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A final roar. CLANG. CRACK. A desperate slash. "...how could you...put me down..I'm sorry...c'mon..."
The noise and shouts had refused to make sense to him, just one more part of the sensory overload which he was deluged in. It was some time before he realised they had been muted, or tuned out. The glowing snow cleared from his mind, as he now became aware of the swirling dim snow. Hopelessly off script, he tried to grab a thread to follow. It was strange, those hazy memories of ice slashing his body. For those slashes now burned.
"What a twist!" Tenna shouted. Or rather spoke softly, his voice weaker than he expected. Still, he persevered. "Guess we know the dangers of doing a one-eighty, folks!"
No applause buttressed his quip. No audience beheld him in shock. No producer queued his next line or reminded him of the blocking arrangements.
"...hello?"
He thought back beyond the icy slashes, beyond the grand finale. He began to remember why. Why there was no applause or no audience or no producer.
"H-hello?!"
No... body.
It was easy to look up, still resting on his back. Darkness punctuated with the snow. With the burning near his shoulders it took him a moment to realise his body was half-buried in it. The cold didn't bother him. What did bother him was the parts of his body on the other side of the burning. He couldn't feel those at all.
"Tough crowd tonight, right folks? Right folks?!"
Maybe it was the howling wind, maybe it was the distracted exhaustion grabbing his throat, but Tenna had it up to here with his inability to raise his voice higher than a solemn radio host. Not to worry, there were always problems like this.
"Sound check. Sound check!" The wind didn't care. "Mike, are you there? Mike!"
His reruns finally caught up with the production schedule. The deal, the knock-em-dead performance, the girl who would not be tamed. Then the desperate hunt, the recriminations, the mass desertion. Even Mike. No, not Mike. Not when now of all times he needed a good dose of Pluey. Surely he'd get a response.
"Mike? Miiiiiike! C'mon guys, the show can't be finished just yet. Lanino! Elnina! ...Ramb?" The last name sounded oddly empty, despite the identical lack of response. Desperation soaked the pages of the script he was penning in his head, now willing to offer whatever price to a responder. "Anybody, please! Two point five percent above cost of living raise to anyone who finds my arms!"
The comparatively generous offer, carried on the loudest broadcast yet, remained unclaimed. With a flicker on his screen, Tenna's nose now pointed towards the fountain of darkness continually shrouding the stage lights which should have focused on our leading man. A growing clarity of his predicament contrasted with his lesser awareness of his surroundings.
"Guess this is the final broadcast of the day," he said, his voice blanketed with intensifying static. "I mean, I thought that had already come a long time ago. This revival was...fun. I just... didn't want to sign off... alone..."
"Hello?"
The voice was a sharp stimulant, and Tenna grew more aware of the snow blanketing him once more. The stimulation wasn't of relief of being rescued, or even the hope of consolation. It was fear.
"I heard you, sir. Are you over here?"
Her??
He'd been warned when the bargain was struck. Under no circumstance was she to be allowed to roam this dark world. The consequences would be dire. Whether this was just a final derailment of plans already in a drainage ditch, or whether her potential power would have posed a more foundational threat to everyone in the studio had never been made clear. Tenna found himself assuming it was closer to the second possibility. It was more dramatic that way.
"No-one here," he called back, hoping the audacity of denying the self evident would be persuasive. "Nobody here but us chickens. Just go back to your chair and have a nice sit down and-"
"Ah, there you are. My goodness!"
He had memories of copper-red eyes, one pair among eight, spending many an hour watching everything he deigned to put on. Clearly these were the same eyes, though the dark world had brightened them, their hue a warm rose red. The small crown rested naturally between her horns, as her majestic robes kept her unaware of the wind's attritional gusts. Her face was not confused or shocked by what she beheld, only concerned.
"What an awful state to find oneself," said Toriel, " please hold still."
She rested clawed hands on his unburdened shoulders. A warmth gradually flowed from them into his body, banishing the cold and making him realise it really had bothered him. It was not the harsh warmth of the stage light, but perhaps like an old fashioned reading lamp. The snow receded, revealing his bright primary coloured clothes, and wisps of steam were quickly blown away. The burning sensation was dulled, though not completely extinguished, and though no new arms accompanied these unexpected balms he no longer felt on the verge of cancellation.
"What a last minute save!" He wanted to declare. "The damsel becomes the heroine! Using unknown powers in the strange land she finds herself in, but keeping true to herself! The understudy takes the stage after all the stars take flight! Can we get any more hype, folks?"
"Thank you, Toriel," he actually said, sincerity defeating drama. "Actually, I'm glad I'm not alone, more than anything else."
"Think nothing of it, sir," she said, unconcerned about how he knew her name. "I can keep you company, if you wish."
"Nothing like a good late night double act!" said Tenna, his voice strengthened by Toriel's effortless healing magic. "But, uh, I'm sure feeling better now. Surely my staff will come to their senses soon and get me back on my feet. If you could find dear old Chairiel and nod off, that'll probably be safer for us all than-"
She snorted at the audacity of this suggestion. "Leave someone so clearly hurt all alone just to rest? I shall do no such thing. Even in a dream I do not forget common decency."
...a dream? "...a dream?"
"Oh, yes." She loosened her grip on his shoulders and patted his head reassuringly. "When one watches their child on the couch and then finds themselves in a blizzard, what else could this be but a dream?"
"What a twist!" Sincere vulnerability was ushered behind the curtain of plausible deniability. "Our last minute leading star has made this a dream episode! Do you have any idea how flexible those are? We talk about literally anything before I persuade you to sit down on your throne again and go back to sleep, and this world will be safe regardless!"
Toriel blinked. "I should return to my chair? But you still look hurt..."
"Wait wait not yet," he spluttered. "Sorry, it's just... you're right. I'm in no state to carry the show solo. Gotta build up to that."
"Quite," she said, unconcerned about his acting like this was all a play. "In any case, as long as I stay you should be fine until help arrives. I am not sure how I know this," she briefly clenched her glowing hand, "but I do."
"Lady, in this place gals like you know a lot more than you think you do," said Tenna, the resolution of his face enhancing. "That said, most people pushed out on stage like you would be freaking out about my arms."
Toriel glanced at his left shoulder, but otherwise didn't react. "You are in a bad way, I admit, but attentive care should keep you with us."
"That's the heart of gold I always knew," said Tenna. "'course, I know why you really aren't freaking out at me like I'm an extra in a war scene."
She raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Tuesday Movie Night."
A moment's shock passed her face. "Tuesday? You mean shortly after we finished college?"
"The very same!" His face flickered, displaying a bomb above a wide grin. "Good old NMBC rating, 'No Monsters Before College'! Every Tuesday night he'd put on the popcorn, burn it, and you'd sit down well after midnight to watch movies with a body count greater than a collapsed house of cards. Talk about hitting the ground running!"
She broke eye contact with the bomb. Tenna felt the heat which reflected her blush. "Yes, well... college was a time to, well, step outside one's comfort zone. See a little more of the world, even if only through books or... And it helped him loosen up a little, Asgore was so uptight at parties. But that was only for a while, before we settled into our careers."
The grin widened. "Would it shock you to learn that 'while' was three years and eight months after graduation?" She clutched her mouth. "Yep! Figured you developed a new comfort zone. I sure ain't the worst thing you ever watched anyway. And what really got you rethinking all that was..." the bomb disappeared, replaced with a teddy bear surrounded by rainbows.
Toriel grabbed her knees, staring at the snow between them and Tenna's head. "Asgore had gone to bed early, long day at the station. Asriel was asleep, we'd finally gotten his routine settled. So I figured what the heck, for old time's sake. And then half an hour in, just as she was grabbing the chainsaw, I heard a soft pattering. I barely had time to change to the weather channel before Asriel crawled round the corner asking for water. I could never risk it again after that, could I not?"
Tenna tilted his head in sympathy. "Well we all change the type of roles we play. Never wanna get bogged down doing the same thing, do we?"
"Of course not," she said, easing into his framework for viewing the world, and clearly accepting his knowledge of her life as part of the dream. "Still, a part of me was afraid I would be seen as a 'square', as the children say sometimes. I hope I was not overly smothering with what he watched."
"Are you kiddin'? That puppet cowboy show was great. True fun for the whole family!"
"Cowboy-? Oh, of course." Toriel brushed her ear back with a fond expression. "Asriel on his knee every week, and then Kris as well when we welcomed them. And sometimes Asgore watching it alone..." she chuckled. "I think that was more his speed than Tuesday Movie Night."
"Not just cowboys, Majesty. After that was the one with the flying car. And then the one with the space rocket. And then-"
"The one with the submarine," she interrupted in sudden memory, "and then when people would get in danger every week and had to be rescued! Oh, Asriel would cover his eyes when the trouble started, that part was scary to a child of course, but he always cheered when they were rescued at the end. And Kris always watched straight on. But then the one about alien spies..." she shuddered. "He wouldn't sleep for days after the first episode. I was more careful after that."
Asgore wasn't, thought Tenna, enjoying holding a future plot point out of sight. "But that was just standard fare. The big show was at holiday time, right? You and him and them and all the kids sat together..."
"Oh yes," she nodded, hand resting on her heart. "Funny actors dressed as multiple characters from books, reciting absurd poetry about that time of year. And during the break Asgore would fetch the popcorn, always burnt, and then the Mayor would eat it without noticing or complaining. And then Rudy would catch my eye and wink, like it was all a joke the three of us were playing on her. It never was, of course, he just wasn't good at getting the timing right."
"A laugh riot!" Tenna missed his contractually-obligated-to-be-adoring audience "And how you grown ups had to start asking the kids to move their horns and antlers out of the way. And then Kris would hold their headband up just so they'd get scolded too."
"Oh, hee hee!" She patted his shoulder in thanks for reminding her. "Ah, I miss those days."
"Then why'd you stop?"
Improvising when his guests went off script was easy, Tenna found. It took true determination to break the format. Now he was the one going off script. Not trying to distract a potential danger or even telling a good story about a family to a long-gone audience. His own heart had asked before he realised.
"Why?" She blinked again. "Well, it was not an immediate thing. It is just... after that night in the woods... when she..."
Dim the lights, Tenna's instincts told him, spotlight directly on the target. Maybe blue background light for a little melancholy. But sad music or pure silence? He was never sure which way to roll. But then the look on her face brought him out of the stage directions.
"I mean we tried for a few years. But Carol came only once, and refused to speak to us, and now has important matters to attend to every year. And then Asgore..." She took a deep breath. "Of course it was the worst moment of his life, nobody dedicated to protecting others could suffer such a tragedy lightly. But he could not let it go. Cannot, even now. More and more time reviewing the same scraps of information, and it clearly did Kris no favours. He had little time for anything else. Rudy, angel bless him, he tried to keep it up for Noelle's sake. He at least understood what was still in front of him. But then his health faltered... so Noelle had no more reason to visit us. And I suppose without it feeling special anymore my children drifted to other interests. As did I. I... really miss those days." Tenna saw her bring a finger to her eye.
"...me too, Toriel."
"You too?" she squinted. "Oh, I suppose that makes sense. You already remind me of our old television in appearance, talking to one in a dream is less peculiar than you might imagine."
That was good, but not the answer the dark world was looking for. "Well with your heartfelt lament before the enraptured audience-" Allegedly. "-do you need a break? Or would you like to continue?"
She looked around, where the snow thinned to unknowable dark ground, and a steel door in the distance. "We are in a rather bleak place, despite my familiarity. On the whole it is better than the other dream."
The antenna twitched. "Other dream?"
"Oh yes. Truth told it still troubles me. I felt like Kris and their friend Susie and... someone else, were in danger from someone. That they actually had to fight."
"Amazing, folks! A mother watching their child in a struggle for life!"
Her face twisted in offense. "That is another reason I grew distant from television. It grew too demanding that you look at the awful things in the world. Of course one should be aware of what is happening, but the way some speak of it, they make sport of it all. Especially after that night I was more aware of television's need for you to never turn away."
A chill unconnected to the snow arced down his spine. "Uh, sorry ma'am."
"I should hope so," she sniffed. "Anyway, despite the peril I sensed for my child, the confrontation ended."
"But that's great! They weren't hurt!"
"No. But it troubled me how it ended."
Genuine curiosity seeped through. "How it ended? What do you mean?"
"...the details elude me. But I felt like Kris was willing to go to any lengths to stop the fight. A noble goal in itself, but their resolve, their determination... I felt like I could no longer tell which one was actually threatening them, or how they'd deal with it if pushed." She shuddered. "It frightened me."
Tenna was probably in a better position than most to give her more context. But his missing arms reminded him of the dangers of breeching a non-disclosure agreement. "I'm sure they're fine. They're a tough enchillada, even if they find themselves in a difficult position. And that Susie, man she can put her foot down."
Toriel was not completely assuaged, but no longer dwelled on her first dream. "Oh, I am delighted she and Kris are friends now. Kris always found it difficult after Noelle drifted away, and Susie... I've seen transfer records like hers before, no time to settle down, no body to confide in. Why, a few months ago I found her sitting near the graveyard. It was raining, and I think she thought that hid her tears. They did not. A teacher learns about such tears. So I took her to the diner and had a talk with what was wrong."
"Wowsers," he said, "your heart of gold must have swollen three times that day!"
"It was not for personal gratification," she said, "I just want to help the troubled where I can. I think she listened when I encouraged her that friends would come. I mean, they must have, because Kris brought them home!" A naturally warm smile spread on her face. "If that is the case I am glad. It is not always easy to help those in need."
"Well a good deed for the day is more than many do!" The imaginary audience granted them a standing ovation.
"You are correct. I just wish... I could help others as easier."
Whether it was a need for drama or simple curiosity Tenna wasn't sure, but he pressed on. "You mean why Asgore stopped watching the golf?"
The peculiar perspective he saw it from did not faze her. "I mean, I tried, for years, to help him deal with what happened. But the wall of our bedroom grew with that... that corkboard, and his explanations which always started reasonable but veered into complete nonsense. And Kris and Asriel were obviously trying to deal with what happened to her as well, and Asgore's constant... re-litigating of it was not helping. And then there were days where he would just talk to the three of us like nothing at all had happened, and that whiplash... Angel help me, I..." a tear slipped along the white fur of her cheek. "There is only so much I can bear. I cannot help him if he will not help himself."
Tenna lifted his head a little. "So..." What was the least sensational way to put it? "Love becomes hate, a sudden swerve, battlelines in the living room?"
"Hate?" She looked confused. "I do not hate him. I cannot. But I am beyond frustrated with him. He has delved deeply into a desperate need for vindication, at the cost of everything else. I would love if he could just... but I fear in some ways he is just as lost as she was. You mentioned the holiday shows. He has forgotten that it was seven affected by that night, not just one. I pray and pray he will discover wisdom, or even peace, but..."
Her whole form slumped, the kind of catharsis only a truly satisfying end to a cliffhanger could bring. This was what she had no outlet for before tonight. His instincts was a head turning stunt show, before a producer slipped a note across the desk: Change the channel?
"Toriel, I think I speak for everyone present here today that you've put up with a lot." And mayhaps has even more to put up with. "Even if you don't go back to Tuesday Night Movies with him, maybe you need to talk about this with somebody. Anybody. Have a little variety hour!"
"There is something in that," she said, stroking her chin. "And truth told, I did find someone I could, well, not talk about all this, but at least have a laugh with."
"Laugh! That's it!" The non-existent audience stood and ovated even harder. "Just find a way to pivot from melodrama to comedy! Don't get typecast, that's all!"
She looked uncertain. "To cut loose with? But what if... Kris surely still needs me. I cannot put my own stresses before their needs, at least before university."
Despite the lack of anything resembling eyes, Toriel felt being gazed at. "Tori, I can assure you that whatever crazy escapades Kris is wrapped up in, they can handle it. And if they can't, don't forget that Susie's there too. I just met her myself, and if anybody can keep that kid straight and narrow it's her. You don't need to pack a suitcase and take the next train going anywhere. Just... live a little. With Asgore or yourself or whoever, the best part of any performance is sincerity. Try not to live a lie."
Her posture straightened once more. "I think you are right. Susie will do right by Kris. And perhaps I do need another laugh. I just wish I could have with..."
"Madame Dreemurr, I'm gonna clue you in on a secret: The best scenes are improv."
"Improv?"
"Yeah. That scene in the War Room with the President on the Phone? He made that all up. Just go with the flow, and you'll have a better performance than if you had a perfect plan before! Sitting on your stress just means you'll bottle it."
She blinked a few times. Then smiled. "Perhaps you are right. It would not hurt to try. Still, I shall pray for my family. That is my 'character's trait', is it not?"
"Sure is, lady! Now knock em-"
His antennas twitched again. Far more sensitive to noise than even Toriel's ears, he picked up footsteps beyond the slowly dissolving blue spears.
"...if you had to go, you coulda said! Look, we'll check your Mom's okay, find Tenna and then seal the fountain, that fight's got me beat..."
"Aaaaaaand that's all the time we have!" he shouted, knowing one way to ruin the safety of the dream was unwelcome intrusions. "We hope you've enjoyed this delve into everyone's favourite goat mom! Now if she returns to beloved Chairiel and dwells on what we've spoken of, perhaps things will turn for the better! For her, for her family, maybe Hometown!"
His utter confidence had her mechanically rise to her feet.
"And maybe catch up on the cooking channel sometimes, huh?"
"Cooking? Oh, of course. Perhaps I could try new recipes!"
He heard her bare feet trudge through the snow, more confidently than when she approached. Whether he'd given her the key to unlock her problems or lit the fuse to blow them up, he didn't really know. But it was sincere, and that always made for the best shows.