Tenebris had seen Toriel enter the room and lay 3 plates of pie on the floor for the humans, though he made no move to let her know that he was still awake. He partially wished that he could get out of bed and roam a little bit, but with Frisk still attached to his stomach he knew that was impossible. Yet not even for a second did he ever curse her for it; it was clear that she cuddled up to him over her sister for a reason and he wasn't going to prematurely end it.

Some time passed as Tenebris tried, and failed, to fall asleep. While Frisk's presence was comforting, his abdomen still hurt like a recently closed wound. His blind eye didn't help his situation, but he tried to power through it all for the sake of making sure Frisk got a good sleep.

After struggling to fall asleep for what Tenebris thought was an hour or so, he noticed Selendis stirring from her own sleep. She saw Frisk cuddled in with Tenebris and raised an eyebrow at him. "Never thought I'd see the day where Frisk would sleep with someone other than me."

Tenebris gave her a pseudo-shrug. "Your guess is as good as mine as to why she chose to sleep with me. Also, Toriel left pie slices for us, so watch your step if you plan on getting up."

She noticed the pie slice closest to her as Frisk began to stir. "Thanks for the warning, but… Tenebris, did you sleep at all? You look like crap."

"Heh… guess I just couldn't sleep. Don't worry about it, though. I'm sure I'll be able to get some proper rest later." Selendis gave him an unconvinced look, but didn't press the subject further.

"W-were you unable to sleep because of me?" Tenebris looked down at the now-awake Frisk's worried face. "I… just wanted to try sleeping with you at least once, but if it means that you won't be able to- "

Tenebris put a finger against Frisk's mouth to shush her. "I just wasn't tired enough yet, okay? Besides, neither of you slept for that long either, so this isn't a proper good-night's sleep. I'll get another chance to sleep later." She gave him an unconvinced look similar to her sister's and he shook his head. "I don't care what you say, Frisk, but my lack of a nap wasn't because of you."

"He probably just had a lot on his mind." Selendis was sitting on the bed, eating her pie slice, which she loved a lot. "He did just recently find out that he suddenly has a blind eye and a damaged soul. I'm surprised that didn't keep me up, though."

Tenebris rolled his eyes as he grabbed the pie slices for him and Frisk. "Neither of you will listen to me here, but I'll say it anyways. Don't worry about it too much. I'm pretty sure we'll find a way to repair my soul no matter what we do." He took a bite of pie and almost dropped it from how good it was. "Who knew cinnamon and butterscotch made such a mean combo in a pie?"

Frisk took a bite from hers and pretended to be surprised as well. "Wow, this really is good! I've never tasted anything like it before now!" She didn't see it, but Tenebris shot her a confused look from how forced that sentence sounded.

Selendis took note of it as well, but opted to ignore it for now. "When we're done, we should go thank Toriel for the pie and let her know our decision on staying down here."

"Oh? So it's official that you want to stay with her as well, Selendis? Quite the snap decision." Tenebris had flashed a worried look for the briefest of moments, but neither of the sisters saw it. He was worried that his past might come back to torment him and even drive Toriel and the sisters away from him. He wouldn't be able to stand the loneliness.

Selendis rolled her eyes. "I think all of us know that the choice would be. I mean… not only are we somehow familiar with each other… but it just… feels nice to have a mother-figure around after tragedy stole our parents away." Frisk nodded, but wondered if someone was going to have to leave the ruins like Tenebris did the first time around.

Tenebris sighed. "I can definitely agree with that notion. Should we make our decision official with Toriel?"

"Shouldn't we start calling her 'mom' now?" Selendis asked teasingly with a mischievous look on her face.

"That… will require a bit more time…" Frisk giggled at how uncertain Tenebris sounded, though he bounced back by saying, "I should be able to at some point. After all, who doesn't love a MOMster!"

"I regret ever bringing this up!" Selendis grossed her arms indignantly as the other two laughed, though she did have a small smile tugging at her features. She realized that she wanted to hear Tenebris' puns because, to her, it signified that despite everything Tenebris was still in high spirits.

After The pie was finished, the trio exited the room and headed into what looked like a living room, where they found Toriel sitting in an easy chair reading a book. The older humans thought that the glasses she was wearing made her look quite a bit cuter than before. Hearing their approach, she looks up and smiles. "That was a short nap. Did you three sleep alright?"

Selendis sighed. "Frisk and I did, but Tenebris couldn't fall asleep. He claims he wasn't tired, but…" She shoots a look at the slight amount of baggage under his eyes.

Toriel lets out a sigh. "I see. Well, no use trying to force sleep on anyone as it might be even worse in the long run. More importantly, did you three find the surprise I left for you?"

Frisk beamed at her. "Yes and it was delicious!"

"I'm happy to hear that." She noted the looks on the faces of the older humans. "Oh? What's wrong?"

Selendis let out a small sigh. "Toriel… Would you… have us as your adopted children?" Tenebris gave her a look for wording it weirdly but she continued, "It's just that… you're the first person to try and adopt any of us ever since our parents died and…"

Frisk finished for Selendis. "We just wanted… someone to be our mom. Us and Tenebris."

Toriel sat there with a surprised look for a few moments before giving a motherly smile. "I'm honored that all of you wish to stay with me. I'll be honest, I wanted to keep you three here with me but… now I know your feelings on the matter."

Tenebris closed his eyes and quickly prayed his past doesn't rear its ugly head before smiling at her. "So you'll…"

"I'll gladly take you three in with me. I'll be even more honest; I was so glad to have someone here that I already had so many things planned out for us to do. I have many old books I want to share." Tenebris winced at that one; he never really liked reading books that much. "I want to show you my favorite bug-catching spot." Now it was Selendis' turn to panic internally; she dislikes bugs, especially arachnids. "I've also prepared a curriculum for your education."

That legitimately caught Tenebris off guard. "Wait what? You mean you have an individual curriculum for each of us?"

"That's correct, though I might need to test a little bit to see how far in your education the three of you are. This… may come as a surprise to all of you, but I always wanted to be a teacher." Noting the looks on the human's faces, she looked to the side. "Err… perhaps that isn't surprising at all."

Selendis giggled. "Well I can fill you in as to Frisk's level of education, but me and Tenebris are going to be tougher to determine. Both of us dropped out of school when our parents died, so…"

That got a concerned look out of Toriel. "I… suppose you had every right to do so. The fact that you had Frisk continuing to go to school after she recovered from the loss is very commendable. It tells me that you're a very caring older sister who wanted a better future for her younger sibling." She trailed off a bit, wondering if Chara would have ever done the same with Asriel. She quickly caught herself and put down her book. "Anyways, what would you like to do?"

Tenebris thought for a moment. "Perhaps a full tour of the house? I know it seems like a small place, but it might help us get our bearings better and, later on, figure out a more permanent sleeping arrangement." The sisters look at each other before nodding, Frisk simply playing along since she already knew the layout.

Toriel let out a giggle as she put her glasses to the side and got up. "A tour can't hurt. Come along, my children. Let's start at the opposite end of the house and work our way back." While exiting the living room, a purple glint on the table caught Frisk's eye and made a mental note to examine it later; She doesn't remember anything like that being there before.

They stopped in front of the last door in the hallway. Toriel let out another small giggle. "This is my room. It's fairly simple, but I like it that way."

"Can we go in and look around?" Frisk suddenly piped up. She already knew what was inside, but she wanted to see the reactions of the other two.

Selendis looked appalled. "Frisk! You don't just ask to enter someone's room!"

"But Selly!"

"It's quite alright." Toriel interrupted with a soft smile. "I appreciate the sentiment, but I don't mind showing my room to you three if you're that curious. And don't hide it, Selendis. I know you're also curious as to what my room is like." Selendis huffed with a bit with a blush but didn't say anything.

Tenebris' eye had been caught by the mirror that was to the left of the room. "I'll join you guys momentarily. There's something I want to look at quickly." The girls gave him puzzled looks, but didn't question it as they entered the room. Tenebris stood in front of the mirror, looking at his now-blind eye and saw the scar.

Remembering the slight pain in his abdomen, he lifted his purple shirt and found a much bigger scar stretching across the stomach and chest areas. He frowned when he saw it; it did not look like an injury one could live from. As he tried to think about it, the pain in the scar flared up a bit more and he winced, prompting him to lower his shirt again before heading into the room. "Just… what is happening to me?"

In Toriel's room, Selendis read a book about subterranean plants and learned about Typha, more commonly known as water sausages, and realized that they weren't dissimilar to cat tail plants on the surface. Frisk found Toriel's diary and asked her to read an entry, which turned out to be a skeleton pun that made Selendis groan and Tenebris snicker.

Tenebris took a look at the cactus plant in the corner of the room and smirked. "Ah, the cactus. Truly the most tsundere of plants."

That got a frown out of Selendis. "How is a cactus… whatever you just called it?"

"I… I… I don't know, actually. I guess… because tsundere characters are really… prickly when you first meet them, but later show they're soft on the inside? That's really all I've got." That earned a snort out of Toriel and Selendis while Frisk silently realized just how close hers and Tenebris' lines of thought were.

They passed the room that was still under renovation and Toriel mentioned that it might become where one or two of the humans might be sleeping but dodged the reason as to why it was under renovations to begin with. They also skipped the bedroom meant for the humans because they were already acquainted with it. She told the trio that the stairs lead to nothing but a dead end that has yet to find a use and asked them to not go check it out. The older humans had a nagging feeling in the backs of their heads telling them that Toriel was wrong, but ignored it.

The last place Toriel showed them in the house was the kitchen. Outside of the last piece of pie and the fact that she had a brand-name chocolate bar in her fridge, there was nothing really to note.

Back in the living room, Toriel gave another warm smile to the trio. "So how do you find the house, my children?"

Tenebris summed it up for all three of them, "Very homely. I can tell you put a lot of effort into taking care of this place… though, just as a nit-pick, perhaps consider getting something other than a bunch of water sausages as plants."

Toriel let out a small sigh, well aware that her inability to take care of plants as well as Asgore was showing. "Other plants don't seem to like me, but I'll try my best." Noticing that Frisk's attention was elsewhere she asks, "What's troubling you, Frisk?"

Frisk gave her an unsure look. "Well… I was curious about that purple glint on the table I saw earlier."

"You mean that purple crystal?" Toriel picked it up and, despite it giving her feelings of fear, loneliness, and desperation, showed it to the humans. "I suddenly found it on my table today. As such, I have no clue where it came from or what its purpose is… outside of it seemingly reflecting your darker thoughts and emotions back at you."

Frisk felt like she should recognize it; it looked like it was a piece of something based on how it had a side that looked like it used to be attached to something. Tenebris started getting a weird feeling from it while Selendis merely looked at it with uncertainty. "If all it seemingly does is reflect negativity, shouldn't you throw it away or destroy it?"

Toriel paused before shaking her head. "I don't know, but I just get the feeling that… perhaps it serves a better purpose than just that. Besides, it wasn't glowing this brightly when I first saw it."

Tenebris hesitated before asking, "Could I… see it for a second?" Toriel complied and, trying to ignore the fear, loneliness, and desperation it was shooting at him, he gave it a slightly closer look. "Looks almost like a piece of heart." The girls, now looking more at him, saw that his eye was glowing the same amount of brightness as the crystal. Selendis was about to say something when the crystal suddenly flashed once before promptly shattering.

In that moment, Tenebris felt memories of him falling down the hole at Mt. Ebott, entering and running through the Ruins alone while desperately trying to find the girls. He remembered the various dust piles that littered the path, with the memory going as far as the dust pile that buried clothes and a door that leads to a snowy area. Disconnected from that, he somehow remembered how to use barriers and magic bolts

From how sudden the wave of memories was, he let out a startled cry and fell backwards onto the floor, which got a horrified look from Toriel. "My child! Please tell me you are okay!"

Selendis panicked over Tenebris as Frisk realized what that crystal was based on his physical description of it and what just happened. What nobody but her saw was when his soul emerged without even entering a "Fight". The same light that burst from the crystal congregated on his soul, which had the effect of making one segment no longer cracked.

Tenebris falling over the way he did made Selendis give a worried look; Tenebris had a look of fear on his face. "Tenebris, are you alright?"

"Y-yeah. Just… the crystal bursting caught me massively off guard. I… didn't mean to do that." He seemed pretty shaken.

Toriel shook her head, close to tears. "I'm so sorry, my child! I-I never meant to scare you like that. Perhaps Selendis was right, I should have destroyed it, yet I didn't and now you're paying the price for my curiosity."

"No, it was a good thing he got that crystal." Everyone looked at Frisk oddly, prompting a confused look out of her. "Wait, none of you saw it? That crystal helped repair Tenny's soul!"

Toriel paused before forcing the area into a "Fight". Sure enough, everyone saw that a segment of Tenebris' soul, while still separated from the other three segments, was now as flawless as the other human souls.

This prompted a frown from Selendis. "So when Tenebris fell into the Underground, his soul somehow got fragmented, which made crystals appear and scattered them god knows where down here? Something doesn't seem right with this situation."

Tenebris let out a small chuckle. "Easy goes for me, so I'm not complaining. Still, since none of us saw any other crystals like that in the Ruins, that means the other pieces are scattered throughout the Underground."

Toriel thought for a moment before nodding. "I'll ask another monster to look throughout the Underground for the other fragments. There is a way to exit and re-enter the Ruins, but only monsters that can fly are able to do it." Tenebris instantly knew she was lying, since there was another exit from the Ruins down the stairs, but didn't say anything as she left to find someone. He still wanted to stay with his new mom, bit was beginning to feel doubt over if he could or should.

What bothered him the most was the fact that the crystal made him remember himself going through the Ruins searching for the sisters. The fact that it was vivid enough to be true both disturbed and confused him. How was it that he came through here once before already without the sisters?

Frisk saw the look Tenebris had on his face and immediately began to worry again. It looked like more than just his soul got repaired when the crystal shattered in his hand. She knew what that crystal was: crystalized fragments of Tenebris' soul from after he died dealing with Chara. What worried her the most was how his fragmented soul carried like that over past the RESET, making his soul look the way it is now on top of scattering the crystalized fragments across the Underground. She had no doubt that Toriel would send someone to find the fragments, but knew that, sooner or later, one of the humans was going to want to leave the Ruins.

Selendis, on the other hand, was grateful that fixing Tenebris' soul was a bit easier than she initially expected. However, she knew something else was wrong based on the look he has right now. It's like he just recently remembered something and is equal parts disturbed and confused over it.

Toriel came back into the house, interrupting everyone's thoughts. "I managed to ask a Whimsun to ask around for help in the capital. Hopefully we'll hear back about the other three shards, assuming there's a crystal for each segment of Tenebris' soul."

Selendis was silent for a moment before sighing. "Guess all we can do is hope for the best. Hopefully that first crystal stabilized his soul enough."


When the humans went to bed, Frisk had decided to stay at her sister's side, thinking that if she tried sleeping with Tenebris, it'll rob him of more sleep. But while Tenebris was finally able to fall asleep, he instantly regretted it.

A lab rife with fire. Scientists, both guilty and innocent, running, screaming for their lives as they tried to escape. Then there was him, a human cloaked in dark energy on a murderous rampage.

"A monster! Everyone, a monster is loose! Run for it!"

Tenebris flinched as he felt his body move without input. "N-no… I'm not a monster…"

Right after saying that, dark tendrils suddenly erupted from his body and skewered a scientist in every direction. When the body collapsed in a bloody mess, another one was standing there looking horrified. "I-it can't be. Is this… what we've created? Now... the Grim Reaper comes for us…"

"I… I didn't mean to… to…" Once again, he watched helplessly as he skewered that scientist as well. "No… stop it… I don't want to… I don't want to do this, please!" The screaming only intensified as he continued slaughtering innocent people, deepening his own pain and despair.

Suddenly two ghastly figures appeared before him in the lab's raging inferno, speaking with his parent's voices. "Is this what we've been raising all this time? A monstrous, psychopathic murderer?!"

Tenebris started holding his head, finally in control of his body. "N-no! I didn't mean to! I-I only w-wanted- "

"HAH! That's what they all say. Stop lying to us. You also murdered us, you know? Murdered us with broken hearts! If this is who you are… you should of never been born! Why did we even try to raise you?"

Another bunch of shadowy figures appeared, one with a glowing blue eye, and they all started speaking in voices that sounded familiar, but hurtful none-the-less, one of which was Toriel's. "To think I was worried you wouldn't fit out there... Eheheheh! You really are no different than them… than Asgore!"

"I BELIEVED IN YOU… AND THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS?! I NO LONGER BELIEVE IN YOU, HEARTLESS BEAST!"

"You know what would be better for everyone? IF YOU WERE DEAD, YOU HEARTLESS MURDERER!"

"So… you're the one who killed all my friends? Well, I just came here to tell you… I hate you."

"Kids like you… should be burning in hell!"

Two more shadows appeared and morphed into the two people he knew would be betrayed: Selendis and Frisk. Frisk had a hurt look of betrayal. "You… killed innocent people?! I… I hate you! I HATE YOU!"

Selendis gave him a disgusted look. "I refuse to associate with you anymore. I don't CARE that you have a crush on me; no killer is going to win my heart. Why don't you just lay down and die like the abomination you are."

Tenebris fell onto his knees and started clutching his head, tears streaming down his face, begging for the voices to stop. The next time he looked up, all he saw was a pair of red eyes and a sadistic smile. "Face it. You would kill anyone who looks at you funny if you thought you could get away with it. Keep trying to tell yourself that you "didn't mean it" or that you "couldn't control" yourself. In the end, you're just like me… my genocidal friend. You made your choice long ago!" A knife suddenly sliced his front open, covering the entire area in blood and red nines.

He suddenly woke with a start, tears streaming down his face still. Realizing where he was, he painfully forced down sobs as he attempted to dry his face with his sleeve. No matter how hard he tried, though, he couldn't stop the screams of the dying in his head.

As he got off the mattress without waking up the sisters, he came to a conclusion that utterly broke his heart. He couldn't stay with Toriel or the sisters. He didn't deserve to be under the same roof as them, not as a murderer.

Who, in their right mind, would want to live with a murderer? He suddenly no longer cared if he was all alone if it meant the sisters no longer had to associate with a killer. He knew that tainting them with his blood-stained hands was worse than a life of loneliness.

Leaving the room quietly, he opted to simply go into the rest of the Underground and find the other three crystals by himself. As much as he felt like he deserved to have a shattered soul, he knew that he wouldn't be able to rest until it was repaired.

Toriel looked at a puffy-eyed Tenebris and let out a small gasp. "My child, did you have a nightmare?"

Tenebris let in a very shaky breath. "T-that's not important. C-could you tell me about another way to exit the Ruins?"

Toriel got an odd sense of déjà vu, but ignored it as she sighed. "Please wait here, I need to do something." Putting down her book, she rushes off towards the stairs.

Tenebris warily followed her and as he did, he learned about the fate of the other human children who fell into the Underground before being told that Asgore would kill him. That only strengthened his resolve to leave; it's only fitting that one murderer gets killed by another.

Before a door, Toriel let out a sigh. "You want to leave so badly, even though you wanted me to be your mother?"

Tenebris let in a shaky breath. "Since when did I… deserve you as my mother?"

That comment threw Toriel off guard, but she resigned herself. "There's only one solution to this. Prove yourself… prove that you can survive beyond this door." She forced the area into a "Fight", but winced at the notion of having to attack a fractured soul.

Tenebris was about to say something when one of the memories the crystal gave him suddenly flashed in his mind. In front of this very doorway, there was a pile of dust with clothes buried in it. Toriel's clothes.

Tenebris grew even paler than before. He somehow saw what was essentially her corpse and wondered if he somehow killed her once before. Toriel took notice of his new look and said, "Wait… why are you looking at me like that? Like you've seen a ghost. Do you know something I don't? No… that is impossible." With that, she started summoning up fire balls, ready to fight.

Tenebris took a few steps backwards, pure fear on his face. Toriel couldn't tell if he wanted to run away or not, so she threw a few fire balls his way to make him make up his mind. What surprised her immensely was when he countered by summoning shadowy bolts, though only enough to cancel out her fire.

Tenebris was having a mental break-down as the fight went on. He didn't want to kill Toriel. He didn't want to kill anyone more. In a desperate act, he cried out, "Please just let me though!"

Toriel stiffened up. "Why are you so desperate to leave? Like I said before, did you not want me as your mother? Did you not want to live with those two sisters?"

"B-because… I… I don't deserve them or you!"

Toriel gave him a confused look. "What do you mean? You were just fine with them before you went to sleep. What made you suddenly feel that way, your nightmare? If so, you shouldn't let something like that get you down, my child."

"N-no, i-it's not just that!" Realizing she wasn't going to relent, he gritted his teeth painfully. "I'M A MURDERER!" Toriel simply stood there shocked as Tenebris started looking at the ground, eye flared up and tears streaming down his face once again. "My hands are stained with blood. I… don't want to taint you or the sisters… I don't deserve any one of you…"

Toriel began to wonder if Asgore felt the same way as Tenebris did and if he had many sleepless nights because of he has done. Refocusing on Tenebris, Toriel calmly asks, "Is… that the reason why you want to leave? Because you're afraid of "tainting" us or worse?"

"I-if I w-were to stay with any of you… I-I might kill you!" Tenebris suddenly collapsed onto his knees, sobbing. "I… don't want to hurt you… hurt anyone…"

"But… if you were trying to leave…" Toriel sighed. "Don't tell me you were planning on throwing your life away, were you? What good would that do for anyone, especially for the sisters?"

"B-but… someone who has taken lives should have his life taken away as well… right?"

Toriel was about to answer when Frisk suddenly said, "Wh-what do you mean by that, Tenny?"

Frisk had woken up prematurely again when a voice, Asgore's voice, told her that she was the future of monsters and humans. She had realized that Tenebris was gone and, when she went to the living room, so was Toriel. She had come to their "Fight" area right when Tenebris admitted to being a murderer, which shocked her.

But when Tenebris went on about why he didn't deserve to be with anyone, she became determined to try and convince him otherwise. "Why are you saying things like that?"

When Tenebris saw her standing right behind him, he had paused until he let out a sad laugh which caught both girls off guard, tears still falling. "You… heard all that? I… never thought..." He laughed a little more as he fully sat down. "Fine… go ahead… tell me how much you HATE me."

That caught Frisk off guard but she persevered. "Tenny, I don't hate you at all, and neither would Selendis!"

"Liar…" Tenebris began gritting his teeth. "Do you realize just how many innocents I've killed? How many have died because I was cursed with this power?"

"I don't care!" Tenebris looked back up at Frisk in surprise just before she tackled him in a hug. "I don't care about any of that! I just want the Tenebris I know and love! Where's the bad pun loving, good natured big brother that I love?!"

"Frisk, you do realize that it's just a mask I've been wearing the entire time you've known me, right?"

"No it isn't! I could tell what kind person you were when I first met you all that time ago." She gives him a saddened look. "Please stop thinking like this. We care about you too much to just cast you aside for something you clearly never meant to do!"

"And I agree…" Tenebris saw Selendis standing at the entrance to the room, who had come looking for Frisk when she vanished from the room. "Perhaps there are those who could never forgive such a crime. But… throwing your life away isn't the answer, Tenebris. Please…" She suddenly hugged both him and Frisk at the same time.

Tenebris stayed silent for a few moments before shaking his head slightly. "You two… are too good to me."

"And perhaps you should cherish them like that." Toriel suddenly spoke up in a motherly tone. "Worrying or saddening your friends and family like this is arguably just as bad as anything you may have done in the past. Stop attempting to throw your life away when there's people who care about you."

Tenebris closed his eyes. "I… no, you're right. I'm sorry… for everything I've put you girls through as of late."

"Maybe you should be." Selendis gives Tenebris a small smack on the head. "Keeping all of your heaviest burdens to yourself. Didn't I ever tell you that we can help you shoulder those burdens? You shouldn't have to do everything yourself." Tenebris sighs before giving her a small smile as Frisk snuggled her head against his chest.

Toriel's heart warmed at the siblings reconciling, though the prior situation gave her much food for thought. When they were done, Toriel got their attention. "As you know, Tenebris wanted to go past here into the rest of the Underground for… reasons. I've given it some thought and I've decided that, if you wish, all of you can head through here."

That caught everyone off guard, though Frisk piped up first. "Why are you letting us go through when you previously wanted us to stay here?" She knew the answer already and was asking for the older humans.

"Well… all of the other children who came through here… more than likely died trying to go back to the surface. That was why I was trying to keep you here, but now I understand that keeping you here is no better. Since Tenebris does know some magic, I think you'll be safe to explore the Underground. On top of that… well the exit is one way, but I think I might join you at a later point in time."

That caught Frisk off guard as Selendis smiled. "You mean you might join us?"

"Indeed, my child. However, there are some things I wish to… sort out before I also leave the Ruins. That may take a while for me to do, so I'd recommend going on ahead of me. Prepare as best as you can; you're going to a cold area past here, so dress warmly."

Tenebris nodded. "Thank you, Toriel… or should I say mom?" Everyone shared a small laugh over that.

Toriel went on back to the house first. She had begun to feel like a fool over ditching Asgore the way she did. While he was cowardly in how he handled the situation after Chara and Asriel died, she wasn't any better for abandoning him in the first place, especially if he was having the same regrets Tenebris was. She silently prayed for her deceased children to forgive their foolish mother as she headed up the stairs.

When the trio of humans started heading back to the house to prepare for the journey, with Selendis supporting Tenebris, Frisk hung back a little before whispering to herself, "You say your hands are stained… it's not like mine are any cleaner…"