I'll admit, chapter seven brought a lot of questions that weren't answered as well as I had hoped they would be. Hopefully this will answer some questions about which Kaneki is which, as well as an explanation and small insight on how Kaneki Dreemurr will be apart of this story. I love hearing from you guys, so please hit me up with either a review or PM if you have an idea of what I could write in future chapters to improve the story, or even if you'd love to see something or someone particular in the story; I'm a pretty dynamic writer.
I sat at the dining table next to Kaneki as we patiently awaited for Toriel. After a few minutes, I heard a door close from the hallway followed by a set of famiar heavy footsteps come closer to us. Entering the room, Toriel took a moment to light the fireplace. "I think it's time that we shed some light on the subject." Toriel joked as she gave a short-lived grin before momentarily before taking a seat next to us. For the longest time, she kept her focus on Kaneki, who shyly tried to avoid eye contact. "So, we've apparently never met before, correct?"
"No ma'am, but… I'm… I'm Kaneki Dreemurr, I think I'm your son; or at least, that's what I've been told."
"I don't recall ever calling you my son." Kaneki's eyes opened wide for a single moment before averting his gaze down to the floor. "I… I shouldn't have said that." Toriel excused herself as she sighed. "I'm truly sorry."
"...I don't blame you if you hate me." Kaneki replied as he looked up slowly to look at Toriel. "From what I heard, I've done a lot of bad things."
"No you haven't!" I insisted as I placed my hand on his shoulder. "You shouldn't feel guilty, you didn't do anything wrong!" Kaneki turned his head to look at me before giving me a small smile.
"Thank you, Chara."
"Kaneki… I…Please help me understand something."
"Yes ma'am." He replied.
"Are you… Are you the same Kaneki that first came here?"
"Chara and I were actually discussing this earlier." Kaneki chuckled to himself softly. "You know, after I found out about him , I still don't think I'm the same person as he was."
"But you look exactly like him!" Toriel persisted. "You even act like him!"
"That's what everyone's been telling me lately as well." Kaneki added. "I appologize, but I really don't have a solid answer. All I know is that I'm Kaneki Dreemurr, and that's all that I am." I could tell that his answer really didn't satisfy Toriel's curiosity as much as she had hoped for, but it must have been evident to her that she wouldn't be getting any fulfilling answers from someone as new as him.
"I suppose that'll have to do then…It's just… It's just…" She muttered under her breath as she lowered her hand from her forehead to cover her face. "It's been so hectic these past few days." She choked out before beginning to weep silently to herself. I reached out to place my hands over her other hand.
"Mom-" Before I could finish, the sound of a chair being pushed out and backed in over the wooden floor broke my concentration. I looked over to see Kaneki reaching his arms around to give Toriel a comforting hug. "Kaneki…" I whispered as I felt a smile spread across my face. As soon as he made contact with her, Toriel instantly lowered her hand to reveal eyes that reflected dread as she turned to face Kaneki. She let out a gasp as she shoved him away from her.
"I can't!" She yelped as she hastily got up from her chair- knocking it down in the process. Kaneki backed away from her as she glared at him through tear-ridden eyes. The three of us remain silent as we were frozen to our spots for what seemed like forever. "I'm sorry… You can't stay here, Kaneki." In that moment, I felt my heart skip a beat.
"You… You can't be serious." I objected. "How are you going to blame him for something someone else did?!"
"Don't raise your voice at me, child!" Toriel shot back, which was unexpected coming from here; even she couldn't believe what had come out of her mouth. "... You couldn't understand what I saw… You haven't seen what he's capable of."
"I told you! That's wasn't-" I stopped and turned my head to see his hand placed on my shoulder. Standing behind me, he gave me a cheerful smile.
"It's okay, Chara."
"No, it's not! You shouldn't be the one to take the blame for something someone else did! It's not right!" Even seeing me as frustrated as I was, he continued to smile at me before turning to look at Toriel, who couldn't even return eye contact with him.
"You have such a lovely family… I understand if you don't want me here, but I do have one request…May I say goodbye?" I held back the urge to voice any displeasures I had about the situation, and despite Kaneki's politeness, Toriel still refused to look him in his grey eyes.
"... Of course you can."
"Thank you, mom." Kaneki said happily as he walked past Toriel to make his way down to the hallway to her room. As soon as that door closed, I stood up from my chair. "Chara…"
"What's wrong with you?!" I shouted. "Why are you making him leave?!"
"Chara, he tried to attack me, and you saw what he did to Juuzou."
"No, that was Haise!"
"Tell me then, child, who's to say that he won't end up like Haise?"
"Me! I won't let that happen!"
"And what about Haise? Did you just let that happen then?" I felt my heart drop after hearing what she had said. It was evident as well that she regretted what just had slipped out from her mouth. "… Forgive me."
"Hey Kaneki! Look at me!" Asriel hollered at me in his cheerful voice. Standing before me, he presented to me the outfit he wore with a smile across his face. What he had on was a purple dress, much like the one Toriel wore, except it looked as though he had stitched a large and pompous white collar on it.
"You look really good in it." I complimented. "Did your mother help you make it?" Hearing that, Asriel looked at me as though I had said something awkward.
"Hey, she's your mom too. But no, I made this all by myself!" He declared proudly as he did a quick twirl.
"Well, you did an excellent job in stitching the collar to that dress."
"I made the entire thing from scratch, not just the collar!" For someone as young as Asriel, such a feat was indeed worthy of being impressive. "But thanks!"
"Yeah, Asriel's pretty talented." Frisk added. "Hey Kaneki, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course." I replied. "What's your question?"
"Are you really a good guy this time?" The question itself should have been easier to answer than I made it out to be. What really caught me off guard was how Frisk asked it in a way that they expected a simple yes or no from me, which wasn't unreasonable of them to. "Because Haise and Kaneki Ken seemed like good guys, but they did some pretty bad things. So I just wanted to ask you, so I can make sure."
"... I would like to be a good person, yes." I finally answered back after having thoughten about it.
"I believe you, but just remember to always show mercy Kaneki. That goes for you too, Juuzou." Following the direction of their pointed finger, I looked toward Juuzou. All he did was just stare back at Frisk with a tired expression.
"I did what I had to." Juuzou whispered back. "I protected Mama, and that's all that matters to me." I turned my attention back toward Frisk, who had looked as though they were about to say something, but decided not to. "Kaneki." Juuzou said in a weak voice as he placed his hand over my lap. Sitting on the chair, I looked down to see his pink eyes stare blankly at me with absence of any pain. "I don't know what's on the other side of the gate in the basement, but when you leave the Ruins, promise me… promise me that you won't rush into anything like I did." Juuzou warned as he then turned his attention down to his bandaged-wrapped missing leg. "With Kaneki Ken, he was so eager to redeem himself from his past sins, that he lost sight of what he had going for him; and just look at Haise, his own ambitions for the future of the Underground had overshadowed everything else, so much that it led to the point where he almost killed Mama and I." A small smile suddenly appeared on his face, but just as his eyes had portrayed, he expressed no real emotion. "Frisk was right, I just wanted to protect Mama, and that I didn't think of the consequences that would have came from following my own grudge." Just as soon as it came, his smile faded as he let out a small sigh. "What I'm saying is that you shouldn't be impulsive, as you might have guessed, it usually doesn't end well… Perhaps if we had all have exercised PATIENCE, then maybe things would have turned out better. No offense."
"None taken, Juuzou," I reassured as he picked up his hand from my lap to hold it. "Thank you for sharing with me your insight… But on a different note, I have one question for you."
"Shoot."
"Forgive me if I intrude or make you feel uncomfortable, but from what I heard about what had happened when you saved Toriel, how were you able to summon and use all those… those attacks? From what I was told, humans couldn't utilize magic."
"I was actually wondering that myself," Asriel admitted with a spark of interest in his voice, "I always thought only monsters here could use magic."
"I'm not from here. In fact, I actually recall being dead before I awoke here… How odd too, because I feel more dead that I ever had." Juuzou must have noticed of the uncomfortable faces that both Asriel and Frisk had as he tried his best to put on a small smile once more. "I didn't mean that in a bad way- far from it."
"How else would you mean it then?!" Asriel questioned with a horrified look. Juuzou turned his focus away from Asriel to stare off into the corner of the room for quite some time, but eventually returned eye contact with him.
"It's hard to explain, but… I feel at peace now; which was something that I never had before… It's like I was given a second chance or something… I got off topic, I'm sorry." Juuzou quickly apologized while retracting his hand away from me. "To answer your question, I really don't know why I was able to do the things I did, I never had that kind of power before. Maybe it has something to do with my soul or some junk, I don't know."
"Oh…" Asriel murmured quietly under his breath; the look of disappoint was quite apparent on his face, but just as I've come to quickly learn since my short time here, sometimes there's no real straight answer to things. Or perhaps the answers would eventually reveal themselves as time went on. Who knows, perhaps PATIENCE really is a virtue that children such as myself have a hard time understanding. I didn't really know what I would do once after I had said my goodbyes, and maybe that was for the best.
"... I have something to confess." I announced with a soft smile. "When I came here that night, I was sadden when I had discovered what a family was; and when Chara introduced me to all of you, I felt alone."
"... Kaneki-" Frisk whispered, but trailed off as I looked up at them to them to show my smile widening.
"But I didn't feel that for long though!" Even with being as shy as I was, I had no issue shedding tears of joy in front them. "Even when you all should have hated me for what I am, for the heartbreak that I should have brought, you were quick to accept me into this wonderful family of yours, and for that, I'm thankful… Which is why-" Suddenly, we all turned our attention toward the opened door where both Chara and Toriel as they stood. "... Which is why I'm so happy I got to meet you all before I leave."
"Leave?! You… You just got here." Asriel objected as he got up, but a stern look from his mother made all notions to argue void.
"Kaneki will be leaving with Chara to go on a little adventure... however, they're free to come and go as they please." Toriel announced before taking in a deep breath as she stared Asriel in the eyes with a look of reluctance. "... You're all free to come and leave." Upon hearing this, Asriel's eyes lit up as his jaw became agaped- perfectly portraying the overwhelming joy he must have felt from hearing those words.
"You mean… You mean we can leave the Ruins?... I can see dad?"
"ya know, you really give me the creeps."
"That's quite unfortunate that you feel that way."
"... say, what was your name again?"
"I've been called a lot things."
"with a face like that, i can see why."
"Aren't you just the comedian?"
"hey, all i have to keep me warm is this jacket, and my sense of humor."
"... How HUMERUS."
"heh heh, i knew i had you pinned for someone who dabbles in the fine art of puns."
"... My name's Haise, by the way."
"no, no; i meant your REAL name, weirdo."
"..."
"hey, if you want to be called that, then so be it… although, just to clarify… despite how wicked you look, and from the messed up things you've told me, you're not interested in… well, pardon me, but you're not here to kill everyone just for the hell of it, right?"
"I thought I've made it clear that I'm not interested in senseless killing."
"you didn't have problems hurting and killing some of the monsters in the ruins, including that human-"
"-Phantom; he's no longer a human. Juuzou died long before coming here."
"hey buddy, that still makes him human, don't it?"
"... Would angels be considered human?... Do you consider me a human?"
"it doesn't matter what i think, pal; all that matters is that you're honest with yourself."
"..."
"... so what was is it you wanted me to do again?"
"You have a rather short memory, don't you?"
"meh."
"... That's okay. Just try to remember to keep an eye out for the kid with black hair and grey eyes; he'll probably be following some other kid with brown hair and red eyes… Really hard to miss actually."
"i guess i'd have to be a real BONEhead to miss them, huh?"
"Hearing that made my funny bone hurt."
"you're alright kid... so uh, what are their names?"
"You'll have to ask them yourselves."
"fair enough… and what about you? i'm not exactly someone who works to the bone for nothing. what will you be doing while i'm stuck babysitting?"
"Seeing how Juuzou wasn't the only one who came with me, I think I have my work cut out for me."
"eh, sounds like a lot of work."
"Everyone wants their happy ending, right?"
"... i suppose you're right about that… it's just that, well… from how you described the shy kid, i'm not sure if he'll be able to do his part, so to speak."
"Here's the thing: I can't say for sure either."
"so what are you basing him off of him then?"
"He's a living blank canvas; what he'll learn here will be what shapes him into who he'll become. I know it's shot in the dark, but I trust he'll be in good hands."
"... whatever, all i have to do is keep an eyehole out for them, right?"
"That is correct."
"... alright, ya got yourself a deal."
"Glad to hear that… Oh, and Sans?"
"yea?"
"... You're father still loves you and your brother very much."
Okay I promise, promise, promise this time: the next chapter will be taking place after leaving the Ruins! Stay tuned as Kaneki travels from Pallet Town to complete his dream to become a Pokemon master. How will Chara-Senpai train him? And what about Frisk? Will they ever get the breakfast they deserve? And finally, will Asriel ever find the missing lego piece to complete his Star Wars set? Find out on the next episode of "This joke is terrible and I feel horrible for trying to be funny in the author's notes."