Chapter Text
I don't even know how long I've been down here for. All I know is that a long time ago I fell through the large gaping hole somewhere on Mt. Ebott, a large mountain located next to the town I used to live in. There was this really scary urban legend around that place: that whoever went through the hole on Mt. Ebott never came back. Rumor has it that monsters dwell in the hole leading to under the surface where they reside.
And let me tell you that those rumors are true.
I didn't look for the portal to the monsters' realm because of horrible parents or unbearable lifestyles like the previous victims. It was all a stupid bet. One of my so-called friends at school bet a few bullies at school that I had the guts to find the portal on the mountain, but why would she bet my life instead of her own? Well, one thing's for certain, if I do make it out of here she and I will officially be ex-friends.
Now I'm trapped in some sort of ruins with a hole in the ceiling providing the only source of light, at least during the daytime. There was a small patch of dirt, and everywhere the light touched grew beautiful golden flowers. I have never in my life seen flowers so beautiful, not even in pictures on the Internet. Their stems were short, so the heads practically lay on the green, grassy hill, its radiant bright golden petals splayed out and overlapping one another as they competed for sunlight.
But there was one flower in particular that stood out from the rest, and for obvious reasons besides its stem raising high up from all the other flowers: he was a monster. When I first found him, he was completely wilted and gray-brown, near death it seemed. There was a few small waterfalls a few rooms away from the room Flowey resides in, and since he couldn't reach it I had to scoop up some water in my hands and water him at least ten times a day. At first, the monster seemed like he was trying to intimidate or even scare me, but it didn't work; he looked far too feeble to pose any real threat against me anyway. Over time, we both became friends, and now we live here in the Ruins together. The monster told me his name is Flowey.
As for myself, my name is Tabitha. At least, that's my real name. My nickname is Frisk. Mom would always comment on my playful and energetic nature as being frisky, so that's where the nickname came from. Now everyone calls me Frisk because that's what I had everyone call me, and only rarely do my parents refer to me as Tabitha - only when I'm in deep trouble. I was also born a female, but I prefer the they/them pronouns, which Dad didn't agree on. He'd still refer to me as a female, but at least Mom was kind enough to respect my decision. No, my dad's not a jerk or anything like that, he just forgets to call me "they" or "them". I'm surprised he remembered to call me Frisk instead of Tabitha to be frank, and I'm happy enough with that.
Unfortunately, I don't think I'll ever see Mom or Dad again, or anyone else on the surface for that matter. There's no way for me to escape the Underground, unless I went through a castle to a barrier that prevented monsters from leaving; Flowey told me that only a human soul with great determination could push through to the surface.
As easy as that sounds, however, I'll never be able to reach it.
Flowey told me of a tragic tale that happened a few years ago, where his father King Asgore accidentally killed him in a fit of rage. He was transformed into a soulless flower, who I know as Flowey. He told me he was once the Prince of the Underground, a young goat-like monster who went by the name Asriel. I still feel bad for poor Flowey to this day. I'm just thankful I somehow became friends with him despite him lacking a soul, for I wouldn't really want him as an enemy. I mean, who'd want enemies when you could have friends anyway, right?
Flowey also told me that his mother, Queen Toriel, became absolutely furious in King Asgore. She had always been ambitious and lividly jealous of her husband's power, so she took the chance while King Asgore was distracted by grief to dethrone him and lock him in the dungeon. Now Queen Toriel ruled the Underground outside of the Ruins, and the power got to her head. She became more like a dictator rather than a queen, and every monster in the Underground lived in fear and anger. Flowey said he was lucky to have been killed here on this small flowerbed rather than somewhere out there so he wouldn't have to live in the same fear.
Queen Toriel used to come and water him, but about a month ago she stopped coming, and that's how Flowey got to the point he's in now: permanently wilted with an eternal rasp in his small voice, his beady black eyes dull and shrunken.
I already knew right away that I despised both King Asgore and Queen Toriel.
Now I can't leave the Ruins or else Queen Toriel will send her Royal Guard after me and kill me right on the spot before I could get very far; she had trained its members to be brutal and merciless so they can slaughter anyone right on the spot should they try to oppose her. And even if I did make it past them somehow, the barrier is located in Queen Toriel's castle, and there's no way I'd be able to make it past her, I can already tell from everything I've heard.
But I feel there's still one way I can make it out alive.
"I'm going outside," I suddenly spoke my thoughts aloud.
Flowey didn't look up at me as he hung his head down, but I heard him sigh heavily before rasping, "Frisk, we've been over this, you can't go outside. Queen Toriel's out there."
"I don't care!" I shouted, sounding much angrier than I actually felt. "I have to get home, Flowey! Mom and Dad and everyone else probably think I'm dead!"
"Well, you will be dead if you leave the Ruins. Besides, wouldn't it be the best to let them keep believing you're dead?"
"I can't stay here forever, Flowey. I need fresh air, I need food! I haven't had a decent meal that isn't the flowers' dried-up nectar in who even knows how long!"
"Do you wanna stay alive or don't you?" Flowey raised his head to glare weakly at me. He looked so very pitiful and desperate, and I could feel the urge to give in to his pleas bubbling up my throat like bile.
But I forced myself to swallow it down. "I'm sorry, Flowey, but there's no other way. I have to go."
"But Frisk... You'll die... I don't want to see that happen to you..." Flowey's voice was no more than a raspy whine at this point.
"I won't die," I tried to persuade the wilted flower. "As you said, I'm a human with determination, a chemical that's stronger than monster souls. I refuse to let myself die. In fact..." A new idea sprouted in my head. "I'll use my determination to dethrone Queen Toriel and end her reign of terror!"
"Frisk, no one's been able to get past the Royal Guard to get to her," Flowey argued weakly. "They'd slaughter you before you had the chance to blink. And even if by some miracle you did get past them, Queen Toriel won't back down; she'll kill you herself!"
"But has a human ever tried?" I retorted. Flowey fell silent, and I knew that I made a valid point right away. I kneeled down to his level and stroked the fragile petals on his head comfortingly. "Don't worry, Flowey, I promise I'll be okay. I'll make friends of all the monsters here and help them get rid of Queen Toriel, maybe even get King Asgore back to the throne. Then you won't have to hang out in these Ruins anymore."
"That... That would be nice," the little monster confessed. He looked up at me, still looking quite sorrowful. "Well... I understand that you do have a life up on the surface and that you need to get home. I just wish you didn't so I could keep you safe. I'll miss you, Frisk, and I wish you the best of luck on your journey."
"Wait, you're not coming?" My eyes widened under my sealed eyelids; I was born with my eyelids over my eyes so I was never able to see what the world looked like, but my other senses were so powerful they acted as my eyes.
"I can't go. I'll die out there, the town beyond the Ruins is far too intense for me. I'd shrivel and die in an instant."
"I see." I stood up slowly and walked to a corner of the room before scraping loose some soil and gathering it in my arms.
"What are you doing?" Flowey asked.
"You have the ability to move your roots at will, right?"
"Um, yes?"
"Perfect."
I smiled as I worked, creating a rather thick path of soil leading through the rooms and up the stairs to the room with the water. I ended the path at the edge of the stone floor next to the pool of water before calling out, "Try sifting your roots through the dirt, Flowey!" I didn't hear a response, but I did see the dirt shift a bit, and I knew that he had heard me. I heard a plop as the roots fell into the water, and I smiled. Now Flowey would always stay hydrated.
I walked back to Flowey, and I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was smiling for the first time, albeit weakly. "Frisk, that was so nice of you. Thank you very much."
"Anything for a friend," I grinned back. I knelt down to the little monster and stroked his petals again; I could've sworn I felt them grow a tad bit soft and silky as he regained a bit of his strength. "You take care, Flowey, and I'll make sure to make this world a place you can live happily in again. I promise."
"Thank you, Frisk," Flowey croaked. "You are by far the nicest human I have ever met. I'll miss you a lot. Good luck on your quest, my friend."
"Thanks, Flowey." I'll need it...
Bidding farewell to Flowey for the last time, I begin my descend through the catacombs of the Ruins. There were quite a few puzzles that needed to be solved before I could proceed, but I was pretty good at solving puzzles in class so I got past them with little difficulty. I then entered a large room that felt almost homey and walked down the flight of stairs to a long hallway.
Once I made it through the hallway, I came up to a giant pair of doors, and I just knew that beyond these doors lay the outside of the Underground. I pushed as hard as I could on one of the doors, having to use up a lot of my energy as it was very heavy. Eventually, it began to open, so I gave one last push to swing it open.
Immediately I was greeted by a sudden gust of hot air, causing me to yelp. I could hear the crackling of flames all around me, and I saw my eyelids become bright orange at the light.
It was with a sudden jolt of realization that I knew the town was engulfed in flames.