Second Home:
In Toriel's house, the former queen and her son had finished preparing dinner. The two Boss Monsters were now waiting for their guests; the table was set, the dishes arranged and as soon as they arrived, the party could finally begin.
Asriel had returned to the living room, with drawing materials, previously he was going up to his room to get it. Lying on his stomach and with his legs crossed, he was preparing a little surprise to thanks Frisk for his speech. Still in the kitchen, his mother checked from time to time on the enormous cake that she had just prepared and which was currently baking in the oven: chocolate and cinnamon flavor, which he was fond of and for whom we were preparing this celebration.
He wasn't the only one who appreciated it; the delicious smell that was escaping reached the quivering nostrils of the young goat, inhaling the delicious scent with envy that made his mouth salivate. Hmmm... It smells really good around here.
A trickle of drool escaped his smug smile, threatening to spread across his drawing; Asriel yelped when he noticed it, quickly wiping it with one sleeve before there was any damage. The catastrophe narrowly averted, the child shook his furry head and slapped his forehead to put his thoughts in order.
No, focus! I have to finish before they arrive, Asriel motivated himself before returning to his pencils, while wishing that everyone would go home as quickly as possible while his stomach rumbled beneath him.
He swallowed: it might be hard.
In the kitchen, Toriel was waiting both for the dessert to finish cooking and for Papyrus to call: after having taken care of the dessert and wiping her washed paws with a cloth, she now took care of rinsing the sink where numerous white fur from its soft shag had been scattered, forming an inelegant clump at the bottom. There weren't all advantages to being born with this on you, contrary to what most thought, and the endless channeling problems that resulted were very annoying.
As the water flowed from the faucet, carrying all this mess with a satisfying 'bloop bloop', Toriel looked at the wall clock.
She had called the rest of them, Sans and Alphys, three quarters of an hour ago to invite them to this party. Toriel had called the scientist's home, and it was her old skeleton friend who answered: "little party for your kid, huh? no prob, tori: i'm warning al - she's gone downstairs, to her second lab - and we're coming. see ya later !" She had heard him put the receiver down, probably gone to join the learned lizard to warn her.
For the others, it had been over an hour since Papyrus had contacted him. However, and this was disturbing, apart from the last message sent to inform him of their arrival at the embassy, nothing more had been said.
Toriel wondered what justified such silence from now on, as she stroked the down under her chin, thoughtfully, wondering: "They are slow to make their departure known. What could be keeping them there?"
"Frisk must have had more fun posing in front of the mirror. You know how much he wants to improve his flirting techniques before school starts," mocked Asriel, still lying there, having listened with one ear without stopping drawing.
His casual remark provoked a laugh from Toriel, who giggled happily, before shaking her head as she imagined her adopted child doing exactly that. The mother goat wouldn't be very surprised to learn that exactly that had happened.
Her human son was indeed a funny child: he loved the company of monsters more than any of his own, became friends with them all, played the role of ambassador at an early age and, important details of his general personality , complimented and charmed the smallest individual that the child met by chance.
Even towards Toriel. She remembered that before calling her "Mom", he had very early shown her this kind of behavior after their meeting in the Underground; far from being offended, because she knew that there was no bad intention behind her actions and even found it rather amusing, Toriel was on the other hand surprised that such a young child could have this attitude in front of his interlocutor – whether it is her or, subsequently, the other monsters inhabiting the Ruins, from the Froggit to a dummy. Later, Toriel said to herself that it was a way for Frisk to give herself courage in situations that could become frightening.
Well... there were other, much stranger facts about this little human, which their mother had noticed from spending time with him in the Ruins. At first, Frisk's presence with them made them experience a complex feeling that struck everyone who came into contact with him. Exactly what that could be, the former guardian of the Ruins cannot say today. For a human, Frisk was...different. In a sense that Toriel didn't fully understand, but that she had undoubtedly felt from the moment she laid eyes on him, his adoptive mother had known that he was special. And it wasn't just after all the impossible feats their little hero had accomplished, freeing the entire nation from monsters, bringing her beloved child Asriel back to life, and contributing to peace with the people of the Surface.
Since the human child had lived with their family on the Surface, Toriel still loved him as much as the first day. Her deep love, equal to that which she shared with so many others, overflowed from her being and was without any limits for the little boy previously intimidated and lost in an environment populated by strange beings, yet so generous and passionate towards them all.
Each passing moment, Toriel felt like she was discovering and understanding him better; perhaps in the near future she will be able to shed light on his secrets. I still sometimes wonder if the Angel himself blessed us with your coming, Frisk, when everyone most needed a miracle, she thought tenderly, looking at a frame where a photo of him with Asriel rested. I hope that at this party you can see how grateful we are and how much we love you.
Meanwhile, Asriel had finally finished his work. Getting down on his knees, he held his drawing up in front of him and judged it with a self-critical eye. The child monster wasn't the best at art, but even the silhouettes that represented them all remained childish, Asriel agreed he did well. I hope Frisk likes this, the young prince of monsters prayed, before noticing that his brother's head seemed abnormally large compared to the rest of his body.
At first bothered by this tiny clumsiness from him, Asriel preferred to put it into perspective by sneering: "Ooops, he might think that I find his head big", and he left it as is.
The rest of his drawing wasn't bad, although it was still a little clumsy. It was sure, his pencil stroke was very simple, if he compared it to that of Chara who was once very gifted in art.
The proof was that the flower he had drawn, long before, was incredibly faithful to the one in the garden when the child went there to be inspired. When he remembered this, Asriel's joy dissipated a little. It was one of the rare moments when he seemed serene and at peace with himself, Asriel remembered, seeing his solitary and dark figure in the middle of their father's garden, which was one of the places that the last member of the Dreemurr had loved the most during his short life.
Inevitably, he felt a pang in his heart when he thought of his former lost brother. Fate had not been kind to them: because of a mistake made, he and Asriel had had to leave this world prematurely, years ago.
It should have stayed that way, without counting on some secret experiments by a young scientist in search of recognition who brought it back to life in another form, in this abandoned laboratory. And thanks to the appearance of a certain person now also very precious to him, who had been through hell and lived an unimaginable number of lives, "Asriel Dreemurr" had returned from oblivion.
Thus, the young prince of monsters was able to reunite with his family, also gaining a new brother, and live with them all together on the Surface – or at least, in part – as he had dreamed of.
Yet there was still that missing piece. Asriel checked his drawing, where he was with Frisk. The empty space between them struck him. Little Boss Monster immediately knew what was wrong. Chara.
All of them had been given a second chance; everyone except his brother and first best friend. And his unfair absence kept Asriel from seeing it all as a "perfect ending".
Oh, Chara, the little goat lamented. If only you knew how much I miss you. I would give anything to see you again, even just one last time.
A long sigh escaped him, knowing this unrealizable wish. It was a wound that would never heal in him, because Asriel felt terribly guilty for his disappearance. At the time, he had done nothing to try to save the human from himself, before he really took action when they arrived in this village, to prevent his brother who possessed them from committing the irreparable. But much too late, alas, and the consequences that followed were to mark the destinies of so many others.
After severel minute, Asriel stopped from having any more guilty thoughts like that : Chara's been gone, for a long time, and nothing he did would change this sad reality. He had already tried it, almost purged this timeline to succeed. Moreover, Asriel shouldn't be depressed tonight: soon the others would arrive and they would have fun together.
While trying to clear his mind, the young goat monster joined his mother in the kitchen. He waited for Toriel to notice him, before holding out the sheet towards her, exposing the final product.
"Can you look, please?" he asked her, his expression full of expectation.
More than happy to comply with her son's request, Toriel looked closely at her drawing, and smiled tenderly when she recognized what Asriel had depicted. It was all their family and friends, side by side and beaming with happiness. He had used a lot of colors; Toriel saw everyone present: Sans and Papyrus on the left (ironically, the first seemed to be sleeping standing up), Alphys and Undyne to the right where Asriel had not been stingy with the quantity of hearts around them. In the middle, Toriel and Asgore flanked the two children, Frisk and Asriel who were holding hands.
Beneath it was this sentence that melted her heart:
You're a awesome brother too, Frisk! We are all proud of you.
It was an ordinary drawing, but anyone would see that her son had done it with all his heart.
Awww... My adorable babies, Toriel restrained herself from screaming, but only in her head, while Asriel waited for her verdict, wringing his fingers.
"S...So? What do you think ?"
"Awww, it's perfect, my little cinnamon roll!" she exclaimed, grabbing her son with one arm to bring him closer and giving him a loud kiss on the cheek that made him blush with embarrassment under his fur.
"Mooom," he moaned as he wiped the kiss area, although he couldn't stop this happy swing of his tail.
Seeing him so embarrassed and confused, Toriel almost wanted to continue teasing him a little. But at that precise moment, the oven rang: the cake was ready and ripe, absolutely gigantic. The mother goat hurried to take it out before its surface hardened and lost its taste.
"I'll be back soon, Asriel. Continue, my child, you are doing a very good job."
"Yes, Mom."
Asriel complied and returned to the room so as not to disturb his mother. On the way, he suddenly noticed that a piece of blackened gum was wandering on the drawing. Disturbed by this imperfection, the young prince raised a claw, which he used to remove this defect. As he did so, he brushed against Frisk's drawing, where he had drawn this big red spot in the shape of a heart which represented the human's Soul.
The moment he touched it, however, a flood of sensations washed over Asriel. He collapsed with a little shrill cry, helpless in the face of the tidal wave that fell on him. Like a dam that had burst under pressure and flowed into a canal, his eyes grew bigger than saucers as several emotions surged through him: pain and pure terror were what struck him above all.
He could feel his Soul beating furiously in response, reacting to this attack.
Then, after several seconds of agony, writhing on the ground and biting her lips to stop herself from screaming, it stopped.
All that remained was an anguishing void in the hollow of his chest.
Deeply shaken and panting, Asriel clutched his heaving, burning chest and curled up, fangs clenched and hands balled into fists in panic. It was awful ; he felt as if someone had pierced him right through.
Right where his Soul had rested since its restoration, on that flowerbed at the dilapidated entrance to the Ruins after he and Frisk left the castle together.
His body paralyzed, he nevertheless tried to look at one of his white arms which was trembling; for a horrible second, the child imagined that it would crumble into dust beneath him. For several seconds, Asriel waited to see what would happen.
…But nothing happened.
Even the pain began to fade. Asriel checked his unharmed body, although he remained very worried and unable to understand what had happened to him. Wh... What just happened? Doesn't matter ; mom is still here. I'd better go back to my room for now, if it ever happens again.
And at that moment, while the little goat, still very upset, wanted to take the opportunity to slip away discreetly:
Driiing Driiing Driiing "Oh ! It must be Papyrus!" Toriel exclaimed in a cheerful tone, and she hurried to pick up the phone as Asriel left for the stairs.
"Papyrus, is that you? Goodness, I was waiting for you... Wh- Asgore?" Toriel gasped, lost as she hearded the anguished voice of her ex-husband instead of the skeleton, spouting sentences at a frantic pace that she cannot understood. "Why are you... wait, please speak slower! I didn't hear: What did you say about going to Alphys?...Because of Frisk?"
At the name of his brother Asriel, in the middle of the steps, stopped going up. Frisk?
Curious, he turned around to approach, and thought a block of ice had formed in the pit of his stomach as he saw his mother's face, at first sullen, become horrified, then her eyes widened. darkened with anguish as she listened to Asgore's explanations.
Her paw, the one that wasn't holding the phone, covered her mouth to stifle Toriel's failing breath.
"Oh by the Angel it's... It's awful. My sweet Frisk..." Holding back an anguished moan, Toriel saw that Asriel was standing next to her, alarmed by what was being said, and she decided to end the call right away: "I... I... arrive at Alphys as soon as possible."
She seemed close to collapsing, and she gripped the table to keep herself from losing her composure.
"Mom, what's going on?" Asriel asked, approaching his mother, more and more worried to see her so affected. "It's Frisk, did something happen to him?"
In his mind, the young prince was already imagining many possible scenarios that flashed before his eyes. Of course, he knew that Frisk was more than capable of getting out of trouble, no matter what happened. In the worst case scenario, the human child would come back with the help of his power, at the last point SAVE.
If they were all still on the Surface, that meant that nothing irreparable had happened to Frisk.
However... Asriel felt overwhelmed by a very bad feeling, reinforced by this inner unease which had not left him since earlier. It couldn't be a coincidence, after this attack that had hit him. Frisk must have been in trouble at the same time, Asriel was sure.
Toriel, who had managed to calm down a little and pull herself together, tried to find the words to explain : "Your... Your father, Undyne and Papyrus, discovered Frisk unconscious at the embassy. He… He doesn't wake up."
Her voice faltered momentarily, while Asriel thought that his Soul would break upon hearing it.
Frisk... collapsed suddenly? And he wasn't conscious? Asriel started to panic, the whole body shook with tremors.
No, no, no, it's starting again! Exactly like with...
Toriel saw him devastated by this announcement, and she crouched down to his height to cup his cheeks to reassure her frozen son: "Don't worry, Asriel. Your brother isn't hurt, from what I heard. They brought Frisk to Alphys so she could examine him. I'm going to go join them. Do you want me to ask MK's parents to keep you at their house tonight?"
"N...No" Asriel refused categorically, clutching the drawing he had kept with him all this time. "I am coming too. Let's go join Frisk and everyone."
