Branches On A Tree

Back To The Roots

Toriel did her best to make the plain noodles more appetizing, but she didn't have many ingredients to work with. Thankfully her inventory had been filled with one or two snails, but it still wasn't the tastiest meal she'd ever cooked. At least it was better than the stale popato chisps from the vending machine down the hall.

Frisk was now sleeping in one of the beds in the dormitory, while Alphys and Undyne discussed something in the other corner of the room. After much about and though, their leg seemed to be fine. The poor child was still tired though. No wonder. Toriel couldn't begin to imagine how horrible all of this must be to them. They were going to need much rest.

Undyne and Papyrus would be leaving in the morning and go back to New Home to the house where the skeleton brothers lived in as children in order to find any clues about Gaster and what happened to Sans. Toriel was a bit skeptical, though she didn't tell them yet. She still guilty crawl in her soul and she had no better solution to offer. The idea of going outside, with a monster like Gaster out there was unnerving, to say the least. The thought baffled her. Monster souls usually didn't contain such an ill intent as he seemed to. Not while acting on their own. As far as she'd always known and experienced, monster souls didn't contain such bad traits. Love, hope, compassion is what people had always said monster souls are made of.

Her tired legs cracked when she got up from the chair beside Frisk's bed. Deciding that they would be alright for the moment Toriel called for Undyne and Alphys to keep an eye on them, as she decided to check on the skeleton brothers. Papyrus had taken the conclusion they made very hard. He seemed absolutely dumbfounded by everything and she felt so sorry for him.

"Papyrus? Are you okay?" she asked gently as she approached him in the dimly lit room.

"OF COURSE. I'M FINE. I JUST CAN'T SEEM TO STOP SHAKING IS ALL. BUT I'M FINE."

"You should try to get some rest before you leave."

"THE GREAT PAPYRUS NEED NO SLEEP," he said but failed to sound even close to convincing.

She nodded as she sat herself down beside him. "Are you sure about going?"

"YEAH. I THINK I HAVE TO... NOT THAT THERE WOULD BE ANYTHING TO FIND ABOUT... YOU KNOW. BUT IF THERE WERE..." he inhaled sharply, his eyes still focused on his brother. "THEN I THINK UNDYNE IS RIGHT. MAYBE WE'LL FIND SOMETHING THAT CAN HELP SANS. IF... IF THIS REALLY IS TRUE THEN... I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT ALL THESE YEARS HE NEVER TOLD ME ANYTHING. I-I HAD NO IDEA. I MEAN, I KNOW HE'S NOT THE TYPE TO LET ANYONE KNOW STUFF ABOUT HIM, BUT I ALWAYS THOUGHT HE AT LEAST COULD TALK TO ME ABOUT EVERYTHING."

Toriel lightly put her fuzzy hand on his shoulder. "Listen, I don't know the two of you as well as I'd like to. But to me, he never once came off as anything else but a good and kind monster, and there is not a doubt in my mind that he did what he did with your best in intention. Seeing that it's a lot to take in, of course."

"I STILL WISH HE WOULD HAVE SAID AT LEAST SOMETHING."

"I know. I'm sorry. I understand that you must have so many questions."

"YEAH, YOU COULD SAY THAT," he said, slightly widening his eye sockets briefly while exhaling sharply.

"I suppose I would, too," she said, not able to hold back the melancholic tune to her voice. "I will stay here with Frisk. But be careful, will you not?"

"OF COURSE. UNDYNE IS GONNA BE WITH ME, SO IT WILL BE FINE."

Toriel nodded, more to herself than to him and turned her gaze to Sans. Alphys had done some digging in her closet and found a t-shirt that she thought was his size. It read a phrase she didn't quite understand with some letters she was unfamiliar with, as well as a pair of pajama-pants that during normal circumstances probably would have reached the small skeleton's feet, but now only reached his ankles. Hopefully he the clothes would make him feel less exposed when he woke up. The bandage around his eyes was because Papyrus insisted to wrap his every injury, despite Alphys trying to tell him it was unnecessary because of the concentrated magic he was given.