Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You woke up with a sudden jolt, your head throbbing to Hell and back. You looked around, seeing your friends Amelia, Jack, Rose, Iris, Jayden, and Rowen, laying nearby. Looking upwards, you saw a hole very high up, sunlight poking through. You figured that you and your friends had fallen from up there. Although, how you survived the fall was still somewhat of a mystery to you. It seems that you weren't hurt too badly, however.

"Ugh..." A nearby voice groaned "What the hell happened...?"

You looked over, identifying the source of the voice as Jack. It seemed that your friends had started to regain consciousness.

"Are you guys alright?" Jayden asked, concern evident in his voice.

"I think so..." Rowen replied, putting their hat back on.

"It looks like we're stuck down here." Rose commented "I mean, it's not like we can just climb up there."

"Well, there's a pathway, over here..." Iris pointed out.

"Looks like we have no choice but to proceed." Amelia said.

The seven of you continued forward, entering a room that had a golden flower that, for some reason, had a face.

"Howdy!" The flower greeted "I'm Flowey. Flowey the Flower!"

"...that's a talking flower..." Iris concernedly let out "That is a talking. Flower."

"Hmm... You're all new to the Underground, aren't ya?" Flowey asked "Golly, you guys must be so confused."

"V-Very much so, yes." You responded.

"Well, then, someone ought to teach you guys how things work down here!" Flowey decided "I guess little ol' me will have to do. Ready? Here we go!"

Seven glowing hearts emerged from you and your friends. Yours was red, Amelia's was cyan, Jack's was orange, Rose's was blue, Iris's was purple, Jayden's was green, and Rowen's was yellow.

"See those hearts? Those are your Souls, the very culminations of your beings!" Flowey explained "Your Souls start of weak, but can grow strong is you gain a lot of LV."

"What's LV?" Amelia questioned.

"Why, LOVE, of course! You guys want some LOVE, don't you?" Flowey replied "Don't worry; I'll share some with you!"

Around five, maybe six, pellets appeared above Flowey's head.

"Down here, LOVE is shared through little, white 'Friendliness Pellets'." He explained "Are you all ready? Move around and get as many as you can!"

You found yourself feeling a little suspicious of him, but pushed it aside. He said it would help you all grow stronger, after all.

You reached out and touched one of the pellets, only for pain to rush through you entire body. You looked up and saw that the others had stopped dead in their tracks upon noticing what had happened to you.

"You idiots. In this world, it's kill or be killed!" Flowey exclaimed "Why would anyone pass up an opportunity like this?!"

You and your friends were immediately surrounded by rings of the so-called 'Friendliness Pellets'.

"DIE!!" Flowey shouted as the pellets started getting closer.

However, before any of them could hit you, they disappeared, along with all the pain you felt. Flowey seemed just as confused as the rest of you, before he was suddenly blown away by a fireball.

"What a terrible creature, torturing such poor, innocent youths." A soft, motherly-sounding voice said.

The voice came from what looked to be a bipedal goat woman.

"Ah, do not be afraid, my children. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins." The woman introduced "I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first humans to come here in a long time."

Your souls all faded away.

"Come! I will guide you through the catacombs." Toriel said "This way."

You and your friends looked at each other for a moment, as Toriel walked through a purple archway. You all silently agreed to follow her.

Chapter Text

Following Toriel, you all walked into a purple room. There was a white twin-staircase, with red leaves scattered at the bottom. There were also a few vines on the walls.
The shadow of the Ruins loomed above, filling you with determination.

"This place looks... ominous." Amelia remarked.

"The atmosphere feels so oppressive..." Iris agreed.

The next room had six buttons and a lever, likely a puzzle. At the far end of the room was a large door. There was also a sign next to the door.

"Welcome to you new home. innocent ones. Allow me to educate you all on the operation of the Ruins." Toriel began before solving the puzzle, causing the door to open "The Ruins are full of puzzles, ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please, adjust yourself to the sight of them."

As Toriel went forward through the door, you took a moment to look at the sign.

"'Only the fearless my proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle path.'" Iris read aloud, causing you to jump a little "Oh. Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you."

"Oh, uh, don't worry, it's fine; I just didn't notice you approaching." You assured as the group went into the next room.

"To make progress here, you will need to trigger several switches." Toriel informed "Do not worry, I have labelled the ones you will need to flip."

The room was rather large, having two bridges above flowing water, as well as three switches, two of them having some yellow writing under them. Near the entrance were two signs. The first one read 'Press [Z] to read signs!', whatever the hell that meant, while the second one read 'Stay on the path.', being placed comically far from said path.

You went over to the first switch, the writing under it saying 'Please press this switch. -TORIEL'. Flipping the switch seemed to do nothing, but Toriel let you proceed to the next one after doing so. The other switch's writing simply said "Please press this switch, too. -TORIEL'. Flipping it caused some spikes to retreat into the ground, allowing you all to proceed into the next room.

"Splendid! I am proud of you, little ones." Toriel praised "Let us move to the next room."

The next room simply contained a training dummy.

"As humans living in the Underground, monsters may attack you. You will all need to be prepared for this situation." Toriel explained "However, worry not! The process is simple. When you encounter a monster, you will likely enter a fight. While you are in a fight, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time. I will come to resolve the conflict. Practice talking to the dummy."

You went first, approaching the dummy with a bit of uncertainty. Obviously, it'd be fine to talk with the dummy, but who's to say it would work with an actual monster? As you encountered the dummy, your Soul appeared, seemingly an indicator that you had, in fact, entered a fight.

"So... uh... C-Come here... often...?" You asked, facepalming at your own choice of words "...why the heck did I say that...?"

The dummy didn't seem like much for conversation, but Toriel seemed happy with you. The others took turns talking to the dummy until they were done.

"Ah, very good! You are all very good." Toriel praised before advancing into the next room "There is another puzzle in this room. I wonder if any of you can solve it."

"Seems like she's letting us solve it ourselves." Iris noted.

"Thank God!" Jack exclaimed, a little too loudly "Felt like she was breathin' down our necks the whole time."

"Isn't that a little... rude?" Jayden pointed out.

"Maybe, but he's got a point." Rowen agreed "She's being a bit too overbearing."

As you all proceeded through the room, you suddenly heard something from behind you, your Soul emerging. You turned swiftly, not even thinking as you struck the approaching monster. You saw that it was a small white frog, but, only briefly, as it turned to dust, soon after.

You felt strange. You weren't sure what it was, but it was strange. Had you just killed someone? You looked up and saw that no one had noticed. Near the pile of dust were twenty pieces of what looked to be gold.

"'The western room is the eastern room's blueprint.'..." Iris said, reading from a nearby sign "Cryptic."

The 'eastern room' had a field of spikes that looked to be unpassable.

"This is the puzzle, but..." Toriel trailed off, a concerned look on her face "Here take my hand for a moment. The rest of you, link hands in a line."

You all did as requested, and Toriel led you across the spikes, the ones she stepped on retreating into the ground.

"Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now." Toriel decided as she went to the next room.

"Ugh... I thought we were going to be able to solve this ourselves!" Jack complained.

"I never thought I'd ever say this, but I agree with you, Jack." Rose replied.

"'The western room is the eastern room's blueprint.'..." Iris repeated to herself "Oh, I understand! The pattern of the spikes that we had to walk through was the same pattern as the path on the other side of the room!"

In the next room, Toriel stood in front of a long hallway.

"You have done well thus far, my children." She praised "However... I have a difficult request to ask of you. I would like you to walk to the end of the room without me. Forgive me for this."

Toriel went to the end of the room, leaving your group in confusion. Why would this be difficult, exactly? Just because you were children didn't mean you were helpless.

You all looked at each other for a moment before walking through the corridor. There were no obstacles like traps or puzzles, or anything; it was literally just a hallway.

At the end of the room, Toriel emerged from behind a pillar.

"Greetings, my children. Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar, the whole time. Thank you all for trusting me." She reassured "However, there was an important reason for this exercise. It was to test your courage. I must attend to some business, so you all must stay here for a while. Please, remain here. It is dangerous to explore without someone to guide you."

"Okay, but what if you don't come back?" Jayden asked "We'd have no way of knowing."

"I have an idea. I will give you a cellphone. If any of you have a need for anything, just call." Toriel decided "If I stop responding, then you may leave. Be good, alright?"

And, so, Toriel left. You all waited for a few minutes, making a bit of small talk.

"Okay, is it just me or is this taking too long?" Jack asked.

"No, it's just you." Rowen replied, twirling their toy gun around to stave off their boredom "Have a bit of patience."

A few more minutes passed, the group no longer having anything to talk about. Iris was re-reading through her notes, Rowen continued twirling their gun, and Rose was practicing her dancing. The rest of the group, however, had nothing to do.

"Okay, that's it!" Jack suddenly shouted "I've had enough waiting! I'm going ahead!"

Before anyone could respond, he left the room, advancing into the unknown depths of the Ruins.

"Jack, wait!" Rose called "Ugh... Alright, I'm going after that idiot before he gets himself killed."

And so, Rose, too, left the room. All of a sudden, it felt a lot emptier.