"Frisk! Frisk!" Frisk heard a voice followed by the sound of someone knocking on the door of his room. He woke up. He had fallen asleep while he was thinking. "I'm coming in now."
The door opened. Toriel entered the room through the door. She had a plate full of cinnamon rolls in her hand. She smiled at Frisk as his gaze was focused on her.
"Here are your cinnamon rolls!" Toriel said in a forced cheerful tone.
"Oh thank you, Toriel." Frisk said as Toriel gave him the plate.
Toriel tried her best not to show her fear to Frisk. She did not want Frisk to think that she does not trust him. As things stood, there was no choice for her but to be scared. She had first hand experience of a human rampage. She, among many other monsters, almost died because of it.
Frisk did not notice anything strange from Toriel this time. He was enjoying eating his cinnamon rolls. He was still thinking about a way to steal the key from Toriel.
Toriel stood at the same place, watching Frisk as he ate his cinnamon rolls. Many thoughts were engulfing her mind. She wanted to be sure if Frisk would not go out of control again.
Frisk felt uncomfortable since Toriel was standing there watching him. He did not like getting stared at. He looked Toriel in the eyes.
"Don't you have anything to do, Toriel?" Frisk asked. "Why are you staring at me like that?"
Toriel was in deep thought. She could not focus on what Frisk was saying, so she did not get what he was saying.
"Toriel! Are you even listening?" Frisk raised his voice.
"Oh yeah, sorry I didn't hear what you said." Toriel said as she snapped herself back to reality.
"I asked why you keep staring at me, Toriel." Frisk said as she finished eating his last cinnamon roll. "It's making me uncomfortable."
"Oh, sorry about that, Frisk." Toriel said in an embarrassed tone. "Well, I'll be leaving now… Let me know if you need anything, okay, Frisk?"
"Okay!"
Toriel left the room in a quick manner, as if she was in a hurry. Frisk felt a sudden urge to go downstairs and see what Toriel was in a hurry about. He sneakily left his room and went downstairs. When he reached the living room, he heard two monsters conversing. He recognized the voices of both of these monsters.
"...are you sure this is safe, Alphys?" Toriel asked in a worried tone.
"I-I-I am n-not h-hundred percent s-s-sure… E-even I-I have my d-doubts." Alphys tried her best to get the words out of her mouth. "B-but it should b-b-be stronger t-than before."
"So, you've made it less fragile?"
"Y-yes… I-I-I'm sorry, but that's… all I-I a-am capable of." Alphys turned around.
Frisk, who was peeking at the two monsters through the door, hid as Alphys turned around so she would not see him. Frisk was relieved that Alphys did not see him.
"Is something the matter, Alphys?" Toriel asked as she patted Alphys' shoulders.
"What? Uh…. I-I-I thought someone w-was there..." Alphys said as she turned around to face Toriel.
"Huh? That's strange. I don't think anyone's here." Toriel put her hand on her chin, deeply thinking.
"W-well… N-nevermind that. I-i-i-it was probably m-my i-i-imagination." Alphys said.
Frisk took that opportunity to get a clearer look at both of the monsters. He saw that Alphys had a metallic object in her hand. She handed it over to Toriel who took it.
"Thank you, Alphys. Finally, we won't have to worry about the Seal breaking again." Toriel said in a relieved tone.
"A-anytime, T-Tori! G-g-glad to help!" Alphys said with a smile on her face. "W-well… I-I-I'll be g-going now."
"Oh, I was about to invite you to dinner. Well, I'll just invite you some other time. Bye, Alphys." Toriel said.
Alphys went towards a bookshelf and pressed somewhere on the bookshelf. A handle popped up as soon as she pressed it.. She used the handle to 'open' the bookshelf. It was as if the bookshelf was a door.
It was at that moment that Frisk finally knew that the bookshelf was a secret door. "So that's how Toriel goes outside." Frisk thought as he patiently waited for Alphys to leave as he could not trust her. Alphys closed the 'bookshelf door' behind her as she walked out of the room.
Frisk noticed that Toriel was about to leave the living room. So, he sneakily stepped back and made his way upstairs without making a single sound. He went into his room and waited for a few minutes. And then, he made his way downstairs. He saw that the door that leads to the living room was closed. He sneakily went up to the door and slowly opened it.
There was no sign of anyone in the living room. Frisk let out a sigh of relief since he could have gotten into trouble if Toriel saw what he was about to do.
Frisk went up to the bookshelf that Alphys had opened before. His eyes scanned different parts of the bookshelf to see if he could find a button to press. It did not take him long to find a small button on one side of the bookshelf. He quickly pressed it and the handle appeared. It was as if it was made of magic. Frisk slowly opened the 'bookshelf door' and went inside.
Frisk was surprised to find out that there were stairs leading underground. It was dimly lit, with a few torches hanging on both sides of the walls. Frisk was a little frightened at the sight, because he did not like dark or dimly lit places. It took him a few minutes to reach something that looked like a tunnel. The stairs ended there.
The tunnel was spacious, with torches on the walls and pillars on the sides. There were a lot of objects on the sides of the tunnel. "What is this place? A junkyard?" Frisk thought as he navigated through the middle of the tunnel, the only part of the tunnel that had no garbage. Most of the garbage seemed to be scrap metal. Frisk was surprised to see that monsters had metal too.
It took him a few minutes to reach the end of the tunnel, which had a huge door. He went up to the door and tried to open it.
Frisk could not open the door. The door seemed to be locked. He then noticed the keyhole on the door. "So, this is what Toriel's key is for. It's for opening this door. No wonder why she panicked when I took it." Frisk thought. He was frustrated because he did not have the key.
Frisk heard the sound of footsteps coming from a distance. It was coming from behind him. Frisk knew that someone was coming, but he could not tell who was coming. Since he could not use Soul energy, he searched for different objects to use to fight against whoever was coming.
The sound of the footsteps were getting closer as the clock ticked. Frisk rummaged through one of the garbage piles on the sides. He found a rusty knife in the garbage pile and picked it up. The sound of the footsteps were coming closer as time passed. Frisk was prepared to fight whoever was coming.
Frisk's eyes scanned the tunnel for any incoming enemies. Frisk wanted to hide, but there was no garbage pile around that was large enough for him to hide himself. Fighting was his only option at this point. It did not take long for him to see a light in the distance. It seemed to be getting bigger and bigger as time passed. A few minutes later, Frisk finally recognized who the person was. "I should have known." Frisk thought as he focused his eyes on Toriel, who held a lamp in her hand.
"Frisk?!" Toriel was both relieved and worried at the same time. "What are you doing here?! How did you know about this place?"
"I-It doesn't matter." Frisk pointed the rusty knife at Toriel. "I'm not your prisoner. I WILL get out of here."
"Frisk..." Toriel sighed. "Everything I did was for your own good. You're not my prisoner. I just…. can't send you to your death. So please… be a good person and put the knife down and go back to the house."
"I refuse!" Frisk shouted. "Why would I even want to go back to the house? I have no reason to live here. I have no reason to waste my time here. So tell me where the key to this door is!"
"I'm doing this for your own good, Frisk!" Toriel was frustrated. "Why can't you understand this?"
"Shut up." Frisk yelled. "You didn't answer my question. Where is the key?"
"Please Frisk under-"
Frisk screamed, "Stop! Just stop! I don't care what your reason is, I won't let you take my freedom."
Toriel put the lamp she was holding near a garbage pile and rolled up her sleeves as if she was getting ready for something.
"Looks like nothing I say to you makes a difference." Toriel had a serious look on her face. "Very well. I'll let you out of here… But only if you prove to me that you're strong enough to beat me."
"Okay, I accept the challenge." Frisk nodded.
"Prepare yourself." Toriel said as she summoned a fireball at the palm of her hand.
Frisk strengthened his resolve and prepared himself for the battle. Toriel threw her fireball at Frisk, who easily dodged it. Frisk charged at her with his rusty knife and swung it at her. She was able to easily dodge his swing.
Toriel summoned another fireball and waited for Frisk to get closer. Frisk made another attempt to swing the knife at her, which she was able to dodge easily. She threw the fireball at Frisk, who was barely able to dodge it from that distance. She then landed a punch on Frisk's stomach and sent him flying to a small distance.
Frisk experienced immense pain from just that one single hit. He struggled to get up as he was distracted by the pain. Monsters were much stronger than he had imagined. He thought that magic was the only thing that made monsters strong.
"See, Frisk? This is what'll happen once you go outside." Toriel said as she looked at the struggling Frisk. "You're in so much pain that you can't even stand, right? And all that took was just a single light hit from me. You won't last out there. Not even for a second. You'll just die for nothing. So just come back home and we'll figure something out."
"I…. I don't care." Frisk was back on his feet. "I don't care if I die trying to escape. I'll be free at least, without being locked up in the same place. I am DETERMINED to get out of here. No matter what it takes!"
At that very moment, a red aura emanated from Frisk. Toriel was shocked to see it happen with Frisk. Since this had not happened with any other human besides her adopted son. At this point, she was convinced that Frisk is not an ordinary human.
"Here I come!" Frisk said as he dashed towards Toriel, with the rusty knife in his hand.
"I'll take this seriously then." Toriel said as she summoned a number of fireballs around her.
Toriel waited for Frisk to get close enough again, to strike him with all of her fireballs. When Frisk was close enough to her, she threw all the fireballs at once towards him. Frisk, who was charging against Toriel, thought that it would be impossible to dodge all of them. However, to his surprise, he was able to dodge all of them in an instant.
Toriel's eyes widened as Frisk managed to dodge all the fireballs that she threw at him. Frisk was so fast that Toriel could not see him. Even Frisk himself did not know what happened. "Huh?! How was I able to move so fast?" Frisk thought.
"You…. How?" Toriel was so surprised that she found it difficult to utter words.
Frisk did not answer Toriel's question. He wondered how himself. How was he able to easily dodge all her fireballs from such a close distance? A lot of questions lingered in Frisk's mind, but he figured that this was not the time to think about those things. For some reason, he could feel power surging throughout his whole body.
Frisk made another attempt at charging against Toriel. This time, he moved so fast that Toriel was unable to follow his movements with her eyes. Before she knew it, Frisk had cut her with the rusty knife he had. Fortunately for Toriel, Frisk was not able to deliver a deep cut due to the knife being rusty. She fell down on the ground. Frisk pointed the knife at her to prevent her from getting back up again.
"I'll do whatever it takes to get out of here." Frisk said in a serious tone. "Now, give me the key and let me out of here."
Frisk felt the power that was once surging through his body fade slowly as time passed. After a few moments, it went back to normal. Toriel also noticed that the red aura was completely gone.
"Sorry, but I can't do that." Toriel replied.
"Then I'll take it by force." Frisk said as he went closer to Toriel.
Toriel stood up quickly, as if she was not hurt at all. Frisk was surprised to see that she was able to move like that after getting a cut.
"Like I said." Toriel summoned another group of fireballs. "This isn't over yet. Don't get so overconfident."
Toriel launched all the fireballs at Frisk, who was barely able to dodge them.
"Where'd all that power go, Frisk?" Toriel asked.
"Shut up." Frisk charged at her again.
Toriel dodged Frisk's swings yet again and this time, ws able to hit Frisk with a fireball. She had to make a fireball very quickly so she could hit Frisk with it. Frisk was surprised that Toriel was able to summon a fireball that fast.
At this point, Frisk was weakened to the point that he could not move like he used to. Toriel used this opportunity to create a lot of fireballs, even more than the last time. She then launched them all towards Frisk, but none of it was able to hit Frisk. Frisk was surprised because none of the fireballs were able to hit him. "This is strange. I'm sure she could've gotten me with all those fireballs." Frisk thought as he looked at Toriel. She created another set of fireballs and shot them all at Frisk. All the fireballs missed their target again.
Frisk looked at Toriel, whose eyes were filled with tears. She was shaking. It did not take long for her to fall down on her knees. Frisk thought that it was because he had cut her before.
"I'm sorry, Frisk... " Toriel started sobbing. "I just… I just can't… Come to think of it… I stole your freedom, didn't I?"
"You just only realized it?" Frisk asked.
"I'm sorry, Frisk." Toriel tried her best to stop sobbing. "I… I'll open the door for you."
"Really?!" Frisk's face was lit up upon hearing those words.
"Yeah, all this…" Toriel went up to the door. "This was wrong of me to do. I just… Don't wanna see anyone die… Ever again. I'll let you out of here, but promise me something."
"What is it?"
"Promise me you'll never die" Toriel stopped sobbing. "Promise me this one thing and I'll let you go."
"I won't die, I promise, Toriel!" Frisk said with a smile on his face.
Toriel, believing Frisk's words, unlocked the big door and slowly opened it. It was pitch black behind the door, because it was night. Toriel took an unlit lamp out of her pocket and lit it. And then handed it over to Frisk.
"Take this. You'll need it. Stay out of trouble." Toriel said with a concerned tone. "I'm sorry I can't be of much help. I wish I had a map of this place. But sadly, I don't have it. It's pitch black out there right now, but if you continue forward, there'll be a forest. As long as you go straight through the forest, you have nothing to worry about. You'll reach Snowdin village.
"Okay thank you for the directions." Frisk said as he stepped out of the door and went into the darkness. "Goodbye, Toriel!"
"Goodbye." Toriel waved at Frisk, who in turn, waved back.
And after a few minutes, Frisk got far enough to disappear from Toriel's sight. She wondered if she had made the correct decision this time. She could not stop worrying about Frisk's safety.