Hopes, Dreams and Dust (Asriel & Chara - Underfell)

Chapter 2 - Toriel

The screeching whistle pulled Toriel from her thoughts. She calmly got up and pushed through the pain in her side to go over to the kitchen. She poured hot water from the kettle into the teapot and was about to add the teabag when a thought crossed her mind.

She had it in her hands. It was insignificant really, hardly worth the trip. Yet Toriel felt like the small yellow flower held some importance. Maybe, If she just waited long enough then the answer would come to her.

She had visited the place Asriel told her about. The room where the human named Chara fell. In truth, she did not know why she decided to go there. Was it out of nostalgia for the ruins of the old capital of the monsters? Was it for something else? She just knew that this was important for something. Or, maybe not, and this was a waste of time. She did tend to just travel places aimlessly to think, she does that a lot.

She found the flower sticking out of a crack in the floor of the ruins. Maybe this was the purpose the whole time. To be used for tea. Probably not the best use of an entire day to create a single cup of tea, especially when she had important royal business to attend to, but it was too late to change things now.

While the kettle cooled down to a more reasonable temperature, Toriel went and did a few things. She carefully plucked the petals off the flower and set them aside on the counter. Then she took what was left, walked a short distance through castle to its' indoor garden, ground the remains of the flower up, and put them in a patch of dirt. If the tea turned out to be good, she could have more for later.

As it turned out, the tea tasted like hot water and grass. It had, in fact, turned out to be total and complete waste of time. Unable to shake the feeling of defeat, Toriel just sat back in her chair by the darkened fireplace. With the point of a finger, it welled to life, giving off a warming glow.

She was about to start reading a book she got from the one of the very rare libraries in the underground when she was interrupted. The door down the hall opened and her son, Asriel, stomped in. He wore an expression Toriel knew well. The one where he tries really hard not to look angry.

Toriel's expression darkened ever so slightly when she saw that Asriel was accompanied by the human. They wore one of Asriel's red and black sweaters, but more noticeably, there was a nasty bruise was set on their cheek. Chara kept their head down, but it was easy to tell they looked miserable.

"Hey mom," Said Asriel through clenched teeth as he marched over to Toriel. "I need you to watch Chara for me." He put the end chain in her lap. Chara now stood right next to her. "They're useless, now I have to go clean up after them," Asriel snarled before he turned around and headed for the foor.

"My child, what are you-" but Toriel was interrupted as Asriel had already slammed the door behind him. He didn't even ask if this was okay, or give the courtesy of a proper explanation. Maybe he could get away with this sort of behavior with Asgore but it was something she did not care for.

Chara was silent, shaking a little bit, trying to avoid eye contact. It probably didn't help that Toriel was staring. Toriel tried to move her hand for the chain, but she found she could not.

Her arm felt heavy, like a weight was strapped to it. She noticed her head seemed to be stuck to the cushion behind her. She was struggling to keep her eyes open. Why was this happening? She hadn't felt this way before she... the taste of grass in her mouth was terrible.

She was fairly confident Chara didn't pose a threat to her. However, she couldn't allow herself to be sure. This unknown sickness made her very slow, defending herself may prove difficult. She concentrated on her magic, and the fireplace burned subtly brighter.