I clenched my fists, waiting for this Asriel to enter the room.

I don't know what I expected to come in, but it sure as hell wasn't what I saw.

Because what came in was a goat creature similar to the woman, but smaller. He (?) was about my and Fiona's size, and he wore a green and yellow striped sweater similar to mine, but with two stripes instead of one. "Howdy!" He said.

Judging by the sound of his voice, size, and general appearance, he was a child. He clearly wasn't hurt.

I backed down, but was still wary. "I swear, if you do something to us…"

"I promise, my child, I will not."

"I," I seethed. "am not your child!"

"Oh, I am sorry, Clarissa. It is a habit of mine."

"I can see that."

"Mommy? Should I leave?" Asriel asked innocently. He seemed nice. I couldn't help but wonder who his father was. Was this a whole goat family they had?

"I am sorry, my child, but yes, that would probably be for the best. I will attempt to heal their wounds. You may help yourself to some butterscotch-cinnamon pie, but make sure not to take too much.

"Haha! I won't, Mom."

He left the room.

That's what that scent was! Pie! Well if she has pie…very few killers or kidnappers have adorably innocent sons and make pie.

"Okay, if this is done…Clarissa-" I cut Fiona off.

"Chara."

"Sorry?" Fiona looked confused.

"The only part of that nonexistent plan of ours was to change our names. We're in a new place, so we may as well use those names. My name's Chara now. Don't call me Clarissa anymore."

"Oh."

"Is there something else you want me to call you?"

Fiona paused for a second. "...call me Frisk."

"Okay."

"In any case, I need you to help me. If I can't see, I'll need you to make sure I know what's happening."

I nodded. "I can do that."

"So, children, you prefer to be called Chara and Frisk. Well, then, my ch-Uh, Chara and Frisk, allow me to heal you."

She put her hands on both our heads, and suddenly my body hurt a lot less. The goat lady kept murmuring things about maximum HP, whatever that was. I could also make out some other things she said. She muttered something about "breaking it with souls" and "he had better not get any ideas" and stuff like that. I couldn't help but wonder what she was talking about.

"There, young ones, you are almost healed. Chara, you will have a limp for a small while, but it will go away with time."

My body still hurt a little, but I could move around a lot better, and I could think straighter.

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Toriel."

"Huh?"

"You may call me Toriel."

"Okay. Well, thank you, Toriel."

After a while, Frisk started to talk. She had hardly talked at all so far.

"Thank you, Mom-uh, Toriel."

Did she just call her…?

"Did…did you just call me…Mom?"

"Uh…" Frisk looked a little scared.

"Well, would that make you happy? To call me…Mother?"

"Y-yes." Frisk stuttered out. "It would."

"Okay, my child. You may call me Mom. Oh, you do not mind me calling you that, do you?"

Say yes, say yes, say yes, say you mind…

"No. I don't mind." Frisk answered.

Well, so much for that.

Why did Frisk trust this woman so easily?

Maybe it was because she couldn't see her. All Frisk knew was Toriel's motherly voice and caring actions. I suppose that could result in a pretty different opinion from my distrust of her. I was still wary of Toriel, though.

"Follow me." Toriel instructed. She left the room and headed down the hall. I took Frisk's hand and led her where Toriel was going. She brought us to a decently-sized room with two comfortable-looking beds. "You girls may have some time to yourselves if you wish. I will bring you some pie soon."

With that, she left the room. Once the door shut, an uncomfortable silence fell over the room. "So…" I trailed off. "We're in a red room. There are two twin-sized beds on either side. They have a red quilted blanket that looks pretty soft. There is a fluffy pillow. It's bigger than the ones at the orphanage, but it's still kid-sized. There's a closet on one wall with a few articles of clothing inside. In the left corner is a box of toys for little kids. There's a desk in the corner with two blank books and a cup holding some writing tools. There's a wooden dresser with a mirror on the wall above it." I finished my explanation. Hopefully I'd done well. Frisk seemed satisfied, which meant it was probably good enough for her.

"Huh, you're pretty good. At least, I think you are. I can't see, obviously, so maybe it's the most inaccurate description ever. Guess I'll never know."

Heh. At least she still had a sense of humor.

Frisk felt her way over to the bed on the right and made her way under the covers. "We should probably get some rest." She said. "It's been a long, confusing day. Uh…has it been a day?"

"How long were we out?" I asked.

"Hell if I know. I guess we can ask later. I'm tired."

"Same."

I got into bed and lay down, but sleep wouldn't come.

This was my fault. I'd run away from that orphanage, and I hadn't had the good sense to turn back once we'd found ourselves on Mount frickin' Ebott. Because I'd wanted to disappear. And now because of my actions, Frisk was blind.

I should have waited for her. We'd agreed to it. But I'd been so impatient, I'd tried to leave on my own.

What was wrong with me?

I soon drifted off into blissful sleep that turned out not to be so blissful. Frisk and I were on Mount Ebott, watching our past selves run up the mountain. The past me and the past Frisk were oblivious to the present me and Frisk, but the present Frisk was yelling at me. Saying that it was my fault that she was blind.

The worst part was that she was right.

I shot up in bed, screaming and drenched in my own sweat.

Toriel ran in. "My ch-Chara, are you alright?"

I sighed. "Yeah. Nightmare."

"It is almost morning. Would you like to sleep more, or would you prefer to stay awake?"

"I'll stay up."

"Alright. I am not certain if anyone else is awake, so we should be quiet."

You don't say?

Frisk stirred a little. "What's happening?"

"Nothing." I answered. "I just had a nightmare."

"Okay." Frisk muttered. Normally, she would have tried to comfort me, but I suppose having just gone blind and being incredibly tired weren't great combinations, so she rolled over and, presumably, went back to sleep. I didn't blame her.

"Mom?"

Oh, lovely. Asriel was here.

"Oh, Asriel, what are you doing awake?" Toriel asked Asriel.

"I heard screaming, and then I heard moving. I was already awake, so I figured I'd check it out."

"It's fine." I said. "I just had a nightmare."

"Oh. About what? Um, if you don't mind me asking, of course!" Asriel quickly added. Heh, he was so innocent. It was cute, in a way.

"I'd prefer not to answer that." I replied.

"Uh, well…" There was silence for a moment. "Do you…want to film something with me? I have a video camera."

I shrugged. "Sure."

A few minutes later, Asriel had retrieved his video camera, and we headed outside into the garden. Turning it towards the two of us, he pressed a button that I assumed started the recording. "Howdy!" He said in a surprisingly energetic voice, considering it was 5:00 in the morning.

I couldn't help myself. "Why do you say that?"

"Say what?"

"Howdy."

Asriel shrugged. "Dad says it." Okay, there was a dad. I had yet to meet this dad. "And I like the way it sounds."

"Cool." I replied simply. "So…what do you do with the camera?"

"I don't know. Just random things, I guess."

"Okay…"

"So, Chara, how'd you and your sister wind up down here? If you don't mind me asking, that is." Asriel clarified.

I sighed. "I'd rather not talk about it. Let's just say that our reason for climbing? It's not a happy reason."

Asriel nodded. "Okay. Wait a sec…" He paused, looking at the camera. "I left the lens cap on by mistake. Dang it."

"Meh. Did we really film anything worth watching?"

"No, not really." Asriel admitted, and we both laughed. He turned off the camera. "So, how are you doing?"

I shrugged. "I really don't know, to be honest. I feel like this is all a dream and I'll wake up and…" I trailed off. No need to go into detail about my old life.

"And?"

"And nothing."

"Okay." Asriel seemed unconvinced, but he didn't pry.

Nobody spoke for a while after that.