Chapter Text
A tense silence permeated throughout the ruins. Hushed murmuring could be heard from its residents as two figures silently walked its corridors, hand in hand.
“Again, I’m sorry for.. attacking you.. and..” the shorter figure trailed off.
The taller one looked down at them, her somber eyes meeting theirs. Gently, she placed a hand on their head and softly stroked their hair. Hopefully, they would take it as a sign she bore no resentment.
“It’s quite alright, my child. It.. It will grow back with time.”
Earlier that day, the human, frightened by the monster’s sudden appearance, had pushed her to the ground in a panic. Fortunately, she didn’t sustain any major injuries sans a fractured horn which quickly faded to dust. Of course, she felt upset at first, but the mortified look on the human’s face quickly caused her maternal instincts to drown out any flames of anger she felt within her.
She had pulled them in a tight embrace and reassured them everything was okay, that seemed to calm them down at the time but she could tell they weren’t fully over the incident. The constant murmuring from the crowd around them certainly didn’t help.
Nowadays, most of the residents here knew her as the caretaker of these catacombs, but in truth, caring for lost children such as this one was her true calling. Even so, she felt a strange sense of familiarity towards this child. Perhaps it was their initial hesitance that reminded her of someone she once knew, or could it be how they conduct themselves in a quiet, reserved manner? Regardless, she wouldn’t hold a grudge against the human for what they did in their panic. For the few subjects she had however, she could tell that her injury was causing some unease.
She sighed as the gossip over her cracked horn carried on relentlessly. She had half a mind to them off then and there but that would likely cause more trouble than it would solve. So, she pulled the human towards her instead, resting their ear on her side and covering the other with a free palm. After all, it was their first day in their underground - the first of many, she hoped. It wouldn’t do good for them to remember a little accident as the highlight of their first day.
Pondering her thoughts, an idea suddenly struck. Perhaps she could bake them something nice that they could eat together. Deciding on that, she brought the human along for a small detour. She would have to get some ingredients first and foremost, after all. Unless they were fond of snails, but she doubted that.
After a few twists and turns, the two of them arrived on the streets of Home, or Old Home, as some would call it. Unlike the narrow corridors of the catacombs, here, there was much more to see. Towering spires stood erect at the heart of the city, winged monsters flying in and out of its many windows, or would it be more appropriate to call them gates, then? She wasn’t too sure, she’d ask one of the winged folks here, but the ones in the ruins weren’t too keen on conversation.
Toriel smiled, seeing the human’s eyes light up at the sight. Of course she’s proud of Home, both as a resident and as its former queen, but the sightseeing could wait another day. For now, they wouldn’t be going beyond the outskirts of Home. For one, it was near the entrance so they didn’t have to walk far, but aside from that, she preferred the small shops over the bigger marketplaces at the heart of the city anyways. Plus, she knew a place that had the perfect ingredients for what she had in mind.
They abruptly stopped in front of a humble little shop. It was among the simpler buildings in Home, a box shaped structure composed entirely of purple bricks. Of course, its simple design didn’t mean it didn’t have a few things here and there to liven up the place. Near the entrance were large pots filled with a variety of flowers, some of which were likely extinct at the surface, judging by the child’s puzzledness. Above them, a large canopy hung, covering the entrance with a pleasant shade. Although a canopy usually served to shelter from harsh sunlight, the lack of an actual sun suggested it served as more of a memento from a bygone era. Expecting this to be their destination, the human was halfway through the doorway when they suddenly felt a light tug on the back of their sweater. As they turned around, she offered a gentle smile to meet their gaze. She took their hand and guided them to a vacant bench nearby.
“Child, please wait here.” She knelt down, her eyes level with theirs, putting one of her hands on their shoulder. She offered some words of reassurance. “I’ll only be off.. to buy a few things.”
They raised an eyebrow in response, as if to ask what exactly she was shopping for. This caused her to contemplate the matter for a moment. On one hand, she didn’t want to spoil the surprise for them, but on the other, she worried not saying anything would make them anxious.
“It’s a treat.” she finally settled for in the end, maintaining some ambiguity but perhaps giving them something to look forward to instead of worry over.
-----
With that, Kris saw her stand up and walk away, leaving them alone to their devices. They tried dozing off at first but they had already slept too long back at the flower bed, so much so that they couldn’t really see themselves falling asleep anytime in the near future. Their mind began to wonder, is she going to come back? Of course, they wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t, she had only met them for a few seconds and almost immediately got hurt. Maybe this was their mind’s way of telling them that it would be better for her if they weren’t- Actually, no. They decided to stop that train of thought before it could travel any further.
Instead, they just stared at the scenery in front of them, counting each monster as they passed by, going about their day. Yes, home was beautiful indeed. In front of them, they could see a froggit, it was.. being a frog. Or would it be more appropriate to say ‘being frog-like’? After all, they were monsters, not frogs.. Ah, they’ll be waiting here for quite a while, won’t they? They waited and waited for what seemed like minutes, then hours on end. They groaned internally as time passed on with nothing to do-
They jumped at the sensation of something touching their shoulder. They spun backwards, finding themselves face to face with the mysterious culprit.
“Ah, I’m sorry if I scared you. I had forgotten to ask, are you allergic to either cinnamon or butterscotch by any chance?”
‘Oh, it’s been 2 minutes.’
Kris let out a sigh as soon as they were sure Toriel was out of earshot. Logically thinking, they knew she, the real one, would never just abandon them somewhere. Still, this ‘her’ came off as a little bit too ideal. Although it was nice to see this side of her after feeling neglected these past few days, they felt this was a bit of an overcorrection from their subconscious. She wasn’t entirely alien to her real counterpart, though. When they were younger, she too would hold their hand everywhere they went and call for them with phrases like 'my child’ or ‘little one’. Although they really appreciated the affection she gave them back then, a part of them still found it overbearing at times. They remembered ‘forgetting‘ to wash their hands often so she would stop, which earned them a stern lecture about hygiene, but she agreed with their request in the end. Fortunately, she started calling them by name more and more often as the years went by, without them needing to signal it to her via a roundabout way. Though they had thought, at the time, that change was something all parents eventually do , perhaps she did notice that they were much happier being called by name and actively changed her habit to accommodate their preference.
Kris sighed, maybe Toriel did love them after all. It’s just that their life has been so hectic recently, not even counting the dark world and prophecy shenanigans. Now that they’ve been given a moment alone with their thoughts, they began to think it would be a good idea to try talking things out with her after waking up, or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on their end.
This dream, they were never a believer in dreams having deeper meanings, but it might just be enough for them to start considering it. Perhaps it was a reflection of their subconscious, though without the peculiarities of a dark fountain. Like looking into a still lake, they could see their reflection but at the same time the world beneath the water. Though they didn’t like the thought of them snapping her horn or just harming her in general in the real world.
Actually, a particular ‘prank’ of theirs started to come to mind. They remembered a time when they, the 12 year old gremlin that they were, tried to pull a ‘prank’ on Asgore by jumping onto his head from the kitchen counter and grabbing onto his horns. The solid wall between the stairway and the kitchen served as a perfect blind spot for them to initiate their dastardly plot. They were sure at the time- and even now, in fact- that Asgore’s horns were strong enough to support their weight at that age.
Unfortunately however, the monster that turned the corner after going down the stairs that day would in fact, not be Asgore. It took them a whole few seconds to realise it wasn't Asgore's screaming they heard, but Toriel’s. Back then, Toriel’s first action, too, was to console them despite fearing her horn was dislocated, though to the whole family’s relief, it wasn’t. Of course, they couldn’t escape the incoming lecture on why jumping on people’s heads was ‘dangerous’ and ‘could cause serious harm to both them and yourself’, but they remembered her trying her best to explain it to them at the time. Although for a while, that only served to shift the target from the Dreemurrs to the Noelle.
Maybe this visage of Toriel was closer to the real thing than they initially guessed.
Their train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the sound of footsteps drawing near. They wouldn’t be caught off guard this time, however. Spinning backwards, they dove towards her and brought her into a firm hug.
“Oh! I see you’ve missed me much, my child.” she smiled, trying her best to reciprocate their hug whilst holding on to two bags of groceries. In a way, they did miss her, although maybe a different her than the one they were embracing right now.
“Kris, just call me Kris.” they insisted.
“I see. Well, Kris, shall we get going on our way home?” hearing her call them by name, they tightened their hug.
“There’s a cozy bed waiting for you, perhaps you could get some rest whilst I.. well, it's a surprise, but I'm sure you’ll like it.” she trailed off.
Kris could already smell the cinnamon from the bag, they would be surprised if it wasn’t her signature cinnamon-butterscotch pie she was planning to bake. Though, they won’t tell her they knew that, for the sake of not ruining her surprise. They didn’t know the logistics of eating dream food, but if it's anything like a dark world, they should be able to taste the pie, it just wouldn’t be filling like real food. Maybe they wouldn’t mind staying asleep a bit longer if it meant getting pie. Not for too long, though. They still had a Toriel back home to talk to.
“Thanks, mom.” they mumbled into her robes, just loud enough for her to hear.