A/N: I had this story idea ever since I saw the idea of "what if the humans never died"? And now here I am writing it. You will all be introduced to all of the humans as we go along, and I will be posting pictures of them on my tumblr. I will be world-building as I go! These first chapters are a bit slow, but I hope you all enjoy nonetheless!
If you like it, please consider leaving me feedback to let me know how I'm doing! Or what you think of the characters, or whatever!
Frisk awoke in pain, aching all over. They were almost certain that they had broken something, but somewhere in their mind they knew they would probably be in much more pain if they really had broken something. Even so, the throbbing of their body made them wish they hadn't woken up yet. What had happened to them, and why were they hurting so much? They curled up some, but that only sent more waves of agony through them. Okay, maybe they should just lay there for a moment.
In the meantime, they opened their eyes. For the most part everything was dark around them. Dim light was illuminating the area around where they had fallen, surrounding them in a halo of sunlight. They looked to be in a cave of some sorts. They were laying on a small hill of soil that had some grass and wildflowers barely surviving in it. Their mouth tasted like a little bit of blood. They wiggled their fingers into the dirt. It was cool to the touch. Beside them was a good sized stick that they had fallen down with. Frisk grabbed it. They felt a little more secure with it. Frisk hesitantly rolled over onto their back, cringing from the pain, so that they could see where the light was coming from. Above them there was a large hole far up where the light had been coming in from.
Frisk boggled at the height. Had they fallen that far? And survived? It was impossible, and yet here they were. What had saved them? They felt a little sick at the thought. They hadn't expected to survive, but now that they still lived they figured they might as well try to find a way out. But first they needed to sit up.
Frisk took a couple of breaths to prepare themselves before they carefully rolled themselves over again to get to their hands and knees. There was a lot of aching and complaining from their body, but no screaming. So far so good. They pulled their feet under them and stood up with a soft whimper as they steadied themselves. A quick check of their body showed no blood other than some scrapes, but their arm was throbbing badly and their elbow appeared to be swelling. It hurt to bend it. It was possibly sprained.
They were lucky their legs still worked. They took one step, and then another. The pain was manageable. They weren't sure why they were forcing themselves like this, but they knew that they needed to move forward. They looked better around themselves now that they weren't completely focused on their body. They needed to find a way out, but were they just trapped in this pit? It would be impossible to climb, especially with their arm the way it was. Frisk wished they had some ice. They turned around slowly in place until their eyes adjusted more to the darkness.
Now that they were looking, there were pillars all around them. They hadn't even noticed. The pillars looked fairly old, and some were broken off. Why was there architecture down here? Did that mean there were people down here? They followed the pillars around the area they were in until the pillars went down a tunnel and disappeared around a corner. There was no where else to go. Frisk began to walk that way.
When they turned the corner they discovered a large door. It had to be three times the height of Frisk, and far too large for a normal door. Who made doors this large, and why would they? Frisk pushed against it and managed to open it far enough to slip past. They rubbed their sore elbow with a wince. On the other side was a black room with a single light peeking through the ceiling again to light up a small patch of grass. It appeared that the sun could enter the mountain in certain places. They walked past the mound and glanced curiously at the grass before they passed through another doorway, this time without any door on it.
The area here was much lighter, illuminated by a light source Frisk couldn't find. There were two sets of stone stairs on the opposite sides of the room leading up to a stone platform and another doorway. There were red leaves gathered between the stairs, almost like a bed and a ring of leaves surrounding an area of sunlight that slipped through the ceiling. Sitting at the top of the stairs on the stone platform was another human.
"Oh, you're here." The human said as she stood up and dusted her long skirt off. She walked with a friendly but stiff gait as she descended the stairs to stand in front of Frisk. "You were a little faster this time. Let's try not to die so soon this time, shall we?"
Frisk stared at this other human. She was a dark-skinned girl with thick wavy black curls and stern dark green eyes. Her hair was pushed back by a faded red ribbon that she wore more like a hairband than as a hair tie. Her nose was a little large and she appeared a bit older than Frisk, but she gave off the air of someone much older than her looks. She was a little taller than Frisk. Frisk wasn't sure how they felt about seeing another human. She was extremely cute.
It was then that what she said processed. Frisk sent her a baffled look and opened their mouth, but then closed it, unable to voice their own shock. She gave them a sympathetic smile.
"Sorry," she apologized, "you don't remember a thing, do you?"
Frisk slowly shook their head, unsure of what she was referring to. She sighed and ran a hand over her face. Her hand then dropped to the belt around her waist where a knife sat sheathed. Frisk tried not to stare at it. Was that a real knife? They held their stick just a little bit tighter. This didn't seem to go unnoticed by the girl.
"It's okay that you don't remember." She shook her head. "Although it would be a lot easier if you had. I guess we'll just have to try again and be more careful this time." She held out her hand to Frisk. "Hello, my name is Rebecca. But please just call me Becca. Never call me Rebecca."
Frisk held out their hand and shook hers. It was a strong grip with some callouses on it that Frisk could feel. "I'm Frisk." They introduced quietly. She smiled, amused. Frisk decided they liked her smile. It reminded them of their mom's.
"I know. We've met before. Or, that's what I'm guessing considering." Frisk tilted their head in confusion. What did she mean? She shook her head again, her curls swishing around her face. "Never mind. I'll explain along the way. After all, it's good that we know what you can do now. I had my suspicions, but that's it. Besides, we should probably fix you up a bit."
Becca turned and walked over to the bed of leaves before she dug around a little bit in the corner to uncover a backpack of sorts. It was an old and ratty thing that didn't look like it would survive any type of travel, but Becca was able to pull out a blanket, a pillow, and jug from it. She tossed the blanket and pillow onto the leaves carelessly and carried the jug over to Frisk. There were black things floating around in it. She held the jug out for Frisk to take.
Frisk opened their mouth to ask what it was, but she quickly cut them off to say, "It's better not to question it. Just drink. You'll feel a lot better, trust me." Frisk decided to trust her and drank deeply from the jar. The drink itself was mildly sweet and very tasty, but the things floating in the drink had a crunch to them that made Frisk shudder. Becca gave them another sympathetic face. Frisk drank about half before they handed it back. The pain in their body was almost completely gone, but there was still some soreness in their elbow.
"Great! Now we can move on." She somehow managed to stuff the jar into the pockets of her outfit. Frisk startled at the sight. How did she do that? She laughed at their reaction. "I guess this can be our first lesson. Okay, so, welcome to the Underground. You're here because you fell down, right? No need to tell me why or how; those are your personal reasons. But you're here now, and I'm afraid you're stuck here."
Frisk frowned, looking around them. They pointed to the doorway that they haven't been through yet. Becca glanced at it. "That's the entrance to the Ruins. I'll take you there in a bit. I just wanted to get all of these introductions out of the way first. Are you prepared to go? We can come back later, but it would be best if once we enter that we move forward."
Frisk stared up the entrance of the Ruins. It's shadow loomed above them, and they were filled with determination. Something seemed to click for them, and unconsciously they were aware that they had managed to SAVE. Frisk wasn't positive as to what that was, but they were certain it would be useful later. Their body thrummed with the determination, and they nodded at Becca. She smiled brightly. Frisk wasn't sure what was going to happen, but they were glad to have someone by their side.
Becca turned then and started up the stairs, lifting the hem of her long skirt along the way. Frisk followed behind, still marveling over their sudden recovery. She paused once to gaze at the pile of leaves, almost as if she didn't expect to return, before she motioned for Frisk to continue to follow her through the doorway. On the other side was a closed door with a lever next to it, and six large buttons the size of stepping stones on the floor.
"In the Underground, there are monsters." Becca started, turning to bring Frisk to a stop. "We'll most likely meet some later." She walked over to the buttons and stepped on four of them in order an order she knew until something clicked, and then she pulled the switch by the door. "The Underground is also filled with puzzles. To proceed to the next room, you have to solve the puzzle that's there. They're to capture any humans that come down here, but I think the monsters just like them." She paused, appearing contemplative, "Or, rather, most do? There are usually hints on how to solve them. You'll get used to them. I know how to solve all of the ones here anyway."
She entered the door. Frisk looked around them at the room trying to imagine what the monsters would look like before they followed after her. This room was long and had vines growing on the walls and waterways. Becca walked until she found a switch and pulled it. She then pointed to a set of levers near the end of the room. "Pull that first one." Frisk listened. Near them a set of spikes in the ground disappeared with a thump.
"Any questions so far?" Becca joined Frisk and motioned to the water before she kneeled down to drink some. It looked extremely clean and Frisk was able to see the stone underneath. They ducked their hands in and decided to clean their face and hands. The water tasted as clean as it looked. Frisk wanted to keep drinking it.
They had many questions for Becca, but they had a feeling she would explain much more as they went along. And they didn't think she would offer up any personal information yet. They shook their head. Becca gave them a knowing look as she stood and led the way to the next room. This one was small and contained a single dummy. Frisk gazed at it curiously.
Becca stopped in front of the other doorway in the room, her face dropping to a more serious look. "Monsters will attack you." She warned. Frisk stiffened. "When they do, you'll enter a . . ." She paused and looked embarrassed. "I don't really know how to explain it, so just face the dummy and I'll help you through."
Frisk gave her a confused frown and turned to the dummy. All of a sudden, something pulled at their chest. They gasped as a little red heart appeared in front of them, altering their vision. The world lost color, and all they could see in front of them was the white dummy. They tried to move their body, but their body barely responded as instead the little heart moved. Their vision was coming from the heart, but they could vaguely feel their physical body and could see the heart from their actual eyes. They were scared, unsure of what was happening.
"Becca?" They called, voice wavering a bit.
"It's alright." Becca soothed. They felt a hand on their shoulder, but it was barely registered. "Do you see that little heart? That's your Soul. It's everything that you are." She leaned into Frisk's ear. "It's your magic."
"M-magic?" Frisk whispered.
"I'll explain more about that later. You can't really DO any magic, but this is important to know. When you're like this, you're in a battle with a monster. When you battle a monster, you can Fight, Act, use an Item, or you can refuse to attack and choose to use Mercy instead." Frisk opened their mouth, and Becca said quickly, "Yes I know it's like a video game. I told you it was hard to explain. I don't understand it either. Work with me." Frisk closed their mouth, vaguely amused. She huffed. "Anyway, Fighting a monster is the quickest way out of a battle, however usually if you Act correctly, you can convince the monster not to fight anymore and you can both leave the battle. Go ahead and try."
Frisk didn't like the idea of Fighting. They didn't want to hurt anyone if they could absolutely help it. They decided to Act instead, but struggled to think of something to do. Was this a monster dummy, or just a dummy? Frisk decided to try to talk to it.
"How are you?" They asked. The dummy didn't respond. It didn't seem to be a very good conversationalist. However, the battle abruptly ended and Frisk's Soul returned to their body. They gasped as color returned to their vision and their sight changed. Once their bearings were back, Becca clapped a little.
"Good job, although that's a, uh, interesting method. At least it worked. Under normal circumstances, we would go into battle together though, because we're a team." She took Frisk's hand briefly, smiling that lovely smile again before she released their hand. "Frisk, there is something you must know before we continue." She motioned Frisk over towards the door and leaned into their ear. "Do not let any of the monsters know we're humans."
Frisk looked at her in surprise. She had said the puzzles were to capture humans, but why? She shook her head. "I'll explain later. It's not safe here. Let's move on." Frisk was suddenly unnerved. Becca said no more, and they moved on. Frisk hoped it wasn't as dire as her tone of voice made it sound. Frisk wasn't sure they wanted to meet monsters or to try these puzzles any longer.