Tenebris had a fitful sleep after his confrontation with Toriel. Despite her calming the magic inside of him down and easing some of his fears, his demons continued to haunt him in his dreams. That, plus the anxiety of having to reveal to Frisk and Selendis his secret, something he has lied to them about the entire time he knew them, kept giving him minor panic attacks; he was not proud of how he got his magic and that will most likely something they will ask.
He didn't want to lie to them again like this, not when he almost murdered their foster mother when said magic went out of control, but he continued to fear that they would turn their backs on him.
When the sisters got up, they were confused by the fact that Tenebris wasn't up yet. They knew him as a light sleeper, so him sleeping in was an oddity. Toriel was in the kitchen making breakfast when Selendis approached her. "Um, Toriel? Why isn't Tenebris up yet?"
Toriel sighed as she continued cooking. "Something... happened last night and it took a lot out of him." When she got two confused looks she shook her head. "You would be better off hearing it from Tenebris himself. First, I must ask a question. Depending on the situation, would your opinion of him change at all?"
Both sisters looked confused but Frisk spoke up first. "That's an odd question, but do you need to ask? As long as Tenebris is still Tenebris, I don't care; he's a great friend and I wouldn't give up on him regardless." There was a lot of determination in her voice and Toriel chuckled under her breath. There's Frisk's serious side and she already knew it, despite only knowing her for a short amount of time.
Selendis nodded. "Unless he did something abhorrently stupid, I have to agree with Frisk. He's a... um, great friend and I wouldn't give him up for the world."
This time Toriel noticed her hesitation in calling him a "great friend," and was tempted to tease her, but decided to leave it alone. "Alright, that's all I needed to know. Breakfast is done, so start eating while I go fetch him." The sisters shrug at each other as she left, wondering why Toriel asked such a question, before they started eating. When she came back, she had a bit of a somber look on her face. "He had a rougher night than I thought, but he said she's fine. All I ask is... don't judge him too harshly.
The sisters didn't get time to ponder this when Tenebris started approaching from his bedroom with one eye closed. They both instantly noticed that his eye patch was gone and when he reached the table, he opened the previously blocked eye. They gasped as they beheld the black and purple eye and he looked away. "Well... I'm waiting for a negative response..."
Toriel was about to berate him when Frisk rushed over and hugged him. "Are you kidding? That looks so cool on you! I'm disappointed you didn't show me sooner." Based on the surprised look he had, he clearly didn't expect that reaction.
Selendis merely shook her head. "If that's it, then I'm not sure why you wanted to hide it from us specifically. Would we think any different of you? Heavens no."
"B-but I can use shadow magic with this eye. How can-"
Frisk cut him off. "AND you can use magic? Awesome!"
Toriel giggled. "Of course, his magic went out of control last night, hence the rough night. I was able to stabilize it before any real damage could be done, so there's no worry of that." Tenebris nodded in her direction, thankful she omitted their scuffle last night.
Selendis put a hand up to her chin. "I suppose you would think people would consider you a freak, hence why you never used magic before and why you had your eye covered up. My question is: did something happen to allow you to access it? Last I checked, humans don't have any access to magic at all."
He flinched at the question, the one he's been dreading the entire time. "It's... another thing I've never told either of you and a very painful memory. Make yourselves comfortable; I don't want to lie to you two about this anymore."
All of the girls took their seats at the table, though not before Toriel gave him his breakfast. Noticing they were ready, he let in a shuddering breath. "Y-you know how I said I wasn't around when my parents died in an accident?"
Selendis nodded. "You said you were gone somewhere at the time."
"That... was only a half-truth. The thing is... I was kidnapped half a year prior to my parents dying..." Toriel gasped and Selendis shot a worried look at him. "Thing is, that wasn't any normal kidnapping. Turns out that they kidnapped me... for a science experiment.
"The goal of their project was to try and infuse a human with magic in such a way that they could use it flawlessly. Of course, from what I've heard, many humans before me, mostly older people with criminal records that nobody would care about, had become failed experiments. Their bodies and souls kept rejecting the magic and all of them had died before they could begin stage two of the infusion."
Toriel held up a hand to stop him. "You went out of your way to mention that their souls also couldn't handle the magic. Does that mean..?"
Tenebris nodded. "That facility was researching the human soul as well as magic. From what I was told, it was a top-secret project; even the government doesn't know of it's existence. Thing is... the head scientist... was mad. When I survived through the initial infusion, she treated my soul like a surgical playground."
Now Selendis started looking horrified while Frisk had an... unintelligible look. "She ordered all of the scientists to start infusing me with many different kinds of magic in the other stages of the process. All of them were... very painful. I knew what it was like to have your soul attacked before coming down here; you never get used to it.
"Half-way through my stay there, my magic ran out of control for the first time. It was mild, thankfully, but the head scientist blamed it on not enough magic infusions for stability and doubled the amount of infusions I would receive a day. The other scientists were starting to question why she was doing this, many begging her to stop being so cruel with the infusions. Of course she silenced them all with the threat of termination... and I don't think it simply meant firing them." All three of his listeners blanched. "In fact, the double infusions were the reason why my eye turned into what it is; they were infusing my soul directly through my left eye and eventually... this happened."
"Where they infusing you with shadow magic or non-elemental magic?" Toriel was curious if Tenebris' shadow magic was a result of too much magic.
"Shadow magic, judging by the dark purple energy they kept injecting my soul with. Thing is, as time went on, the infusions got more painful and my periods of lost control longer and harsher. Unlike you, Toriel, they didn't try to calm the magic down. They forced it to stop running rampant through means I am not privy to."
Frisk spoke up with a shaky voice, "S-so how did you escape?"
"Turns out that the scientists who objected to the harsh infusions had enough and broke me out themselves while seeking to make the head of the lab pay for what she's done. They had to wait until my soul had enough infusions of shadow magic to make it's rampancy come full circle and to ensure that the infusion process was complete. They didn't want me to die because of incomplete procedures."
He sighed. "The rest, Frisk and Selendis know about already. When I finally reached home, I was hit with the news that my parents had died on my birthday. I've become a social introvert ever since."
He waited in silence for a short while until his foster mother hugged him. "I didn't know the extent of your pain ran so deep, my child."
Tenebris smiles at the two sisters. "It's actually thanks to you two I've made it this far."
Both of them gave him a surprised look before hugging him after Toriel was done. "I-I'm just glad we could be there for someone." Frisk croaked out.
Selendis shook her head. "To think... behind all of those bad jokes, you hid such painful memories. But... just know, we're here for you now, no matter what."
"... Thank you... both of you." He broke the hug and gave them a guilty smile. "However, I must confess; I need to go back to the surface."
Frisk looked shocked. "Why? I thought you were fine living down here."
"Thing is, there are some demons in my mind that nobody can help me fight. The reason why I'm going back up is to get a memento of my parents so that the back of my mind isn't convinced I simply forgot about them. Toriel gave me permission to leave last night... if it was night."
Toriel nodded. "Yes. The rest of the Underground can be dangerous, but I believe his strong magic will keep him safe. He will leave once I've taught him the basics of magic manipulation, as he has had no training in such matters, hence why his magic goes out of control. He will leave after he learns enough to keep it under control."
Tenebris nodded but jumped when Frisk piped up, "Then we're going with you!"
Selendis nodded. "We might not be much help, but I'd rather travel with you than worry myself sick by staying put." Shooting Toriel an apologetic look she adds, "I'm sorry, but even if I wanted to stay, Frisk probably wouldn't take no for an answer and I don't want to worry about two people."
Toriel let out a sigh. "Perhaps you would be safer in a group. Very well, as soon as Tenebris completes his basic training, you can all go."
