Living things don't have hearts.

Oh sure, plenty of them have those goopy things in their chest that beats fast or slow depending on how scared you can get them. But none of them have hearts. You know what I'm talking about, right? Hearts.

Maybe you can make a heart. Or grow one. Maybe I already grew one, but it's hard to tell. Wouldn't growing a heart hurt? Oh well. Who needs a heart anyway . . .

Frisk was falling as her chest exploded with fire. The falling wasn't a new feeling. She had tripped plenty of times before, whether on her own or because of someone else. She had fallen out of bed a couple of times as a kid. She had even fallen off of the school building roof once because of a dare. But this combination, this sensation of tumbling endlessly with no hope in sight while her heart was tearing itself apart, was the worst of all.

"Hello?"

Grim darkness pressed in on her. She couldn't tell if she had heard the pitiful voice or imagined it in her desperate plea for help.

"Are you ok?"

The voice was back, stronger this time. Frisk was sure she hadn't imagined it. The pain was beginning to fade, allowing her a small glimmer of hope. If there was a voice, then there was a person.

"Where am I?" Frisk called as the pain eased to a dull throb. "Who are you?"

"I'm Flowey, of course," the voice chirped. "As for where we are . . . it might help if you open your eyes."

Frisk did as the voice suggested. She was lying on her back in a bed of golden flowers. A single beam of light gleamed from an hole in the stone ceiling high above. It brightened the particles of dust which drifted through the air. The flowers were the only living things in the cavern.

"Where are you?" Frisk asked as she sat up and turned her head.

"Over here," the voice responded. Frisk glanced down. A large flower was bobbing and swaying apart from the others. Golden petals ringed its white face. It smiled brightly as their eyes met.

"Howdy!"

"Hi." Frisk looked the flower up and down. It certainly seemed real. "What is this place?"

"We're in the Underground, at the edge of the Ruins. I don't know how you got here, but I'm sure glad I found you before anyone else."

Frisk glanced around the small cavern. The only way in or out was a dark doorway embedded in the wall. Flowey kept talking as Frisk stood and brushed off the lingering flower petals. They only clung to her shirt for a moment before fluttering to the ground. She couldn't see any mark or other sign of what had caused the intense pain before.

"Imagine if that beast of the ruins found you," Flowey continued. "Then you'd really be dead."

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand."

"Then maybe I can explain it to you." Flowey stretched to his fullest, which wasn't much. "Everyone here lives the same way: kill or be killed. That's how things were run even before I came to the Ruins forever. But at least the Ruins are a less scary place than out there. I guess I should be worried that you could kill me, but I've got a secret weapon which will protect me. You . . . won't kill me . . . right?"

"Of course not," Frisk replied. "And I bet that not everybody wants to kill each other."

"They do. It's all anybody does. That's why I came here, to the one place I could be safe."

"I have to get home. Do you know the way out of here?"

"It depends. Where is your home?"

Frisk stared at her feet. Her only memories were faint voices and images. A castle. She knew that much for sure. But where?

"You probably live above ground," Flowey continued without pause. "That's where the other humans came from. But there's no way back there, so you might as well forget it."

"There's always a way," Frisk said. "I have to get back. It's my eighteenth birthday soon."

"Is that a big deal to humans?"

"Yeah." Frisk glanced at Flowey. "Wait. You said 'that's where the humans come from.' Does that mean there aren't any humans here at all?"

"Not for a long time," Flowey agreed. "And when they do show up, the others harvest their Soul."

"So what do you have here?"

"Monsters."

"Cut it out, Flowey. They can't be that bad."

"No, they're literally monsters. You'll see soon enough, if you survive."

"I have to go home. Which way is the exit?"

Flowey drooped. "You don't mean that."

Frisk started walking towards the single dark doorway. If Flowey wouldn't help her get home, she would do it on her own. She paused for a moment beneath the doorframe. Impenetrable darkness loomed before her.

"Wait!" Flowey called. "If you're leaving, I'm coming with you for protection. But only until you see the monsters. Then you'll understand how dangerous it is and we can hide together."

"Can you even move?" Frisk asked, turning around. Flowey looked pitifully small in the cavern by himself. He sniffed.

"Of course I can move." He vanished into the dirt and reappeared at Frisk's side. "But would you mind if I ride on your shoulder? For convenience sake?"

"Sure." Frisk reached down and plucked Flowey from the earth before carefully placing him on her shoulder. He wrapped his roots around her shirt to hold himself in place.

"What's your name, anyway?" Flowey asked as Frisk turned back towards the darkened doorway.

"It's Frisk."

"You get that you're probably about to die, right, Frisk?"

She stepped through the door without replying.