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When her master had slept with her and impregnated her, Daliah had assumed that when she’d had the child she’d be accepted by him. She’d be cared for and loved. Her master would take her son and he would be pleased. If none of those, perhaps he would at least free her to get away from the scandal of having a son with the slave.
Instead, he had yelled furiously. “How dare you say that this baby could be mine? I have never touched you! And this child looks nothing like me- besides, why would I fraternize with you, a slave?”
He tossed her and the baby outside furiously, and for a brief moment Daliah hoped that she might be set free. Instead, he angrily told her to get rid of the child and go back to work or to be hunted and hurt by his men.
For a brief moment, Daliah considered giving up her baby and going back to the drab life of before, but she discarded the thought almost as quickly as it had come. She loved her baby, despite him being only a few weeks old, and she wouldn’t give him up to be killed. She would give him a better life than the one she’d had.
So she slowly stood, her child in one arm. Then, she leapt forward, grabbed the gun hanging from her master’s belt, and ran. Angry shouts were heard behind her, but she ran faster than she’d ever ran before, occasionally aiming frantically behind her and letting off a shot or two before running again, trying her hardest to escape.
She made it into the forest, heart pumping, clutching her baby close to her chest with all her might so as to keep him from falling. The men were still behind her as she rushed up the mountain. She avoided trees narrowly, and tripped over rocks hidden in the foliage. Every time she fell, she scrambled to her feet quickly and started again.
Her baby was screaming, and she felt like she should quiet him, but the men were right behind her. She could not stop and comfort her baby, she had to keep running.
However, Daliah was tiring, unused to running this much. She was running out of breath when there was suddenly a gaping hole in front of her. She skidded to a halt and turned around, only to see the men on that side of her. She was trapped, and she couldn’t do anything.
Her master stepped forward. “You’re a slippery one, but you won’t get away again. I’ll get you, you little-”
Daliah interrupted him by aiming the gun at his chest and firing one last time. Her master’s eyes widened as the final bullet in the gun ripped through his chest. He toppled over, and Daliah looked around. Everyone was in shock, staring at her, but she could see some of them start to reach for guns of their own. Instead of letting them shoot her, she took one final step backwards and plummeted into the pit, arms held tightly around her baby.
The men screamed at her, but it was too late.
Daliah and her baby were underground.
One of the men cursed and threw his hat down the hole after her, then stomped off to where his boss’ dead body lay. “The lady of the house ain’t gonna be happy,” he muttered, and then helped the others cart the body back to the house down the mountain.
Underground, Toriel came to check the place where the humans fell. She didn’t expect to see anyone, but instead was horrified to find two bodies. One a fully grown human, and the other a mere baby that was screaming it’s lungs out. Toriel ran to them and quickly scooped up the child, rocking it slowly. Once it had calmed down, she checked the other human, most likely the baby’s mother.
She had no pulse. She had likely died from the impact of the fall. Toriel quietly closed her eyes, and gave a quiet hum, a gentle lullaby that she had known from before the barrier. It was a memorial, of sorts, for this brave mother who had died for her baby.
When the song was over, Toriel stood, baby in arms. She then took it back to her home and made it comfortable, before returning to the body of the mother and burying it next to the body of her other child.
Then, Toriel went back to the new child that she swore to raise. She would help the child that had lived because of his mother’s sacrifice.
And thus began Justice's life in the Underground.