Short Stories

Heartache

A/N: While replaying Undertale again, and 'fighting' Toriel, I thought this up. The title is the title of the OST for the fight, and it fits so well.

The "~~~~~~*~~~~~~" signifies the beginning and end of flashbacks.

This is Pacifist.

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Frisk looked around, the cream-colored walls, the wooden paneling on the floors, the pleasantly warm fireplace, the bookcase, the table with the two adult-sized chairs and one child-sized chair . . . Until their eyes came to rest on the empty Toriel-sized armchair. They couldn't help the tears that began to sting their eyes as their thoughts went back only a few minutes ago.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Toriel was sitting in her usual spot--the armchair by the fireplace--with her book in her furry paws. The title read "72 Uses for Snails", a picture of a snail smiling underneath in a color that popped against the light brown of the hard cover. Toriel's reading glasses were perched on the dip of her muzzle, her eyes scanning the pages through them. She looked up as the child came towards her, a smile pulling at her snout. "What is it?"

Frisk didn't really want to ask this question, they had a feeling that it wouldn't end well, but they needed to ask it. How do I exit the RUINS?  They signed, watching worriedly out of the cracks their eyes were as Toriel glanced away.

". . . I have to do something. Stay here." Toriel said, before closing her book and making it magically disappear, then quickly walking away.

Frisk stared after Toriel for a while before snapping out of it and running after her. They ran through the hall, around the rail to the stairs and down both flights. They didn't look around at the purple walls and floors as they ran to Toriel, who stood a short way into the passage. They looked up at Toriel, but she wouldn't turn around. She must have known they were there, though.

"You wish to know how to return "home," do you not?" Toriel asked, her tone serious.

Frisk wanted to know how to leave the RUINS, but home . . .

"Ahead of us lies the end of the RUINS. A one-way exit to the rest of the underground."

One way? So . . . Frisk wouldn't be able to come back?

"I am going to destroy it. No one will ever be able to leave again."

Destroy it?  But why? What was wrong with the rest of the underground?

"Now be a good child and go upstairs." Toriel said, her voice a bit lighter as she walked away.

Frisk shook their head, even though Toriel couldn't see them, and ran after her. As they approached Toriel again, she began speaking.

"Every human that falls down here meets the same fate. I have seen it again and again. They come. They leave. They die."

Frisk's eyes widened.

"You naive child . . . If you leave the RUINS . . . They . . . ASGORE . . . will kill you."

Who was Asgore? Why would they try to kill them?

"I am only protecting you, do you understand? . . . go to your room."

Frisk shook their head again and hesitated only a moment before going after Toriel again.

"Do not try to stop me. This is your final warning."

Frisk didn't know why, but they just . . . they couldn't. They squeezed their eyes shut--more than they usually were--and turned around. They ran and ran back through the purple halls and up the stairs, and around the rails, and down the hall to their temporary room. Without even pulling the covers back, they jumped onto the bed. But a voice called to them through the dark.