Golden petals and blinding light.
That's what I woke up to /that/ morning. I sit up with a yawn, stretching my arms out. I rub my eyes sleepily, then realise that my body aches. A lot. Well, that's strange. I better check my log book. I pull a small journal bound in leather out of my pocket and open it to a spot marked by a scrap of paper. Upon seeing what's inside I freeze. It's empty. I turn to the previous page. Empty. I flick through the whole book. Empty. No words whatsoever. ...That's a problem.
I turn to the second page of the book (the first page is reserved for basic facts about myself) with a sombre look on my face and pull out a pen. There's nothing I can do about that now. Time to start it again. I take a look at my surroundings and write in the journal.
_Woke up on golden flowers at the bottom of a cavern. Hole up the top. Body aches like I fell in. The only exit is a doorway carved in the stone._
I get up at this point and write down what I do.
_Going through the doorway. On the other side is a dark room, the only light there shining on an empty patch of green grass. Another doorway is on the other side._
Before proceeding, I poke my head back into the previous room. The flowers seem too crushed for me to have been the only one to have fallen on them.
_Suspecting someone else fell as well._
Much later, I find myself standing in front of a cosy house. I briefly recount through my journal what has happened so far since I left the grass room.
_A golden star appeared in front of me. Touched it. It disappeared and a screen took its place. Said I was filled with DETERMINATION. It healed my wounds._
_The halls a very empty, and very dusty._
_There's a bowl of candy spilt on the ground. I take a piece. When doing this, it disappeared to my 'inventory' and a screen popped up. This is some of what it said.
Weapon: Umbrella
Armour: Worn Cloak
I honestly have no idea where the umbrella came from. I investigate further.
Umbrella: Surprisingly painful to be hit with. +2 ATK
Worn Cloak: This cloak has been through a lot. It still conceals you well. +3 DEF_
_Still no one to be seen. Only dust lives here now._
I add the house to my notes and try the door. It's open. I can hear a fire crackling, though there's nobody around. I smell something sweet and tasty coming from the left, so I go there. I enter what appears to be a living room. The fire I heard is here, with a large chair beside it. The source of the smell isn't here. I go through another doorway into a kitchen. Low and behold, a pie sits on the counter emitting a tasty scent. I take a piece of it and it goes into my inventory. Satisfied with this, I leave the kitchen and explore the rest of the house.
It turns out there was a stairway leading downwards in the first room that I didn't notice before. Deciding to leave that for last I move on to the other side of the home.
There are three doors in a hallway here. The first one is a child's bedroom. The bed looks kinda comfy. The next room is also a bedroom. The bed there is massive. There's a book sitting at a desk with a circled passage. The passage read, "Why did the skeleton want a friend? Because she was feeling BONELY!" I smile at the pun and move on. The next room says it's under renovation. I leave it alone.
At the very end of the hall, there's a mirror. I gaze into it. Staring back at me are two bright blue eyes the colour of the sky, the only features visible in the darkness caused by my hood. The cloak hides everything about me besides my eyes. How that works, I don't know. I decide it's better to not question it. After a few more minutes of just looking at my reflection, I finally walk back to the staircase. Looks like the last place to explore.
Dust. A lot of it. I'm standing by a great door staring a the large pile of dust in front of me. It's starting to get unsettling. /Well, I think it's time for some answers./ I walk up to a wall and place my hands on it. I bring my head back, brace myself, and thrust my head forward. A resounding thud echoes around the room. I bite my lip at the pain and wait. My head is throbbing very hard. Suddenly, I remember a video game. A particular video game that's very important right now. A game called Undertale. My eyes widen in realisation. "Oh no," I mutter under my breath, gradually getting louder. "Nononononono!" I shove the door open and run like the wind.
The cold bites at my face as I bolt, snow crunching very softly beneath my feet. I've always had a knack for being quieter than what should be possible. I enter Snowdin and fly past piles of dust, still mumbling 'no' repeatedly. My hood is miraculously still up, defying all laws of physics. I see the shortcut to the other side of town and dive into it. I shoot out the other side so fast that I lose my footing and fall over. I stumble to my feet and start running again. I can't believe I took so long just exploring. I should have tried the Memory Tactic earlier. I race past a skeleton in a blue hoodie who appears to be rooted to the spot. Looking ahead again I see why and pick up my pace.
I'm close enough to hear what's being said now. "...see you are approaching! Are you offering a hug of acceptance? Wowie! My lessons are already working!" Oh no. "I, Papyrus, welcome you with open arms!" Oh no! I'm almost there. I veer to the side as the human in front of me draws back their arm, Tough Glove equipped. Just as they go in for the kill, I rocket in between them.
The punch hits. There's a look of shock on Papyrus' face. I gasp in pain at the hit. Wow, they put a LOT of force into that. I skid against the ground with a grimace. "Well," Papyrus says. I see the icy river ahead of me and realise I'm running out of ground. "That's not exactly what I expected." With a splash, I land in the frosty river and sink, my muscles cramping up. Brrrr, this is freezing! Just when I think I'm going to drown, mittened hands grip me and lift me out of the water. I'm set down on the ground, gasping for air and shivering uncontrollably.
"Are you alright?" I hear Papyrus say. There's a look of deep concern on his face. "I'm fine," I lie. Suddenly, I see the human behind Papyrus, about to strike. All injuries forgotten, I lunge at them and tackle them to the ground. They mumble icily, "Get out of my way, you idiot." I utter a savage growl in response and try to pin them down. They violently throw me off of them and into Papyrus before I'm successful. We go down with a thud, and an "ooof" in Papyrus' case. The human stands over us menacingly, Tough Glove hand at the ready.
"Human!" Papyrus says. "I do not know why you are doing this, but my offer still stands! Please, halt your violence." They hesitate for a moment, unmoving. Then a disturbing grin makes its way onto their face and their right eye glows blood red. "I haven't seen you before," they say to me. "Where have you been hiding all this time?" Of course, my hood is miraculously still up. They can't see what I am. I stay silent, unwilling to give them a response. "No answer?" they say. "It doesn't matter, you'll die anyway." Fast as lightning, they strike me in the face, hard enough to break my skull. The pain is excruciating, but it doesn't last for long.
I wake with a gasp. I'm in the pile of leaves near the spilt candy. Huh, forgot about my save point. Now I wish I'd saved further on... Before moving on, I open my book. My eyes widen in surprise at what I see; everything I wrote after saving here is still there. Well, that's handy. I quickly scribble down the events that just happened, and the information I got from the Memory Tactic to be safe. I then proceed to run as fast as I can through the Ruins, stopping only to save.
I finally reach the end, in the chamber that the Toriel fight was in. The room is practically coated in dust. I stare in disgust and walk to the door. Only as I'm about to reach it do I notice the words written in a motherly monster's blood:
Don't get in my way
I'll forget I saw this anyway. So writing that was a waste of time. Not that they know that. I continue on past it.
I've been running all over Snowdin trying to find the skeleton brothers, but to no avail. I know I've overtaken the human as I left their victim's screams behind me. For a moment I'm filled with guilt for not trying to save them, but that feeling fades away speedily as there's truly nothing I could have done if I wanted to help more in the long run.
I decide to backtrack a bit and check their posts again for clues on their whereabouts. I sigh softly as I hear a falsely cheery voice sound through the cold. "Howdy!"
"Howdy!" I repeat with the same tone, more for my own amusement than anything else. I turn to face the cynical flowey known as Flowey. He wears a deceptive grin on his face. "Oh, you think you're so funny, don't you?" He says. "Well, you shouldn't be here, you know. There's only supposed to be seven. You shouldn't exist." His eyes betray his negativity towards me despite the smile slapped on his face.
"Maybe I'm not here," I say to get a reaction from him. "Maybe I'm hallucinating again." Glad that's a lie. I would hate to have both a memory-loss condition AND frequent hallucinations.
He gives me a strange look. "Who do you think you are?" he demands.
"Hang on, I'll see if I can get you an answer for that," I reply. I proceed to walk up to the nearest tree, place my hands on it to brace myself, and whack my forehead into the cold bark. I grit my teeth. Oooowwww, this hurts even more when it's cold! I wait for my Memory Tactic to give me something. After a moment I turn to face Flowey with a lively look on my face and exclaim, "Nope. All I got is where I got this Umbrella from." I pull out the Umbrella. "I found it on the ground in an alleyway. I was surprised it was there and in such good condition. I ended up bringing it with me and voila! Here it is now!" Flowey gives me an absolute deadpan expression and mutters something under his breath. I catch the words "crazy" and "idiot".
"Well, if that's all you want, I'll be going now," I chuckle. I set off back to Snowdin at a fast pace. "Hold up!" Flowey yells in annoyance. He sprouts out of the ground in front of me, a little too close for comfort. Without thinking I immediately swing the umbrella I still have out at his face.
A resounding thud runs through the forest.
A bruise forms on Flowey's face, which was pushed to the side on impact. I stifle a laugh as I walk past him. "W-... What..?!" I hear him stutter behind me in shock at what I just did. He probably hasn't been whacked in the face with an umbrella by a strange hooded person before... makes sense. Once I get inside Snowdin I can't hold back any longer. I double over with laughter, unable to stop. "Heheh, that was gold! Who knew the little guy could make for such entertainment?"
"I see you're having a good time." I fall backwards in surprise at the deep voice I hear. It's Sans.
"Huh, you're just who I was looking for," he says with his usual grin. "Let's go to Grillby's. I've got some questions for you." I sit there for a moment, taking things in, then nod. He offers me his hand to help me up. I smile when I notice something in his hand. Heheh, I'll play along. I take his hand and snicker at the loud and irrationally long fart noise that follows. "Heh, the whoopie-cushion-in-the-hand trick. It's always funny." I nod in agreement. "Anyways, Grillby's. I know a shortcut."
A moment later Sans and I are seated in Grillby's. It's completely empty, but I don't question it. I wait for Sans to speak.
"So, uh, what exactly are you?" Well, he's not beating around the bush there.
I reply a little nervously, "I'm a human... I think"
"You think?"
"Well, I haven't checked lately."
His confusion increases tenfold at this statement. "Why would you need to check if you're a human or a monster?" I really set myself up for this one, didn't I?
"I have a memory condition where I can't access the majority of my long-term memory. One of the few things I do remember is that." I glance at my feet before continuing. "I do have a way to remember things, but it isn't very pleasant. I call it my Memory Tactic." He waits for me to continue, not pushing me. "If I experience pain, particularly to my head, I'll remember something. Being in more pain gives me a higher chance of remembering something useful; I can't control what I remember. Sometimes it's useful, sometimes it isn't." I usually use my log book as a way to avoid using my Memory Tactic, but stuff happened...
Sans takes a moment to process all of this. "...Okay... I also wanted to know what brought you to sacrifice yourself for my bro." Ah, yes. That. "You knew exactly where he was and what was going to happen to him. How?"
"...I don't really want to get into this right now. I've gotta go now." I get up, taking a step towards the exit. A bony hand stops me. "Hold up, kid. If you're thinking about going to deal with the other kid yourself, don't. I made a promise that I intend to keep for as long as I can." I look into his eye sockets for a moment then cast my gaze aside. I gently take my arm back from Sans and walk out through the door. Onto the next task...