Chapter 02. Meet The Family.
Chapter 02. Meet The Family
After a walk through the ruins, solving a number of puzzles, facing down frogs, bugs, a living vegetable, and facing a ghost-who Naruto found despite his much greater fear of the spectral being, Napstablook was actually an ok guy- Naruto and Toriel has arrived at in a small open area where a house stood, there was a tree in the center the branches barren of any leaves. As it was surrounded by red flowers. “Come my child, let me show you to my home.”
Upon entering the small house, Naruto was met with a warm, familial feeling. A feeling that Naruto himself was not used too. “Do you smell that?” Toriel Asked, and Naruto took the moment to sniff the air, and was rewarded with such a sweet smell, a heavenly aroma, one he could only describe as mouthwatering.
“Surprise! It is a butterscotch cinnamon pie. I thought we might celebrate your arrival.” Reaching out Toriel patted Naruto in his head ruffling his golden blond hair and for some reason Naruto didn’t shy away from her touch, in fact he welcomed it with a small true smile. “I want you to have a nice time living here. So I will be holding off on the snail pie for tonight.”
Toriel then turned to her right, motioning for Naruto to follow her, “I have another surprise for you follow me.” Nodding, Naruto followed after her as they walked. Naruto took this time to look at his new home so to speak. The hallway was a short one containing the entry to what Naruto guessed would be the Guest rooms and more than likely Toriel's own room.
Further down at the end of the hall, he could see a door, next to the door is a mirror. “This is it.” Toriel said gently, taking Naruto’s hand and leading him to the door of the guest room. “A room of your own, I hope you like it.” Naruto was awestruck, sure he had a room of his own but it was a run down old apartment room that had been through something. And yet, right now he was getting a room, a real room of his own.
Toriel, seeing Naruto’s joyful expression smiled and ran her fingers through Naruto’s hair. Naruto closed his eyes, he had always seen parents do this to their children to praise them or show them they cared. And, a small part of him had always wondered what it would be like to have someone do that. ‘Is ...is this what it's like to have a mother?’
“Is something burning?” Toriel’s voice snapped Naruto out of his small daze. “Oh dear, make yourself at home my child!” She said before hurrying off towards where the smell was coming from.
Watching her leave, Naruto looked at the door licking his lips. He reached out and grasped the handle twisting it and walked inside. Inside, there was a child’s room, a wardrobe right next to the bed with two lamps in the upper right close to the bed and the other to the left side of the room where much to Naruto’s surprise there was a second bed. Much like the rest of the house floor it's wooden, but the room had what looked like a knitted rug in the center, a toy chest at the foot of the bed with stuffed animals of all kinds. To the left of the wardrobe is a dresser with a dusty looking picture frame and next to the dresser is a box.
“This...this is all for me.” He whispered to himself, he moved towards the bed on the right. A part of him, the part that had grown from fear and hatred from the villagers whispered how it was all fake, how he was just dreaming as he laid up in the hospital waiting for the old man to wake him up. But, another part of him the part that wanted the warmth, joy, and the love he felt from Toriel to be real. “If its’ a dream then.” He lifted up his arm and pinched himself hard.
Hissing from the brief sensation of pain, Naruto looked for any signs of the fact that the dream was ending, he looked and looked but found nothing. “It’s...it’s real, it's actually real.” He smiled softly, running towards the bed and jumped into it bouncing only once before he sunk into it. “Warm...it’s so warm and soft.” He felt his eyes growing heavy and the next thing he knew he was out like a light.
Waking up, Naruto’s nose caught the scent of the same sweet, mouthwatering aroma he had smelled upon entering the home. Turning on his side he was surprised to see, right next to the bed sitting on a small stool was a plate, on the plate was a fresh piece of Pie. “Butterscotch cinnamon pie.” He said remembering Toriel’s words about how she had made one.
Climbing out of bed, he approached the pie more than a little paranoid about it. Slowly, he grabbed the fork taking off a small bit of the pie. “Over the lips and through the gums.” He said to himself and took the first bite. His eyes widened, an explosion of flavor flooded his mouth he couldn't believe what he was eating, it was amazing, it was spectacular, it was heavenly!...it tasted like what he thought a mother’s cooking tasted like.
Not wasting any time, Naruto devoured the pie while making sure to savor each bite he took of the delicious slice of paradise before him. Once the pie was gone, Naruto gathered the dishes and left the room and moved towards where he had seen Toriel go before.
Naruto walked into the living room. Where he found sitting in a reading chair next to a small fireplace. Nearby is a bookcase, a large dining table, and entrance to the kitchen. But, what really surprised him was the fact that Toriel wasn’t alone. Sitting by her feet close to the fireplace was another child. The boy was different in comparison to Naruto who had sun kissed tan skin, the other boy had flawless dark milk chocolate brown skin.
Whereas Naruto had locks of golden blond hair, the other boy had a head full of hair as black as onyx, that spiked going down to the back of his neck with streaks of silver going through it. When the boy turned to look at him, Naruto saw he had bangs covering his left eye so only his right was visible. Finally, Naruto was amazed to see that the boy's eyes were a deep shade of amethyst color, and in the light of the fire shone like their namesake.
Toriel noticed the child looking at Naruto, and she smiled, taking off her reading glasses and placing a bookmark in her book. “Awake I see.” She said placing the book in her lap. “Oh! And you enjoyed the pie, I’m so happy.”
Naruto nodded, but he never took his eyes off of the other boy. “Oh, I guess I should introduce you two.” Toriel said. “Naruto, I want you to meet my son Fidel.” She said. “Fidel, meet Naruto your new brother.” She then gave her son a pointed look. “And what have I said about using magic in the house?”
Fidel blushes, his cheeks turning bright red. “Sorry Kaa-chan.” He said softly, Naruto watched in amazement as the air around the boy shimmered and slowly fading into view atop the boy’s head were a pair of silverish white crimson red tipped fox ears that twitched as they heard Naruto’s sharp intake of breath, as the boy stretched as now shimmering into view was a long fluffy fox tail the same color as the ears atop the boys head.
“W-What the?” Naruto stumbles back in shock, sure he has seen some things in his life. People with white eyes that weren’t blind, people with red eyes with black things in them. But, seeing Fidel with fox ears and a tail was a bit shocking.
“Is something wrong my child?” Toriel asked, when she saw Naruto looking at Fidel she connected the dots. “Oh! Forgive me my child, I should have told you about Fidel. You see he’s a bit different.” She said as Fidel moved over towards her. “You see, Fidel is not a human nor is he entirely a monster.” She smiled running her hand through his hair making the fox child purr in bliss. “I’d you like, I can tell you a story.”
Naruto nodded, his body moving on its own taking a seat on the ground close to the fire. Toriel smiled, motioning for Fidel to take a seat right next to Naruto. “Sit down little ones, and let me tell you a story.”
Toriel smiled leaning back in her chair. “Long, Long ago, two races ruled over the Earth: Humans and Monsters.” Began Toriel, as her eyes gained a far off look. “The two races lived in prosperity, and peace, humans and monsters coexisted together in harmony it was a time of wonder and amazement with their magic monsters were able to help humans with their daily lives, while monsters helped humans a day and learn about how they lived their lives and in return monsters taught humans how to use and wield magic. Never had two races lived together in such harmony and perfection many called it the era of harmony, or even the era of unification.”
“However ...this era didn’t last. For some unknown reason a war broke out between the two races. No one was sure how it happened, no one knows what sparked it, there was just a cry, a thirst for blood and war and the call for the heads of monsters and humans alike.” Toriel took a shuddering breath, causing Fidel-despite having already heard the story- and Naruto to be on edge. “It was awful, magic once used to help the land grow, tore it apart, homes were burned to the ground, entire villages turned to ash or rubble. Water turned crimson red with blood, as weapons were stained with dust as humans and monsters killed, slaughtered each other, both sides seemingly forgot their time of peace, when they once treated each other like family, brothers and sisters ...all they say we're beasts that needed to be killed. And after a long series of battles, in the end it was the humans who were victorious.”
Naruto and Fidel gasped in shock, as Toriel nodded. “Yes, But they knew they couldn’t kill all the monsters as they simply couldn’t do it. And so, the greatest of their magicians confined the monsters to the Underground, using their knowledge of magic to create a barrier, of the likes which the monsters had never seen before nor could any of the monsters' magic break it nor tear it down and the monsters were sealed away.” Toriel shook her head. “But, the barrier was far from perfect, as they made it so that only beings with souls could pass through it into the underground and then right back out. And since, monsters don’t have souls we are unable to leave.”
Naruto was both amazed and shocked, to think that monsters like Toriel once lived among humans, and the war that had broken out was even more shocking. “Wait...but what about Fidel?” He asked looking at the Fox boy. “Where does he fit in?”
“Now, my child is a bit different.” Said Toriel. “You see, during the era of peace there were some monsters and humans that fell in love.” She smiled. “And from that love they had children, children who were not always fully human or even fully monster, there were some that took after both parents becoming what are known as hybrids or Demi-monsters, the perfect unison between human and monster.” She looked at Fidel.
“Fidel’s parents were one of the few who manages to hide their relationship after the war broke out, but when they were found out his family was chased out of their home and hunted.” Fidel’s ears drooped, his eyes closing to hold back the tears. “His father, bless him, fought off the hunters as long as he could, he was one of the few humans who remembered how to use magic and down to his last breath he protected his family letting his family escape.”
Fidel’s tail wrapped around his body, his ears pressing against his head his expression down cast. “It was no more than a few years ago, that his mother made it to the mountain and entered the barrier, but not before one of the people after them dealt a deadly blow just as she passed the barrier.” Toriel reached down and ran her hand through Fidel’s hair, the small fox boy smiled softly nuzzling her hand. “I was out on my walk, when I stumbled across them she was slowly dusting away-”
“Dusting?” Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side.
Toriel smiled, “Yes, you see my child unlike humans monsters bodies are composed of magic to house our own souls, but when a monster is injured or badly wounded we do not bleed blood like humans but instead bleed dust or our remains.” She shook her head. “The poor dear was cradling Fidel in her arms and as a last request was to look after her child, I couldn’t refuse as I agreed and then...she was gone, a smile on her face as she joined her husband in the great beyond.” She picked Fidel up and smiled hugging him. “And since then, we’ve been one happy little family.
Naruto smiled, “And now.” Naruto looked at Toriel. “We have you to add to our Family.” Naruto’s entire world paused, did he hear her correctly, did he hear the word he had only ever heard of hearing.
“Y-You mean it?” Naruto whispered softly, so soft that Toriel could almost barely hear him. “You want me a-as member of y-your f-family?” Tears he had sworn to never let fall again, were falling once more, he looked down at his knees hands grasping at his shorts.
Toriel seeing that Naruto was getting ready to cry simply smiled. Adjusting, so that Fidel was sitting on her right leg as she bent over and picked Naruto up letting the blonde haired boy hugged her. “Of course, you are a part of our family now so that means you will never be alone.” Fidel nodded, reaching over and hugging Naruto as Torile wrapped her arms around both of them. “We are a Family, and we will always be together.” She hummed letting her children rest their heads on her chest.
“Come my child, stay with me I’ll protect you and your dreams.” Sung Toriel as the chair reclined slightly, the crackling fire filling the room with a warmth that made it feel all nice and cozy. “Rest my child, neith the tree. Like its branches reach for me.” Naruto had always wondered what it would be like to have someone sing to him, to hold him in their arms and now he finally knew. This was the feeling, this..this is what it means to have a family, to be safe and warm and comforted by someone who was a mother. “So, let me keep you safe and warm here in my arms. Think of the life we could, the joy it would give, even if we’re worlds apart, stay in my heart.” The two children’s eyes began to slowly drift shut, Toriel’s angelic voice and the warmth of the fire compelling them to sleep.
“Someday when you have a choice to make, I hope you’ll think of me.” Sung Toriel. “Think of me, Think of me.” She rubbed their backs placing kisses on both their foreheads. “Sleep well, my children.”