, showed cracks that were shaking the kids' hearts to their core.

"But, children. What... ever are you talking about ? T-This IS your home now. I-I... I thought you understood that."

The Louds winced hard at this. That reaction was pretty much what they had expected to hear, and really wished they hadn't. Nontheless, Luna decided to keep the flow going. "Look love, it ain't that you're a bad host, or that we don't like it here, but we gotta get on the road, to go back to our own little home." she shyly said, using all of her inner will to keep her eyes focused into Toriel's almost pleading ones.

"That is... correct, Goat Mother." acknowledged Lisa with a clear strain in her usually still and neutral voice. Few times had the little genius genuinely showed that she was sad, but each time hit close to home, and this time was no exception. "New factors have entered the equation, or rather we were reminded of old ones. That is why he have to-"

"Um, how about taking a peek at my new book before that ?" cut in Toriel hurriedly. "It's called '72 Uses for Snails', and it's got many interesting facts about them. Would you like to hear some ?"

Had Toriel asked this question yersteday, the kids would have jumped right on board, eagerly circling Toriel to find out about those either whacky or insightful facts, and having many laughs about it. But now, naught excitement was found on their faces, only pity and sadness at what their guardian was obviously trying to pull.

"Goat Mom, we don't really..." began Leni.

"Did you know that snails can flip their digestive systems as they mature ?"

"Goat Mom, c'mon..." squeaked Lana, her eyes watering at the sorry scene before her.

"And, um, did you know that snails' shells were once used for marble games, or even boules ? I-I certainly hope that they didn't get shell shocked over this, right ?"

"Please, Goat Mom..." sniffled Luan, the will to laugh at the pun completely drowned in the pity inspired by the overwhelming feeling of sorrow she could feel coming of this sad clown act. Sad-sounding puns were simply... simply... she just didn't have any joke for it.

"Oh, and what about this one ? Apparently, snails were a currency-"

"TORIEL, DROP THIS ACT NOW, AND JUST LISTEN TO US !" finally exploded Lori, fists shaking with anger and eyes shut tight. It got Toriel to stop, as she tightened her lips and silently kept looking at her book, her eyes unmoving as she kept reading the same sentence over and over.

Lori just couldn't take it anymore. Toriel, the person who had taught her so much about being a good figure in so little time, who would keep her calm and serenity in all circumstances, no matter the dispute or the conflict, who beamed with kindness and understanding at every waking moment. To see her just crumble like that, it was just too much for the teen to handle. She just hated to see that worry in her eyes, that sudden panic replacing her collected speech, that way of running away from the issue at hand, just to avoid unpleasant consequences.

Lori could see herself in Toriel right now, and she loathed every second of it.

But Lori knew that she couldn't keep venting her frustration like that. She needed to be comprehensive, but firm. Just like Toriel had taught her to act. Plus, if Toriel was to begin to cry, no doubt that she would be melting into tears right after her. So she took a deep breath, and took her stand.

"Look, we are thankful for everything you've done for us until now. Saving us from Crazy Weed, showing us how to deal with assaulting monsters, taking us in, all that. Those few days spent with you were amazing, and we'll never forget them. But." Her voice grew in firmness, and her eyes locked on Toriel's pitiful form. "We had a wake-up call this morning, and we realized the truth we should've known, and the one I'm certain you know as well. We don't belong here. Our place is up there, with our family and friends, under the sun we've been seeing and feeling since our birth. We must go home. It's sad, I know. I too would've loved a little more time here, but we just can't keep vegetating, not now that this feeling of something missing is in our hearts. So now, I am litteraly going to ask you something, and you're litteraly going to answer us truthfully : Is there a way to exit the Ruins, where is it, where can we find the place that'll take us back to the Surface, and can you take us there ?"

Toriel's head bowed a little more, hiding her eyes behind her book. In her mind, she couldn't help but chuckle humourlessly as three words echoed inside, again and again. Must go home. Six times she had heard those three words, and every time it meant the same thing. Never seeing them again, and only hearing about them through the announcement of their death.

But amongst those who had passed through her home, none had managed to stimulate or fill her day with more wonder than those eleven young ones had done. To think that they were demanding that she'd allow them to meet the same fate than the others. To think of the consequences, of the moment HE would get his filthy hands on them, and what would ultimately result of it.

Letting a child go had been painful, and every time she heard of their demise was like hammering a rusty nail into her already worn and bleeding heart of a mother. None had hurt less than the last one. Here though, she was tasked to let eleven of them go. Eleven youths filled with glee, always eager to learn more, and ready at any time to tackle on what the world could throw at them.

She just couldn't let them exit the Ruins, she couldn't let them wander in this place where everyone would be out to get their SOUL for such a foolish and unbearable plan. She couldn't, she couldn't, she...

An empowering feeling of determination flooded her very SOUL.

She wouldn't.

The Louds' feet all left the floor for a short moment when Toriel quickly and noisely closed her book shut. A thin veil of obscurity was once again hiding her eyes as she got up, put the book on her chair, and gave the children with a quiet but firm order.

"There is something I must attend to right now. Remain here until I come back."

And just like that, she was gone, having zoomed past the Louds without any warm grin, pat on the head, or little good-bye kiss. This fact alone came as shocking to them, but it also filled them with dread for some reason.

"Am I the only one who thinks that maybe we should be following her ?" said Lynn a tad nervously.

"Can't believe I'm saying that, but yeah, I'm not really trusting that order she gave us." admitted Lola, feeling deeply hurt by the lack of compassion in Toriel's last action, that only added to the fact that they were saying good-bye to her, and how bad she was taking it.

"Goa' Mama..." whined Lily with a sniffle, shuffling her head into Leni's chest. The poor little one wasn't liking this anymore than her big brother and sisters, as even she could clearly understand that comforting hugs would not be enough this time around. In that regard, the toddler felt lost and useless, and that just made her sad. Which was not happy. And that was just wrong.

"Down the stairs." suddenly quipped Lucy. "The one place that she told us not to go to, the ultimate enigma of this house that is hers. It must be where she's heading right now."

Lori nodded gravely. Whatever Toriel had in mind, she had a very potent hunch that they would heavily regret its execution. "Then that's where we're heading." she said, hitting her palm with her fist. "To the-"

"To the basement !" bellowed Luna, beating Lori to the punch and leaving her to grind her teeth in heavy frustration. Nontheless, all the siblings approved, and were off to the hall. Once in it however, Lincoln felt the need to halt the march.

"Wait guys, I think I should go to the Save point first !" called the boy, rising complaints and grumbles out of his sisters.

"We're in a bit of a hurry in case you haven't noticed, Lincoln !" chatised Lola. "And didn't you already go this morning ?"

"C'mon, it's just in case ! You can never save too often, even if we still don't know what it means here." argued Lincoln.

Lori rolled her eyes at her brother's nerdy logic, but knew things would move faster if she just let it be. "Alright, just make it snappy." she said while doing a little 'shoo-shoo' motion with her hand. As Lincoln zoomed off to the yellow star, Lori felt the need to check the time on her phone. "Wow, 10:59. This is way too early to deal with that sort of problems."

"I don't think there's really any adequate time to deal with this issue." said Lisa blankly.

"Well, we can't exactly delay it anymore, or else we'll be clocking like scaredy chickens, hahahaha !" joked Luan, trying to lift off the mood a little. And despite the groans, her sisters did smile a little in the end.

Meanwhile, Lincoln attained his destination, and pressed his hand against the floating yellow gleam. The voice in his head naturally began to speak, but over its usual omniousness and neutrality, Lincoln could feel something else attached to it, two things actually. A smidge of sadness, and a bit of pride.

*Knowing that despite picking the hard choice, you also chose the right one... It feels you with Determination.

For the first time since this morning, a smile that actually held confidence found its way onto Lincoln's face. The first step had been made, now he just needed to take on the rocky path. With this in mind, Lincoln pressed the Save button-

LOUDS – Ruins Home

LV1 – 165:42

File saved successfully !

-and returned to his sisters to follow them to the darkest and most mysterious place of this house.

The Basement !

---

Soon enough, the beige steps made room for the long and dusty purple hallway that was the basement. In contrast to the last one the siblings had seen, barely any light, be it natural or magic, could be found in it. The narrow walls weren't doing the room any favour, as the pounding of the many pairs of feet strongly echoed, and a soft but cryptic gale of wind kept slithering through the room and against their faces.

The only Loud who didn't feel intimidated by this creepy scenery was who you'd expect. The raven-haired girl only felt disappointement in not having found this amazing dark and pressuring spot for her most recent writing sessions.

But the large amounts of dust in the wall ceased to take the kids' focus the moment they saw Toriel standing there, her back facing them. As they slowly approached her, Lola tried to reestablish communication.

"Goat Mom ? Are you upset ?" she asked, barely louder than a whisper. Volume was then added to her voice as an idea came back to her. "You know, i-if you want to, you can always come with us, we won't mind."

"Yeah, we can get you a brand new house on the mountain, even better than the original. And with one heck of a view !" proposed the other little blonde with a half-excited grin. "O-Or ! You can come live with us in Royal Woods ! We can clean the shed in the back of our garden, have some renovations, extend it, and make it as cozy as here, maybe even more ! W-Whaddya say ?!"

However, their enthusiast was only met by a silence of death at first, only increasing the children's apprehension. But about fifteen seconds of more sound of an echoing wind coming down a hallway, finally Toriel replied.

"So, you desperately wish to leave this place, to go home. Do you not ?" she began, with a distinct hollowness and lack of tenderness that made most of the Louds' palms sweat with uneasiness. She kept going, unperturbed. "There is only one way to exit the Ruins, and it stands ahead of us. By passing this door, one can access the rest of the Underground, and see all that inhabit and lead it."

A look of hope brightened on the Louds' faces. "Really, it's just down that hall ? That's awesome !" exclaimed Lincoln, showing his eagerness right alongside his sisters' cheers.

"Oh man, I wonder if we're gonna meet a big squid on the way !" said Lynn, feeling hella pumped up again.

This made Luna raise an eyebrow. "What is it with you and big squids ? Did you like that 'Juliette Verne' book Lisa lended you so much ?" A sly smile then invaded her face, and she nudged her little sis. "Or maybe someone went a bit deep in the Internet, am I right dudette ?"

"S-Shut up !" rebuked Lynn with a blush, that had actually nothing to do with squids and their limbs, but did involve some research on the Internet. What could you say ? All kinds of weirdos could be found in there. Writers were the worst though...

"Goat Mom, like thank you so much !" chirped Leni, relieved that the conflict was over. "I swear that on the way, I'll try to knit you the cutest sweater, and I swear it'll have only two sleeves this time. And then I'll make matching ones for everybody, so we can-"

"I'm going to destroy it."

All sound of happiness suddenly stopped, Toriel's single sentence tearing into the children's excitement like a saw full of dread. All that the now big-eyed Leni could utter was a meek, "Whu, what ?"

"I'm going to destroy this cursed exit. Nobody will EVER be able to leave again." said Toriel roughly. "Now be good children, and go back upstairs." She then proceeded further down the hall.

"Toriel, wait !" called Lori, but to no avail. Her arm flopped back to her side, and she adressed a lost look to the ground as the rising feeling of dread that had been quelling inside her heart was now coming back at full force.

"Why is this happening ? I-I cannot comprehend..." whimpered Lisa, her sadness too overwhelming for her to realize how bruised her ego was to admit such a thing.

"I don't believe it. Has she been lying to us all this time ? Does she only wants to keep us as her little pets ?" hissed Lynn as a couple of angry tears came down her freckled cheeks, but stopped when Luan litteraly shook her out of it.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, there's goat to be another explanation." she stated, not even noticing the accidental pun she had just made.

Lincoln nodded, "She's right. No time to waste people, follow that lady !"

The pack of children hurriedly did so, despite the storm of emotions that was raging in their minds. They quickly found Toriel, who was once again seemingly waiting for them, while still not looking in their direction.

"Goat Mom, we have to talk !" demanded Luna with a serious tone.

"It's a foul path you are thinking of taking, Goat Mother. One that even I would not dare walking upon." ranted Lucy with a touch of urgency in her flat voice.

"Why are you even doing this ?! Did we do something wrong ?!" sniffled Leni with big sad puppy eyes.

Toriel bowed her head a little, and unknowingly to them, her facial features tightened with sorrow, as her voice grew cold. "I am doing this to protect you. To do what I should have done when the others asked me the same question."

Lincoln emmited a short gasp. "Wait, the others ? You don't mean..."

"You didn't think that you were the first ones, did you ?" said Toriel, closing her eyes as painful memories resurfaced. "Every time a human falls down and I take them in, it's the same old song. They come. They stay. They leave." Her voice's temperature dropped lower than an icy tundra as she pronounced those two last bone-chilling words. "They die."

"D-Die ?" squeaked Lana, not feeling so good by this blunt statement she was praying was just part of one big joke. But Toriel only got somberer from that point.

"You think that the monsters outside of those Ruins will be as easily swayed than the ones you've encountered here ? Ha. This naivety will only get you hurt, I'm afraid." she sneered, trying to ignore the whimpers of the most sensible ones. "The world outside is not fit for you children, as it is one where they... ASGORE... will kill you without the slightest of hesitations."

The amount of venom and resentment in the way she had said that name made the Louds recoil with fear in their hearts. Who could be so despicable that they could make sweet Goat Mom hate them with such a passion ?

"It is safer to stay here, with me. Do you understand ?"

"Then come with us !" loudly attempted Lola. "If you wanna protect us so bad, then come along ! With your super fire magic and your death glares, the monsters will leave us alo-"

"No." firmly cut in Toriel, sending the sad princess back to the crowd. "I cannot go back to this place, never. Now once again, I'm telling you, go to your room, all of you."

Toriel walked away again, leaving the Louds to debate over this new information.

"Man, just, what's her problem ?!" said Lynn, feeling more frustrated by the second.

"She's just scared." realised Lincoln, having the most clues about this story but not by much. "She doesn't want us to die like the others did. She thinks that as soon as we walk beyond that door, the next time she'll hear of us will be in the Minor news column of the next Underground Gazette, right under "Let's cook some mean brussel sprouts with Chief V. Getoid.""

"Really ? You think now's the time for a joke ?" drawled Lori with a deadpan tone.

"If we're going into that kind of bad stuff, better to have a little smile there to help you keep yourself on both of your legs unless you want them to be chicken's legs." winked Lincoln, high-fiving his giggling comedian of a big sister.

A bit of amusement appeared on the other siblings' faces, and despite the seriousness still being unavoidable here, this pinch of humour helped their ideas become more clear.

"So basically, that means that the other humans *gulp* died at the hands of monsters. But... why ?" mumbled Lana, cupping a hand under her chin while the other one traced along a dusty brick for her to see if it tasted different. Strangely enough, she discovered a tangerine flavour.

"Revenge could be it." crowed Lucy, standing still as ever. "Against the war that they've lost, or the companion that they wounded. This may be a story that can only end in the blood of the traitors, and where the winner takes it all." She saw her siblings taking a very apprehensive step back, and bowed her head. "Sorry. It's been a rough hour so far."

"Tell me about it." sighed Luna, shaking her head. This performance had worse vibes than SMOOCH at San Diego '06, with Eric Yeller throwing up all over his drums and Gene Salmon's bass guitar suddenly blowing up for no reason. "There's gotta be a way to make her change her mind. We need to prove that that whole dying shabang ain't going to be for us."

"Well, there is a major and thoroughly obvious difference between us and our predecessors that we can present to our aloof guardian." revealed Lisa, her brain clicking right.

"Ah ?" said Lily while tilting her little head.

"The very reason why hotel and restaurant receptionists wear faces that resemble Edvard Munch's masterpiece every time we enter their establishement, dear younger parent of mine. Numbers."

Lincoln rubbed his chin with fervour, and his face lit up like candles on a birthday cake. "Of course, no child before us fell with someone, and had to go alone, while we form a complete team of experts together. That's gotta convince Goat Mom to let us pass !"

"Well, numbers are always a good strategy to bash down doors." chuckled Lynn, remembering how her and her football team had to do so on the previous winter when the doors had frozen down to the ground. They had sure understood how to use their heads, or at least how to use Margo's.

"Sure would be nice if she could come too. Her fur's so soft, so why does she have to be so hard-headed ?" mumbled Lana, kicking an imaginary pebble off the ground.

Lori stood tall, the fact that she had made her choice all too clear in her eyes. "Whatever Toriel decides for herself about staying or not, that's entirely up to her." quipped Lori, her voice tighter than her clenched fists. "But she cannot force the same thing onto us. We are free to do whatever we want, such as going back home. And if she wants to play difficult, then we'll just have to remove her from our path."

"Wow, time out Lori, that was hecka creepy !" pointed out Luan, not being the only one to not quite like the unconcious amount of threat put in their eldest sister's last words.

Lori found herself blushing a little, and shook her head. "Gah, you know I don't mean it like that ! I'm just saying that Toriel has no right to keep us here against our will, and that we'll pass even if she doesn't wanna come or let us through. I don't... like it anymore than any of you do, but that's our only set of options here. So let's just go already, who knows what she could be doing to the door right now !"

With that said, the Louds hurried further down the corridor, letting nothing distract them. Apart maybe for one little Lily, who despite being bounced in Leni's arms, managed to notice a dim cyan glow escaping Lori's left short pocket...

---

As the corridor suddenly took a turn left, the Louds found Toriel near its corner, still not willing to look at them. "Go to your room this instant. This will be your last warning." ordered Toriel even more sternly, hoping that third time would be the charm.

But this time, as she moved forward, all the Louds did was to share nods, before tailing her, not an ounce of hesitation in their step.

After advancing a bit more, they reached the hallway's end. The walls widened at last, creating a small room for the siblings to enter. Opposite to them was Toriel, standing before a large purple door that looked quite heavy. Engraved on both panels of the door was a black version of the symbol on Toriel's robes, a symbol that, now that the kids thought about it, had been seen a lot in both the city of Home and the monsters' history books, but without any clear indication of what it meant.

On Toriel's side, the woman's smidge of hope vanished, but nothing she didn't predict. Of course they would follow her to the end. Who wanted to listen to her anyway ? They didn't. He didn't. Still, she decided to give it one last shot.

"The path behind you is not yet closed, children. Please, do what's right, what has to be."

"And that's what we're going to do." said Lincoln, once again taking the spotlight. "Goat Mom, Toriel, we get that you're afraid for us. But things are different this time around. All the humans that passed through here, they all travelled through the Underground alone, only relying on their own single skills. But we're not like that, we have all the skills you could imagine. We've got smarts for the most cryptic of enigmas." Lisa tweaked her glasses with a small grin. "We've got muscles to make the meanest of monsters back away, or to prove them our strength and will." Lynn cracked her knuckles, and Lana turned the peak of her cap around. "We've got wisdom and insight, to get to understand the most misunderstood." Lucy nodded, and Luna flashed a thumbs up. "We've got the way of the deal and the talking, to reach the most advantageous agreement for both parties." Lola placed her arms on her hips with an eerie grin, and Lori crossed her arms, staying completely neutral. "And most importantly, we've got plenty of good spirit !" Luan winked and pressed a finger against her cheek, Leni flashed all of her pearly whites, and Lily clapped her little hands. "So what I'm saying here, what we are saying, is that you've got nothing to fear. Team Loud has never let any obstacle stop them before, and with all that you've taught us, we won't be this time either."

Lincoln Loud took a breath, glad to have delivered that speech, and could only hope it would work as planned. The sisters shared both his hope and apprehension for what would be their possibly-soon-to-be ex-guardian.

After a handful of seconds that felt like an eternity, Toriel softly carressed the closed door, and she adressed the children with grim empathy. "You know, I truly thought that you'd all be different, that you would mind danger and pick the better of choices. I see that once again, I was very wrong."

"W-Way harsh Tori..." winced Luna with a hand on her chest.

"So... you say that I have nothing to fear ? Very well then." Toriel's hands fell on her sides, and her form stood a little straighter. She drew a shuddering breath, and released it in two words. "Prove it."

"Huh ?" said Lynn, blinking in confusion.

"Prove me that there are no fears for me to have." Toriel pressed on. She finally turned to look at the siblings, giving them a cold yet heated glare. "Prove to me that you truly have what it takes to survive out there."

"Goat Mom ?" asked Leni fearfully, her slight trembling intensifying when two blazing flames appeared in both of Toriel's hands, reflecting against her crimson eyes.

More flames appeared and danced majestically around the monster, taking place all over the room and forcing the Louds back to back. Some of the embers agglutinated themselves on the door behind Toriel, building a wall of flames and making the symbol on it shine with a mysterious power. The air that had been cool and slightly humid was now becoming arid and suffocatingly hot, only adding to the pressure of the room. But it was only when their SOULs jumped out of their chests that the children, in horror, realized what she truly had in mind. And as to sign it, Toriel spoke one last sentence, her voice booming with a certain regality.

"Prove to me that you won't die !"

Critical Battle Engaged !

{Undertale – Heartache, either OST or Orchestral}

*"Toriel blocks the way."

'No... No, no no no no no, it wasn't supposed to be like this !' whimpered Lincoln internally as he saw the four option boxes rise. He couldn't believe it. What was supposed to be a hard and tearful good-bye, had transformed into something much worse. Toriel, a Guardian that had shown nothing but love and compassion, had now dragged them into a Fight, which meant that she had the power to...

But she couldn't, she wouldn't, she... why would she ? What did they do wrong ? What did he do wrong ?

"Wow Lincoln, what a great job you've done here." Lori sneered with heavy sarcasm, not able to contain this sick feeling of glee over her brother failing as the 'leader', a position he'd been hogging from her for far too long. A little content smirk even appeared on her face despite how heatedly grim the situation looked like for all humans present. Inside, she knew how wrong that was to take pleasure in seeing one of her younger siblings fail, but there was simply something sweet into seeing Lincoln getting knocked off his little pedestal.

However, she was promptly scolded by her fellow sisters coming by their only brother's side, who was tearing up and shrinking on himself due to the weight of his own guilt. "What the hey Lori ?! This was uncalled for, in every way possible !" blurted Luna with a frown as she passed her arms around Lincoln to hug him, trying to ignore the odd tune she could swear was echoing around the walls plastered with flames.

"Yeah, just because I was that mean to you six days ago, doesn't mean you can return the favour !" growled Lynn while pointing an accusing finger in Lori's direction and patting her brother's back.

"Spitting such inconsiderate venom in a moment as dire as this present one. The shame only doubles when I believed that I wouldn't hear that from you anymore." spat Lucy, her voice laced with enough wrath to be clearly noticed as she brushed her brother's hair in a way similar to the way he would do it for her. Her brother being mocked for a good action reminded her too much of the Clogged Toilet-Pony Princess Book incident, and that was enough to make her blood boil.

"Bad timing, and hitting someone while they're on the ground. Seriously Lori, there are limits even I wouldn't dare to cross !" bellowed Lola, not quite as furious as she hoped to be due to her floating blue SOUL's reminder of the horrible situation they were into. Still she , alongside her twin, hugged her brother's legs.

Lori stayed silent to the accusations thrown at her, and simply looked away with a scowl. Her pride wouldn't let her admit her fault, but she knew all too well that they were right. She could hear Lincoln drying up his tears, and saying, "It's okay girls, j-just the stress of everything that is going and falling apart so quickly. But we can't let that undermine us just yet, we've got to set things right, and end this meaningless battle. So once again, let's show what the Louds are made of !"

The girls of course cheered for him, which only made Lori more envious and yet more mad about herself. A certain dimness in her own little floating heart could only remind her how bad she was acting and feeling all over. Eventually, she felt a small but familiar tug at her brown shorts. She looked down to see Lily, looking right back up at her with concern. She quickly replaced it with a happy, almost encouraging smile, and mimed to be picked up. Lori hesitated for a moment, but knew that she could not dare to inflict any of her spite on the little ball of innocence that was Lily. So she complied with the toddler's demand, and received a hug that she felt she did not deserve, but simply enjoyed it for the time being.

Because as she opened her eyes, she silently came back with her siblings to face their present enemy, who was gazing through them with a mask of sternness and flames blazing around her paws. Imposing wasn't doing any justice to Toriel right now, as not even her first appearance in the shadows could top how menacing she was looking right now. But despite the context, this was still a Fight, and the siblings had been getting into enough of them to know what to begin with.

"Lincoln, I believe that you and your dual sounding narrating abilities have the floor to be the opening acton of this... fight of ours." said Lisa with a sigh so heavy, she almost recorded it for future references, perhaps for her next tutorings about the functions of the human throat.

Lincoln nodded, and pressed the Check option. But as he opened his mouth, the informations first filtered through his brain, and his throat immediately went dry with his eyes widening in shock. He stood there for a good ten seconds until his sisters, unnerved to see him this unresponsive, brought him back to reality with the use of Luna's fingers snapping before his face.

"Bro, what's the haps ? What did it tell ya ?" asked the music lover.

Lincoln swallowed the lump in his throat, and after a bit of struggling, managed the words out, the voice once again assisting him.

*"TORIEL. ATK... 80. DEF... 80. Fire magic Expert, but you already knew that. Thinks she knows what's best for you..."

The Louds' jaws pratically fell to the ground hearing Toriel's battle resume. They knew Toriel was powerful and skilled, and they knew she was heck of strong too. But what they were told here was that they were facing someone 8 TIMES more powerful than Napstablook, dozen of times more experienced, and thousands of times more passionate.

But Luan, true to herself, tried to keep her smile going for the sake of her siblings, even if its radiance was all but gone. "Come on guys, it's Toriel, there's no way she'll attack us. There'll probably be some text, or some harmful little warning. She wouldn't-"

*FROOSH !*

*Clac-clac-clac-clac*

Luan's voice vanished once she saw Toriel moving her left hand to their left, and made a huge magic reconstruction of her own hand. Then she slowly whipped her arm sideways before her, moving the hand, and making small flames appear in its trail. She then made the hand disappear, and shot her arm in front of her, sending an order to the flames to become fireballs, and whisked them towards the kids, locking onto the rainbow of SOULS they possessed.

Said kids quickly shook their initial shock, and disbanded to avoid getting hit. But the lack of room plus Toriel's impressive skills meant that many of Toriel's shots hit a target. Many pained cries resonated across the room, with seven of them crashing on the ground, only leaving Lori, Lynn, Lola, and Lily to be standing, watching their siblings with horror written on their faces. This horror was quickly shared by the ones picking themselves off the ground, as they had learned two things from this attack.

The good thing was that Toriel had only taken away 3 HP from each of them, which meant her overwhelming attack was not an instantly lethal threat. The bad thing... was that Toriel had attacked them. And hurt them. And the most terrible thing in that ?

She meant to do it.

Toriel's face still sported this mask of cold indifference, looking completely unmoved by the sorrow and fear in the children's eyes. She perfectly knew that their vision on this world had been rocked to the core, but those were consequences they needed to learn. Or else, the guilt of not doing so to those she had already allowed out of the Ruins, a guilt that was still eating her up to this very day, would only increase to more unbearable levels. Her resolution stood strong, this was a necessary evil for her to accomplish for them to see the evil that resided beyond those doors.

But for the Louds, who didn't know any of that, the feeling of betrayal was worst than anything they had ever felt before. Poor Leni almost threw up because of how bad everything felt at the moment, as big fat tears appeared in her eyes. Luan's smile was gone, only leaving grim realization over her features. Lynn's breath was ragged and full of anger, but her memories of the fun times spent with Toriel blocked any scream from escaping her lungs. Lana and Lola trembled in eachother's arms, reminding them when their fourth birthday, when they had stuck themselves on a tight rope while going to the Circus and escaping their parents' watch. The share feeling of helplessness when dangling hundreds of feet from the ground came back to them at full force.

All in all, Lincoln's initial fright over Toriel's attack level had been spot on, just not in the way he had imagined it to be. Its physical effects were not so different than the monsters', and nothing compared to Flowey's pellets, but the emotional effects more than made up for it.

*"Toriel readies her next attack."

"She is really gonna get through with this, isn't she ?" murmured Lucy as she hugged herself, unable to stay impassible through this trial.

"I wish I could tell you yes, you have no idea how much I want to..." breathed Luna, patting the little goth's back as she dried her own tears.

As she brushed Lily's head to make her tears and hiccuping stop, Lori took a moment to contemplate the situation. This battle was already much bigger than the others, but... it was still a battle. She looked over to the choice buttons coming back, and knew what she and her siblings needed to do. But as she saw Lincoln's look slowly evolving out of its sad state, she bit her tongue and decided to stay silent. What was the use ? He would cut in and steal the show, as usual.

Indeed, Lincoln was using those last words spoken by the voice, who were surprisingly lacking the smidge of emotion it usually had, to fuel the fire of his Determination. THIS was clearly some sort of Boss Fight, and it meant that mechanics they'd learned before had to be the solution to win this fight. So if Toriel was readying another attack, then they needed to be ready to fire their own counterattack, Conversation !

He turned to his sisters, and immediately grabbed their attention. "Okay, I know this looks kinda bad, but we've done this before. It's just another battle, only with bigger stakes and importance, but it's not one that we cannot win. We swore to keep going when we first arrived, and we're still all there. We've got all the tools for success, so let's get this Operation 'Rise From the Underground' back on track !" he hollered, his voice dripping with conviction.

Upon hearing this, light returned to the siblings' eyes. Their team was still assembled, and it wasn't Toriel who had pacified all those monsters before. The rules were not of their liking here, but they'd follow them once again if it meant going home and putting an end to Toriel's nonsense. They quickly formed a circle, and rallied their hands in the middle.

"Loud to the very end !" yelled Lincoln.

"LOUD TO THE VERY END !" chanted his sisters in unison as the hands flew up in the ceiling's direction. Now feeling remotivated, they all faced Toriel once again, and looked at their trusty ACT button, ready to unleash speeches of all kinds in hope to get their furry friend to see reason.

Lincoln decided to commence hostilities, or rather pacifying, and chose the only other option appearing, Talk. But when he tried thinking of something to say, nothing good really came to him. So, he decided to be simple and honest about it. "Goat Mom, can you please let us pass ? We don't need to fight about it."

"If it'll make you understand, then I believe it is." replied Toriel with a voice so cold, it made a shiver go down Lincoln's spine. Her attack was the same than before, allowing for less Louds to be hit by the magic fireballs.

*"Ironically, talking had no effect on Toriel."

Leni decided to take the next turn with a more polite demand. Being more kind might get Toriel back to her caring nature, thought the platinium blonde as she pressed the Gentle Demand option. "Goat Mom, we are very sorry to do this, honest. But, like, can you please let us pass, pretty please ? We won't forget you, e-even me. Please..." she pleaded with puppy eyes and her hands clasped together, her voice cracking a bit at the end.

"You are kind, my child. And that is why I can't let you go further." said Toriel coolly, her eyes, usually so soft, piercing through Leni's retreating ones.

Toriel's next attack still was flame-based, but this time only consisted of two serpentine-shaped trails of them, with a gap between each flame, and the two twisted lines crisscrossing eachother in a strange rhythm. The number of flames proved intimidating to the Louds, and managed to nip each of them in the bud, save for Lily. This time, four HP were taken away from them, and the burn marks were becoming more apparent over their bodies.

*"You use Puppy eyes. Toriel is apparently not fond of puppies."

Lola shook the pain off and reached the ACT button, choosing her own option, Bargain. "Look, maybe we don't have to do it now now. Um, how's about we stay o-one more night, and then you let us go ? A-And I'll throw in some evening games, and a story at night for you to count. H-How does that sound ?" she proposed with a big tight smile.

"Today or tomorrow, the danger will still be there. You must quit fooling yourself, my child." spoke the spellcaster, furrowing her brow. She let loose another 'Sweeping Paw' attack, with again limited results, but results nontheless, one of them being the princess herself, who sniffled and whispered in a meek voice.

"But I really wanted to hear another story from you..."

*"Toriel's present policy : No buts, except yours back in your rooms."

"How can you keep cracking up comments like that in such a battle ?!" Lincoln yelled, seemingly angry to himself. The voice appeared to have not heard the comment, or at least pretended to.

Levity was what Luan thought would be a way to calm the rising heated tension of this room. Thus, she massaged her cheeks to get the best smile possible, and pressed her ACT option, Joke. "Wow, despite giving the cold shoulder, you're certainly on fire, hahaha ! You've got ashurance, but no need to be coald about it ! C'mon, how's about we cool things down, and give this whole debate a fresh start ? Eh ?" she finished with a big wink. But after a few very quiet seconds, Luan's smile greatly wavered. "C'mon, not even a little bleating chuckle ?"

"While your humour is on point, I will not back down for this little routine. The burning passion in my heart will not allow it." answered Toriel vividly, sending another Serpentine Wave of flames. One of them smacked into Luan's knee, forcing her on one knee. As she rubbed the bruise, the commedian gave a sad laugh, sounding like a broken record.

"Heh, *sniff*, good one..."

*"Love hurts, and that's no joke..."

Lucy scratched the mark on her arm in deep thought. Perhaps words were lacking for the whole message to get through the great literary person that Toriel was. With this idea in mind, Lucy chose her ACT option, Poetry. "This path you are taking, don't you see ? It makes you shine with the wicked light of tyranny. Do not answer us with a fight and stoop so low. Your heart and Soul of a mother, you must follow."

"..." was Toriel's reply. Or rather lack of reply, as if she hadn't heard the pale-skinned child at all. She instead delivered another row of Fire Serpentines, leaving Lucy to barely take one in the face from the shock of Toriel's indifference over her. As if she hadn't heard them, as if Lucy's words had never existed in the first place, as if it would not matter if she was there at all.

"D-Did you not hear me ?" meekly asked Lucy, almost pleadingly.

"I heard you quite right my child, but unfortunately for your words, it is because of this motherly heart that I cannot let you continue your foolish quest. Now hear my words : Either prove that you are strong enough to survive, or go back to your rooms !" she bellowed, effectively sending Lucy back in the shadows. And though she was relieved to still exist in Toriel's eyes, she couldn't block the couple of black tears falling down her eyes.

*"Alas, Toriel still acts aloof."

Seeing her roommate in this sorry state, as well as looking over her hurt siblings, only reinforced Lynn's belief into how bogus this all was. But... despite everything, she decided to keep playing by the rules, by reminding Toriel her own ones. The teen thus punched her own choice of ACTion, Tough Talk. "You know, what you're saying and doing right now doesn't add up at all, either before this fight or right now ! You can't pretend you want to protect us, and then throw fireballs at us ! You can't tell us to avoid fighting, and then ask us to do so if we wanna continue ! This whole thing is malarky, and nothing more !"

"You are free to believe that, but I know that it is what must be done. And you're wrong, I am using my strength to protect you." said Toriel with unwavering conviction both in her voice and features.

Her next attack resembled the twin flame trails, but proved a little different. Instead of many flames with gaps, the two wavering lines were blasts of fire, and acted like pillars and jumping ropes for the children to dodge. Lynn used her parkour and dodgeball experience to get around all of them, but her siblings weren't so lucky, resulting in even more health to be lost. Lynn heavily punched the ground in frustration.

*"Your message doesn't seemed to have gone through Toriel."

"Oka, break time, we need some health back." pointed out Lincoln, lookig at his own health bar that had now more red than yellow, as did the ones of some of his sisters. Not only that, but a feeling of dryness that neared heatstroke was beginning to assault their minds, and they'd need every bit of ingeniosity they could get.

As such, for the first time, the ITEM choice box was selected, and all of the siblings got to choose their Spider Donut Bit. Lily, who hadn't received any damage, gave hers to her eldest sister, who had taken quite a few hits in her place.

*"You eat a Spider Donut bit. You regain 4 HP per piece gobbled.

"It's not as sweet as Toriel's pie." tearfully remarked Leni, who didn't give a damn about her hair looking like a bush that hadn't seen a hedge trimmer for a long time, or about the burn marks all over her favourite dress.

"And I'm about to give her a little speech that unfortunately, musn't hold any of it." frowned Lisa, as she sidestepped away from a flame shot by Toriel's Sweeping Paw attack. The little pressed her ACT option, Logic, and cleared her throat. "Toriel, your inconsederation for logical thought hurts me to my very core. Not just because you are clearly letting your past grief and motherly protectiveness win you over, but also because of how different from you this all is, to let your emotions get the better of you. End this unlogical behaviour this instant, and wake up to see the facts !" reprimanded the small genius with a harsh stare. But its effects quickly toned down when Toriel's own glare got even harsher.

"Your own inexperience is the one speaking here. Do not act as if you can easily read my story through my eyes. You DO NOT know the facts, child." answered the woman with a tone so glacial, Lisa felt an honest pang of fear reverbate through her small being, making her trip over her feet. She had to roll over to dodge the powerful Streams of Fire at first, then Lincoln grabbed her by the sweater and helped her clear the rest of the assault.

Lana pressed her hands against the sides of her head, and hissed in frustrated despair. The little animal-lover just couldn't take anymore of this. None of this had even crossed her mind this morning, yet here they all were, fighting against their tender Goat Mom, who was hell bent on destroying their one chance to go back home. The situation was looking more and more bleak by the second, so Lana decided to let her heart talk, by choosing the Pleading course of ACTion.

"Goat Mom, please ! I'm begging ya, stop all this ! T-This isn't you, this isn't the super cool mother that can make bath times and sweeping the floor fun, who makes awesome pies, a-a-and who doesn't care for how smelly I am, instead going on full tickle attack, and... a-and... I just want to stop fighting..."

Toriel hesitated to answer this time around. The tears of a child were torture to her long ears, but by looking at the little blonde and her vibrant orange SOUL, she was reminded of this small boy, just two years older than her, boasting that nothing could ever stop him. And foolish her, she believed those words. Knowing that she needed a little more tact here, Toriel took a deep breath, and answered with a soft but sad voice.

"Lana, my child, if you desire things to come back to what they were before, then you must take my advice, and leave this room. I will give you and your siblings all the care and love I can provide, maybe even more than before. But if you truly wish to return back to the surface, then I'm afraid you must carry on this battle to its end, and prove to me that you'll make it out okay."

"I-I don't like those rules, they're stupid. They don't make any sense..." sniffled Lana with a quivering lip and the eyes of a puppy that had just been kicked around.

"You are absolutely right, but those are the rules that even I must use to see if you have the potential to survive the rest of the Underground." sighed Toriel with a good deal of regret, but keeping her mask of sternness. She unleashed another of her Paw attacks, only hitting the poor crestfallen Lana, who thought that perhaps it would help her wake up from this nightmare.

*"Your pleas were effective, but Toriel's problem seems to go deeper than you imagined..."

Luna's turn came next, and there was a serious lack of sympathy in the rocker's mind and features, that had been getting worse as the battle had been progressing. If anything, her passive anger made her look a lot like Toriel at the moment. Lincoln's last narration made her brow crease, and she decided that it was time to play gardener, as her roommate would have put it. She tapped the ACT box, and chose Interview.

"G.M., I think it's time you stop leading us up the burning garden path." she began with dripping seriousness and not an ounce of laid-backness. "There's a truck-load of things you are not telling us. What's scaring ya so much behind this door ? Who's ASGORE ? Why do they want to kill us ? For that matter, why do most monsters we meet want to take our SOUL ?! Why aren't you giving us the whole story ? And don't pull on the 'You're too young' card, because we all know it's bogus ! You want us to back down ? How's about a friggin' good reason to do so, huh ?!"

The Louds were taken aback by Luna's rare bout of pure anger, even feeling a little afraid of her. Few things could get Luna to act like this, such as doing the error to call her... um, maybe we should let it at that. I'm pretty sure that glare here is adressed to me, and I ain't taking any chances.

But Toriel still didn't falter, like a flame that wouldn't die out no matter what. "What you ask for, is simply too hard for me to remember. All that you need to know is how dangerous the world beyond those Ruins is, and that even if I let you go... your chances to reach the Surface are slim, perhaps even inexistant, especially if you refuse to fight."

Luna felt her confidence wavering, her voice losing its edge, and her knees becoming a bit weak. "Hold on, you can't mean ?.."

Toriel nodded solemnly. "You were all cursed to stay in the Underground the moment you fell down that hole. Either to safely stay with me, or to get your SOULs taken by any of the monsters, that all share the same goal."

"But what goal ?! Why are we so important ?!" insisted Luna, despair appearing in her shouts.

Toriel did not answer, and instead chose to throw in another Dual Fire Blast attack. With all of the attacks that had been thrown, the atmosphere of the room was now sweltering, and did not help the healing of the burn marks that were now all over the bodies of the children that could properly walk. Morale was not looking any better, as what had usually been a simple matter of 2 or 3 turns, now was a battle so long, it had the Louds wonder if there would even be an end to it, and if they'd even enjoy the outcome. They weren't appreciating the process one bit though, that was for sure.

The rise of temperature was also taking its toll on the only sister that hadn't put in her attempt. Lori's mind was nothing but a swirling vortex of negative emotions at the moment. She was cranky because of her lack of Boo-boo Bear, she was hurt both physically and mentally, she was sad both for and because of Toriel, and her sibling instincts were probably skyrocketing to the surface since Lily in her arms was now starting to cough because of how intense the heat had become. The kettle that was her mind at the moment had reached the stereotypical whistling point, and as such, some steam needed to get out before everything blew up.

"WHY ?!" boomed Lori, startling even Toriel. "Why are we still doing this ?! Why is this whole thing still going on ?! Everyone's right, what you're doing goes against EVERYTHING you told us ! All those things you've said to us, to ME ! Were those all lies ?! Did... Do you even trust us ?!" Toriel stiffened at this, and Lori huffed a shaky breath to keep things from derailling. "Look, I get that you're worried. Six kids died before us, that's not nothing, it's a good reason to be cautious. But the way you're going about this is just like Luna said, bogus ! You're clearly keeping things from us, you refuse to accompany us to make you feel better, and candle on top, you attack us without any restraint ! So if you want to salvage any part of this image you've been building up since we've met you, the one we want to believe in, just tell us WHY ! Why can't you let us go ?! Why can't you let us be free ?!"

Lori panted heavily afterwards, so much that she didn't notice some of her siblings looking at her with both apprehension and compassion. As for Toriel, her face drastically saddened, and bowed her head for the obscure veil to fall before her eyes again. The flames in the room even stopped moving, their heat and light decreasing.

{Music pauses, Premonition of Undertale OST plays out}

"Lori... let me ask you a question." spoke Toriel in an almost omnious voice, that made Lori hitch a breath. "Do you... love your siblings ? Would you do anything in your power to help them, to protect them ?"

Lori snorted, almost outraged by such a question. "What kind of a question is this ? Of course I'd do it ! I would litteraly never let anything happen to my siblings if it was in my power, and I wouldn't let them take any slack from anyone. Which includes you by the way !" she pointed out with an angry finger.

The ghost of a chuckle emanated through Toriel's throat. She continued, "If that is so, and if you are so determined to venture forward, then let me ask you those few questions... What would you do if your siblings were to perish ? Either taken out of your sight, or directly in front of you ? What if you had to watch the lives of the last of those young ones, who trusted you to protect them from everything, slowly crumble into dust while in your very hands ? How would you go on after this ? And... would you have the courage to go back to the place it happened ? Would you, Lori ?"

The eldest of the humans didn't answer, too stumped to even think of one. She asked the question again, but this time to herself : What kind of a question was this ? What did it have to do with... Toriel ? Lori felt her throat getting dry. Did she just... tell them the dark side of her life ? All the reasons why she was so hard-headed about letting them go, or guide them herself ? The puzzle was slowly piecing itself together, but there was simply something missing, something to make all those pieces fit...

{Now, go back to Heartache.}

"You cannot answer those questions, can you, child ?" cut in Toriel, strength returning in her voice, and the flames burning anew. "I do not blame you. But perhaps it helped you see why I can't let you continue this hopeless quest of yours. Now, answer me my own question, children." The burning in her eyes intensified, as did the ones in her hands.

"Will you fight, or run away ?"

"Neither." was the answer on all of the Louds' tongues, but none of them, not even prideful Lynn, could quite work up the courage to tell her that.

Toriel prepared another Blazing Paw attack, and the kids stood ready for it, having memorized the thing after all those assaults. What they didn't see coming was the strange echo of the giant hand making the flames appear, as if more flames were popping up from...

"Behind us !" warned Luna, as she noticed another hand and trail of flames popping up from behind their pack of siblings had almost no time to react before the flames darted in their direction. Some of them managed to hit the worn-down siblings, but while that was nothing new, one of them took advantage of Lori's surprise to do the ultimate taboo, the one thing that it shouldn't have done in a million years.

It hit Lily, smacking her right in the face.

*...Yikes.

A sharp gasp of shock erupted amongst the astounded siblings, and Toriel hitched a breath. Lily was silent for a moment, wordlessly poking her bruised cheek. The realization slowly set itself inside her mind. Goat Mom... had hit her. Her eyes began to moister, a hiccup rose here and there, her breathing got faster. Her face contorted in more and more sadness, until...

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH !" Lily violently burst into tears, her wails only increasing in woe even as all of her older siblings circled her to give her comfort.

"The burnt mark barely reaches the first degree, s-she's going to be fine." nervously lisped Lisa.

"Yeah, c'mon Lily. I'll just blow on your boo-boo, you like that !" said Lincoln, trying to sound eager for his little sister as he blew his 'healing breath' on her cheek, but it did little to appease the hysterical toddler.

"Y-Yeah Lily, you're a strong little baby. This should be a breeze for you, hahaOWOWOWOW, OKAY, I GET IT, WRONG TIME !" shouted Luan as she tried to get her ponytail out of Lily's enraged claws. The baby had never been fond of her big sister's jokes, and when into tantrums, Lily had a bit of a destructive habit, making it a code yellow for the survival of Luan's hair.

"Please stop crying Lily. Because if you keep crying, t-then I'm gonna cry t-t-too." blubbered Leni.

"So not the time, sis !" hissed Lynn as she tried to prevent her big sister from melting into tears too.

Toriel's furred paws trembled as the thought of what she had done settled in. Attacking a child was bad enough of a feat for her, but to attack an infant just crossed a line. Knowing that she was the only one responsible for Lily's cries of sorrow only made them more unbearable. And at this moment, a linger of doubt appeared in Toriel's mind. Could they be right ? Was it wrong of her to coop them away in those safe, but cramped Ruins she called home ? Perhaps... if it was causing them such pain, then maybe she should-

"There will be no compromise anymore ! Every human that falls down here must DIE !"

The memory of that voice was just what Toriel needed to brush aside those thoughts, her mind resteeling itself. What was the point of granting them this type of Mercy, if at the end, they would simply perish under HIS might ? What she was doing here was her Mercy. She'd take this guilt over the one of knowing she had sent them to her death anytime.

She knew that from experience, really...

But meanwhile, as hysteria was grand within more than ninety percent of the Loud kids, it was only growing inside Lori's mind. The one sibling she had promised herself to protect at any cost was now hurt and crying, and on the moment, Lori blamed herself for it. She hadn't been strong enough to prevent this from happening... but that could change very easily.

So with a simmering blood, Lori passed the sobbing Lily to Luna, and advanced towards Toriel with heavy steps, showing all of her pearly whites and almost glaring a hole between the woman's eyes. Oddly enough, the option boxes followed her. "Either fight or run away, huh ? Heh, we've been following your rules all this time, so why not ?" Lori chuckled dryly, sending chills around the room and down her siblings' backs. "If you want a choice, o dear Guardian..."

She sorted the Toy Knife from her pocket, not taking any notice of the dim glow around it, or the chorus of gasps behind her, or even the fact that Lily stopped her crying. Her hand hovered over the one button they hadn't touched yet, the one they said they would never use. But Lori did not care about any of this anymore, her eyes slowly focused on the agressive roadblock in front of her. She raised her knife in the air, punched the FIGHT button, and...

"Here's mine !"

SLASH !

[-25]

A green bar appeared over Toriel's head, full of lively green colour. But as a red -25 appeared over it, a bit of grey appeared at the far end. The hit had apparently made it to its target, as even if Toriel barely flinched, pain did manage to appear on her features.

Behind Lori, only shock and horror could be found on the siblings' faces, as if a murder had happened right before their eyes. As if a fight against Toriel wasn't bad enough, now their oldest sister, their other figure of maturity, was joining the violence. Lucy was especially regretting her mumbling to herself from earlier, "Can this fight get any worse ?". As a pessimism specialist, she truly should've known better.

"Is it too late to say that maybe I should've kept my mouth shut ?" said Lincoln anxiously. Nobody answered, not really even sure what was what anymore.

As for Lori, she could feel her organic heart ready to burst out of her chest to meet the magic one in front of her. For a crucial instant, Lori had thought that attacking a monster could mean instant death, but it turned out that the Senior Froggit had been right in his instructions. And Lori felt determined to follow those, so that painful fight could finally find the end she was looking for.

She smirked in Toriel's direction, a bit of euphoria still running in her blood. "See ? I can fight, I can wave that bad boy around !" she half-chuckled, half-spat while turning her weapon in her hand. Toriel's eyes widened a bit upon seeing it, but quickly shook her head back to focus. Lori kept on going though. "Now that I've proved that I can litteraly push a button and defend myself, are you going to move out of our way ?!"

Toriel's gaze hardened, as did her voice. "Do you truly think that a warning shot will suffice ? A foe will not relent just because you've ruffled their fur or scratched their neck. Especially not THEM. You have yet to prove me that you are strong enough to survive, child !"

A Flame Blast attack swayed in Lori's direction, who managed to make herself fit through the right spots, and came out of the attach unscathed. Her siblings had to back away, as the attack managed to end right before their noses, as their backs were almost grazing the flames on the walls.

*"The aloofness of the room has doubled !"

"Couldn't have placed it better myself, bro." whispered Lynn, almost fearful of either of the two litteral hotheads in front of her hearing her. And this fright just felt wrong all around.

Lori pratically snarled and grinned wrathfully at Toriel's proposition. So that was how she wanted to play this game ? "Oh, you want more ? Fine by me ! Maybe you'll get to learn something for a change !"

Lori pressed the FIGHT button again, and swung her deadly plastic weapon.

SLASH !

[-28]

"Does nobody think that we should do something ?" proposed Lana fearfully.

"You don't have the slightest idea of how much I'd like to say yes at the moment, but I'm afraid our lifespans will decrease significally if we try to insert ourselves in this pride inferno of a battle." analyzed Lisa with a bit of a heavy heart. Her voice went back to its usual neutrality once something came into her mind. "Besides, our sistriarch may've found a possible solution to Spare our snow-furred Guardian."

"I think I know where you're going from, Lis'." nodded Luna, having thought of it herself. "Dudes, rememeber what that old Froggit said to us, about fighting monsters ?"

"If you ACT a certain way, or FIGHT until they are almost defeated, your opponents might not want to continue the battle. If such case happens, then be kind, humans, and use some MERCY, ribbit."

"So if Lori keeps fighting, it might make Goat Mom throw in the towel ?" theorized Lola, doubt clear in her voice as she watched Lori dancing around Toriel's flame missiles. "I'm not sure it's that great of a plan..."

Lincoln passed a comforting arm around his pink-clad sister, which she accepted without a peep. "Yeah, it's not sounding good, but I think that's the best plan we've got for now. So... let's just watch Lori do her thing, and... maybe jump in if things get too intense. Well, more than they are now, anyway."

SLASH !

[-30]

And so was the way this battle played out for the following turns. Lori would relentlessly attack, delepting HP from Toriel's health bar, and Toriel would firmly answer with a fire-based attack, sometimes grazing Lori's form and slowly bringing her own HP down. Every time any of the two would get hurt, the other Louds would flinch hard. None of them were even sure of who to support. Oviously they wanted to go home and didn't want the eldest of their sibling pack losing. But seeing her increasingly frustrated face, the siblings weren't sure they wanted to see her win either.

As the fight kept on going, some of the most sensible siblings, such as Leni, Lily, the twins, and even Luan at some point, tried to avoid looking at two of their loved ones, one long-standing sibling leader, the other freshly adored motherly figure, beating eachother up for reasons they weren't even sure they could stand behind.

Lincoln's inner narrator's tips were more or less the same, with things such as "Toriel prepares a magical attack." or "The heat stays the same, but you still can't get used to it.". Nothing truly notesworthy, except perhaps the constant neutrality in its voice that was getting on the siblings' nerves.

After the eternity that was 10 consecutive turns of this fight, Lincoln dared to inquire to his purple-clad big sister, with a shy voice. "Luna, I'm beginning to think this is a bad plan after all."

Luna looked unsure as well, but tried to keep confidence in her tone. "Lori knows what she's doing, bro. Besides, M-Mama T. is barely down to the half, so there is still leeway. E-Every little thing's gonna be alright, you'll see."

SLASH !

[-42]

Lucy, looking even paler than usual, hitched a breath, and shakingly reached for her roommate for support. "I've got a bad omen about this. Shall this fight keep going, something terrible will unfurl."

"B-But I thought your predictions were considered wrong since our visit to the national park ?" anxiously reminded Lola.

Lucy shook her head, making her long ebony bangs bounce. "This is no mere tarot reading, I can read this premonition all over the room. I can feel a shadow creeping on the walls, amongst those lights of violence. Something horrible is about to happen, a tragedy that we might not get away from."

"W-W-Well, maybe it won't. Maybe Toriel's name will get all yellow in an instant, and Lori will see it, and everything will c-calm down." said Leni, trying to stay optimistic despite it all. But as the next attack unfurled...

SLASH !

[-35]

*"...Toriel has low HP."

This single warning managed to get all the teens' and childrens' hearts to freeze, and for their breaths to be cut instantly. This seemingly benign remark only rung on thing in their minds : The situation was getting etremely dangerous.

"Okay, no joke here, we've gotta stop this battle immediately !" panicked Luan, all thoughts of humour gone from her mind, and that was saying something.

"Heck yeah, let's just tackle Lori, and make so she doesn't touch that thing anymore !" asserted Lynn, punching her open palm. But her action was swiftly blocked by Luna.

"Dude, we've gotta be extra careful, this is Lori we are talking about ! I want this to end as much as you do, but you know what we usually say : 'When Lori in the face is red, quick hide under your bed !'"

"We can't wuss out now ! Haven't you heard Lincoln ?! Or the guy in his head, or whatever ?!" argued the jock heatedly.

Luna mumbled under her breath, then looked directly into the brunette's eyes, assuming her duty as second-in-command. "Dude, the last thing we need is for Lori to go hysterical. So instead of using more violence, let's use something more uniting and way more powerful : Our voices !"

"I must be in agreement here, the last thing we need is for another our trademark brawling clouds to form." reasoned Lisa with conviction. "Our only salvation is to use the strength of our lungs to-"

"We get it, no need to be all sciency with it !" interrupted Lana, earning a glare from her little sis. "What matters right now is that we do it fast ! Lori's about to take her next turn, and she's kinda become a lefty if you get what I mean !"

"LORI ! You're going too far, stop it now !" called Lincoln with his hands cupped around his lips for extra echo. Her sisters helped in that matter, doing their best to live up to their family name in hopes of preventing what could be the worst decision of their oldest sister's life.

Unbeknown to them, Lori HAD heard Lincoln's narrative warning, and that was precisely why she was not moving at the moment. Taking a good look at Toriel's health bar, the adolescent could see it nearing the third. Her exhilaration flickered, this was getting dangerous. Plus, not only Lori could feel her own tiredness, with her lungs and joints feeling like they were on fire, but the same could be said for Toriel.

Heck, if anything, Toriel looked even worse. The lack of HP was clearly starting to show, with her breathing getting short and raspy, her staggering stance, and pearls of sweat rolling down her fluffy forehead. Even her robes looked messy, and had cut marks in it, ones that, Lori realized, she had inflicted to her.

Lori looked at Toriel's name after pushing the ACT button, just to see, and felt a pulse of frustration rise when she saw how NOT yellow it was. But strangely, the anger that had been dominating her for the last five minutes was starting to fade, and the human was seriously starting to question her situation. So, still driven by frustration but starting to see reason, Lori confronted Toriel verbally once more.

"Okay look, we've been doing this for a while now." huffed Lori languidly. "We're both tired, both bruised, and I think it's safe to say that if your pies didn't do that weird thing you explained to me about monster food, we would've thrown them up by now. So, it's been... really not fun at all, though it did great in allowing me to unwind. But now, we litteraly, and I do mean litteraly, got to stop ! I've proven that I can strike someone, over ten times now ! I can hurt opponents and send them running for their lives ! I can dodge attacks while being on the verge of defeat ! I am 100% able to defend myself, and my siblings ! So, grah ! How is this all not enough for you to let me go through ?!"

Toriel shook her head to strengthen her focus, and adressed Lori with the same indifference. "I am yet to be defeated, child. If you truly wish to reach your goal, you will have to persevere a little more than that. ASGORE and those who seek your SOULs will not give up while a third of their health remains !"

"First, will your ever tell us who that person is ?!" vented Lori with annoyance. "Second, you litteraly can't be serious about this ! Don't you feel the pain of my plastic knife slashing at your fur ? And why does this sentence even have a working context ?!"

"Your patience is wearing thin, my child."

"AND WHOSE FAULT IS THAT ?!" roared Lori, then bit her tongue to collect the last traces of calm in her bloodstream. "What are you trying to prove here ? What else do you want me to prove ?!"

"That you'll be willing to give your all into protcting your kin from the true monsters out there. You wish to be seen as the figure of leadership your age bestow upon you, do you not ? Then prove to me here and there that you'll be this figure, or go back to your room !"

In a brief outbreak of rage, Lori's hand almost jumped on the FIGHT button. Thankfully, her siblings' plights managed to reach her.

"Don't do it !"

"Lori, think about you're about to do for a second !"

"This is way more macabre than you want in your life, trust me."

"We can find another way !"

"Devising another tactic would be the smartest thing to do !"

"There is no reason for you to goad this goat !"

"C'mon Lori, this isn't you either !"

"Ablugahguerptfxxx !"

"Yeah, what she said !"

"Please Lori, just stop..."

'What in blazes am I doing ?' thought Lori with shameful clarity. The violent light emanating from her SOUL began to dim, as did the one around her weapon. Then, her SOUL's rapid beating completely stopped, making it peacefully float again. Finally, her anger had been put under lock and key, reason was returning to the blonde, and she too could sense this omnious bad feeling, shared by her siblings.

Lori stood up straight again, and will was in her eyes once more. "No. My siblings are right, this is simply not how things should be done. I won't accept this awful and narrow set of choices you've given us. If those are the rules you epect us to follow, then we'll just make a new one, that will satisfy and keep everyone alive !"

"YAAAAY !" cheered the siblings, glad to have their reliable sister back to reason.

Toriel, on the other hand, simply sighed and shook her head. "This is quite the bold claim. And quite the reckless one as well. If you are not willing to prove yourself strong here, then you won't stand a chance out there. Please, you must do what is right here !"

"And I am." said Lori, shakily putting her foot down. "I'm sorry Goat Mom, but there has to be another choice besides running away and brawling our way out. I litteraly refuse to do this anymore, even if you tell me so. I'm really sorry."

Lori turned around, and marched towards her siblings, who looked glad about her return among them. Part of her mind though, couldn't shake the feeling that they were glad she was stepping down as a whole. She tried to dismiss this silly thought, but it proved easier said than done. But all in all, Lori felt she was done with this FIGHT nonsense, and was ready to stand on the sidelines for a bit...

But all it took for this happy outcome to be smashed to smithereens, was a few words from Toriel, whose disappointement let a rift appear in her mask, and for some slight spite to ooze from it.

One that Toriel herself couldn't have begun to measure the consequences of.

"I truly thought that you would have made a great guide. But it seems that I ended up being very wrong about you. How disappointing."

{Music quiets down...}

Lori's entire being froze, her pupils retracting until they were barely bigger than pebbles. This blow was more violent than all of the hits she had received, more painful than any of her aching joints, and more scarring than the burn marks blighting her skin. The time she had been demeaned in front of her entire class because of her braces at the dreaded age of thirteen, did not hold a candle, nay a matchstick to how bad she felt right now. Something had died inside the teen, something had vanished...

Something had snapped...

"Control Freak...". You have no power.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that.". Only desillusions of grandeur.

"He's really nailing that big brother thing, ain't he ?". They don't need you anymore. If they ever needed you in the first place.

"That's right, we've heard of the 'white-haired one', the one who selects options, gives tips, and makes all the decisions when in battle. Obviously, he's your leader.". You don't even look like a leader. Everyone undermines you, including those who don't know you.

"I truly thought that you would have made a great leader. But it seems that I ended up being very wrong about you. How disappointing.". Even for those who expected something from you, you let them down.

You are nothing but second place. You should know that by now.

Suddenly, a memory came back to Lori, one that she wished had never done so.

---

"Look, call me every name you want, but I'm afraid the facts are here. I've won." grinned Carol Pingrey while holding on her Homecoming Queen flowers and ribbon. Lori hissed both internally and externally as she looked at them. It should be HER name on that winning Ribbon. "Instead of bragging how easy it should be to win at every chance possible, I trained for weeks to ace the talent competition, and I put on an ultra-strict way to lose weight through exercise and eating healthier. It's called a 'diet', with a 'd'. You should try one some day."

It was a good thing that Dana and Becky were holding their blonde friend back, as her breathing was getting animalistic, and her eyes were becoming boodshot. "I will destroy you, for everything you've stolen from me tonight !"

Carol rolled her eyes, her condescending smile still plastered on her 'perfect face'. "Look, how is it my fault if Hank prefers the Homecoming Queen as a girlfriend ? Don't worry, I'm sure someone will love you the plethora of... modest talents you have."

"I WILL LITTERALY ANIHILATE YOU !" Lori pestered, foam starting to come out of her mouth. "I am a better person that you'll ever dream to be ! I have no idea what the judges saw in you that I don't have, but let me tell ya, you don't have anything !"

"Well, I do have the knowledge of the talent contest my rival's siblings are participating in, and how this night's Homecoming Queen Contest took way more time than it should have. Oh, and the lousy weather too." purred Carol with a sly smile.

Lori gasped at this, and looked outside to see a torrential rain. "Oh no..." she whispered, already imagining her siblings dripping wet and getting colds all around.

Carol couldn't fight back a giggle. "Boy oh boy, Lori. Even as a big sister, you're nowhere as good as you think you are."

---

Lori's head bowed forward, hiding her eyes behind a golden veil. Bone-cracking could be heard as she clenched both of her fists until they were white, and clenched her teeth with more pressure than ever before. She could feel her whole being beginning to heat up. The dam of her wrath was starting to open up.

"I am a good leader."

A foul pressuring feeling began to invade the room, as if storm clouds were gathering right above their heads, so strong that they could feel it through the mountain below. The flames around Toriel's paws began to dimminish, as motherly concern appeared on her face.

"My child... what did you say ?"

Ever so slowly, the door rose, allowing the bloodstream below to start sizzling.

"I am a good leader."

The bad omen had become so potent, Luna felt she could've grasped it with her bare hands. Her entire body was trembling with bad vibes, and not just become of many of her siblings adding their own shaking onto her by grasping onto her legs, waist, and back. She tentatively adressed her quaking sister with an un-trademark small voice.

"Love, I think you should put the blade now, you ain't looking fresh..."

Now, her own sister didn't trust her with a toy, as if she was a helpless baby, as if she couldn't be trusted, as if she was clumsy, untrustworthy, unreliable, useless. Useless. Useless Useless Useless Useless USELESS !

BUT SHE WAS NOT USELESS !

The dam's crank handle was no more, as the dam exploded open. The bloodstream was now full of resentful molten lava, internal pressure was going up like a pressure cooker under 20,000 degrees and on steroids, and her SOUL was resuming its frantic beating, even more unhinged than before. It was only a matter of seconds before...

The volcano erupted.

With bile climbing up her throat, Lori whipped her head up, showing her raging eyes to her terrorized siblings, not even noticing the hue of cyan hiding her irises, rendering her gaze even more scary. She sharply turned around, raised her knife-holding hand, punched the FIGHT button, and bellowed with every bit of anger stored inside her being...

"I AM A GOOD BIG SISTER !"

SLASH !

[-295]

As all of her wrath had been put inside that one attack, a wave of tiredness immediately hit Lori.

Followed closely by a tsunami of realisation over what she had just done. Slight showings of pain had appeared on Toriel's face before, but now the agony was all too clear, as she took small breathless gasps. As if that wasn't enough, a huge notch was now embed in her robes, hiding the spot where a gash had to be at her stomach level.

"No..." murmured Lori in horror.

"Ha... I suppose you have indeed proved that you... are strong enough." said Toriel, cracking a little smile that immediately fell once her wound acted up, forcing her on one knee. "Urgh... perhaps even stronger... than I thought..."

"No, no no nononononoNO !" yelled Lori, as she rushed to her kneeling Guardian, crouching to her level. "This wasn't... I didn't mean to... We can... I know, there is still some food upstairs ! All we have to do is to get you some, then you'll be better than ever, and-"

"No, it... will not work, my child." weakly said Toriel with a meek head shaking. "Once your SOUL's HP... are down to zero, there is nothing more to be done. Trust me... it has been tested before..."

"B-But if you don't, then..." blubbered Lori with fat tears beginning to roll down her cheeks, which only multiplied when she grasped the meaning of her words. "N-No, you can't die ! You can't, you... ah..."

Lori felt the softness of Toriel's paw on her wet cheek, reassuringly brushing it. "My child, you... have nothing to blame yourself about. Only I... need to apologize. All you did was... getting caught up... in the lunacy of a... lonely old lady. Perhaps too old even, haha..."

"Don't say stuff like that ! What are we supposed to do if you're gone ?!"

Toriel kept smiling as her voice got a little weaker. "I have no fear for your future... as I know you'll be there... to defend your family. As for where... it is quite simple." She rose a shaky finger towards the door, which flames had already all been extinguished. "Follow the way beyond this door. If you... walk long enough... you'll eventually reach... the exit you are looking for... Do not worry... someone will be watching over you... he promised me so."

"But we don't want someone... we want you." hiccuped Lori, now with dripping mascara-covered cheeks. "I want you..."

"Ha... how kind of you... my dear Lori." chuckled Toriel, then wincing as she could feel the shifting of her form around her wound. A bit of dust was already pouring through the hole in her robes. She needed to act fast. So she clasped her hands around the teen's shoulders, her feeble voice morphing into urgency. "Lori... listen to me. Do not... let ASGORE... take any of your SOULs... do you understand ? Do not let ASGORE win... his horrible plan... musn't be fulfilled... Do this for me... will you not ?"

"I'm sorry... Don't die, I'm sorry..." was all Lori could say.

Toriel raised her head, and adressed to all the Louds. "Live, children. Find your way... out of this prison. And please... be good, alright ?" She slowly closed her eyes. " . . ."

And thus, Toriel's body blurred into a white form, and fell into a pile of white dust. Nothing was left of the Motherly Monster, only a big pile of dust.

Well, that wasn't true. A little white floating object began to manifest itself, which Lori quickly recognized as a SOUL, but unlike any of the ones her or her siblings had. First, as said, it was completely white. Second, the SOUL was turned upside-down, pointing upwards instead of down.

The humans quickly guessed it, it was Toriel's SOUL. But instead of the strong presence she... used to inspire, the little heart looked very frail, as if it was about to shatter.

And... wouldn't you know it...

Cracks began to appear all over the SOUL, each one heard and felt by the kids. More and more showed up, creating a real spiderweb, until finally, a rift in the middle opened, followed by the SOUL exploding with a glass-shattering sound. Its pieces disappeared along the room, just like its owner had.

The room fell into silence, all the Louds feeling too shellshocked to peep a word. Even Lincoln's inner narrator didn't dare to announce the end of the Fight, neither saying that they had won.

After all, had they truly ?

"This is... no way it..." choked Lynn, her natural passion completely absent from her voice.

"Heh... come on, w-what's the punchline here ?" Luan chuckled hollowly, waiting for the mere trace of what had to be a very unfunny joke.

Lily's puffy eyes began to well up once more. She wasn't as smart as her roommate, but everything was clear to her. "Goa'... Goa'... GOA' MAMAAAAAAAAAA !" the poor baby exploded in sobs, the pain in her swollen throat being nothing compared to how she was feeling inside.

The shock was not any less lost on Lola and Lana. Their self-control fell apart piece by piece, as they put their hands on where their SOULS had retreated. The duo's eyes didn't leave the pile of dust for a second, as if they were hoping Toriel would magically reappear. Magic existed down here after all ! But after a few seconds, the hope in their eyes was replaced with despair.

"Goat Mom..." whispered Lana.

"She is..." sniffled Lola.

And then another dam broke down.

"SHE'S DEAAAAAAAAAAAD !" cried the twins in sorrowful unison, as they sobbed eachother's shoulders wet. Lana's bravado and Lola's assurance were gone, leaving only two weeping little kids.

Meanwhile, as hell began to break loose behind her, Lori was completely silent. She contemplated the dust before her, the one that had gotten on her fingers. She had Toriel's remains on her fingers. But she didn't shake it off, as if she knew that it would never go. But Lori wasn't sure she knew anything anymore. Her mind was still reeling over what she had done, replaying this moment of Toriel crumbling into dust while smiling at her, over and over.

Awful multiplied by a hundred wasn't beginning to cover how Lori was feeling deep down inside.

"N-No... it's not... didn't... she wanted... but I said..." mumbled the teen like insanity had taken over.

But suddenly, an eerie glow caught her eye. She turned to look at it, despite herself, and saw that it was coming from the Toy Knife. The very weapon that had... Lori's mind couldn't bare to finish that thought.

Then, Lori started to see reflections in the blade. She was seeing a reflection of light as if the plastic had become ultra-clean metal. She honestly felt her mind slipping away at the moment, but was unable to look away.

The white reflection suddenly took a familiar shape. The one of a certain old Froggit that had advised them about Monster Fights. And all of its elderly kindness had been replaced by deep disappointement.

"Mercy was still avaliable, but a single blow to your ego was all it took to break your promise." ranted the apparition. "And to think I trusted in your success."

The blade gleamed, and replaced Froggit by a Loox, glaring heatedly at the pathetic girl.

"Looks like we were more than spot on. Took bullying to a whole other level, huh ? If all humans are like you, I don't want to even meet another one." spat the horned monster with clear heatred.

Another bright flash, and this time appeared the vague shape of... a little girl, glowing of the same cyan than Lori's SOUL, and harbouring a face identical to the famous Mask of Tragedy.

"Why ?" pitifully began the echoing feminine voice. "She offered you protection, a roof, food, and so very much more. And you striked her down. Why ? Why didn't you try more ?... Why couldn't you have been more patient ?"

Lori's sorry-looking face became even more miserable. Forget feeling empty, Lori could feel her own guilt and sadness eating her from inside.

And as she thought things couldn't go anymore downhill...

"Ah come on, don't listen to them. What do they know about you ?"

This voice rung very familiar to Lori. And for a good reason, it was her own voice speaking ! The teen slowly looked at her knife once more, and found a rather strange sight. She saw... herself, yet something didn't add up. The reflection had none of the wounds and marks from the fight, both physical and emotional. She smiled a serene smile, almost content. But Lori knew enough about herself to detect a very familiar edge in her smile. The one that clearly stated "I so know that I'm right and you're not.".

"Look, if you want my thoughts – and by mine, I of course mean yours – you just did what you had to do. You stepped up as leader, and defended your sisters and brother." spoke the reflection in an easy-going tone that gave Lori the chills. "Besides, Toriel said it herself, she asked you to fight. Accidents happen, and that's that."

"But that's not what I wanted..." murmured Lori in a dejected tone.

The reflection adopted a more 'sympathetic' tone. "Oh, of course you didn't. But you can't exactly do anything about it now, can you ?" she chuckled. "But enough about the grim past, let's focus on your future. You've proven that you have the guts and strength to move forward, that you'll all come out on top. Speaking of which, do you feel it ? This power building inside you ?"

Lori pondered over this. She... was indeed feeling something inside her. She felt herself becoming stronger, less afraid of dangers possibly lurking. But there was something very wrong about this feeling. As if it wanted to become more potent, more powerful, just... more.

"Isn't it wonderful ?" chimed in 'Mirror Lori' with a big and hungry smile. "This, is the reward over our victory, and the ones to come. This is the power that will help us go through the Underground, and will make everyone understand who exactly is Lori Loud. No one will ever ask for trouble out of us, and no one will ever contest how much of an important leader we are !"

The sheer joy in her counterpart's voice almost made Lori bile, especially how eerie it sounded when mentionning 'victories to come'. She couldn't believe she was hearing this, and through her own voice even.

The counterpart seemingly noticed it, and dropped to a faux-sweet tone, quite familiar too. "Aww, are you still feeling the guilt ? Are you afraid it's going to haunt you even more if you keep fighting ? Well you don't have to worry about that..."

And then, one final, horrible transformation happened. Sick cracking noises echoed in Lori's ears, as her counterpart's mouth corners went up, and up, until the toothy smile reached both of her ears. A shadow passed over her eyeballs, almost making them look like empty eye sockets. Finally, wrinkles appeared on her brow and cheeks, adding a pure aura of malice in the smile. Lori gasped in sheer terror. She knew that smile, the one that had haunted her nightmares for the last few days.

It was Flowey's smile. But plastered on her face.

"After a few more victories, you won't even feel it anymore !" taunted the image in a dual voice, both hers and Flowey's, before releasing a shrill unhinged cackle. "Hahahahahahaha ! BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !"

Lori produced a shriek of pure abomination, and threw the cursed weapon away. As it bounced on the wall like the toy it was, Lori immediately noticed what was in the blade. Or rather what wasn't. No more reflection, just the plain old, reflectionless plastic it consisted of. And always had.

Lori passed her hands through her blonde hair, now certain that she was losing her mind. Upon touching her hair, she felt the dust still gripping on her fingers. Her crime hit her again with the force of Leni's driving lessons crashes, but about a millionfold more painful. She slowly began to curl up into a fetal position, knees against her chest, and meekly shivering.

"I killed her..." she finally admitted with a voice so sad and empty, Lucy's poetry club would've been spooked out to the point of white hair.

Despite the growing chaos amongst the siblings, Luna and Lincoln took notice of their eldest sister's sorrow. They tried reaching out to her. "Lori, you... we know you didn't want it to be that way..." tried to ammend Lincoln, but he could immediately see how much of a bust the application of his plan was.

"I'm the real monster here... A horrible, angry, murderous monster..."

"C'mon Lori, this ain't the way to be thinking right now." argued Luna soothingly, advancing her hand near Lori's shoulder. "Let's just... regroup, and talk about this. I-I'm sure we can-"

"NO ! DON'T TOUCH ME !" screeched Lori dementedly, as she harshly slapped her little sister's hand away, making both of her siblings back away in fear. Lori curled up even more on herself, unwilling to even look at her family. "I'll just hurt you, just like I hurt Toriel. You're better off without me..."

Luna's hand ached, but not as much as her heart did upon hearing and seeing the empty shell that was all that was left of her big sister. The weight was finally too much for the young rocker to handle, and she crashed on her knees, allowing her woeful sobs to take over.

Pandemonium had been attained amongst the Louds, which wasn't such an uncommon feat for them, but never on this level or in that manner. Lana and Lola were still wailing their little hearts off, and so was Leni, whose dishelveld appeareance was a truly sorry sight. Lisa had tried rationalising the situation, but only came to the simple conclusion of the demise of their beloved Goat Mom. As such, she allowed her inner human emotions to take over, and cried like the 4 year-old she was. Lucy hung onto Lynn's strong stature, as a new level of sadness opened up to her. And she absolutely hated it. Lynn herself was not looking any better, letting big fat tears trail down her face, going as far as to consider the failure of this encounter, solely her own. Luan crawled into a far corner of the room to sob, as for the first time in her life, not one fiber of her being wanted to laugh. And poor baby Lily was left alone in the middle of the room, wailing and crying despite how hoarse her little voice sounded. Her neck and head were bright red, and all the poor little toddler could feel was pain.

Lincoln backed away, and took in the sight of his weeping, crumbling family. The boy wanted to hug every one of his sisters right now, but seeing them like that awoke a certain guilt that had been dormant during the last few days in Toriel's company.

The guilt of being the one who had made them come here, and that none of this would be happening had he not decided to be so foolishly curious.

Thus too ashamed to approach his sisters, Lincoln hugged himself, and openly weeped as well. 'This wasn't supposed to happen... This wasn't even in the worst possible scenarios !' cried the poor boy internally. 'I don't want this...'

*Ba-bump*

Unbeknown to him, Lincoln's red SOUL appeared, and began beating, its crimson light pulsating with each beat. As if it was charging up power...

'Things didn't happen like any of us wanted them to be. It's wrong... it's all wrong.'

*Ba-bump*

The red little heart's beating accelarated, and its bright light began to be shared by its outline. The ten other Human SOULs reacted to this, even though their owners didn't. A tempo appeared between the eleven hearts, beating in unison, and increasingly faster. Crackles of energy echoed around the room, drowned by the humans' sobbing.

The hearts beated faster, and faster, producing more and more power. And the sweet release came when a single thought resonated inside each of the kids' minds, at the exact same time.

'I wanna go back !'

[LOUD SAVE FILE, LOADED]

---

Author's note : Did I say everything would work out ? And you believe me ? How wonderfully naive...

This was Superdimentio77. Don't forget to review, and see you next time~