- A/N -

Just a note: I'm moving notes and stuff to the bottom of chapters from now on because it came to my mind that not all of you guys want to waste time with this and may prefer to read directly.

- A/N END -

Detour
Something was there in the back of her mind keeping her from simply drifting through the senseless darkness of unconsciousness.
It was just a mere feeling not even a real thought that something important was missing.
Moving unsettled around her body reacted to her mind trying desperately to grasp the missing piece of memory that was obscured by a strong feeling of loss and a throbbing pain on the back of her head disturbing every thought with its monotonous beats.
Holding onto the pain she pulled herself back together little by little with each pulse that surged through her nerves until a image started to form before her mind's-eye.
It showed a small child with brown hair wearing a blue sweater with purple stripes presenting shyly a crayon painted picture to her that showed herself reading a book to them while sitting in her armchair in front of the chimney.
Seeing this the corners of her snout curled up into a smile, Oh this was a wonderful day… they had discovered the crayons in the toy box and didn't stop drawing until I needed to buy new paper… the picture should still be hanging on the fridge… at least it was there when I left to bring Frisk to the doct-
Frisk!

The images before her mind's-eye changed rapidly recapitulating past events in quick succession until they showed again the encounter on the footbridge reminding her of what had happened.
Reminding her how she came to late to prevent the knight from hurting them.
Reminding her of the tears strolling down their face as their small body was shaken by heavy sobs expressing how frightened they were of the armored monster threatening their life when she wasn't there to protect them.
Reminding her how she hesitated to kill the knight giving them the chance to strike at the helpless child.
Reminding her of the look in their eyes when they fell how the glimmer of hope turned into boundless fear as her closing fist missed their hand by mere centimeters.

"Oh child…," reliving this moment seeing the whole dimension of her failure she could barely hold back tears as despair ravaged through her mind reopening old scars flooding her thoughts with other faces stories and fates showing without mercy how she took the other children in how she missed the obvious signs in their behaviour until they were gone searching for a way back to the surface running straight to their doom because she had failed in keeping them safe.
One scene after another appeared before her mind's-eye some of them had just left when she was shopping or dead asleep in the night while others made a big fuss before running away but they all had two things in common the fact that no one of them ever came back and the emptiness that would wrap itself around her senses after she would realize that another one was gone reducing the world around her to a grey lifeless shadow of itself.

Burying her face in her hands tears were now soaking into her fur as the accumulated despair from the loss of seven children circled at once through her mind nearly crushing her soul with its weight letting her wish she had fallen down with Frisk.
She was so scared… at least I could've held her… taking the fear away from her until we would reach the water... and the ground beneath it…-
Irritation surged through her mind banishing the dark images back into the shadows as her last thought came to a lingering halt on the picture of Frisk breaking the water surface of the large lake running through a wide area of the underground dying on the impact with its ground.
She knew that the lake wasn't that deep the water mostly not going higher than her chest infiltrated with small garbage islands so making it nearly impossible for most monsters to survive a drop from the height of the footbridge without dying on the impact.
But they are small…
Very small.
And there shouldn't be that many islands.
Taking her hands of her face realization hit her, They could still be alive!
Reaching this conclusion she reacted without hesitation jolting up into a sitting positio-
"Ouch!" Something hard stopped her brow on its way up knocking her back down so that now front and rear of her head ached.

Opening her eyes she blinked irritated at the low olive drab ceiling that had stopped her before turning her head to inspect the rest of the room.
It was rather small with chartreuse walls and a indian red floor cushioned with many carpets in a variety of other colours.
This is… odd.
Moving carefully to not collide again with the ceiling she made her way over to a opening in one of the walls that seemed to be the entrance to this room.

Exiting into the twilight of waterfall she was now standing in a small square that was on three sides surrounded by cave walls with holes similar to that one she just left.
Unfamiliar with this place she paused for a moment to observe the situation before she would continue.
This seems to be some kind of small town… if I'm right that every of this holes represents a house… they must've build this place after I moved to the ruins…
Wait.
Is that a giant Temmie statue over there?

"hOI! im temmie!"

Looking down there was now a Temmie standing besides her that had seemingly appeared from nowhere.
Mustering the dog like creature with its extra cat ears on top of its head peeking through the shoulder length black hair she answered them politely smiling, "Hello Temmie I'm Toriel."
At least this guys didn't change since then although I had no objection if they would wear different coloured shirts and not always blue so that I could distinguish them more easily.
"Did you bring me here?"

"yES! teMmie found yu on bridGE. bridGEs are haRd to sLeep on so temmIE brought ya heRE to sleep!"

Hearing their excited voice proclaiming that Temmies were still eager to tell someone about all the possible things they knew regardless of their importance she decided to cut this short.
"Thank you Temmie. I rested very well but now I've to go to do other things."

To her surprise they didn't object, "Yes. Temmie knows."
Whirling around they pointed her the way out of Temmie Village, "okAY! jus gO theRe tIL old mAn then riGHT forWard rigHT left!," before vanishing into another hole in the wall.

"Okay thanks!"
Shouting after them more politely noting their directions then actually planning to follow them she turned away and broke into a quick pace to reach her child as soon as possible.

It got a bit boring to wait for Toriel to come back so that he could tell her about Undyne but he used the time in a wise way to record the adventures of the great Papyrus for further generations.
AND THUS THE DIRE STAIN OF KETCHUP WAS DEFEATED BY ME THE GREAT PAPYRUS MAKING USE OF THE POWERFUL POWER OF THE WASHING AGENT NUMBER 5 IN ALLIANCE WITH THE MIGHTY MOP TO CLEANSE THE KITCHEN FROM ALL EVIL TO ENSURE THE PURITY OF THE HOLY SPAGHETTI BIRTHPLACE SO THA-
Hearing the opening of the pub door he looked up from his diary hoping that now was his time to shine and help a lady in need.
But it was only his lazy brother Sans who had finally made its way from their house over to Grillby's.
Raising his voice to get his attention he shouted across the pub, "SANS! I'M OVER HERE!," seemingly not noting how the other monsters in the room flinched as his blustering voice penetrated their ears

Hearing the shout from his brother the smaller skeleton turned towards him giving him a lazy nod that he had noted him before walking slowly over to his table.
"sup bro what's up?"
Sitting down he produced a half-empty ketchup bottle from his blue hoodie.

"DID YOU SEE TORIEL OR HER CHILD?," putting his 'saga of the great papyrus' (his diary) away he continued, "SHE ISN'T COMING BACK AND THE OTHER KIDS EXCEPT FOR MONSTER KID ARE ALREADY HOME SO THEY SHOULD BE DONE PLAYING SO HER CHILD WILL PROBABLY BE HERE SOON."
Realizing something a slight panic underlined his next question, "SANS! WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO WHEN THEY ARE HERE BEFORE TORIEL!? THEY COULD BE SCARED WHEN SHE ISN'T HERE!," pausing for a moment he added observantly, "AT LEAST THEY LOOKED LIKE THEY WERE EASY TO SCARE," before panicking again, "WHAT WHEN THEY START CRYING!? SHOULD WE TELL THEM A STORY OR BUY THEM SOME ICE CREAM TO CALM THEM !? ARE THEY EVEN ALLOWED TO EAT ICE CREAM AT THIS TIME!? WHAT IF THEY ARE ALLERGIC TO IT!? WHAT WHEN THEY RUN AWAY!? SHOULD WE HOLD THEM!? BUT THAT WOULD SCARE THEM PROBABLY EVEN MORE!"

Taking a sip from his bottle Sans watched amused the little rant of his brother before assuring him, "relax bro Toriel should be fine I saw here not so long ago her head might hurt a bit but she should be completely fine as for her kid… how should I put it…", he paused again before pointing finger guns at Papyrus, "you could say they fell right out of my sight."

Glaring at his brother Papyrus replied enraged, "SANS HOW OFTEN I'VE TO TELL YOU!? THIS JOKES ARE NOT HELPFUL AT ALL!"
I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE MEANT WITH THE 'fell' PART BUT IT IS SURELY MY DUTY TO HELP A CITIZEN IN NEED ESPECIALLY WHEN THEIR HEAD HURTS! I MEAN SUCH A ACHING HEAD IS REALLY ANNOYING.
Following this thought he asked quickly, "WHERE DID YOU SEE HER?"

Placing the almost empty ketchup bottle onto the table Sans pointed halfhearted into the general direction of waterfall, "somewhere after the shiny lakes by the many footbridges."

"GREAT," he grabbed Sans other arm, "THEN WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR? A LADY NEEDS OUR HELP!"
Standing up he dragged the smaller skeleton with him to the door, UNDYNE WILL SURLY BE IMPRESSED HOW I HANDLE MY DUTIES ABOUT KEEPING PEOPLE WELL PERHAPS SHE WILL EVEN MAKE ME FINALLY A REAL GUARD MEMBER!

"papyrus wait my ketchup is still on the table-"
Cutting the smaller skeleton short the pub door closed with its confident 'thud' interrupting Sans's sentence and drowning out the much smaller 'thud' as a perfectly polished glass was set down on a immaculate clean counter.

Looking thoughtfully at the now closed door the mostly silent owner of Grillby's Grillby himself seemed to ponder about something important the lights in the pub changing as the flames assembling his body flared up and down as possibilities were weighed against each other until a decision was made and measures were about to be taken.
Turning away he took two steps to one side of the counter before lifting up a old fashioned rotary phone and a small notebook from under it.
Browsing through the pages he stopped at the third running his index finger down the neatly noted entries until he stopped by a certain name.
Adjusting his glasses he gave himself one or two seconds to memorize the entry before calling the number noted besides the name patiently waiting each time for the dial to rotate rasping back to its original position before entering the next digit.

Holding the receiver besides his head he seemed to wait for someone to answer then nodded a couple of times acknowledging that someone had spoken then gesturing explanatory with his free hand before finishing the soundless conversation with a final thankful nod before placing it back down.
Putting the book and phone away he returned to his former position picking another glass from the counter to continue cleaning his silent actions going by unnoticed by anyone else in the pub.

"...And so I found this remarkable piece of cave painting dating even back before the great times of monsters and men."
Finishing another story the elderly tortoise monster kept easily pace with Toriel without even breaking a sweat or to flounder as the two of them rushed down another corridor.

Still moving at the speed of a average car Toriel replied patiently, "Oh that's great Gerson you should show it to me sometimes."

Absently regarding some rocks with his good eye through a large magnifying glass Gerson answered without hesitation, "That would be a wonderful idea dear perhaps you could even bring some of your delicious pies with you?", swiping some dust from his archaeologist attire he added, "I always liked butterscotch but surely wouldn't sneeze at cinnamon."

It was only some harmless chitchat about pie nothing serious but the words 'butterscotch' and 'cinnamon' were more than enough to summon another picture of Frisk before her mind's eye.
This time they were standing in the living room looking up to her shyly impulsive answering in their strange speech pattern, "A ciinnasccotch pie pleaase."
Cinnascotch…, a wistful smile wandered over her face, cinnamon and butterscotch pie... it was nothing more than two misread recipes but she liked it so much that it became almost her standard pie request when I asked her what she wanted to have for a pie.
Feeling again the almost physical pain caused by their absence she moved even faster while self-recrimination started to dig up other pictures letting her relive once again the scene on the bridge how she came to late how she failed to protect them how they fell-

"Ah we are already there," speaking still in the same causally tone as would this be nothing more than a unwinding walk in the park the elderly tortoise monster slowed down as the shore of the large lake beneath waterfall came into sight, "But we could've been faster if you would've maintained your training my dear."

Although meant as a friendly advice it felt more like a harsh reproach as it reminded her how she missed Frisk's hand by mere centimeters dooming them to fall to a certain death only because she wasn't fast enough-
Don't belabour about that now! She could still be alive… No. She has to be still alive!
Banishing this thoughts for now from her mind she stopped besides Gerson a friendly smile on her snout as she bid goodbye to him, "It was good to see you again Gerson. Perhaps I will stop by your house when I've found Frisk,"
Not wanting to lose more time she was in the water and away before the old tortoise had even time to answer.

"Tsk tsk tsk this youth always rushing to get somewhere to do something."
Shaking his head looking after the tall goat monster cutting through the water he run his fingers thoughtfully through his white pointed beard, "Hopefully she will reach them in time..."
Mumbling to himself his thoughts wandered to the torn notebook safely stashed away under his tan pith helmet filled with wordy descriptions of monsters the underground a friendly goat monster and on the last entry in a from cold distorted handwriting the last words of a little boy regretting deeply his decisions about searching for a adventure on a dangerous mountain and how he left a friendly lady despite her warnings just to die alone in the white widths of Snowdin Forest.
Going back the way he came he wished his former pupil good luck about finding her adoptive child in time before they could be taken away by a similar dark fate.

"see? they're already gone," one hand in the pocket of his blue hoodie Sans gestured halfhearted to the end of the footbridge that was obviously bare of all monsters presence.

"*HUMPH* THIS TRULY IS VERY UNDERWHELMING…," letting his gaze from the white points in his eye sockets wander from side to side Papyrus walked slowly over the platform between the intersecting footbridges looking intently for a hint that would led him to Toriel so that he could do his 'help a lady in need' thing.
Reaching the end of the partly collapsed footbridge turning around he asked, "AND YOU ARE SURE THAT SHE WAS HERE?"

Looking at the sharp markings of heavy metallic boots graved in precise intervals into the old wooden planks at one spot a bit deeper telling him that their bearer had staggered after a heavy hit he answered short-spoken, "yep."

Acknowledging this with another humph Papyrus recited slowly the strong censored version he had told him about the events that had taken place here, "SO SHE WAS LOOKING FOR HER CHILD… THAT WAS HERE… AND THEN THEY FELL… TORIEL TRIED TO CATCH THEM BUT MISSED THEM AND HURT HER HEAD?"

"yeah that is it more or less," shrugging he took a closer look at the deeper markings noting with interest faint glimmers coming from the planks besides them that turned out to be small solidified droplets of metal reflecting the incoming light.

Assuming a dramatic stance making sure that his red 'hero cape' scarf waved epically in the soft breeze Papyrus stated proudly, "INSPECTING THE SCENE I THINK I MAY NOW KNOW EXACTLY WHERE TORIEL WENT..."

Taking notice of this Sans pricked up his nonexistent ears to not miss a potential clue that could help his own cause.
But hearing the next sentence his attention returned quickly to his own observations.

"...SHE IS OBVIOUSLY AGAIN ON THE SEARCH FOR HER CHILD."
Turning gazing now into the abyss he stated further, "THEREFORE I THE GREAT PAPYRUS CONCLUDED THAT IF I WANT TO FIND TORIEL I'LL JUST HAVE TO FIND HER CHILD BEFORE SHE DOES. SO THAT IF SHE COMES TO GET THEM I'LL BE ALREADY THERE TO HELP WITH HER QUESTIONS ABOUT UNDYNE! NYE-HEH-HEH," his voice changed sounding now like he was pinching his nonexistent nose, "NYE-HEH-HEH. THIS IS A TRULY GENUINELY PLAN AND IT WILL BE EXECUTED BY ME THE GREAT PAPYRUS SO ADDING UNKNOWN POTENTIALITY AND BRILLIANCE TO ITS MAGNIFICENTLY SIMPLENESS."

"yeah you're probably right 'bout that," turning around his gaze followed a trail of brown spots marking a wobbly path along another footbridge that missed a lot of its planks that seemed to have been removed lately by strong impacts, "and what would be the first step of this 'infallible' plan?"

"OH IT IS A FAIRLY SIMPLE STEP SO ELEMENTARY THAT IT TRULY SHOULD BE OBVIOUS WITHOUT FURTHER EXPLANATION," the sound of bones bouncing a couple of times from wood was heard nearly completely overshadowed by Papyrus booming voice, "YOU SIMPLY FOLLOW THE CHILD GERONIMOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo…"

"papyrus?"
Irritated by the sudden decay of his brothers voice he turned back to the partly collapsed footbridge just in time to see the end of a red scarf being pulled over the edge into the abyss below.
"welp not again..."

-A/N Stuff -

So first the important stuff:

Firstly my offline copy of this story has now reached over 100 DIN A4 Pages (hurray!), so I've written a small book oO (never thought that I would do something like that one day but sure this is a lot of fun)

Secondly don't worry about the shortness of this chapter, a longer one is already by nine pages and counting (just for the interested ones of you there is a very short spoiler at the end of this page)

Thirdly and most important: I was on holidays last year, visited my parents and my mother saw me writing so she asked if she could read it but since she doesn't speak or read english she couldn't.
So I decided to translate at least the first few chapters of the story (more if she wants to read it) to my native language and surprise her with that on her birthday next month.
Just that you know why it might take a bit longer (don't worry I'll try to bring out the next chapter first, no promise though).

- Review Stuff -

T: You can just call me T and you don't have to give a thanks to me, I appreciate the thanks though, I hope I'm being supportive!
Me: Okay T. Yes you are. (Just because I can do it) Thanks for that!

- Spoiler goes here so stop reading if you don't wanna see it -

I'm serious don't read further if you don't wanna get spoiled.

Okay if you insist...

just go ahead...

...this should be enough spacing to be on the safe side

Muffet