So, now to post the beginnings of the actual story. I don't usually do ANs, so this will hopefully be the only one for a few chapters. The prologue was to see if the story idea would be well accepted, and, hey! It was! So, here is the official chapter one. Everyone, meet Theresa…
This story is T for a reason; there will be eventual talk of self harm and suicide. Not in depth, but it will be mentioned.
The girl lay collapsed for who knows how long before she blearily blinked open her eyes to take in her surroundings. Her head was pounding, as if she had downed some of her father's collection of alcohol, and her memories were fuzzy. All that was clear was that she wasn't waking up in her bed; technically, it was a bed of some sort, but only a bed of flowers, and not the kind she had seen before. They were oddly bright, matching the thread that wove around her skirt, with large petals and fairly short stems, though they were clearly sturdy. She had been collapsed completely on them, and they still remained undamaged.
As her pitch eyes focused on her surroundings, she noticed a far away, bright light. Was she… Dead? No, it didn't seem like it. She was still in one of her usual outfits, with their baggy and loose fabric, though her shoes seemed to have disappeared for some reason; wherever she was smelled of dirt and musk, and seemed to lack a large light source except for the faraway hole. Where was she?
Shakily, the girl sat forward, wincing as her head throbbed. As the walls around her swam in and out of focus, she made out that she was in a cave. Well, that explains the smell, she thought, crinkling her nose. The walls around her were high and steep, definitely not climbable, and the light source that she could only assume was the outside was so far away… How was she still alive? She had fallen, and that far?
She cleared her throat, wincing as she felt her voice was hoarse, and tentatively called out. "Mom..?" she whispered, not wanting to break the silence of the cave. "Ana…? Caro…?" Her voice was back to normal, and she called out a little louder. "Is anyone there?"
The girl tentatively stood to her feet, stepping gently out of the bed of bright flowers, frowning as the pebbles dug into the soles of her feet. She'd have to fix that later. Right now, she was just going to try and find a less steep path so she could climb back up. Her mother was probably furious, or out of her mind with worry. Or both. The girl wasn't sure how long she'd been down there, but she was pretty sure people would already be out looking for her. Someone like her couldn't just 'disappear'; it didn't work that way, trust her, she'd tried.
"Maybe… I'm dreaming…?" she murmured, stepping closer to the side of the room she was in and placing a hand on the wall. The cave was formed oddly, with rock unlike any she'd seen before in her books, or on hikes, and was jagged under her touch; it also lacked any noticeable stalagmites or stalactites. When she got out of here, if 'here' turned out to really be a place, she'd have to bring Ana down, the girl was a huge science nerd, and had tons of journals filled with flimsy sketches, notes, and doodles pertaining to anything she found interesting.
Her eyes were adjusting to the slight darkness of the cave, and she noticed a hallway of some sort branching off. Okay, what cave has hallways..? Ana made it pretty clear that science was hardly ever this precise.
Frowning, she brushed her dark hair out of her face, tying it into a knot at the base of her head as she continued to inspect the room. No way this wasn't manmade. Or, maybe it was just made by her head. She was known to get fairly creative and colorful when drunk, much to the displeasure of her mother but amusement of her close friends.
Hair now mostly secured and head clearer than before, she leaned back against the cavern wall, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. The sleeves of her golden yellow shirt stopped at her elbows, and even then the material was flimsy, and she was quickly becoming chilled in the sunless area. She would have stepped back into the spotlight that allowed the flowers to bloom, but she already felt guilty about nearly crushing them before. Her eyes scanned the room for what felt like the billionth time, and she took in a shaky breath.
Okay, just stay calm, she told herself. She wanted to hold onto the hope that she was dreaming, but no dream was this detailed, she knew deep down. Maybe… I don't know. There has to be a way out… Right?
The depth of her situation was beginning to sink in. She was used to knowing exactly what she was getting into in life, this… This was not good. It wasn't normal. And she still had zero memories about where exactly she was. Her face fell as she continued to realize just how bad her situation was. The last thing she remembered was deciding to go on a walk, like usual. Oh no. Oh, God. What if she had been kidnapped. What if she had fallen, and there was no way out. What if she actually was dead. She almost didn't realize her breathing was increasing so much, but when she did, she closed her eyes and began to count as high as she could, like the local doctor had taught her. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in…
A few minutes later, she was calm enough to move away from the wall and dare to venture down into the hallway. She cautiously moved forward, one hand constantly on the wall, until she was a few large steps away from the flower room; her eyes widened as she saw an intricately carved archway. There was no way this was a regular cave. No way. Her mouth opened slightly in protest, but she quickly shut it. If nature hadn't made this cave… Then who had…?
She swallowed the lump that had appeared in her throat, keeping her anxiety levels as low as she could, and shakily moved forward. Oh, God. What had she gotten herself into..? She lifted a hand, placing it on the edge of the doorway, her dark tan skin standing out against the grey stone. She tentatively placed one foot in the doorway, using all of her mental strength to keep herself going forward instead of running back. As she peered into the next room, to her surprise, there was another spot of sunlight, and a single flower, identical to those in the previous room. A flower she could handle.
Slightly more confident after seeing there were no real threats in the room, the girl moved forward, tilting her head and inspecting the room. It was very similar to the room she had woken up in, but the walls were further back, and the flower seemed to be the main focus of the room. Seeing as there was nothing else very important to inspect, she moved closer to the flower, crouching down in front of it. She gave herself some credit for not screaming when it looked up, a nasty smile on its face. She did, however, fall backwards, quickly scrambling away ungracefully, pausing once she was a safe distance away, hair now in disarray and hands scraped from the rough floor.
"W…W…" her eyes were still wider than they've ever been, and she could've sworn her heart had stopped beating.
The flower began laughing, but emptily. "And who would you be?" It didn't bother to hide the resentment in its voice. "Another human, here to destroy this world? Well, golly, friend, you're a little too late for that." It laughed again, bitterly, a grin on its face.
She sat there, gaping at it, arms shaking and now weak. "What are you..?" she whispered, appalled.
The flower raised an eyebrow, seemingly bored and doubting. "You really are new here, aren't ya?" It sounded tired, defeated, almost. Almost as an afterthought, it murmured, "I could've sworn I've seen you before, but…" It spoke at a normal level again, "Are you for real? You don't know where you are?"
Stupefied, the girl slowly shook her head. The flower hmph'ed, before sighing. It looked down, defeated, before laughing again, grimly. "You know, usually I'd have at least tried to kill you by now. What's the point, though..?"
The girl hadn't moved from where she had stopped crawling, instead she was strangely hanging onto every word this… 'flower', said.
She swallowed, trying to muster up her voice. "I… Am I dreaming…?" she quietly asked, but the flower lifted its head slightly, indicating it heard her.
It didn't mock her, or laugh, or anything. It just looked at her, blank eyes, "If only. If you were dreaming, then there'd be some form of hope. But…" It shook its head, smiling slightly, "You're awake."
Finding her voice, though her mind was slightly numbed at this point, the girl leaned forward, moving her hands from where they had pushed against the ground. "…Are you sure…? I mean… I, I am talking to a… Flower…" she spoke, eyes still raking over the golden flower that had now completely captured her attention.
The flower's bitter laugh was back. "You've really never been here, have you?"
"What… What do you mean by that?" She couldn't keep herself from sounding appalled, yet interested. Where was she? And in what world was a talking flower… Normal?
The flower now held a touch of real amusement in its eyes. "If you'd ever been here before, you'd know that a talking flower isn't exactly the strangest thing you'd see here. In fact, if you had come before all of this," the flower tilted its head back, gesturing to the exit behind it, "You would be the anomaly here. Also, just a fair warning, I'm definitely not the most dangerous thing you'll see here now."
She couldn't control her mouth; her filter on her words was completely gone at this point. "You're dangerous?" she blurted out, and internally cringed at her own words.
The amusement in the flower's laugh was still grim, but generally entertained now. "You have no idea."
The flower paused for a moment, before its grin was back, but its eyes were sad. "It'd almost be a mercy to kill you now, before they get the chance…" It paused, voice hitching. Was that… A sob? It looked the girl in the eyes. "My name is Flowey; Flowey the flower. Or Asriel Dreemur. It doesn't matter what you call me at this point. And," it took a shuddering breath, "I'll try to make this quick. It's for your own sake, I… I promise."
The numbness in the girl's head was back, was it wasn't a foggy numbness. She knew exactly what the flower was implying. She rose to her feet, brushing the gravel out of her palms. "Hello, Flowey. My name is Theresa, Theresa Santiago-Montez. And," she brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face, "I can't let you do that."