-6 months later-

Why did the skeleton run up a tree?

Because a dog was after his bones!

What did the thousand year old skeleton complain of?

Aching bones!

Why did the skeleton go disco dancing?

To see the boogy man!

What happened to the lazy skeleton?

He was bone idle!

Toriel couldn't contain her laughter as she penned in the final joke. Leaning back and giggling heartily her pen rolled off of the table and onto the ground as she smacked the table a few times for mercy. She was a comic genius. She couldn't even handle flipping through the other numerous pages that the journal now held and quickly closed it to try and recompose herself. She had originally brought this journal to log her adventures into the wilderness, and other darker reasons but now that she had become established and respected in the community of the ruins, Toriel found that the only real useful application left was to jot down more jokes whenever they popped into her head. It was a past time of hers that she recently adopted to handle the separation of her old life and her new life and it was all thanks to that skeleton she met by the river.

Toriel had never seen that skeleton before, but in many ways the skeleton looked much like W.D. Gaster, the kingdoms late royal scientist and Toriel theorized that this was because they were somehow related. Both skeletons had a keen way of seeing the world and events of history for what they truly were, but respected them enough not to interfere. It was that insightful nature that made Toriel respect Gaster and, by association, Sans. If she had never started writing jokes like she was now, she imagined that it would have been much harder for her to continue living on as she did. In that sense, did Toriel owe something to that skeleton? His words still echoed in the back of her mind.

*If you can...please tell us when you're ready to be found. We're all gonna miss you...Toriel.

Would there ever be a time where Toriel could go back? It seemed so unlikely at this point-Asgore had made it quite clear that he could not be trusted. But by turning her back on Asgore, she turned her back on everyone...Was that really fair to them? Maybe it would be good of Toriel to find out what was going on back at the kingdom...But how? She decided to take a walk to ponder on the answer to this question.

Leaving her home, Toriel's footsteps echoed softly on the stone ground beneath her feet, all that could be heard was the sounds of the wind howling from the hole above them. She walked down her usual route, making sure to avoid the piles of leaves as she went until she made it to the entrance of the ruins, a dark dirty chamber with nothing special to note that was...until Toriel heard a scream.

"Kyaaaaaaaaah!"

Toriel's head snapped up to see what appeared to be a human falling down to the underground. She moved without thinking and opened her arms to catch the child. She braced herself for the pain, knowing that the kid had probably reached terminal velocity by how high the fall was, and yet, as she landed in Toriel's arms she barely strained Toriel's muscles at all. This may have been in part due to Toriel's boss monster stats, but also, just in general the child was very thin. Looking her over, Toriel identified that it was a female human as thin as bones with a lone ribbon dangling from her hair.

The monster was at a loss for words as she held the child in her arms, she too, seemed to taking a while to figure out what had just happened, the child squirmed slightly and then turned to face Toriel. She was the picture of innocence, her porcelain white skin further emphasized by her oval eyes, shining emerald green. She had nothing with her but the ragged clothes on her back-a faded pink dress and hiking boots fastened tightly to her tiny shoes. Everything about this girl was...small.

Another beat passed, the human finally took in the fact there was a giant monster holding her and screamed again which also caused Toriel to scream. The human squirmed in Toriel's arms and slipped from her grasp causing both of them to fall to the floor. The human quickly scampered away from the creature to the corner of the room, attempting to hide from Toriel.

Slowly, Toriel rose back to her feet. She could see the human peering from the darkness, afraid, helpless and facing an enemy it had never seen before. She pitied the creature, but in that child she saw hope. Hope that she could finally do some good for this world...and protect the human from Asgore. Maybe, if the human never ended up making it to Asgore, he would get tired of waiting and end this insane plot. She also couldn't help but think of Chara and the promise she had made to that child when she rebuilt her home.

Thinking this, Toriel took a step forward to the human kneeling down to her level.

*Hello human child, please, do not be afraid. My name is Toriel and I mean you no harm.

"...Am I dreaming...? Did that fall actually...finally...?" The human uttered quietly, its gaze hazy and uncertain.

*No my child, you are perfectly safe, I was able to catch you when you fell from the top of .

"...Oh..." The child hugged its knees remaining where it was. It was evident that the childs strength was draining fast.

*You don't look well my child, please, let me take care of you. No harm shall befall you as long as you come with me...

Toriel began to take several steps closer to the human, reaching out to her with a kind and reassuring expression. She was almost able to touch the human when the girl quickly reacted and swatted away Toriel's hand

"I...Don't want to be taken care of anymore!" And with that she got up and ran past Toriel heading deeper into the ruins. Toriel, worried for the human's safety followed swiftly behind her...