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Chapter 5

"Everything looks the same," Asriel said as Chara opened their old bedroom door. The goat didn't even turn to look at the human as they spoke, just continued to take in their surroundings.

Their room looked almost exactly as they remembered it except for the odd item here and there, and a suspicious pile of shoes in a wooden box at the foot of Chara's bed. Six pairs to be exact, each of various sizes, but all obviously meant for children. "…" The pieces were all starting to fall into place.

"How's mom? Still crying?" The young prince's voice was distant, something weighing on his heart.

Chara walked over to their side of the room and sat on the bed, their feet dangling off its side. "Yeah, it's super weird!" they snickered.

Whoops. Asriel's sharp glare told them that this was another one of those times were laughter wasn't appropriate. At the stare, it quickly petered out, and before any feelings of guilt could form, Chara continued. "Yes, mom's crying, but I think in this reset that's almost like her default? There were points in our conversation were she seemed happy, but her tears kept flowing. I think it's just part of what her, uh, 'hurt' looks like. The missing-pupils-and-iris thing is kind of creepy though," they added idly.

For a while Asriel didn't respond. He just looked at the various pictures strewn about the room – even the macaroni art piece he and Chara had made together as a gift to their parents. After about twenty minutes, it was apparent to Chara that the monster wasn't going to bring up the next topic, the elephant in the room.

They kicked their feet languidly on the side of the bed, fidgeting with the toy knife in their hands. "Once I started to get too close to the cause of her pain, mom almost initiated a fight."

Asriel gasped, shocked green eyes meeting red. He stammered, "That can't be true! M-mom wouldn't—"

"You're right, mom wouldn't," the human cut in. "But that thing was probably just trying to protect itself." Chara frowned thoughtfully as they mused. "There's a big possibility that they summoned their magic subconsciously. I might just end up fighting mom after all," they concluded darkly.

"What?!" Asriel's yell was closer to a goat's bleating than actual words. "I was hoping we could talk it out instead! No one has to get hurt!"

It was Chara's turn to glower, and Asriel flinched under the intense look. "I tried the talking option, Asriel. What do you think I was doing up until now: baking snail pies? No, I was acting the dumb Fallen kid and scoped out what has changed since we were alive, and as soon as I asked about the other humans that Fell, bam! Her freaking tears are circling up around her defensively like her fire used to do for us when she was protecting us. I was literally one minute away from dodging for my life from mom's magic!" A small pain shot through Chara's hand and only then did they realize they were grasping the toy's grip tight enough to turn their knuckles white. "… Tch." They forced themselves to relax both their grip and their thoughts. The human wasn't too keen on fighting their mom and it was bring all sorts of conflicting feelings to the surface.

Despite Chara's attempts to hide it, Asriel still noticed. "Sorry. This can't be easy for you either. I mean, you're the one that has to… um, do it." The goat, more open with his emotions, looked like he was caught between both wanting to give their sibling a comforting hug, or start sniffling.

Chara shook their head before getting up. "No, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I'm sorry." They went over and gave their brother a pretend hug; the two couldn't touch, but that didn't mean they couldn't act it out. A couple of peaceful seconds passed before being broken by Asriel's giggling.

"I bet this looks really silly!" He laughed. "I don't think our arms are matched up at all!"

"Oh really? Let me look!" Chara turned to the body-length mirror in the corner of their room and, "Huh?" That… wasn't their reflection. The person staring back at them… wasn't Chara. A cold shiver ran up Chara's spine as the other human's reflection moved out of sight, leaving an image of just the room behind them. Neither Asriel nor Chara were shown in the mirror. "A-Asriel, did you see that?" Chara turned their gaze to Asriel, only to see him looking elsewhere. Only at his name did the goat glance back.

"Huh? See what?" He paused, his smile dropping. "Hey, are you all right? You're looking a little pale." Their brother shot Chara a look of concern.

Though they could feel themselves nearly breaking into a cold sweat, they forced themselves to smile to cover it up. "Yeah, I'm good." They moved to a different part of the room, hoping to both get physically farther from the mirror and to steer Asriel's gaze away from it. They sat on Asriel's bed instead. "I was just, um, thinking I could tell you what I learned!" they finished with an overly bright grin. "Then we can figure out what to do!"

Asriel didn't look convinced, but decided to play along for now. Besides, they really did need to figure out how to help their mom. The young prince figured that the longer they stalled, the harder it would be to do… whatever it is they decided to do. He nodded and Chara recounted their earlier conversation with Toriel…

When the human finished, Asriel piped up. "So, if the other Fallen children aren't in the Ruins, where are they?"

Chara looked away. "If they aren't here, then I think it's pretty safe to assume that they either went further into the Underground or…" They trailed off.

Knowing exactly what Chara didn't say, Asriel's eyes widened again, this time in horror. Are they recalling what that flower version of them did? Whatever the monster was thinking, Chara didn't like seeing their brother so scared. "Or! Or like I just said, they're just further in the Underground with the other monsters." Even though they said it, Chara could tell neither of the siblings believed that to be true. But did they die or old age, or were they killed? And why did their mother look so guilty when the topic was broached? Maybe she—No, it couldn't have been Toriel that killed them. Chara quickly dismissed that train of thought because they knew for a fact that their mom would sooner end her own life than take the life of a child. Unless…

Did the human children leave Toriel, which lead to them somehow dying?

Chara suddenly stood up, startling Asriel. "I know how to help mom. We need to go down to the basement."

"The basement? Why do we need to go there?"

"I thought this through, and if I'm correct, then the humans all left Home after meeting with mom. Then something happened and they all died, something mom couldn't prevent. I believe mom's blaming herself for their deaths, even if she didn't do it herself!"

Asriel frowned. "But that's not mom's fault! She can't blame herself for something she has no control over."

The human nodded, a resolute fire burning in their eyes. "And that's what we have to convince mom of. Let's go!"

The siblings quickly made their way out of the room and down the hall. Asriel was walking at a brisk pace just to keep up with the human. He finally spoke up after they reached the bottom of the stairs and asked the question lingering in both their minds. "But if you talk to her about it directly, won't it lead right into a battle? Maybe we should prepare a bit mo…"

He hadn't noticed Chara's steps halting right as they rounded the corner. Being incorporeal, the monster just walked right through him, but he too was stunned then finally saw what stopped the human in their tracks: Toriel stood at the closed doors, the Gate separating the Ruins from Snowdin Forest. The Delta Ruins were caved into the heavy stone, looking almost as faded as the worn out tunic that fluttered in front of it. Her back was turned, but there was no doubt she knew Chara was there.

"My child," she spoke, her voice more somber than either of them had ever heard. "Did you not say that you were going to rest?"

The knife in Chara's hand was shaking; they were scared. The monster before them gave off the air of someone who had been through this very instance many times before, but whose resolve had only grown stronger with each passing failure. Any slim chance of getting through this encounter without a fight vanished in a second, and the human knew the battle was going to be far from easy. Then again, Chara didn't expect anything less from the Queen of Monsters.

They were intimidated, yes, but still the human took a solid step forward. After all, this was to help their mom through her suffering. Chara was determined.

"The previous Fallen children, did they come through here? Did they die?" The way the human spoke it made it obvious that Chara already knew the answer.

It started. The puddles of water pooling at Toriel's feet suddenly grew to form a circle on the ground beneath her. Her tears fell off her cheeks, but before they could touch her collarbone, floated upward and drifted around the monster protectively, like a physical barrier. Just as it had happened earlier, Chara could feel their soul respond to the sudden influx of magic around them, except this time, it floated right out of the locket and hovered in front of their person. The Heart Locket regained its golden color and "Best Friends" engraving, now an item equipped for the upcoming battle. A large, white square appeared on the ground, trapping the two within the newly formed battle area.

Toriel finally turned toward Chara, their gaze unwavering. "Yes, they have died – a fate I will not let befall you too!"

*Toriel blocks the way!