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Toriel hummed as she spun, her tiny, brave, wonderful child secure in her arms and smiling softly. She turned broad circles on the well-polished wooden floor of the living room, eyes closed and trying not to knock into the coffee table, because this was something she never even knew she could ever have, a home aboveground, true sunlight streaming through the windows instead of lantern-light, and the young child currently pressed against her chest, and she wasn't going to lose this one. Her deep red, near-magenta eyes slid open and she gazed admiringly, lovingly at the brown mop of hair on the head currently buried in her neck, the one who had given her this, and sighed.
Had anyone ever said to her that one day she was going to live aboveground and with another child, she, well, she probably wouldn't have scoffed but she would have found the statement very dubious, but here she was, basking in glowing sunlight and holding little Frisk like she had held her little Asriel so long ago. In this moment, the first in far too many years, there was a well of happiness so deep in her SOUL that she wished the well would never, ever dry out.
A deep, resounding note suddenly rang throughout the house and the old goat and the child both jumped at the sudden noise, and her posture stiffened, ears pricked, before she remembered that the door had a doorbell and relaxed. She tilted her head downwards toward Frisk, who was still stiff in her arms and wide-eyed, and reassured, "It's only the doorbell, Frisk. No need to be alarmed." The small child looked back at her with deep brown eyes still wide, but they slid closed and their face relaxed into their regular expression. Toriel chuckled softly and set the child down. "Well, how's about we go see who it is, then?", she asked, and they nodded, giving a small thumbs-up.
The mother-and-child duo strode around the coffee-table and up to the dark and wide front door. Toriel grasped the knob in her hand and pulled the door open, and her eyes lit up in surprise and pleasure. "Why, hello, Papyrus! Come to visit?" She held the door open and he swaggered in, as energetic and confident as always.
The tall skeleton beamed. "HELLO, TORIEL. WHY, YES, I THOUGHT I THAT I MAY COME AND SEEK SOME ADVICE REGARDING A PERSONAL MATTER THAT HAS COME ABOUT." He looked down at Frisk, who was hugging his leg and beaming up at him. "OH, AND YOU ARE HERE, TOO, FRISK! GREETINGS! NYEH HEH!" He tussled their hair with one bony hand and detached them from his leg, wrapping his long, thin arms and straightening his back as he hugged Frisk tightly. Toriel watched the scene from only a foot away and shook her head, her long ears swaying and a small smile set on her face. She had come to learn shortly of both of the skeleton brothers' great love and affection for her child, a love that had come near equal to her own and had only grown stronger these first few weeks in the Aboveground. Speaking, of, she was rather curious as to what the taller skeleton brother had to ask. Papyrus, after a moment, set Frisk down again and gave a rough approximation of a kiss, pressing his teeth to the top of their head. Frisk wrapped their arms around his neck and then let go.
Toriel snapped her fingers and beckoned Frisk over when she had their attention. The child bounded over to them and she gently took their shoulders in her hands and looked into their eyes, as she always did when she had to tell them something. She stated, softly, "Frisk, me and Papyrus are going to discuss something that perhaps would be just a bit much for you to handle just yet." She grinned nervously when Frisk screwed up their face. "Ah, well, what I meant was, perhaps it may be more mature than a child should have to listen to. " She set her tone a little firmer. "Frisk, you can go where-ever in this house you like, but you can't be in the same room as Papyrus and me. I do not mean to exclude you, but there are some things a child your age doesn't need to hear yet. Am I understood?" After a moment, Frisk's face loosened and they sighed, nodding. Toriel smiled back and turned loose of the child's face. Frisk turned and began up the stairwell, apparently heading up to their room. Toriel watched from her position downstairs and listened as Frisk softly shut the door to their room.
She turned her head to the skeleton fidgeting behind her. "Have a seat, Papyrus. I'll make us some tea." Papyrus turned his gaze to a couch and an overstuffed chair and turned back to Toriel, mildly confused. "The couch is just fine, Papyrus."
"OH. THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL GRACE THE COUCH WITH MY PRESENCE. NYEH-HEH-HEH." He plopped down onto the couch, grinning his usual large and boisterous grin, but Toriel noticed something troubled writhing in his eyes (well, eye sockets). This, though it was only known for a short time, was a familiar look to her. It seemed that the other monsters in their odd, patchwork family had decided that she was the one to turn to when they needed help. Only last week Alphys and Undyne had come to her asking about how to go about sending invitations for their wedding, since they had little understanding of human mail systems. Eventually they had just decided to email the invitations.
Toriel poured the steaming liquid into the two small cups waiting on the plate and lifted it, striding back into the living room where Papyrus sat on the couch. She set the plate on the coffee table and lifted a teacup to her lips, sipping daintily. "So, Papyrus, what is it that you feel you need my advice on?"
He shifted nervously where he was sitting. "WELL, YOU SEE, FAIR TORIEL, IT'S ABOUT MY BROTHER." He paused, looking uncharacteristically uncertain, and Toriel's eyebrow raised.
"Go on," she prompted gently. Papyrus sighed and continued. "LAST NIGHT...."
Darkness had consumed every corner of the home of the skeleton brothers, and Papyrus bolted awake. He sat in confusion until the noise came again, and it seemed to be coming from his brother's room. Still a bit groggy, he tossed the covers from his bed and crept down the hallway, calling softly, "SANS? SANS." He came upon his brother's door and slowly pulled it open, surprised to find the door unlocked. "SANS, ARE YOU-" The question died before it could be born. Papyrus beheld his brother sitting bolt-upright, eye sockets wide open and one glowing blue, leaking fluorescent tears and staring right through him. His brother's perpetual grin was absent, replaced by a grimacing frown. His bony fingers were clutching tightly at the sheets of his bed, and blue smoke drifted up.
" SANS!" Papyrus yelped, alarmed, and darted toward his brother's bed. He jumped on and landed on his knees, and he grabbed his brother firmly by the shoulders, and his bones rattled, because Sans was still giving him that terrified, tearful far-away look. He shook his brother hard. "SANS! SANS, WHAT'S WRONG? SANS?! SANS, PLEASE! ANSWER ME!" Sans went rigid for a second, and then he blinked. His eye-sockets widened, and he seemed to finally return from wherever he had just been, he was both looking at Papyrus and seeing him. Sans' shoulders began to shake in his brother's hands and Sans gripped Papyrus' humeri with both hands, staring as if he hadn't expected to see his brother ever again, and, leaning forward, sobbed into his brother's chest. Papyrus, stunned, could do nothing but hug his brother to his chest.
Papyrus, having finished recounting the turmoils of the night before, stared into his tea cup, expression very deeply troubled and looking foreign on his skull. Toriel took one last sip of tea and set her cup down. She, after a moment, said, "Well, Papyrus, I am just as surprised and worried as you are. Sans is usually so cheerful. " She paused. "What you described to me, bearing in mind that I am not a medical professional, sounds very much like night terrors."
Papyrus raised his head. "NIGHT TERRORS? PERMIT MY ASKING, WHAT ARE NIGHT TERRORS?" There was yet another brief silence from Toriel.
She explained, "Well, let's see... A night terror is.. something like a nightmare, but when someone has a nightmare, they wake up right away, while, with night terrors, a person is more likely to stay asleep. Although, this is the first I've ever heard of an adult night terror if indeed that's what this was." Papyrus tilted his skull.
"I SEE. LADY TORIEL, WHERE DID YOU LEARN THIS?", he asked.
Toriel's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Well, they're very common in children. Frisk has certainly woken me a few times in the midst of one." She frowned. "They usually don't remember what happened in the dream, so I imagine that if you wanted to discuss this with Sans, he couldn't tell you much." Her face took a thoughtful look. "Has this ever happened before?"
"NO. NOT THAT I KNOW OF," Papyrus answered. Toriel nodded sagely.
"I see. Well, I think the only thing for it would be to keep watch tonight, if he'll let you, and see if it happens again. "
Papyrus nodded in response, though he still looked troubled. Toriel's head tilted. "Is something else the matter?"
Papyrus sighed. "I.... I'M JUST VERY WORRIED. THIS IS.. SOMETHING VERY UNEXPECTED. I JUST HOPE IT'S NOT A CONSTANT EVENT."
Toriel gave him a gentle, sympathetic look and clapped one hand around a bony shoulder. "Well, whatever the outcome may be, Sans will always have a wonderful brother that he will be able to turn to in times of trouble." She smiled reassuringly. "He is very lucky to have such a wonderful brother looking after him." Papyrus looked at her, almost startled, before his grin returned to his face, but it was very shaky. And then, fluorescent orange tears began to leak and flow down his cheekbones. He lunged forward, wrapping his bony arms around Toriel's waist and burying his face in her furry neck.
"T-THANK YOU."
Toriel's ears pricked at the soft thumps coming from the stairwell. She turned her head and gazed upon Frisk, who had stopped in their tracks. They looked very worried at the skeleton still soaking her neck with salt water. She grinned nervously.
"It's fine," she mouthed. Frisk nodded and slowly backtracked up the stairs. Toriel sighed and gently patted the skeleton's back.
Being a mother was never easy.