Silver Knives and Blackened Petals (Hiatus)

Chapter 29: Blood is Purity, Purity Requires Blood.

"You don't belong..." The words echoed in Charles head. "Furless!" Charles whined in his sleep, curling against Toriel. She hugged him softly, avoiding from touching his chest. Bill slammed the door open when he entered. Toriel snapped her head up to Bill.

"Well that was unnecessary of you..." Toriel said softly as Charles stirred in her lap.

"Amber is back." Bill said as he flipped through Amber's book quickly.

"What're you doing with the book?" Toriel asked him as he read through a sentence then flipped through the pages once again. "Bill..." Toriel asked again, a bit louder.

"We're running out of time." He mumbled softly.

"What do you..." Bill cut her off quickly.

"The Vetitilux, they're wilting. They're dying faster than I thought. We need to clear the Labem before it is too late." Bill told her.

"How do we get rid of it then?" Toriel asked him.

"With our son... He'll have to go into the rose patches." Bill told her as he closed the book, walking down into the basement, coming back up with a leather fashioned armor, along with a dark colored cloak. He set the items on the table.

"And once he gets into the rose patches?" Toriel asked, cradling Charles in her arms.

"He'll have to cut them. If that doesn't work, then he'll have to bleed on them." Bill said softly.

"I'm just not going to tell him to stab his hand with a knife!" Toriel exclaimed.

"You don't belong in this forest... Too dangerous for a human like you~" voices echoed in Charles' head.

"If we had more tim-" Toriel stopped him.

"No, we have enough, even then we have to wait for him to get better." Toriel nudged Charles softly.

"'Best to just run~" the voices echoed louder.

"If I could be assistance." Tristan opened the door. Being careful of what he touched.

"Tristan I t-" Bill yelled, but Tristan shut his mouth before he can finish.

"You can't just cut the roses. Once a bud lands on the ground it just regrows another rose bush. Do you have more dirty bandages? I have a rose in my infected shack I can test it with." Toriel looked at Charles chest.

"But they're healing..." She whimpered softly, her ears flattening against her midnight black head, her long black hair draped over her face when she looked down to Charles.

"Then I'll use the ones around my neck." Tristan said softly.

"Wait! Don't do it!" Bill told him, grabbing his furless arms and pulled them away from his neck bandages.

"Well either you give me the fresh ones and have him take longer to heal. Or save me later another time." Tristan told him.

"What about your arms?" He raised the bandage bordering the labem away from his furless skin.

"Wouldn't have enough blood to use. Bill come with me. Once I remove the one on my neck. You're the only one that can come back with memory of what happens." Tristan's voice trembled. Toriel's eyes started to tear up. To have her friend back, only to lose him again within a day. "What's it going to be? We're all running out of time." He watched their friend's response. Bill opened the amber book once again. Toriel watched him, fear filled her eyes.

"Your blood will heal the lands~" the voices sang icily. "Now bleed..." they crept over Charles mind, making him shiver. Toriel looked down at Charles, nudging him softly with her nose once again.