Chapter 6: Heartache

My dreams were odd. I heard a voice calling to me… I'd never heard it before, as far as I could remember, but somehow I felt I knew the owner. They were telling me to keep going… telling me I could make it. There wasn't much of an image to match the voice. All I saw was another white monster, seeming to look at me. It wasn't Toriel, as it was quite small. And they weren't using my exact name. It was strange, though… I felt like the name, whatever it was, belonged to me, anyway.

Before I could get any more detail about the dream, it began to fade. I tried to cling to it, but it eluded my grasp just before I could get to it. I felt my mind coming back into consciousness. Thoughts returned… and they focused on the extremely strong scent of pie. I shifted my position, and found that I was no longer lying how I was when I'd fallen asleep. I had been tucked into the bed, and, judging by the fact that no light was filtering through my eyelids, the lamp had been turned off. Toriel must have come into the room and tucked me in.

I blinked my eyes open. The room was dark, as I had suspected, but not dark enough so I couldn't see. I was still lying on my back, staring up at the ceiling. Tiredly, I traced the edge of it with my gaze. The bed was extremely comfortable, maybe even more so than my bed at home. But the smell of cinnamon was strong, and made it have such a different feel…

Oh, the cinnamon! I had almost forgotten about the pie that Toriel had been baking. I sat up, pushing the covers down. Through the soft darkness, I saw an object on the floor near the middle of the room. I reached over and turned the lamp on. I blinked repetitively to adjust my eyes to the light, and realized that the object on the floor was a plate with a slice of the pie on it. I smiled and swung my legs to the floor, carefully picking up the ceramic plate. The first bite I took was amazing. The cinnamon and the butterscotch were perfectly complementary of each other, I was surprised this wasn't a popular flavor back up on the surface. I finished the slice faster than I had begun.

Suddenly… I remembered home. I knew that I needed to get back… however much I liked it here. My parents would be worried by now. Who knew what was happening up there…? Toriel was the only one who could help me find the way back, just like Napstablook had said earlier. I had to go ask her about it.

Holding the plate, I exited the bedroom and walked down the hallway, searching for Toriel. I found her across the front room, in a little living room with a warm fireplace. Toriel sat in a plush chair beside the fire, reading a book with glasses perched on her nose. When I entered the room, she looked at me over the lenses and smiled. "Oh, hello, my child. Up already?"

I smiled back. "Yeah. Thank you for the pie, I didn't mean to fall asleep like that. I felt bad that you had to bring it to me."

Toriel giggled. "Oh, it is no trouble at all. I am glad to make you feel comfortable here." She closed the book gently and set it on her lap. "Um, I just want to let you know how good it is to have someone else here with me. I have so many old books I want to share! Oh, and I could show you the best bug-hunting spots. And I have prepared a curriculum for your education… It may come as a surprise to you, but I have always wanted to be a teacher." She giggled. "Well, maybe it is not so surprising. But still…! I am very happy to have you living here!"

"U-um…" I stammered after the large chunk of information I had just been thrown.

She looked at me curiously over her glasses. "Oh, was there something you wanted?"

I hesitated. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, but I had to get out of here as soon as I could. I decided to just come right out and ask the question. "Um… I've been meaning to ask you… Some monster told me that you knew of a way I could get back home…?"

The look of glee on her face wavered. "Oh, but… this is your home, now." She fumbled with the book in her lap. "U-um, would you like to hear about this book I am reading? It is called '72 Uses for Snails'." She was obviously trying to avoid the subject. "H-how about that? It is interesting, is it not?"

I paused, not wanting to hurt her feelings. Knowing I had to keep pressing, though, I continued. "Y-yeah, It's interesting… But I really need to know how to get out of the Ruins. I've been told that you know the only way."

Toriel went silent. Her smile had vanished, and she stared at the cover of her book with an expression I couldn't read. Suddenly, she stood up. "My child… I must take care of something. Stay here." With that, she walked briskly into the main room, and I could hear her footsteps descend down what I presumed were the stairs.

My first reaction was to be obedient, and wait like she had told me. But… I had a bad feeling that what she had to "take care of" had to do with the door to the outside of the Ruins. I pondered my decisions one more time, but the gut feeling was too strong. My determination to get home was enough to cause me to run down the stairs after her.

The stairs dropped down below the house, and the walls around me were back to the lavender color of the Ruins. A long, narrow hallway stretched before me, and I could hear footsteps from around the corner. I could still reach Toriel before she did anything. Immediately I began to sprint. After turning two corners, I came into a small room. My stomach dropped as I saw Toriel standing before what had to be the door to the outside. When she heard my shoes skid on the ground as I slid to a halt, she tensed up.

There was silence as the two of us simply stood there. Toriel sighed. "You wish to return 'home', do you not?" she asked after a moment. Her gaze ran up the surface of the door. "This is the end of the Ruins… A one-way exit to the rest of the Underground." She looked down at her feet. "I am going to destroy it. Be a good child and go back upstairs."

My eyes widened in surprise. "W-w… No! Don't destroy it! I need to get back home!"

She glanced at me over her shoulder. Her eyes were not happy. "You do not know anything about this place," she said. "Every human that falls down here meets with the same fate. They come, they leave, they die. I have seen it again and again. You naive child… If you leave the Ruins… They… Asgore… will kill you." She sighed again. "Go to your room."

"No!" I objected. There was no way I could let her keep me from the surface… where I belonged. "I… I can't stay here. I have a home and family up there… On the surface."

She looked away from me. "You want to leave that badly?" She shook her head in disbelief. "You are just like the others. There is only one solution to this…" She finally turned around, looking me in the eyes with a steely gaze I'd never seen on her before. "Prove yourself. Prove to me that you are strong enough to survive out there."

Suddenly, before I could get in another word, the heartbeats came again, and my Soul glowed brightly through my sweater. Toriel streaked her paws through the air, her palms glowing with orange magic. When she swiped downward, a bright orb was flung in my direction. I narrowly dodged it at the last second, and watched as it hit the wall behind me. Flames crackled in a small explosion. It had been a fireball.

I stared at her in newfound horror as she formed three more fireballs in the air, and fired them at me in an array. I was lucky to duck just before one hit me.

She conjured more of them, then waited a moment. I stood there unsure what to do, shaking in fear. "What are you doing?" she barked. "Fight me!" More fireballs flew through the air, wave after wave. I dodged the first one, but stumbled from moving so abruptly and slammed my back against the wall. A fireball from the next wave hit my left arm, and an intense pain flowed up and down my entire body. I shrieked in agony and raised a shaking hand to the wound.

Toriel gasped, and I looked at her, terrified. I never knew how dangerous she really was… Of all things that could have happened, she would throw fire at me? I felt my trust for her begin to sever inside my heart. But… how could I get past her by being scared? I knew the answer… I couldn't. I thought for a moment as she stared at me with a quivering lip. She looked nervous. In idea sparked in my mind. Maybe I could do this like I had with the rest of the monsters in the Ruins…

Shaking, I stood up straight. "N-no…" I said in a wavering voice. "I-I won't fight you."

I watched as tears began to form in her eyes. "Y-you must…" she breathed. "You will not survive out there if you can not fight! It is not safe!"

Slowly, I stepped toward her. "But Toriel…" She tensed as I said her name for the first time. "I survived the Ruins, and you said that would be too dangerous for me. I know I can do it… I'm determined to get home."

The fireball that had been held above her hand faded, and so did the glow from my Soul. "I-I…" She sighed and lowered her hands. "I know you think you can… But… w-we can have a good life together… You don't have to go out there…"

I reached out and took her hand. "Toriel…" I searched for words. "Y-you need to trust me… I think I can make it. I know I'm not that strong, but I found that sometimes fighting isn't the best option, anyway. Like you said, I don't want to hurt anyone, right? Sometimes all you need to do is be kind."

She fell to her knees, and a pang of empathy grabbed my heart as tears fell from her eyes and plopped on the floor. Slowly, a weak smile crossed her face. "Y-yes… I… I understand. And… I suppose… If you really want to go home… I can't keep you here." She opened her arms and drew me into a warm hug. Through the embrace, I felt her healing magic flow through my body, and the big burn on my arm vanished. "Good luck, Frisk… I pray that you stay safe."

Smiling, I returned the embrace. Her long furry ear pressed against my cheek. "I will. I promise." When we pulled apart, I looked her in the eyes and gave her a cheerful expression, with tears of my own attempting to escape from my eyes. "I won't forget you… Thank you for everything you did. I wouldn't have been able to be here if you hadn't have found me."

"Of course." She pulled out a small purple bag from her pocket. "And take this… Just in case you have some things that you do not want to hold." She stood up. "Also… once you leave… please do not come back. I hope you understand." With one last smile, she turned and ran down the hall.

"Thank you…" I whispered after her.