You woke up on yellow flowers.

They almost glowed in the blackness of the cavern. You pushed yourself up, but a sharp pang in your chest brought you back down on your face. A small whimper escaped you as you buried your head in the velvety petals. After most of the pain has subsided to an ache, you flipped yourself around to face up.

Taking deep breaths, each one straining your bruised chest, you tried to think straight. You had fallen down, and somehow not died. This didn't make any sense. Far above you, the stars twinkled faintly. Moonlight filtered down through the hole, to be reflected on the golden petals surrounding you.

What was this?

Your second attempt to get up was painful, but successful. Rubbing your eyes, you adjusted to the gloom of the cave. There was an opening, just down a little farther.

You hobbled your way towards the dull light of the opening, wondering why there was light down here at all. Stepping into another cavern type place, you noticed a small piece of dirt lit by a faint ray of moonlight. There was a flower there, like the ones you had fallen onto, but a little bigger.

You approached the flower. It seemed to be…

"Huh? W-who are you?" The flower said.

You stepped back, mouth gaping. Did the flower just…

"Oh no… You're human aren't you?" The flower's face, it had a face, took on an expression of concern.

"W-what?" you breathed, nearly inaudible.

"Look, you've got to get out of here. You don't understand what they'll do to you…"

The flower looked up at you alarmed, but then paused, confusion crossing its face.

"Hey, are you okay?"

You took another deep breath, and tried to find words.

"W-what's going on?" you asked, trying to keep your voice smooth. "Where am I?" Why am I talking to a flower?

"You're in the Underground. Don't you know about this place?" The flower inquired, its eyebrows knitted.

You shook your head.

"Geez, you've got a lot to catch up on."

"So, why are you here?" you asked the flower, fiddling with your bootlace.

Flowey, the flower also had a name, had filled you in on the barrier, the monsters and their not so friendly opinion of humans. It was all... too much to take in. But you didn't feel like you had a choice. You could contemplate reality later.

"I had nowhere else to go." he said, looking away. "I'm not exactly a celebrity back there, and there's no way I could get through the barrier. I've been for a long time, warning each human that has fallen down."

You stared down at the ground, only able to imagine what he had gone through to try to save the six that had come before you.

"I could take you with me." you offered.

It was possible that you were trusting him too much, for being the only thing you had actually met down here, but you really didn't feel like he was lying to you. You felt like you needed to protect him.

He looked at you for a second, mouth parted. This had never occurred to him.

"Really?" The flower shook his head, looking down again. "No, that's… that's too dangerous. You can't carry me around, I'd slow you down. You have to get out of this place as fast as you can."

You thought for a second, ignoring his words, then started unlacing your left boot.

"Would you mind if I…?" you gestured to your boot.

Flowey stared at you, and for a second you thought you had offended him.

"Well… I guess that could work." He looked at the boot. "But I'm still going to weigh you down, Y/N."

"You're a flower. And besides, I'll need help navigating, right?."

And I don't want to lose the only trust I have down here.

You smiled at the flower, taking a handful of loose soil and packing it into the boot. Flowey watched as you carefully dug around his roots, and lifted him.

"There you go." You pushed the dirt in firmly.

Standing up, you picked up the boot and tied the laces securely around your neck. You laughed. This actually worked well. You made sure Flowey was comfortable, and headed down into the tunnel.

You two eventually found yourselves in a lit corridor. Vines crawled over the dark pink walls, emitting an odd air that unsettled you.

"These are the Ruins, Y/N… They're mostly deserted, we just need to be careful."

You nodded and nervously continued down the path. Flowey had told you about the monsters, but it was always different coming face to face with something.

Which is what you did as you rounded the next corner.

The frog-like thing hopped back a step when you nearly collided with it, but then, realizing what you were, jumped at you. You barely dodged, spinning around to face the monster. You put your hands up in a passive signal.

I'm not going to hurt you, damn it.

You could've sworn the frog stopped and looked at you funny. Its next leap was easier to miss, now that you knew it was coming. After a couple rounds of this, with Flowey yelling at you to dodge, you were beginning to tire.

This thing is relentless.

Just as it was about to attack again, a fiery orb knocked it aside. You jumped back, watching the frog quickly hop out of sight. Spinning towards the source of the fire, you found a woman… with goat ears?

Looking closer, it wasn't just her ears. She was some sort of humanoid goat, wearing a dark purple robe.

"Oh, how dreadful! Poor children…" the goat woman rushed towards you, clasping two furry paws together.

"Are you okay? That terrible creature did not hurt you did he?"

You backed away from her, taken back by her gleaming, yellow eyes.

The goat woman stared at the two of you in a tense silence, eyes flickering down to Flowey, and then to your missing boot.

"Oh! We must get you new shoes, my darling. You cannot very well run in those can you?"

You didn't respond. It was true being half shoeless was a pain, but you were getting a strange feeling from this woman.

She took your hand with one soft, furry paw and placed the other on your cheek.

"Let us get you both somewhere safe. It is dangerous out here for two helpless children such as yourselves." The goat woman smiled again, dark eyes gleaming.