Note: Sorry I took so long with this chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 16

Frisk stared blankly at Toriel for a few moments. He did not want to make Toriel worried.

"Oh… Uh… I'm okay… I just… fell asleep here… I.. had a nightmare.." Frisk said as he yawned.

"Oh I see.. That's not good.." Toriel said in a worried tone. "You shouldn't sleep outdoors. Why don't you come in the house and sleep in your room?"

"I'm not tired anymore… Why do you-.. Nevermind." Frisk trailed off.

"Yes? What is it, Frisk? You know you can tell me anything." Toriel asked in a caring tone.

"Nevermind. It's nothing."

"Shall we go into the house?" Toriel asked as she lent her hand for Frisk to hold.

"Sure, I'm starving anyways." Frisk said as he ignored Toriel's hand and started walking towards the house.

Toriel stayed like that for a few seconds and pulled her hand back. She followed Frisk in going to her house.

"I prepared some cinnamon rolls for you, Frisk..." Toriel said as they entered the house.

Frisk was too absorbed in his thoughts to react to what Toriel said. Toriel noticed this and was genuinely worried about Frisk. There had to be something that he was hiding from her. Toriel suspected Frisk of hiding something from her. She was sad, because she wanted Frisk to trust her as she meant no harm to him. She understood why Frisk had that attitude towards her despite her giving him the best hospitality that she could. She knew that a lot of humans do not believe in monsters. And when they meet monsters, they believe monsters to lack any hint of empathy towards them. Monsters were painted as the villains in human society. She was frustrated to even think about it.

Toriel watched Frisk as he went into the dining room without even looking at her. She was, however, too busy with her thoughts that filled her mind. She wanted to show that monsters were capable of empathy and compassion, even more than humans.

When Toriel snapped back to reality, Frisk was already out of her sight. She went into the dining room with a sigh. She saw Frisk sitting at the dining table, eagerly waiting for Toriel to bring his meal over to his plate. Toriel quickly hurried towards the refrigerator in the kitchen and took out her favourite buns and cinnamon rolls. She went back to the dining room and put the cinnamon rolls on Frisk's plate.

"Thank you." Frisk muttered in an inaudible tone.

Toriel could not hear what Frisk said and assumed that he was mad at her in some way. She took a plate from the cupboard and put it on the table as she sat down. She looked at Frisk, who was stuffing his mouth with cinnamon rolls. Toriel could tell that Frisk was starving.

Toriel wanted to know more about Frisk, but she was too hesitant to ask him anything about himself, especially given his attitude towards her.

"Toriel… I'm..." Frisk muttered in an inaudible tone. "I'm sorry.."

"Huh?" Toriel said as she snapped back to reality. "What did you say? I didn't hear it, sorry."

"I said I'm sorry… For the way I've acted towards you." Frisk said as his eyes filled with tears. "It's just that… I'm frustrated… 'cause I can't go back. I can't go home… To my friends... "

Toriel's throat constricted. She understood each and every word that Frisk was saying. The loneliness was killing him inside, just like how it did to her. She found Frisk to be relatable, because she herself had been lonely, barely seeing anyone she loved.

"I understand how hard it must be for you, Frisk.. But I-" Toriel trailed off.

"No, you don't understand, Toriel. My friends are not just friends to me. They're family. I miss them. Every second I spend here is painful, because I don't have them by my side. They must be worried sick about me right now... " Frisk said, with a shaking voice.

Toriel looked closely at Frisk. He was frightened and crying. She felt pain in her heart as she watched him.

"Frisk… I-It's okay… Everything's gonna be alright.. Don't lose hope… There has to be a way.. There has to be a way.. To break out of the Underground.." Toriel said as she gently touched one of Frisk's shaking hands across the table.

Frisk did not resist this time. Toriel figured that he was probably too absorbed in his thoughts to do anything else. She felt bad for him, and that gave her more than enough reason to comfort him.

"I-I… I didn't ask for this, you know… I didn't ask for ANY of this! I didn't sign up for this. I almost got killed twice. TWICE! I don't wanna stay here… But… I.." Frisk trailed off.

Silence filled the dining room. Frisk finally stopped crying and wiped the tears off his eyes. He had been frightened and sad. And that 'nightmare' he had felt so real that it was as if it had actually happened. He still could not control his rapid shaking. Toriel squeezed his hand.

"Frisk… Please... Tell me… What's wrong?" Toriel asked.

"I-it's nothing, really." Frisk answered in an unconvincing way.

"No… Don't lie to me, Frisk. You've been shaking the whole time. What happened? Did anything happen when you were there in the garden?"

Frisk sighed. "Well… It looks like I'm gonna have to tell you what really happened..."

"Go on..."

"You might think that I'm stupid or something, but I had this.. I had this 'nightmare', where everyone was killed. You, Daz, Dolo, my friends, everyone… All killed by Flowey… And at the last moment, he impaled me with his.. uh.. seed-like things.. And I didn't feel any pain. And I couldn't wake up… And then.. The whole world got distorted and I woke up."

Toriel's eyes widened. She was speechless. It was Frisk's first time seeing Toriel like this. Seeing her like this made him even more frightened.

"F-Frisk… That's… That's not a nightmare… T-that's… a vision.." Toriel was barely able to speak, due to the shock she had just received.

"Huh?" Frisk threw a puzzled look at Toriel. "A vision of what?"

"It's a vision… From the future… I-I have a friend who sees visions like these… And… They haven't been proven wrong, not even once." Toriel said with a shaking voice.

"Wait… A-are you telling me that the 'nightmare' that I had will come true at some point?"

Torield calmed herself down."If my hunch is correct, then yes, it's a vision from the future… I'm pretty sure that's a vision from the future.. That fits in all the signs, if I remember correctly.."

"I really don't like this… How could my life turn out to be like this?" Frisk said, with an intensely frustrated expression. "I already have enough things to worry about, as it is. No offense, but what you've just told me seems more like superstition."

Toriel did not know what to say. Silence filled the dining room again, as they both were absorbed in their thoughts. Toriel agreed with Frisk, since it would seem more like a superstition for a stranger like him. He was not the one who would believe any prophecies or anything of the sort.

Frisk finally calmed himself down and ate his last cinnamon roll. As he was about to leave the dining room, Toriel cleared her throat. He turned around to face Toriel.

"Ahem, Frisk… I know this is not much, but please keep in your mind that you'll always have me by your side. I won't let you be all alone. I promise you, you won't hate it here if you just tried staying here." Toriel said in an encouraging tone.

Frisk did not say anything back. He nodded at Toriel and left the dining room. Thoughts plagued his mind as he made his way upstairs. He entered his room and lay down on his bed, thinking. He suddenly remembered what Jack had told him about his cousin. Jack's cousin must have fallen down here. Jack's cousin should have passed through the Ruins.

Frisk thought about asking Toriel if she knew where Jack's cousin was. But Frisk was hesitant to ask her, because she might avoid his question. He considered the possibility of Jack's cousin being dead too. Either way, he knew that he could not do anything as long as he stayed locked up in the ruins.

Frisk thought about Toriel's words. It seemed like Toriel had given up ever reaching the Surface, just like the other monsters he had met. He understood why they were all so devoid of hope. He was shocked at the same time as he expected all monsters to be ruthless animals that killed each and every human in sight.

Frisk was bored as there was nothing there for him to do. He wished that he could break the barrier and be free. It did not seem like he would be leaving the Underground soon. The very thought of it made him feel dreadful.

Frisk was absorbed in his thoughts when he heard someone knocking on the door of his room. He was startled by the sudden sound. He slowly opened the door of his room, to see a worried Toriel standing in front of him.

"Frisk.. A-are you alright?" Toriel asked in a worried tone.

"I'm fine.. I'm just tired."

"Okay… Get some rest… Good night.." Toriel said as she began making her way downstairs.

Frisk closed the door of his room and then went straight back to his bed. He lay down on his bed, feeling tired of his thoughts. He wanted to get rid of all his thoughts at once. He started getting sleepy as the time passed.

Just as Frisk was about to fall asleep, his room's window was hit by an object that made him very startled. He jumped out of his bed and looked through the window. A clear view of a part of the garden can be seen through the window during day time, but there was barely any light in the garden. Frisk's glance was quickly focused on a black humanoid figure standing in a place where the light was dim.

Frisk first thought that it was probably just his imagination. But that all changed when the figure turned around, facing the direction of the window that Frisk was looking at it from. Frisk jumped as soon as he saw it's glowing, blood-red eyes. A glowing red smile appeared on its face and Frisk screamed to the top of his lungs. He fell down as he took a step back. He had never seen anything that looked like it. It certainly did not look like a monster. It did not look like a human either. "So that was the 'thing' that the weird scientist kept talking about?" Frisk thought. He was frozen, unable to move a single muscle in his body.

It certainly looked scary. It did not take long for Toriel to barge into Frisk's room. When Toriel saw the terrified look on Frisk's face, she became even more worried about him.

"What happened, Frisk? You look like you've seen a ghost." Toriel said as she held Frisk's shoulders and shook him to reality.

Frisk could not utter a single word from his mouth. He was too shocked to even think about anything.

Toriel shouted, "FRISK! FRISK! Snap out of it."

"U-um… T-that th-thing.. Outside… The garden..." Frisk was finally able to speak.

"What?"

"T-that t-thing… N-not… monster… not.. human" Frisk forced words out of his mouth.

"WHAT?!"

Toriel quickly looked through the window at the garden where the figure was. There was nothing there.

"Frisk… there's nothing there." Toriel said.

"B-but… It was.. R-right there. I saw it with my own eyes." Frisk was struggling to speak.

"Frisk.. It was probably your imagination… There's… just no way..." Toriel said in a frightened voice.