Chapter 2

Debts to be Paid

When Frisk woke up the next morning, she was greeted with the sight of sunshine entering her room from the window, and the sound of birds chirping outside. She looked at an alarm clock that she had at the nightstand left of her bed, and she saw that it was around 9 AM.

She was really confused. It was Tuesday, and she was supposed to have class today. She distinctly remembered turning on her alarm clock before she went to bed last night, and even if she may have forgotten, Toriel would have surely woken her up.

She gave a groan as her head was aching and she still felt very tired. She hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in a few days now, and she was horribly tired. She had to force herself to stay awake as she got up.

She looked to her door and saw a note. She walked over to the door and took the note and read it out loud.

"To Frisk,

I've decided that it would be best to keep you home until we've gotten this nightmare situation taken care of. I called you in, and you'll be staying home today. Asgore will be there to watch after you while I'm at the school, teaching. Be good for him, and make sure that he doesn't drink all of the tea.

Love, Toriel"

Frisk gave a little sigh and a shake of her head. She felt like she was causing so much stress to Toriel. It must have been so irritating for Toriel, waking up in the middle of the night every single night to her screaming.

She looked up when she heard a knock at the door. "Hello?" came Asgore's strong yet kind voice from inside. "You awake, Frisk?"

Frisk gave a sigh and left her room, slowly and tiredly making her way to the door of the house and opened it. Asgore was standing there in his usual wear. He hadn't changed one bit since Frisk had last seen him.

The same case wasn't for her, however. She seemed quite a bit different than what she looked like when Asgore had last seen her. Her hair was a mess, her eyes were bloodshot and very droopy, and overall, she just looked almost lifeless and out of energy. "Hello, child." Asgore greeted as he ducked his head to get in, having to do so because of the horns on his head. "…You don't look so good."

Frisk gave a little nod. She couldn't really think clearly due to how tired she was. "Well… perhaps no… but… I feel fine…"

Asgore gave a slow nod, obviously not at all convinced, and gave a hum. He put his hand gently on her shoulder and began to walk with her to the living room. "Toriel told me that you hadn't been doing very good lately." he said as he gently sat her down on the couch with him. "She told me that you had been having nightmares recently, and you're not getting any sleep because of them."

Frisk gave a little sigh and a nod. "…I'm sorry to have you… take the time… for me…" she said through tired yawns as she leaned on him slightly. "I… know you… must be really… frustrated with…"

"Oh, not at all." Asgore said as he looked at her. "I don't mind at all watching over you. In fact, it's really nice to be able to see you again. I just would have hoped that the circumstances for our meeting would have been much better, though."

Frisk gave a little nod and hummed sleepily. She didn't want to fall asleep, and she tried her hardest to not drift off. "So… what exactly kind of nightmares do you have, child?" Asgore questioned. "I mean… what all do you see in them?"

"Eh… izza… advenchrs I… traveled in the… Underground, aa…" Frisk slurred out tiredly. "I keel… alduh… mossers itha…"

"Uh… I'm sorry… could you please repeat that?" Asgore said. "I didn't really understand a single word you just said."

"Oh…" Frisk said as she shook her head quickly like a dog shakes its body when wet, to try to shake some of the drowsy out of her. She then repeated herself, only making herself much more clear. "Their… the adventures that I traveled in the Underground… but I do everything differently… I kill everyone… all the monsters… you, Sans, Papyrus… Undyne, Alphys… even Mom… I see me… killing you all… and…"

"Oh, Frisk." Asgore said as he gently put his hand on her shoulder. "You would never do such a thing as that… it's alright, dear… they're just bad dreams… more than likely a result of some of the stress you got from your adventures in the Underground… you have nothing to worry about."

Frisk gave a tired nod and looked sleepily up at Asgore. She could feel her eyelids grow very heavy. She needed to start some kind of a conversation with Asgore, something to keep her awake. "So… how's… everything go… ing with… you and Mom?" she questioned. "You… two… gonna… get back… toge… ther at… some point?…"

Asgore gave a hum and looked up. "Toriel and I… we're doing alright so far." Asgore said. "I don't know if she and I would be getting back together at anytime… but I will fully admit, that would be something I would really like." he said. He gave a hum and looked at the fireplace, his memories of the past coming back.

"…Hehehe. I can still remember the days when Toriel and I were pretty much inseparable." Asgore said as he couldn't really help but begin to tell the whole tale. This was part of what he had dreamed of, to sit in the living room and tell stories like a family. "Back then, even after everything had happened to us from the humans, everything in the Underground seemed to go really well… everyone was happy, and there wasn't at all much to worry about… everything was great."

Frisk nodded and listened on. She was hoping that hearing some words from Asgore would help her stay up, but that didn't seem to be the case. She began to blink slower and slower as Asgore telling his long, and almost kind of boring story was having the exact opposite effect on her and making her even more sleepy.

"Things only started to get bad when our adopted son, the first human to ever fall from the surface into the Underground, died of a mysterious illness… we tried everything we could to save him… but it just wasn't enough." He gave a little sad sigh and scratched at his beard as he continued on. "After that… for some reason that I'd never be able to guess, our other son, Asriel Dreemur, took his body and was somehow able to get to a human village with it… they ended up killing him, and everything in the Underground seemed hopeless at that point."

Asgore continued talking on, being so into the fact that he could finally tell his story to someone that could be a part of his family that he didn't notice that Frisk was now completely leaning on him with her eyes closed, slightly drooling a little bit.

"I was so overcome with rage that I promised that I would kill any human that came down there, and use their souls to provide an escape from the Underground… I honestly had no intention of doing such a thing, but it was able to cheer the rest of the Underground up. Everyone seemed to be happy again… except for Toriel. She became disgusted that I could ever do such a thing… she divorced me and left being queen of the Underground behind… I wanted to find her ever since then, but I had made a promise to my people… I didn't want to hurt anybody or cause any war, but I had made a promise… so I had to keep it."

He closed his eyes and gave a little smile and went on. "But thanks to you, Frisk… everything seems to have gone well… the souls of the other six humans that I had I released when I came up here… I was able to meet Toriel again, even though it didn't go at all as well as I would have hoped… and now, my people are finally out of that wretched prison… we finally have a bright future here, on the surface… in harmony with the humans…"

He opened his eyes as he heard a very faint snoring. He glanced down at Frisk and saw her gently leaning on his big strong body, sleeping soundly and slightly drooling on his armor. "…Oh." he said with a little nod. He decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she fell asleep because she was so tired, not because she was bored of the conversation they had.

He gave a hum and gently picked her up, carrying her to her room and laying her on her bed, tucking her in. "…If you need anything while I'm here, please don't hesitate." Asgore said. "I'll be more than happy to do anything I can for you, child… after all, you've done so much for me… thank you…." He smiled and walked out of her room, closing the door behind him.

"…OH YES." came a dark voice from the corner after Asgore left the room. There stood a sort of black figure, tall and surrounded by some kind of dark aura. "…THANK YOU INDEED… EIGHTH HUMAN." it said as it approached Frisk. "…IT'S TIME NOW… TIME TO COLLECT MY PAYMENT…"

In about an hour or two, after reliving the horrible nightmare she had last night, which ended in her killing King Asgore and destroying Flowey until he was nothing left, she was met with black and darkness. For the first time, she couldn't wake up from the nightmare.

She looked around in the darkness. "…Hello?" she cried out as she looked around. "…Asgore?… Mama?… Anybody?… Please…" She was scared out of wits end.

"…What's the matter?" came a boy's voice. "You afraid of the dark?"

Frisk looked behind her and immediately saw the smiling face of a young boy, about her age. He had brown hair, pail skin, and rose pink cheeks. "…Hello there, Frisk."

Frisk stared at him, slightly backing up a bit. "H… how…" she said. "…How do you know my name?"

The boy gave a little laugh. " Hahahahahaha! Oh Frisk, you're so funny." he said. "Don't you remember? It's me, Chara. We met once before, remember?"

Frisk looked at every detail about him. The brown pants he wore, the green shirt that was on him, and those pink cheeks… she really tried her hardest to remember a time of seeing him before, but she couldn't recall ever seeing this boy until just now. "I… I don't recall." she said.

Chara gave a hum and looked up in thought. "Hmmm… interesting… perhaps when we restarted the world, it also somehow took your memories of the events that transpired beforehand… very intriguing…"

Frisk was beginning to get disturbed by what this boy was saying. Something wasn't at all right with him. "Wh… what do you want?" she questioned. "…What are you gonna do with me?"

"Oh, it's not much really. I don't really want much of anything, really." Chara said with a shrug and looked at her. He gave a little bit of a grin, which made Frisk even more uncomfortable with being around this guy. "…I'm simply here to claim my debt."

"Wh… what do you mean… what debt?… I never…"

"Oh… don't play dumb, Frisk. You know what I'm talking about." he said. "You and I made a deal, and now it's time that you hold your end of the bargain… your soul now belongs to me… now give it here."

"Wh… no! You can't…" Frisk said as she began to back up. Chara's already unsettling grin was starting to become wider, and his eyes were slowly starting to disappear. "I… I don't owe you anything! Just… go away! Leave me alone!"

"You think you can avoid me?" Chara questioned as his mouth went open, his eyes completely gone. "YOU SOLD YOUR SOUL TO ME LONG AGO."

He began to slowly approach her, with the entire place flashing red and black. He was laughing and heading at her. Frisk gave a panicked scream as she closed her eyes and strained as hard as she could, trying to get herself to wake up.

Chara's horrible laughter was getting closer, and she knew that he was simply inches away from getting what he wanted. However, she wasn't going to give up. She was filled with determination, and it kept her straining with all her might to wake herself up.

"No!" Frisk screamed as she woke up with a dart and kicked her leg, kicking Chara back, forcing him to release his grip on her head.

Frisk looked and saw the black figure walking back, its hands on its stomach as it wasn't at all expecting the kick. The dark aura that surrounded it dispersed and revealed the same boy that Frisk had just met in her dreams. He looked at Frisk and saw that she was awake. "Impossible." he said. "Nobody is ever able to resist me… how?… How did you…"

Frisk was breathing hard as she immediately got off the bed and stood up. She stared as Chara tried to mentally search for an answer of how she was able to escape his grasp, but shook his head as he looked back at Frisk. "Well… no matter… if you won't cooperate with me the easy way, I'll have absolutely no issues… RIPPING IT OUT OF YOU BY FORCE."

Frisk gave a horrified scream as she was already backed against the wall by her window. She could have tried to escape out of there, but she knew she wouldn't have much places to go, and Chara would eventually find her anyway. The only real option she had to have any hope of getting out of this situation alive was to call for help. "Asgore!" she cried out as she got her back against the wall. "Asgore! Help!"

Meanwhile, in the living room, Asgore was reading a book that Toriel had on one of her bookshelves. It was a book called To Kill a Mockingbird, and he was certainly enjoying the book. There were quite a number of times where the book used a word that started with n that he had never heard of before in all his years of ruling the Underground. "Huh… I'll have to find out what that word means some time." he said as he turned the page and continued to read.

"Asgore!" came Frisk's voice from her room. Hearing the terrified screaming of Frisk, he immediately looked up from the book and looked at the direction of her screaming. It sounded like she was in some kind of legitimate danger.

There came her voice again, and Asgore immediately knew that something wasn't right. "Asgore! Help!"

"Frisk?" Asgore questioned as he sat up and began to hurriedly head towards her room. He had his hand reach for his trident under his robes, just in case he needed to protect Frisk from anything.

Chara gave that malicious laugh. "Go ahead. Call for help, you little worm." he said as he put his hand on her chin and grabbed her by the cheeks and made her look into his eye sockets. "Squeal for mercy like the pig you are… nobody's going to save you. You and I made a deal… AND NOW I'M GOING TO TAKE WHAT'S MINE!"

"Frisk!" came Asgore's voice as he opened the door, making Chara turn away and glance over. "Frisk, what's going-" His words were caught in his throat with a gasp as he looked at what was going on.

There was nothing but silence for a good couple of minutes as both Chara and Asgore stood there, silently staring at each other. Chara's eyes had reappeared and his mouth turned back to normal as they both stared at each other. Frisk kept quiet and stayed as still as humanly possible, not daring to utter a single word or make a single sound.

"…Ch… Chara…" Asgore said as he almost took a step back, his hand releasing the trident he carried behind his cloak.

"…F… Father?…" Chara questioned. He released his grip on Frisk's cheeks as he stood up, staring at Asgore.

Frisk remained quiet and breathed hard as she stared at both Asgore and Chara. She didn't like the way that Chara had called Asgore 'Father', and she wanted to ask about it, but still she said nothing. She was afraid that her saying a single word would remind Chara that he had some business to finish.

Asgore began to slowly walk in, his face riddled with disbelief, as if he was in some kind of dream. "Chara…" he said quietly. "…Chara… my son…"

Chara remained quiet. He practically forgot that Frisk was there at this point. He just continued to stare into the face of his father. He couldn't help but feel this feeling inside him, the same feeling that he got when he had first met back up with Asriel just yesterday.

"You… you were dead." Asgore said as he approached just a little bit. "…You died…"

"…Yes Father… I am dead." he said as he glanced back over to Frisk and then back to Asgore. "…I am dead… and that's what I'm about to change…"

"Wh… what are you doing?" Asgore questioned. "…What do you want with Frisk?"

"…I want to finish what was started by me long ago." Chara said. "…I'm going to take Frisk's life as my own… and I'll wipe out all the humans that have ruined our lives in the past… then we can be together again… as a family…" That wasn't at all the main reason, but he wanted Asgore to not interfere with his plans.

"But… Chara… no." Asgore said. "I can't let you do that. You can't take the life of an innocent child for your own desires."

"Why not? If I remember correctly, you tried to do the same thing in your lifetime, did you not?" Chara questioned. Being the clever being that he was, he was trying to see if he could pin some of the blame on Asgore. "You killed six other 'innocent children' so you and the other monsters could be able to escape the Underground and destroy all the humans on the surface… if you can do that… why can't I?"

"Son… I made a mistake at that time, and it will be a mistake that will always haunt me." Asgore said. "But I can't let you hurt Frisk. Just step away from her."

"Why don't you just come and make me?" Chara dared as he once again grabbed Frisk by the cheeks and made her look at him with him. "If you really care about this girl more than your own son, then go ahead, just try and stop me. I dare you."

"Chara… please, don't make this so hard on us." Asgore said. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Is that so?… Good, then you'll have absolutely no issues with me taking what rightfully belongs to me." Chara got that terrifying face once again and turned to Frisk.

Frisk just remained there. She couldn't move, and her entire body felt numb. She was so overcome with fear that she couldn't move. "P… please… you can't…"

"Sorry, dear child… we had a deal." Chara said with a grin as he grabbed her chest. "Now… it's time to pay up."

Asgore closed his eyes and clenched his fists as he was hesitating on what to do now. "…Forgive me… my son…" he said in a quiet whisper as he opened his eyes, pulled out the trident that was under his cloak, and yelled as he fired a flurry of magical fire at his son.

Chara's hand was beginning to turn black as he was about to begin the process of taking her soul and bringing his plan to a complete start, but he sensed the powerful fiery magic that was approaching him. He turned around and saw the fires heading straight for him, having no time to react before the flames hit him. The fires hit Chara, sending him ablaze.

Frisk gave a yelp as Chara was set on fire. He let go of her chest and gave a scream of agony as he began to run, his entire body a walking inferno as the fires burnt him. He fell on his back and began to thrash around to put the fires out, screaming in a way that Frisk had never heard before.

Asgore watched in great anguish as his son burned from his attack. He didn't want to have to hurt Chara, but he had left him no choice. He watched as Chara continued to burn, thrashing about with the smoke starting to rise. From his thrashing, the blazes had caught the curtains of the window and set them on fire as well. It would only be a matter of time before the entire house started to burn at this rate. He couldn't stand there and do nothing. He needed to get himself and Frisk to safety.

With the trident still in one hand, he got to Frisk and took her hand. "Come on, there's no time. We have to get out of here quickly." he said as he ran, holding Frisk's hand as they ran out of the room.

Chara thrashed around for a few more good seconds before the fires that were around him were extinguished. He gave a groan of pain as he rolled on his stomach and forced himself to his feet. He gave a curse that the fires hurt more than he would have liked. He was very powerful, but he didn't yet have his full power. He didn't like to admit it, but he alone still didn't have the power to defeat Asgore.

He gave a growl and looked as the curtains in the room burned, setting more and more things in the room on fire. He growled and gave a wicked grin as he took out a pencil and a 'magic' notebook that he had taken from a monster named So Sorry. "You'll pay for that one, old man." he growled as he began to draw on a page of the notebook.

Asgore ran Frisk to the living room, and stopped them both and got on his knee, holding Frisk's arms and looking at her deep in the eyes. He had to know. "Frisk, what was he talking about?" he questioned. "What did Chara mean by you and him having a deal?"

"I-I-I don't know." Frisk said as she was in a complete panic now. "I don't know what he's talking about."

"Did you make a deal with him at any point of your life? Have you met him before?!" Asgore questioned on, obviously in a bit of a panic himself. He was usually very calm and collected, but something about this time had him scared.

"I've never met him in my life until now! I swear!" Frisk said as she looked back to her room. Smoke was starting to rise from under the door as more things in her room were catching fire. "I just woke up after having a nightmare, and I found him trying to take my soul! I've never made any deal with him!"

Asgore remained quiet and looked deep in her eyes. He saw no traces of lying in her as she stared directly into his eyes. He gave a sigh and a nod and stood up, releasing Frisk's arms. "…We need to get out of here, now." he said. "…It's not safe here for any of us."

"Ch… Chara…" Frisk said as she looked back at the door and looked back at Asgore. She then remembered somebody mentioning the name Chara several times. "He… he was the human that fell down in the Underground that you took care of… you adopted him."

"Yes… Toriel and I took care of him… we loved and cared for him like he was our own…" Asgore looked at her. "Frisk… the dream you said you were having… what exactly did you dream of?… What did Chara say to you?"

Before any of them could have a chance to say another thing, the door that led to Frisk's room suddenly burst open, literally flying out of the doorway and falling as shards and pieces of broken wood. From the room emerged a very long beast about 10 feet tall and at least 30 feet long. Its lower half of its body was a bright green, and consisted of two small legs that were like those of a rhinoceros, and had a long mermaid tail. Its upper half of its body was blood red, and had long arms with humanoid hands, save for long claws that looked like they could cut through metal. It also had some fins among its body like a fish, and grey broken chains that hung down from its back. Its eyes were aquatic blue, and its mouth was filled with razor-sharp fangs.

The beast walked on all fours out of the room and looked up as it gave a loud and powerful roar, so loud that some of the more fragile glass in the house cracked and in some cases, even completely shattered. Frisk gave a scream and hid behind Asgore. She felt like making friends with that terrifying creature wasn't going to be an option any time soon.

Asgore gave a little tremble before taking his trident in both his hands and standing protectively in front of Frisk. He stood ready to fight as the beast walked into the living room and roared again, Chara following behind it. "What do you think? Pretty impressive, isn't it?" he questioned. "I like to call it 'Neptune's Hound Unbound'."

"Son, you're making a mistake." Asgore said as he continued to stand there, with his trident in hand. "The days of war with the humans is over. Let go of the past."

"DON'T TELL ME TO LET GO OF ANYTHING. I'LL NEVER FORGIVE HUMANITY FOR WHAT IT'S DONE TO ME." Chara answered, losing his cool with what Asgore said. "If you're not going to see things my way and open your eyes, then I suppose I'm going to have to knock you out of my way." He pointed at Asgore and said, "Neptune's Hound!… Dinner time."

The beast gave a growl and then another roar before beginning to charge towards Asgore, its legs pounding against the floor and its claws ripping up parts of the board each time they slammed down unto the floor in the run and came back up for another step. Despite how short the beasts legs were compared to its arms, it was somehow able to run fairly well.

Asgore gave a growl and let a drip of sweat fall down the side of his head as he gripped his trident harder. The beast got within striking distance and raised its arm up, swinging it down with the intention of slashing Asgore. Asgore swung his trident upward and batted the hand away from him, giving a little groan as he did. The beast's physical strength was immense, as Asgore was barely able to bat that attack away.

Seeing an opening as the beast's arm was away from him, Asgore drew his trident back and thrusted it, aiming to strike it in the head. The beast opened its mouth and bit down on the trident, stopping it from moving a single inch. Asgore tried to pull his trident back, but to no avail. Neptune's Hound growled and jerked its head forward, ripping the trident out of Asgore's grip and knocking him down. The hound threw the trident to the floor, where Chara went and grabbed it. "Quite impressed, are you not?"

Asgore growled and got himself back up and drew his hand slowly to the left, allowing more of the fire magic of his to appear in the path that his hand just traveled. He thrusted his hand forward, which sent the fire towards the beast. Said beast, however, opened its large mouth, and a huge torrent of water shot from it mouth. It immediately extinguished the fires as soon as they came into contact with the torrent, which also slammed into the chest of Asgore at amazing force, cracking his armor slightly and sending him hurling back into the wall, slamming into it and almost completely going through it.

"Hahahahahahahahaha!" Chara laughed sinisterly as he knew that while he may not be able to defeat Asgore by himself, he can create beasts and monsters of his own that could crush him without a second thought. "Just as I thought. Even my own father, the mighty Asgore can't stop me now. I am invincible."

"M… my son…" Asgore groaned in pain. "…Why… why are… you… doing this?…"

"It's business, old man." Chara replied as Neptune's Hound was up at him, growling threateningly and having its fingers tap the ground, warning Asgore that it wouldn't hesitate to rip him apart if he moved a muscle. "Now… where were we?" Chara asked as he began approaching Frisk, who only cowered on the ground and began to slowly crawl backwards to get some distance from Chara, knowing that Asgore couldn't save her now.

This time, however, before Chara reached her, he looked up in the sky, as if something was grabbing his attention. "…Hmmm… he's already waking up…" he said with a hum. He looked at Frisk and Asgore. "…Well, looks like I'm going to have to cut our playtime a little short today… how fortunate for you. Looks like you can take a minute or two to remember your payment."

He turned to Neptune's Hound and opened the magic notebook to the page he drew it in and tapped it a couple of times, the beast disappearing into some kind of green and red dust and flowed back to the page of the notebook it was drawn at.

Chara gave a hum and looked at both Asgore and Frisk. "I'll be seeing you both soon enough." he said. "Do tell my mother I said hello… and tell her not to get in my way… I wouldn't want to have to hurt my mother or father anymore than I have to." He gave a laugh and was covered by that dark aura again, and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared.

Frisk remained quiet for a few seconds and looked back at her room. It looked like quite a lot of stuff had burned, but it was clear that the entire room was wet. Seemed like Chara's creation had stopped the fires from spreading any farther.

She looked back to Asgore and ran to him as he forced himself out of the wall and unto the floor. That blast of water had hit him with such incredible force, it would have undoubtedly crushed his entire chest had he not been wearing that suit of armor. "Fr… Frisk…"

"Asgore, wh-what do we do?" she questioned. "He-he's going to come back. He'll be after both of us."

"I… won't allow him to hurt you…" he groaned as he got on his knee and tried to stand up. "Frisk… it's too dangerous for you right now… you need to get out of here, and fast."

"B-but what about you?" Frisk questioned. "If he comes here again, and I'm not here, he's going to get you! He'll try to make you tell him where I am."

"He'd… try to kill me… whether or not you're here with me." he said. "He doesn't just… want you… there's something more he wants…"

"But… where do I go?" she questioned. "I've got nowhere else to go."

"…You… have other friends…" Asgore said with a groan. "…Go to Sans and Papyrus's place… tell them… that I need their help… that we're all in grave danger…"

"But… Asgore, I can't leave you-"

"You have to!" Asgore said firmly, almost in a weak yell. "…You have to go now… you're in too much danger to stay here, and… the two of us… being here at the… same time will put… you in greater danger."

Frisk looked back at the door. She saw the time was five minutes until 11. She didn't want to leave Asgore alone until Toriel came back at around 3 or 4, depending on whether or not she goes to the grocery store after work. "…What about you?" she asked. "…What will you do?"

"I'll… stay here." Asgore says. "…I'll wait for Toriel to come home, and… I'll explain the… situation to her… hopefully we'll be… able to find out… what to do from then."

Frisk gave a sigh and clenched her fist. She didn't want to leave Asgore. Whether or not she showed it, and especially when Toriel might not approve, she saw Asgore as a fatherly figure, and almost thought of him as her own father, just as she thought of Toriel as her mother. "…I'll come back for you." she said with a whisper.

Asgore gave a groan and a nod. "We'll get through this young one… we'll get through this." he said. "Now… go… go!"

Frisk gave a nod and ran out of the house, closing the door behind her and running as fast as she could. Sans and Papyrus's house was about a 1 hour walk away, so she would need to run for a while if she wanted to speed up the process of getting there. All she could really do was just pray that she didn't run into any more problems while she was alone.