Note: Next Chapter will be released later this week!

Chapter 11

Flowey launched both the vines at Frisk and Blooky. They could not move an inch because they were tangled by Flowey's vines. Before the vines could impale them, two fireballs struck the two vines and burnt them to a crisp.

Frisk turned his head to the direction where the fireball came from. Toriel was standing there, with an angry expression on her face. Frisk saw Flowey flinch at the sight of Toriel and started to run away while using Frisk and Blooky as shields. Toriel did not shoot her fireballs as she could not risk Frisk or Blooky getting burned to a crisp.

When Flowey had put a good amount of distance between himself and Toriel, he threw Frisk and Blooky towards Toriel, who stopped both of them mid-air. Neither Frisk nor Blooky could move. Frisk felt like he was bound by something as Toriel gently put them down. She looked very exhausted, much to Frisk's surprise.

"What was that?" Frisk asked as he got up.

Toriel was panting. "Huff…. Huff….. That was gravity manipulation. I can't control it well. Flowey was out of my range too… Damn..."

Flowey succeeded in escaping. He used Frisk and Blooky to distract Toriel as he ran away.

Frisk was surprised to see that monsters could manipulate even gravity with their magic. It is completely different from the magic that humans use. Frisk had never seen a single human who could use gravity manipulation. "Monster magic is no joke." Frisk thought. Monster magic is powerful. Perhaps the key to breaking the barrier might be revealed if he studies monster magic.

Blooky got up and got rid of the dust that was on his body. "Thank you, Tori. You really saved us back there."

"No problem. I wouldn't have found you if you didn't scream. That was a close one." Toriel said as she put her hand on her muzzle. She wondered how Flowey survived last time.

Frisk felt unsafe, because if he went somewhere without anyone to help, he could end up dying. He did not know how to use any magic. Not even human magic.

Human magic usually manifests in human children when they reach the age of twelve. But, Frisk was a special case, because no magic manifested inside him when he was twelve years old. He has not been able to use any magic, even to this day. This led him to get bullied by his fellow peers. There was nothing more frustrating to him than getting bullied for not having any magic. He could not take being beaten by magic anymore.

Frisk was anxious. "Toriel… Can you teach me how to fight? Who knows where and when Flowey will come again?"

"Sorry, Frisk, but I can't teach you how to fight. I'm very bad at explaining. You should probably ask Daz or Dolo, but you should wait until they recover from their injuries." Toriel answered with an uneasy look on her face.

Frisk noticed that Toriel had an uneasy look on her face. Toriel was not as trusting as he thought. Frisk knew that Toriel was against the idea of him learning how to fight even though she did not say it out loud. Frisk did not blame Toriel for thinking like that, because if he was in her shoes, he would feel exactly the same about teaching a monster how to use magic.

He wanted to offer some words of assurance to Toriel, but stopped himself from doing that. Because he knew that Toriel would make the decision that she thinks is best, without needing him to assure her.

"Shall we go home, Frisk? " Toriel said as she grabbed Frisk's hand.

Frisk nodded as he went together with Toriel, with Blooky following them.

"By the way, Blooky…. Can you do me a favour?" Toriel asked the ghost.

"Yeah ofcourse!" Blooky answered enthusiastically. "What is it?"

"Can you go and watch over the seal? Just in case anything happens. If there's anything wrong, please don't hesitate to call me." Toriel requested politely.

Blooky nodded and hurried to the place where the seal was. Toriel and Frisk continued walking. Toriel did not say anything until they reached Toriel's house. Frisk did the same, because he was reluctant to ask her or talk to her about anything.

The only thing that was on Frisk's mind was escaping. The initial reason why he wanted to learn how to use magic was to find a way to escape the Underground. He hid his true intention because he thought that Toriel and the others would try to stop him. He knew that he had to hide the fact that he still wanted to escape from everyone and pretend that he had forgotten all about escaping.

Frisk knew that it was not an easy task to do. He was never a good actor. But as this stood, he was forced to act as long as he wanted freedom.

Toriel slowly opened the front door of her house and got inside, followed by Frisk. Frisk was the one to close the door behind him. He stood still for a moment, staring into space, drowning in his thoughts.

Toriel stopped in her tracks. She turned around and looked at Frisk, who was still staring into space.

"Is something the matter, Frisk?" Toriel asked in a worried tone.

"Y-Yeah…. I'm okay." Frisk said as he snapped himself back to reality, escaping his deep thoughts.

"You know, Frisk… You can tell me anything… You don't have to hide anything from me..." Toriel suggested as she threw a serious look at Frisk.

"Okay, I will, Toriel. Thank you!"

"That's good to hear, Frisk!"

Toriel hurried towards the kitchen without saying another word. "Phew, that was a close one." Frisk thought as he followed Toriel into the kitchen, feeling hungry. There was a moment of silence between them. Toriel started washing the dirty dishes in the sink.

"Frisk..." Toriel whispered. "I know you want to learn how to protect yourself, but… Can you promise me one thing?"

Frisk knew that this was on Toriel's mind since he first mentioned it. Since then, he noticed that she had a troubled look on her face.

Frisk asked,"What is it?"

"Can you promise me that you w-won't kill any monsters. I know it's a bit selfish of me…. But…. You shouldn't kill any monsters…. Not even the monsters in the Royal Guard… They…. They're just following orders…. " Toriel said as she wiped her tears.

It seemed like something happened before with a human that made Toriel utter these words. Frisk wanted to ask Toriel what happened, but decided not to ask, because he did not want to remind her of any bitter memories.

Frisk took a while to think it through, He did not want to make a promise to Toriel that he could not keep.

"I'm sorry, Toriel… I-I don't think that I can promise you that… I won't kill any monsters who don't wanna kill me." Frisk answered.

"Okay, Frisk…. " Toriel said, still with a sad look on her face. "I…. I understand..."

There was a brief silence. Frisk felt very awkward about it. He could tell that Toriel was still unsatisfied with his response to her question. "There's no way around this. I just can't make such a promise to her..." Frisk thought as he made his way out of the kitchen.

"I'll… I'll wait in the dining room then..." Frisk said as he briefly stopped at the kitchen door.

Toriel nodded in response to Frisk's statement as he went out of the kitchen.

Frisk sat on one of the chairs in the kitchen. He had a lot to think about. How is he going to protect himself the next time Flowey comes? How is he going to escape this place? How long does he have to stay in the Underground? Frisk felt like his head would explode from these thoughts. He missed Jack and Rachel back home. They must be worried sick about him. They were the only people who mattered the most to him.

He looked at the setting sun through the window as he drowned in his thoughts. Time passed by so quickly that he was in disbelief.

Frisk realized that he just wasted another day. There should be a way to escape Underground. There has to be. "Toriel and the others are nice, but I can't just stay here forever." Frisk thought. He missed the times that he had spent with Jack and Rachel.

After a few minutes, Toriel came to the dining room with two plates in her hand. Frisk sympathized with the sad look on Toriel's face as she put the plates on the dining table. Frisk was itching to ask Toriel a lot of questions. But he knew that at the state she was in, she would not give any straight answers.

There were three cinnamon rolls on Frisk's plate. He took one and started eating as he stared at Toriel, who was staring at her plate instead of taking a single bite out of the buns that were on her plate. She was drowning in her thoughts and memories. Frisk did not like the silence.

Frisk said in a worried tone,"Toriel? Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry." Toriel said as she started eating the buns on her plate.

It was very difficult for Frisk to find a way to keep the conversation going. Seeing Toriel sad made Frisk hesitate to talk further. So, he chose not to say anything, thinking that it was the best thing he could do in the situation.

Toriel quickly finished eating all the buns on her plate and left the dining room. Frisk heard her steps on the staircase fading upwards. He knew that she went upstairs. He wondered why Toriel was in such a hurry. So, he finished eating all his cinnamon rolls, left the dining room and made his way upstairs in order to check up on Toriel.

Frisk finally reached Toriel's room. The door was closed and Frisk could hear Toriel's voice. It sounded like she was on a phone call. Frisk was not surprised because he had seen something that resembled a phone from Blooky. Frisk wondered what Toriel was talking about and decided to eavesdrop on her phone call. He slowly put his ears against the door of Toriel's room.

"I know…. But I can do it this time, I swear..." Toriel said in a shaking voice.

Frisk could barely hear her, so he pushed his ear against the door so he could hear her more clearly.

"No no, he's not like that…. I trust him…."

Frisk suspected that Toriel was talking about him.

"No, I still don't know what caused the seal to break. I think it was broken when it was weakened…. Yeah it weakened around the time when the human fell down here, just like all the other times…."

Frisk noticed that the subject of the conversation had already changed.

"No, I don't think it was Flowey. He had plenty of chances to break the seal before when other humans fell down here, but he didn't break it…. I think…. it's something else that caused it…. At least, that's what I think…."

Frisk felt guilty about eavesdropping on Toriel's phone call, but he also felt like this call was something very important that he needed to hear.

"Yeah… So…. Can you come here in a week, Alphys?"

Frisk clearly heard the name that Toriel mentioned. "What a strange name. What kind of a name is 'Alphys'?" Frisk thought as he listened to the conversation.

"Oh…. I understand…. What should I do about it though? You know I'm not allowed beyond the border of the kingdom at the edge of Shadow Forest…"

There was no useful information from what Frisk heard so far. But he believed that this conversation could provide him with at least a small bit of information on what he needed to know.

"Oh…. I see…. So, should I just transfer my soul energy to the seal?..."

Frisk frowned as he concentrated on eavesdropping the call.

"Yeah, it's already done now…. When will you be ready to come here and check the seal?"

Frisk felt very frustrated as he did not get any useful information from this call.

"Okay… Got it… I have to go now…. I'll talk to you later..."

Frisk heard a faint beep sound from Toriel's room. She must have hung up the phone. Frisk immediately took his ears off the door and made his way towards his room, which was right next to Toriel's. Frisk lay down on his bed, thinking. He was frustrated that he could not get any useful information from the call.

Frisk heard footsteps inside Toriel's room. It started getting louder. He knew that Toriel was coming towards the door and took his ears off the door and stepped away from it. He was about to go when Toriel opened the door of her room.

"Is something the matter, Frisk?" Toriel asked as she stepped outside the room.

Frisk answered, "Um…. Nothing…. Nothing really."

"Oh okay… Well…. I have to get going now…. You…. You should get some rest, Frisk…." Toriel hurried downstairs as fast as she could.

Frisk let out a sigh of relief. He was thankful that Toriel did not notice him eavesdropping on her call. He decided to follow Toriel this time, because he knew that she was up to something.

Frisk made his way downstairs while being as quiet as he could so Toriel would not notice him. Just when he reached the ground floor, he heard the sound of a door closing inside the living room. He hurried to the living room as soon as he heard the sound. The living room's door was closed.

When Frisk entered the living room, no one was there. It did not look like anyone came in or went out. He looked around the room, but no one was there. "Where'd she go?" Frisk thought as he left the living room.

He was worried that Toriel might be hiding a lot of things from him. He felt like Toriel was barely telling him anything. He did not know if he could trust Toriel. Who knows? Toriel could be conspiring against him. Thinking that, he desperately wanted to escape from the Ruins.