KNOCK ON WOOD - Ruins 3

Toriel

Toriel felt like she was in over her head.

Once, a long time ago, she was a mother of two. They were rambunctious children who frequently got into trouble, roughoused, and generally did things that ended with one or both of them covered in scrapes or bruises. She healed them every time, chastising them and telling them to do better while fully expecting to go through it all again the week after.

Other children had come and gone. Some carried injuries from the moment they entered the Underground. Others hurt themselves while traversing the Ruins. The worst she’d ever dealt with was a broken leg from one of the crumbling floors, when they missed the leaf pile below.

She had no earthly idea what had happened to the human, and she was ill-equipped to deal with it.

They had looked abysmally ill when Napstablook and the skeleton brought them over. The human’s face was sallow, blemished with odd burns, and their hair had turned brittle. They seemed unwilling to fully open their eyes, as though everything was far too bright. And worst of all, they were clearly not in their right mind.

“--and then and then Kris tried to climb the tree to get the kite down, but a bird was trying to tear off the tail and it attacked him when they grabbed it. They fell but they still had the kite in their hand, so the bird followed them, and…” They trailed off, out of breath. Twenty seconds passed, and then they started talking again. “...so Hawk was strolling outside and he saw me and Dad carrying his tool box, so he followed us to the gas station and played with me while Dad fixed the nuclear generator, which is kind of annoying actually cuz maybe if I watched I mighta been able to fix things faster, but it was fun, especially when Hawk banged his wrist and his actuator mal--malf--broke and he smacked himself--”

Rambling, constantly, without pausing for breath until they ran out, only to then dive into a completely different and unrelated anecdote. The child kept bringing up things Toriel didn’t understand, or only had a passing knowledge of. She understood what a gas station was, but what was nuclear? Hawk was apparently a robot, a concept she recognized, but what was an actuator? Something that moved his arm, if she was following.

“Rad. Rads. Rads aren’t rad, I hate radiation, Nuka-Cola is always warm even when you put it in the fridge, or maybe the museum’s fridge is broken? Rads!” The child spat on the floor, and it was extremely worrying the way it hissed on the stone.

“Hey.” Toriel’s other patient spoke up tiredly, swiveling in his temporary pot to glare at the child.

They peeled one eye open to look at the flower. “Mhm?”

“Stop talking for a while.”

“Kay.”

Toriel frowned, but she couldn’t deny that it was easier to work when she wasn’t distracted by the child’s babbling.

She brought her hands up and a healthy, spring-green light built up between them. The spell took the form of her normal fire, save for the color, and with an effort of thought it hovered over the human’s form before diving into their chest. Toriel had been healing for a long, long time, and so it barely required any thinking on her part. The care and sympathy required to generate the green magic was second-nature to her, and with a sick child in front of her she had plenty of sympathy to spare.

Green fire licked across the child’s body, and she had a brief moment to sigh in relief that the spell was accepted. It wasn’t, always, but thankfully they weren’t the type to refuse help.

A bit of color came back to their face, and their hair took on a healthier sheen, no longer resembling dry straw in texture.

But then… they started to glow green, and it was a distinctly less pleasant shade than her spell. The human’s veins became clearly visible under the skin, as whatever dark magic this was made itself known. The child shuddered, and opened their eyes, blinking.

“T-Toriel? What--when did I get back here?” They looked at her, and Toriel had to stifle a gasp. “...Why does everything look so…” They struggled, before settling on, “fuzzy?”

Before, the child had had such lovely, amber eyes. Now, though, their left had taken on a brighter hue, almost vibrantly yellow, outlining a pupil that had dilated so much Toriel was certain even the mild light levels should have blinded them. The right eye, meanwhile, was a horribly familiar shade of red that made her chest hurt, the pupil hardly more than a pinprick.

The human groaned, covering their mismatched eyes. “It hurts… Did you do the Radaway yet?”

Toriel opened her mouth, but the flower beat her to it. “No, she didn’t. Hey, can we skip trying the magic out on me and go on to the medicine?”

The child let themselves fall on their back with another pained noise while Toriel gave the flower a Look. Unfortunately he wasn’t even remotely cowed.

Toriel pulled one of the curious bags of… unpleasant-looking orange fluid. The label was crude, with Radaway apparently scribbled on it in marker. It was one of several that the pair had found… wherever they’d been. The child wasn’t lucid enough to answer and the flower ignored her when she asked. On the back were instructions, and a coiled tube ending in a syringe. It was not a small needle, either.

She carefully read the instructions on the back, brow furrowed, and paused at the warning label listing the side effects. All sorts of unpleasant things could happen--headaches, stomach pain, diarrhea--what would diarrhea do to a human who’s been subsisting on monster food? Probably nothing pleasant. 

The child groaned again, and Toriel grimaced. Whatever this Radaway did to them had to be better than what they were going through now. The syringe was very small in her paws, not built for a monster her size, but she was used to such things. Her kind were larger than most, after all.

“Drink this,” she said firmly, handing the child one of their water bottles. When they grimaced at the idea of consuming anything, she pressed it into their hand. “It’ll make you feel better, I promise.”

Another noise of discontent, and then they started chugging the water all at once. When they finished, Toriel rolled up the sleeve of their odd suit and hissed, alarmed, at the patterns visible on their arm. Thick stripes of discolored skin ran down the arm to their elbow, a sort of greenish-brownish color that couldn't be healthy.

She brought up the needle, and hesitated. A little green magic and a little cyan, and the child passed into painless sleep. The marks on their arm darkened as well… Toriel administered the shot and squeezed the plunger. According to the instructions, an adult human needed the whole bag--a child needed just three squeezes, with more to be done only if necessary. She hoped it wouldn’t be, this was already giving her the willies.

For a moment, nothing happened, and she was worried that something had gone wrong, or perhaps the child had misdiagnosed what was wrong with them and what was she thinking letting a child self-diagnose and then taking their word for it?! 

Before she could spiral too much, though, they twitched in their sleep, grimacing, and the sickly glow flowing through their veins faded, following the flow of their circulation before retreating into their body. Toriel would have been concerned about that if the packaging didn’t explain how exactly the ‘radiation’ left the body. It was most likely coalescing in their bladder as she watched.

The stripes took on a slightly less sickly tone, but didn’t vanish entirely. Cautiously, Toriel attempted to heal them one last time, and finally it seemed to work like it was supposed to. The ‘stripes’ peeled away like dead skin, with healthy pink underneath rapidly returning to the child’s normal light brown. They breathed a little easier, and Toriel allowed herself to relax.

She sighed, leaning back in her little folding chair. “Thank goodness…”

“That’s real sweet… Now do me,” the flower said impatiently.

Toriel did not particularly like this flower. He was rude, and abrasive, and she didn’t appreciate the way he had previously pretended to be a fool in front of her. Although if I am honest, she thought as she turned to regard him, I can’t blame him at the moment.

He looked so much worse than the child. Toriel had spent a lot of time in well-tended gardens, and though she was no green thumb herself she know that if he saw a normal flower in the same state as this one he might have a heart attack. So despite her misgivings towards him, she couldn’t just let him suffer.

“Very well… erm.” She brushed a finger against his stem, and frowned in concern. “I… am doubtful that this will work. It clearly is meant for humans, not monsters.”

The flower hesitated. “Well… If you’re concerned about the physical body thing…” He managed to look embarrassed. “I’m not technically a flower monster. I’m actually a… ghost, possessing a flower. One of the ones from the king’s garden.”

Toriel blinked. “I see.” She thought about that. “I must admit, that makes more sense. I have never seen another monster like you before, after all. Can you not just leave the flower then?”

“I would if I could,” he said miserably. “I got stuck.”

He must have bonded to it too thoroughly. Poor dear. “I see. Well, if your flower body is still physical enough…” She pulled up a second bag. “I’m still unsure if it will work, but perhaps if I do this?”

She poured half a bottle of water into his pot, which made him perk up a bit. Next, she carefully poked a hole in the bag with a claw and began pouring the medicine over his roots.

His recovery was much more dramatic than the human’s. Withered wrinkled along his form smoothed out as color returned to his body from the roots up.

“Oh, yeah, that’s the stuff.” He sagged in relief. “Good golly gosh, that’s so much better.”

Toriel’s brow wrinkled, but she couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. “I’m glad.”

“Oh! Uh.” His face blanked. “Thanks, I guess.”

“You clearly need to recover yet,” Toriel said. “You are welcome to use my garden at the Ruins entrance if you wish.”

He gave her an unreadable look. “..Yeah, sure.” He pulled himself out of the pipe and planted himself into the stone floor, forcing his roots into the gaps between the bricks.

Toriel winced at the sound of grinding rock. “Ah--I do not much mind carrying you. Are you certain you’re up to burrowing through stone?”

The flower grimaced, but nodded. “I’m fine, mo--a’am. I can make it.”

“If you’re--” He vanished under the brickwork. “--sure. Goodbye, then.” That was rude. Still, she found herself a trifle impressed; if she hadn’t known where to look, she would have missed the minute cracks in the floor where he had dug through. The flower was clearly very skilled.

What a strange monster. And so guarded for one who sounded so young. A ghost in a flower? Perhaps she should ask Napstablook or the Dummy if they knew him.

The child stirred, and Toriel abandoned that train of thought in favor of helping them sit up. They accepted the help, though they didn’t seem to need it.

“Miss T-Toriel? What happened? When did I get here?”

“You--What’s the last thing you remember?” Toriel asked, concerned.

“...Papyrus dropping us off with you. Then things get fuzzy.” They looked at her, and their eyes were back to their normal brown. (If one of them still had a hint of red in them, that was probably her imagination.)  “Where’d Flowey go, is he alright?”

She smiled. “He’s fine, my child, and so are you. This ‘Radaway’ works, I’m glad to say.”

They looked at her oddly. “Yeah? Why wouldn’t it?” They smacked their lips and looked around, spotting their bag on the ground nearby. They hopped off the cot Toriel had dragged over for this and rummaged around before finding another bottled water and took a long sip. “Huh,” they said after they were done. “I thought I had more of these.”

“You did, dear. I used two of them while I treated you and… Flowey.”

“Oh, that’s okay then. Thanks, by the way!” 

They flashed a smile her way, and Toriel returned it gladly. As far as she could tell, they were back to normal, which was a load off her mind.

What strange stuff, radiation. It affects the mind and body alike--Toriel belatedly wondered if it touched the SOUL as well, and almost regretted not drawing the child’s out while she had the chance--but when it’s gone, it’s gone. Sickness of the mind was normally not so easily dealt with.

“See you later, and thanks again!” The child waved at her and slung the mostly-empty bag over their shoulder. “Uh, where’s my stick--oh, there you are.”

Toriel blinked rapidly. “You--Hold a moment, child!” She held up a hand and rested it on their shoulder, halting them in place. “You’re running off again so quickly?”

“...Yyyyyyes?” They answered like it was a question. They clearly didn’t understand why she was asking.

What was I thinking, letting them run wild so long? “Well, hm, I have found myself with a surplus of free time recently, what with the tremors dying off. My help isn’t in high demand anymore, and I feel like I’ve been… neglecting you,” she said with a wince.

The child stared, uncomprehending. “Oh. Well, you don’t need to w-worry about that. I’ve been doing okay.”

“You don’t need to just be ‘okay,’ though,” she insisted. “You’re a child, and I shouldn’t have been leaving you alone like I was. I am sorry.”

“You don’t need to,” they said, looking uncertain. Oh no, she’d made them uncomfortable, backtrack, backtrack!

“Please, let me explain.” Toriel removed her paw and waited. When the child didn’t attempt to leave, she continued. “I am Toriel, and I am the guardian of these Ruins. You already know that I am responsible for this place and everyone who lives within. But I also make it my duty to care for and watch over any human who falls down here from the surface. For some reason they are always children,” she added under her breath.

The human looked pensive. “...Because of the monsters outside? Papyrus said they were hunting for humans.”

Toriel looked pained. “Yes… I…” She stopped. Toriel looked the child over closely. They were watching her with a singular focus, and an intelligence that surprised her. “You’re so much like them.”

They tilted their head, confused, and Toriel scolded herself internally. “Like who?”

“Nevermind.” She shook herself and pressed on. “Child, know that I simply wish to keep you out of harm, and that means keeping you in the Ruins. You are safe here. Outside, it is only a matter of time before you meet someone who will recognize you as human, and will not care that you are a child. If they find you, you will--”

She chickened out at the last second, unable to tell a child to their face, but they picked up on it anyway. “...Papyrus said they already had six.”

Toriel nodded. She wiped at her eyes. “I can’t see another child leave. Not again. Asgore, he will…” She trailed off, trying to get her emotions under control. She wouldn’t cry and upset the child. You’d think, after a century I’d be able to talk about it.

The child stared at her for a long, painful moment. Their face shifted through several expressions before settling on a sad smile.

“It’s okay, Toriel,” they said, patting her knee. They had to stand on their toes to reach it. “I don’t want the monsters to leave. It’s b-bad on the surface.”

That… was not anything she had expected them to say. “I beg your pardon?”

They took a deep breath. “I… It’s… The bombs…” They struggled with what they were trying to say. “It’s a lot.”

“Bombs?” Toriel asked, a little loudly. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

They swallowed roughly. “It doesn’t matter. What m-matters is that the stuff that m-made me and Flowey sick is everywhere on the surface. All we need to do is tell everyone that, and it’ll be okay. Right?”

That was deeply unnerving information, but Toriel had no way of verifying or dealing with it in any sort of constructive way. Therefore, she set it aside to deal with the more immediate issue.

“Oh, child.” She shook her head. “No, I’m afraid it is not that simple.” 

“Why not?”

She ruffled their hair and stood. “It would take too long to explain,” she said. It was the truth, but it was clearly unsatisfying to them. “Come now, I’m tired of such depressing talk. Let’s think about something else now.”

They pouted. “Like what?”

Toriel grinned. “I think, now that I’m not needed at the camp so much, that I can return to living in my house. And if you want, I have a room I’m not using for much. With a real bed, and everything!”

Aha, now she had their interest. And the look of excitement mixed with sudden exhaustion almost made her laugh out loud.

Then they got a strange look on their face that Toriel took a second to recognize as embarrassment. “D-Do you have… uh… a toilet? I haven’t seen one yet, but…” They flushed.

Ha. Ha! Flushed. She couldn’t stop herself from laughing that time.

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Location discovered: Toriel’s House

Getting them out of that bodysuit of theirs proved difficult, but they eventually acquiesced when Toriel offered to wash it. Toriel thought it might need it after what they’d been through. Then they admitted that they hadn’t actually taken it off since they entered the Underground (over a month ago!) and Toriel had to physically stop herself from peeling it off of them. Whatever the thing was made of, it was tough and well-made. According to a label inside, it was a ‘one-size-fits-all (no really) Vault 66 Vaultsuit,’ made of rubber polymers, radiation-proofed artificial leathers, and numerous electronic components for whatever ‘biometric scanning’ was.

Toriel was dubious over the claim that it was machine-washable, if it had machine parts in it, but it hardly mattered if she used magic anyway.

The child’s poor sweater would have to be replaced. It hurt to look at and struck like pin and needle numbness in her paws when she held it. It must have been that awful radiation stuff clinging to it, and Toriel had no earthly idea how to clean that. Her magic didn’t want to touch it, and when she forced it to, the room went sideways and Toriel had to take several minutes to get her feet back under her. No, she shut the sweater in a box and wrote a memo to bury it somewhere later. It might even be worth actually leaving the Ruins to toss it into the abyss.

She’d have to make a fresh one, which she didn’t mind.

Anyway, while the clothes were cleaning, she showed the child to her bathroom. She did, in fact, have a toilet, and the child’s shout of joy was most amusing. The sickening green glow that poured from under the door was less so, but at least that awful substance was out of their body.

The child bathed themselves quickly enough afterwards. They did not properly clean their hair, but Toriel did not feel they trusted her enough yet for her to help them clean themselves. It was good enough.

They settled into the old children’s bedroom with little fuss. One look at the bed and their ordeal finally, finally seemed to hit them all at once. She helped them up onto it and the human was asleep before she’d finished tucking them in. Poor dear. She hung out in the bedroom perhaps a little longer than necessary before leaving them to their slumber. She left the door open just a crack. Just a little.

And then she baked a pie. She took her time, making sure it was her best work, but the child was still asleep when she finished. It was fine, she just set a slice on the floor by the bed. That was good enough.

After that… there was nothing else to do but wait. So wait she did. She sank into her chair with a book she hadn’t read recently in one paw and her diary in the other, and set about using the former as inspiration for puns to write in the latter.

“What do you call… a con run by snails? A shell game.”

“Snails need to stay damp to survive, so a dead snail ran out of slime. Hm, no, perhaps not…”

“One snail asks the other how they are doing. He says, ‘I had to have my shell removed.’ The first snail asks, ‘Oh no, are you okay?’ ‘I feel a little sluggish.’”

She giggled quietly to herself, and snaps the journal shut in her hand. This was nice. The fireplace was crackling, the smell of pastry filled the house, and it wasn’t quite so lonely as it normally was. It would never be as wonderful as it used to be, but it was good enough for now. For now.

She wished she could believe it would last.

But for now, things were okay, and Toriel felt herself dozing off as she relaxed. She let sleep claim her, drifting away in her chair, and moments later her soft snores joined the sounds of the fire.

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The next day had an interesting beginning. Toriel awoke with a start and an aching back--her chair was comfortable for sitting but not for sleeping--at the sound of a thump and shout.

Before she had even fully woken up, she was rushing down the hall to the children’s room. It was only after she had opened the door and stepped in side that registered what she was doing, but before she could get properly worked up the child poked their head out of the tangled blankets that now rested on the floor.

“...Is everything alright, my child?”

They ducked their head. “...I thought--there wasn’t a window, and--” They stopped and made a strange face, looking underneath them. “Did I land on something?”

Oh. Oops. “...I’m sorry, I didn’t expect you to fall out of bed like that. I think you must have landed on the pie.”

They rolled over and the remains of the pie revealed itself. The human looked at it mournfully. “Sorry.”

“It is alright.” Toriel helped them up and gathered both the blankets and the rug up into her arms. Then she set the entire lot on fire, making the human squeak in surprise. The flame bullets consumed the monster food until not a crumb remained, leaving the fabrics clean and warm, and then she fished the empty plate out of the bundle and set it aside. “I’ll fix the sheets later. For now, there’s still most of a pie in the kitchen.”

“Pie for breakfast?” the human asked. Then they checked their wrist, blank. “Wait, where’s--”

“On the side table, dear.”

They retrieved it and put it back on. “What kind of pie?”

“How do you feel about butterscotch and cinnamon?”

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They liked it a lot. Toriel was pleased.

Most of the rest of the day was spent giving them a proper tour of the house. They’d seen most of it already the day before, but being thorough never hurt anyone. Afterwards, the two of them went back to the Row to see if anyone needed help. Everyone was doing fine, but the child still spent time doing deliveries for the spiders. 

For dinner, Toriel made spinach casserole. The human took convincing before they would eat it, but she was an old hat at getting children to eat their vegetables, and after the first bite they couldn’t stop.

-----------------------------------------

The next day, Toriel asked them about their education.

It was a mess, frankly. The town above only had a small school with few teachers, and apparently most young people in Bellome were older than them. There was no room for them at the school, so they had been homeschooled.

There knowledge base was… scattershot. They could read and write competently for their age, and their science was quite good, but they struggled with math.

They didn’t know much history either, which was regrettable. Toriel wouldn’t be able to fill those gaps on her own; she hardly knew any of her own people’s recent history, let alone the surface’s.

Math, however, she could do. She left them in the charge of Napstablook and Dummy, and spent the day scouring the Ruins for textbooks and work booklets. She may have resorted to paying the spiders to deliver her some from outside, as well.

She’d always wanted to be a teacher. Toriel had studied what was required, inquired from actual teachers, and made plans during her idle days. She was prepared to give the child the greatest education she could.

------------------------------

They were a good student, if prone to fidgeting. Once allowed to burn some energy, however, the human took to their homework with more enthusiasm than she expected, though also less than she would have liked.

They seemed disappointed that they wouldn’t be going to a real school with other monster children, but there simply wasn’t one open anymore in the Ruins. It would be a few years yet before enough children grew up enough to have a full class. Somewhat ironic; the poor dear went from being too young to join in classes to being too old.

They picked up addition and subtraction easily, and they read from the books with only the occasional stutter.

It was when she was preparing a science lesson that they experienced a hiccup. They already understood the water cycle, and her initially prepared physics lessons didn’t challenge them at all. They already had a grasp on the light spectrum, and they might actually have known more about electricity than she did.

Thankfully, they were interested in her biology lesson, and had many questions about how biology related to monsters. Learning that they were mostly dust animated by magic fascinated them. A curious and attentive student made for a happy teacher, and they were happy to learn as well.

Building a full lesson plan would take time however. For now she only needed to determine where they were so she could adjust. In the meantime, she had a plethora of activity books to keep them entertained and mentally stimulated.

--------------------------------

“MISSUS BOSS MONSTER!”

Toriel jumped at the shout, dropping her groceries. “What in the world?!”

The familiar skeleton towered over most other residents of the Ruins, and so picking him out of the crowd was easy enough. He must have been off-duty, as he had traded the odd-looking armor out for a simple orange shirt. He was sweeping his gaze across the marketplace, drinking in the sights with interest. “WOWIE! THE RUINS SURE ARE INTERESTING! VERY MUCH LIKE NEW HOME, BUT MUCH MORE COLORFUL. AND CHARMINGLY RUSTIC!”

Rustic? Well, she supposed that was a polite way to put it. “Ah, hello, guardsman. Papyrus, was it?”

He gaped at her, then swung around and grabbed a passing Loox by the horns. “DID YOU HEAR THAT?! SHE CALLED ME A GUARD!” The Loox pulled away with a grumble. “WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID?”

“Most people don’t like being grabbed like that, dear,” Toriel said gently. “What are you doing here?”

“WHY, I AM LOOKING FOR MY COOL FRIEND OF COURSE!” he declared. “THEY HAVE NOT LEFT THE RUINS FOR SOME TIME. IT HAS BEEN OVER A WEEK SINCE THEY WERE INJURED, SURELY THEY ARE NO LONGER GROUNDED, YES?”

“Grou--” Toriel blinked, then chuckled. “Oh dear me, no. They were never grounded. We were simply getting settled. Things have been hectic, you see. And they needed to recover from their injuries.”

Papyrus nodded thoughtfully. “IT IS IMPORTANT TO RECOVER FROM INJURIES.” He fidgeted in silence for a moment. “SO, MISSUS BOSS MONSTER--

“Miss, if you please,” she corrected quickly. “You may call me Toriel.”

“MISS TORIEL, IS MY FRIEND… NEARBY?” He sounded almost anxious. Toriel hesitated, but she was powerless against the sheer earnest hope on his face.

“Well…” She looked away. “They are at home right now. I thought I would get some shopping done while they slept, but…” She gestured helplessly at her spilled groceries.

Papyrus stared gormlessly, then gasped loudly. Toriel was beginning to understand that he did everything loudly. “NYEH?! OH NO! LET ME GET THAT FOR YOU, YOUR MAJESTY.”

“Oh, I’m not roy--” She blinked, and Papyrus pushed the paper bag into her arms, fully laden once more. “--alty, oh. Thank you.”

“NYEH HEH HEH! A ROYAL GUARD IS ALWAYS READY TO HELP, AND SO IS THE GREAT PAPYRUS!”

“Papyrus,” Toriel began. “I am so grateful that you and the child are friends, but I am not comfortable bringing someone I know so little about to my home. I do not think you are untrustworthy,” she added when he looked hurt, “I simply… value my privacy, you see. And the child is asleep. It’s the middle of the night, after all.” Honestly, she should probably be asleep herself, but the lack of a sun wreaks havoc on the sleep schedule.

He frowned, hand on his chin. “HMMMMMM, YES. MY BROTHER ALSO HAS THE BAD HABIT OF TAKING EXTENDED NAPS. IT IS A FANTASTIC WASTE OF TIME IN MY OPINION, BUT AS THE AMAZING FRIEND THAT I AM, I WILL RESPECT THEIR HOBBIES.”

Toriel smiled blankly. “Thank you?”

“I SUPPOSE I WILL HAVE TO VISIT ANOTHER TIME, THEN.”

“They’ll like that, I’m sure.” She smirked, and on a whim she added, “I’ll let them know you’re feeling bonely.”

“THANK YOU, YOUR MAJ--” Papyrus froze in place. It was almost uncanny how still he became after all his wild gesticulation. He turned his head, and only his head, to look at her.

Toriel was grinning now. “Oh my, there’s no need to look so sternum.”

He shook his head so slightly she almost missed it. “No.”

“I am only ribbing you.”

“NO.”

“I apologize, I didn’t mean to get under your skin.”

“NO!” He stomped his foot in frustration.

“You don’t like it?” Toriel asked, feigning worry. “I thought it was rather…”

“DO NOT! I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SAY, I HEAR IT TOO OFTEN, DO NOT--”

“--humerus!”

Papyrus yelled incoherently, and Toriel burst out into snorting laughter, uncaring of the commotion they were making.

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The child got away from her, and she wasn’t sure how. They slipped away while she was preparing lunch, and she might have panicked.

The first place she looked was the basement, but there was no sign that the door had been disturbed. It was a foolish worry anyway, as it was no longer the only way in or out of the Ruins, and the child didn’t know about it. If they wanted to leave, they would go to the wall.

…Did they go to the wall? She told them why it was a bad idea, they wouldn’t--

She rushed out to the balcony overlooking Old Home, and scanned the city below. It was the best view of the ruins there was, and while it was unlikely that the child would be within her field of view, it would be a place to start--

--Oh. They were just down there at the foot of the balcony, by the metal structure that had crushed the old fountain. The vault, she thought the child called it? A vault guarding what, exactly?

She couldn’t tell what they were doing down there, but it hardly matters. Toriel looked over the railing and gave a preemptive wince for her ankles, then vaulted the rails and dropped to the floor below.

Yep, her ankles hated that, and her knees didn’t like it either. Ignore that, save it for later. Ow.

The child whirled around, frightened, and Toriel cursed her impulsiveness that it caused that look on their face, but it was too late now. Press on. “What are you doing here?”

They stared at her, jaw slack. “D-D-Did you just jump from--”

“And why didn’t you tell me where you were going?” she asked, putting just a bit of edge into her voice.

They tilted their head, off-balance. “You said the Ruins weren’t dangerous. I d-didn’t think I needed to.”

“I said no one would harm you. I didn’t say there was no danger to be had,” Toriel explained. “The Ruins are ruins. You need to tell me where you are going so I know where to look if you get lost.”

“...I won’t get lost,” they said with certainty, showing off their wrist contraption. “I have a map.”

Right, she had forgotten about that. “There are still places it is not safe to be. Buildings that are not stable, or rotted through.”

“I don’t go in those, just near enough for the map to fill in.” They rested a hand on the wall of the structure. “This Vault piece is the only location in the Ruins I haven’t logged yet, but it’s not registering, and I can’t get in. It needs a password.”

They pointed at the number pad by the door. Toriel gave it a cursory glance, then dismissed it in favor of striding over to the child and looking them over for injuries. They only gave mild protest, wiggling in her grip.

“...You seem to be alright,” she admitted. “I apologize. You left without me realizing, and I worried.”

They looked at her in confusion. “But I’ve b-been fine so far?”

“...I know,” she whispered. Speaking up, she said, “You’ve really explored the entire Ruins?”

“Um…” They adjusted something on their screen. “All of Old Home. I think there’s a few walled-up rooms in the labyr--labri--in the puzzle maze that I couldn’t get into, but aside from that, yeah.”

“That’s very impressive.” And it was. Toriel wasn’t certain she had walked every in of Old Home, but then she was a creature of habit. “...And I think it might deserve a reward.”

They lit up. “Pie?”

“Ooh, yes,” Toriel agreed. “Which kind? Cinnamon and butterscotch? Apple? Snail?”

Their nose wrinkled. “Snail?” 

She smiled innocently. “Oh wonderful! Snail it is then, my favorite!”

“Noooo!”

------------------------------------------

"Aww, geez Louise, why'd you go and do that?"

"Because he could have made us that's why. You want to spend another stretch in the pokey? Now, let’s see what's in this fancy case... Nothin'! Papers! No cash! It's worthless! Agh! Get his wallet. Suit like this has gotta have somethin'..."

"All right, all right. Let's see... 20 bucks, a driver's license... Oh! Oh man! We done it this time! You know who this is? We just wasted Mayor Murphy!"

"What? The Mayor Murphy? But what in blazes was he doin' here? Up in Scollay Square?"

“A mystery... to be sure..."

"Who said that? Show yourself!"

"You have murdered a man in cold blood. Justice must be served..."

"It's the Silver Shroud! Let's get out of here!"

"I ain't afraid of the Silver Shroud! You hear me! Come out, and I'll do you like I did the mayor!"

"Death has come for you, evildoer. And I am its Shroud."

Gunshots rang out from the speaker, and Toriel flinched. She didn’t object, though, as the human was happily smiling and swinging their feet back and forth as they sat at the kitchen table, listening to the device on their wrist. “Goodness, such violence.”

“I dunno,” the child said. “It’s better than Grognak. Kris told me once that his radio show got shut down after the actors died because they got too authentic with their rip and tear sound effects.”

Toriel’s mouth fell open. What was she supposed to say to something like that?

“They probably made it up. Kris made lots of things up. And they said Manta Man was their favorite, but I’m p-pretty sure that’s a joke, since no one likes Manta Man.”

“Why not? What does Manta Man do?”

They paused the recording. “He’s just boring. And he never has any good lines. When he shows up on the radio it’s easy to forget he’s there.” They shrugged.

“I see.” Toriel supposed she did. Her favorite book utterly wasted the male lead. The rival character was much more compelling, with an actual personality, and should have been the one to get together with--maybe she should start a book club. “Where did you find this tape, anyway?”

“In another Vault room,” they said without shame. They were fiddling with the ‘pipboy’ now, though what they were trying to accomplish Toriel couldn’t guess. “It had a bunch of f-filing cabinets and things. The holotape was in a desk.”

Toriel frowned but didn’t bother voicing her disapproval. The child couldn’t help but wander absolutely everywhere. So instead she asked, “Which ‘vault’ piece was it?”

They frowned, and flipped to their map. “Uhhhhh, it was north and east or Home Base.”

“Where?” Wait, wasn’t that what--

“You know, the park shaped like a baseball diamond.”

“...Do you mean Diamond Park?”

“Is that what it’s called?” they asked, looking disappointed. “I like my name for it better.”

Toriel stared at them for a long moment, but thankfully they didn’t notice. “...You aren’t alone in that. I remember now, someone else used to call it that. I’d almost forgotten.”

If they picked up on the melancholy in her voice, they didn’t react to it. Instead, they pulled their bag over and rummaged through it. “I found this, too. I th-thought you’d be interested.”

It was a sheaf of papers that Toriel accepted from them. The title of the first page immediately caught her attention. “G.O.A.T.?”

“Yeah! Just like you!”

She smiled at that, and gave the papers a more thorough look. “The Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test?” This was a master copy given to… a D. Allman. The title page gave this person’s title as ‘Vault Schooling Advisor.’

Toriel brightened. Oh, this was some manner of educational material? How interesting! She flipped through the file. As she read, though, her smile dimmed and fell until faintly horrified confusion replaced it.

Question 7

Oh, no! You've been exposed to radiation, and a mutated hand has grown out of your stomach! What's the best course of treatment?

A mutated hand? Was that an option? If that’s what can happen from radiation, the child was lucky that they only got blemishes and eye color changes.

• A bullet to the brain

• Large doses of anti-mutagen agent

• Prayer. Maybe God will spare you in exchange for a life of pious devotion

• Removal of the mutated tissue with a precision laser

The first option was suicide. The only choice Toriel thought actually had practical merit was 4, but surely a laser was not a medical tool? This was an aptitude test?

She flipped back to the first pages and scanned through them. No, this was actually used to assign teenagers to the jobs they would have for the rest of their lives. Madness. Was this what the surface was like?

She looked back up at the child. They’d resumed the tape after she hadn’t continued speaking, and had gotten up to act out parts of the story. They were using her over mitt in place of the Shroud’s weapon,making ‘pew’ noises with their mouth.

Maybe this was just a fluke. Maybe this ‘test’ was even a prank of some sort. If it was genuine, then maybe what the child said was actually true. The kind of devils that could think up questions where leaving an old man to rot or robbing a street urchin were valid and acceptable responses likely wouldn’t have many qualms about devastation…

------------------------------------------

They were restless. Toriel could see it now.

A few days after that incident, and she could see them getting bored. Their legs bounced more, their eyes wandered during lessons. Even a playdate with Papyrus only entertained them for so long.

They were happy, or so she believed, but they wanted out. They hadn’t asked yet, but she wasn’t certain they would. They had the wanderlust.

It worried her. They had fully explored the entire Ruins just for fun. They were so much like a certain other child at times that it made her heart ache. Could that kind of adventurous spirit be contained for long, when they knew how much more of the Underground waited for them? Was it right of her to keep them from it?

She thought so, given what would happen when they ran afoul of the Guard. Toriel was keeping them safe, because she couldn’t allow Asgore to take their SOUL.

…That thought shook something loose, and Toriel frowned as a memory resurfaced.

“It’s okay, Toriel,” they had said. “I don’t want the monsters to leave. It’s b-bad on the surface.”

Right. They had said that, and she had brushed it off at the time, but that was important, wasn’t it?

“All we need to do is tell everyone that, and it’ll be okay.”

It wasn’t that simple, of course… but maybe it wasn’t without merit.

For so very, very long, Toriel had held a poor opinion of other monsters for being so willing to kill children. She understood why, but she didn't agree with it. And yet, the monsters of the Ruins had been easily accepting of the human, and her friend on the other side of the door had agreed to protect them, and Papyrus… well, Papyrus didn’t know they were human, but she couldn’t bring herself to believe he’d ever hurt a fly.

Monsters were made of love and compassion; that’s what she was told growing up. Maybe it could still be true. Maybe there was a way.

First, though, she needed to ask some questions.

…Where had the human gone now?

The house was empty aside from her. Now that she was paying attention, she realized she hadn’t heard a page turn in some time. Their times tables worksheet had been abandoned on the floor of the living room.

Toriel walked into the hallway, ears straining. She was not going to panic this time, she was going to calmly and patiently look for them.

“...s”

Her ear twitched, and she turned towards the front door.

“...b…I…”

She walked over, and made to open her front door.

“C’mon, you can’t keep wasting time here forever.” 

The flower. Toriel stopped and looked through the crack in the door. Flowey had not shown up again ever since the Radaway incident, and Toriel had not thought about him in some days. He and the child were seated under her tree.

“I’m not in a hurry,” the child said, crunching leaves in their hand.

“Maybe not,” Flowey allowed. “But I know that look. You’re bored out of your mind. I can tell.”

“...Maybe a little, but I don’t want to upset Toriel.” Oh, her heart.

“Why not? She’s keeping you prisoner, you know. Coddling you, trying to keep you safe.” He spat the word like it disgusted him. “That’s what she says, anyway, but she’s just trying to keep you here all for herself.”

The child hummed. “...Maybe. It’s not so bad.” Toriel couldn’t see their face, but she heard them hesitate before adding, “I’ve never had a mom before.”

Toriel’s heart skipped. Mom? They thought of her as… a mother? Really? Flowey’s accusations stung, but that admission washed all the anger and anxiety away. Mom.

Flowey was unmoved. “Disgusting. You really are just no fun at all, Frisk.”

Frisk. That was their name.

Toriel had never asked, and they had never offered. Part of her still believed that it was too good to be true, so she never… It would hurt less if she didn’t know. Now that she knew, though, it felt shameful, especially after the other revelation.

Frisk shrugged. “I want to go out, yeah. But Toriel would worry.”

She would… but maybe she should have some faith.

Toriel rattled the doorknob before opening it and stepping outside. Flowey was already gone, no trace of his existence in the yard. Frisk twisted to look at her and smiled. It was small, but sincere, and they waved.

“Oh hi! Sorry, I t-took a break from the worksheet.”

“It’s fine, my child,” she assured them. She descended the stairs and took a seat in the leaves next to them. They shifted to lay their head on her legs.

They sat like that in silence for several minutes, before Toriel managed to figure out what she wanted to say. “I… have been thinking. About certain things you said. This ‘radiation’ you mentioned.”

“Yeah?” they asked cautiously.

“...I think, if it is as dangerous as it appears… if it really is everywhere on the surface, then perhaps it truly is a bad idea to leave the Underground.”

Frisk perked up and turned their head to look at her. “Oh yeah. It itches a lot, gives you lots of headaches and tummy problems, and it kills you if you’re in it for too long.”

“I remember,” Toriel said, voice tight. “How much, exactly, do you know about it?”

Frisk thought. “It made the weather really b-bad. The rain b-burned my hand, and turned metal black. I dunno what else it did, but there were all kinds of radio announcements and TV commercials about mutations, rad madness, and, uh, something about man-eating plants?”

“That does sound bad,” Toriel agreed. “And I was thinking. I don’t know much of anything about radiation, but I can think of someone who might.”

“Really?”

“The King has a Royal Scientist. I… forget who it was when I came to the Ruins, but whoever the current one is, they would be trusted to have monsterkind’s best interests in mind. If--if--they could be convinced that what you're saying is true…”

Frisk sat up and turned fully to face her.

She gave them a slight smile. “If there is anyone that can convince the King to leave you alone, it’s them. And then you could explore without danger.”

They were smiling again, much bigger and brighter. “You mean--?”

“Yes,” she said. Their smile did wonders to assure her this was the right choice. “And Asgore will listen to reason if he knows what’s good for him,” she added darkly.

They blinked. “You’re coming too?”

“You think you can get rid of me?” Toriel said jokingly. “No child of mine will ever have to walk alone again.”

They hugged her. Almost threw themselves at her, in fact, and if she wasn’t already sitting it might have knocked her over.

Toriel hugged them back without hesitation. They stayed like that for a long, wonderful moment, until they pulled away and bounced to their feet, clearly excited. “C’mon, let’s go! Let’s go let’s go!”

Toriel laughed, rising to her feet. “Alright, alright!”

The child grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards the house. “We’re gonna have an adventure! I need my bag, and my stick, and my boots--”

“--And a change of clothes, perhaps,” Toriel added.

They made a face. “I guess that makes sense. This is going to be fun! Knock on wood,” they declared, rapping their knuckles three times against the door before running inside.

Toriel echoed the gesture, amused. “Slow down, Frisk, I can only go so fast.”

Frisk turned to look at her, surprised. Then they beamed.

Whatever else happened, Toriel knew that she would not regret this decision.

----------------------

Toriel will now be your companion.