It was cold.
He knew being underground, beneath the surface, was cold. He had lived under the dirt for so long, it was the regular, normal temperature. The surface was the hot, abnormal place, with its burning sun. A place where he didn't belong. Where aniki didn't belong. Where none of us belonged…
But this was colder. An unfamiliar cold, one that made his already aching body shiver in discomfort. He had dug down, drilling and drilling to find home again. A familiar place, a comfort from the painful surface that had taken away all he had once knew. Underground, people may of thought he was weird, but at least he was useful. Kamina had been alive, and he could drill and drill and drill..
There was the cold again, racing down his spine, breaking the flow of his thoughts. This must be Hell, he assumed. Rossiu had told him about the legend of Dante's journey through Hell, and about its bottom layer. That was where all the traitors went, to freeze in eternal torment and never escape. He had let Kamina down, betrayed his trust, as he let him die. He was never meant to drill towards the heavens, as all he could do was drill down further and further towards the place in eternal damnation where he belonged.
Simon lay deep in self-condemning thought as his eyes wandered along the stone ceiling above. He saw a large hole, the tunnel from which he had fallen, right above him. Through this opening the sunlight streamed faintly down the long distance to him. It was almost like a glimmer of hope, fading the farther it got, practically giving up by the time it got to Simon. Yet, still, it reached him. His heart was lifted slightly, but his body still felt limp and lifeless. His eyes bloodshot and heavy, his mind weak and his spirit dying, he started to fall asleep upon the golden flowers that had broken his fall…
A shuffling beside him snapped his mind into consciousness. To his right, a child of small stature clothed in jeans, brown shoes, and a striped magenta and blue shirt, stood up. Its brown, messy hair reached to about the bottom of its head, contrasting against the yellowish tone of its skin. The child held a blank expression, presumably keeping its emotions hidden from Simon. Even with all these details known to him, Simon could not definitively figure the gender of the child. He was… curious about the child as it stared at him, to say the least.
"Are you okay?" the child asked, its placid countenance unchanging. It had an alluring feminine voice, talking with genuine concern even when its face revealed nothing. Simon simply stared blankly, unable to construct a proper sentence within his own mind. Instead, he started to pick himself up off the ground, wincing as his sore, bruised muscles strained to push themselves up. Upon viewing his pain, the child walked over and extended a hand. Simon looked up at the child, seeing its figure blend with the light streaming down from above.
"Looks like you need some help," the child said, sending a smile down to the struggling Simon. He now saw the child up close, allowing him to properly observe its appearance, Simon blushed as he promptly noticed her more feminine features. She wasn't "attractive" like Yoko, but had more of a homely, natural beauty about her. The light wrapped around her as if she belonged in it, its hopefulness piercing and molding with her being. It was like she was an angel, his own personal Virgil, sent to save him from Hell just as Rossiu had spoke of in the legend. Seeing her like this gave him hope. She granted him a sort of… determination, to strive to get out and back to the surface. Resolving to not give up just yet, he grabbed the girl's hand, slowly rising from the yellow flower bed with her help. Back on his feet, he quickly brushed off his blue jacket and brown shorts, wiping the flowing flower petals off his clothing.
"What's your name?" was the question that the child immediately beset upon Simon. Having just gotten up, it caught him off guard.
"S...Simon," he stammered, shocked and embarrassed.
"My name's Frisk. You wanna help me find a way out of here?" she replied, smiling.
"We… we could probably drill our way out of here," Simon whispered, talking to himself. He looked around the flower bed for the drill he had used to get down here. The only drill he found when his eyes searched the room was the one tied around his neck. The Core Drill, the key to piloting Gurren Lagann, had still stuck with him. Though Lagann had rejected him, the Core Drill stayed with him all the way, whatever the circumstance.
"What did you say? I couldn't hear you." Frisk inquired. Simon simply looked down at the ground stuffed his hands in his pockets. Without his drill, he felt useless. He had no other skills. He couldn't fight, not without Lagann. Even with Lagann, he was a coward, running away from fights, causing others to die while he himself lives…
"I think I saw a tunnel over there," Frisk announced, breaking Simon's train of thought. She pointed to her left, over the patch of flowers. "It's tall and wide enough to fit someone much larger than us. It's probably a path that could lead to a way out." Simon turned to look over where she directed and pulled down his goggles. It was dark, and going into caves blindly, even if it seemed like a path, was a bad idea. He powered on the lights in his goggles and started walking towards the tunnel. Frisk followed quickly behind, walking lightly compared to Simon's heavy, sulking footsteps. The children, after a short walk, came upon a tall ornate doorway at the end of the tunnel. With greek pillars adorning the sides, and a angelic crest adorning the top arch of the doorway, the opening gave an air of royalty. Simon stared in awe, realizing he may have found another underground village like his own. Frisk walked around him and started ahead. Once in the doorway, she turned around.
"Are you coming? Or are you just going to stand and stare?" Frisk asked, a playful look on her face. She turned and ran through the doorway, leaving Simon behind. Her energetic, childish personality kept him on his toes. Everytime he got lost in thought, she snapped him out of it. It should of annoyed him, but he found her energy to be intoxicating. He himself started to become a little excited as well, so he walked faster through the doorway to catch up to her. When he found Frisk again, she was talking to a golden flower basking in a ray of light. Extraordinarily, the flower had a face, and was talking back.
"Howdy!" the flower exclaimed, "My name is Flowey. Flowey the Flower!"
"What a cute name! I'm Frisk," said the girl, responding with a similar level of enthusiasm.
"Frisk? I haven't heard that name before." the flower stated, slightly intrigued. "You're new to the Underground, arentcha?"
"The Underground? I've never heard of a place like that before." Frisk said, disoriented.
"Is there a village down here?" Simon added.
"Golly, you two must be so confused." the flower replied, "Someone ought to teach you guys how things work around here." Each thing the flower stated was nice and sweet, almost sickeningly so. "I guess little old me will have to do." the flower sighed. The flower then perked up as if at attention.
"Ready?" he asked, then without time for a response he exclaimed "Here we go!" The whole area darkened, leaving only Flowey, Frisk, and Simon visible. Around Simon and Frisk appeared a white square, painted on the ground like a child's chalk drawings. Flowey was planted outside the square, facing the front of Simon and Frisk.
"Your guys' souls start off weak," he began, "but they can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV." The sudden change of space around them, as well as the flower's odd statements, caused and unnerving shiver to run down Simon's spine. Frisk simply stood tall, listening intently and obediently to the flower's words.
"What does LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course!" the flower exclaimed, its smile seemingly engulfing its facade.
"You want some LOVE, don't you? Don't worry, I'll share some with you!" said the flower, motioning with an exaggerated wink. Frisk giggled at Flowey's statements and jovial attitude, yet Simon felt uneasy. He found his hand already clasped around his Core Drill, as if he were getting ready to fight for his life. He hadn't seen a beastman take the form of a plant, but he was not ready to put his blind trust into a plant with a functioning mouth and eyes.
"Don't worry, friend!" Flowey said. Noticing Simon's agitated countenance it put on an even bigger smile and stared at him. "Down here, LOVE is shared through… little white…"
The flower paused. Little white oval shaped objects rose in an arc behind the flower.
"Friendliness pellets," the flower finished, almost unsure of itself. Simon tensed up.
"Are you ready?" the flower inquired, the pellets readied.
"Absolutely!" Frisk beamed. She spread her arms wide, opening herself to accept the pellets as if they were a gift sent from God himself. After she spoke, the bullets began to move slowly towards Frisk and Simon.
"Move around! Get as many as you can!" Flowey urged. Simon's eyes filled with terror as they advanced. He was now convinced that the flower was a beastman trying to kill them. Just before the bullets hit their mark, Simon dove into Frisk, pushing them out of the way onto the ground. The pellets lodged themselves into the ground where they once stood. Frisk pushed Simon off of herself and opened her mouth, preparing to question Simon about his brash act.
"Hey buddies, you missed them." Flowey interrupted, and annoyed expression twitching across his face. "Let's try again, okay?"
As a new round of bullets began flying with increased urgency, Simon grabbed Frisk and began running towards the opposite edge of the square. When he reached the edge, he rammed into what felt like a brick wall. The pellets again fell into the ground in front of them, missing their intended mark. The flower looked scornfully upon the children, as Simon stood reeling in pain.
"What's going on SImon?" Frisk asked, slightly angered. "The flower's trying to give us some of his LOVE!"
Simon grabbed Frisk's shoulders, a terrified expression strewn across his face as he sputtered "No, he's not! That's a beastman, and he's trying to kill us because we're human!"
The flower stared at Simon, his pupils becoming smaller, and his smile twisting into a devilish grin. "You know what's going on here, don't you?" Flowey snarled. "You just wanted to see me suffer."
A circle of pellets surrounded Simon and Frisk, as the flower grimaced at the two children.
"Die," the flower growled. Flowey cackled as the pellets began to slowly drift closer and closer towards the frightened children. Frisk grabbed a hold of Simon, even though he was not a comforting sight. He had turned white as a bedsheet, his eyes widening and arms hanging loosely at his side. He had tried to save someone else before, and had ended up failing them. Would this time be the same? He couldn't do it. He wasn't capable of anything.
Simon closed his eyes. He felt Frisk's head fall onto his back, her wet tears staining the fabric of his jacket. He could hear her soft whimpers for her parents, and how much she loved them. As he stood their, resigning to his fate, he heard a loud ping. Frisk clutched his jacket, holding tighter to Simon while his spine became straighter and all the muscles in his body tensed up at once.. Shocked by the sudden noise, of which there was no following pain, Simon slowly opened his eyes to find the pellets gone. Flowey, along with his confused expression, was the only thing that Simon could see.
Flowey formed his mouth to speak, only to then be cut off by a fireball streaking out from the darkness to his side. The fireball struck him in the middle of his stem, forcefully uprooting him from the ground in which he had been entrenched. Flowey let loose an eldritch shriek of pain as he flew into the darkness. Simon looked towards the fireball's origins to see a beastman unveil itself from the shadows. Adorned in a robe, decorated with the crest from the doorway, the beastman was at least twice as tall as he was. It had the horns and floppy ears of a farm animal but with a face like a human.
"What a terrible creature," the beastman started, in a genuinely sweet manner, "torturing such poor, innocent youths…"
Simon broke into a cold sweat. His skin became clammy as he tried to keep composure. This beastman had defeated Flowey with ease, and now it had set its sights on them. His muscles continued to tense, while Frisk's grip on Simon's back slowly loosened. Frisk felt comforted by the creature's voice.
"Do not be afraid, my children," she continued, noticing Simon's obvious discomfort. "I am TORIEL, caretaker of the RUINS. I pass through this place everyday to see if anyone has fallen down."
Frisk took her trembling hands off of Simon's jacket, and turned to face Toriel with bloodshot eyes. Simon's muscles eased up while his mind remained at the ready. He was prepared to attack, or just distract, the powerful beastman in order to let Frisk escape if necessary.
"You are the first humans to come here in a long time," Toriel said, looking at both children with a sense of wonder. "Come! I will guide you through the catacombs." Toriel extended a hand to the children, and beckoned them forward. "This way," she added, as she turned to walk towards another ornate doorway.
Simon stood, planted where he was. The beastman was going to lead them to their death, just as the flower from before had deceived them with kindness moments ago. Frisk, however, found genuine motherly kindness in the creature's words, so she began to follow slowly. Frisk turned to face Simon, with the same placid expression from before. Though she attempted to hide her emotions again as if to cope with the terrifying experience, her agitated corneas betrayed her calm countenance. She seemed determined to move forward, not letting the past get in her way.
"That goat-lady will show us the way," Frisk said, with her quivering lips giving certain words a buzz. She forced a smile. "We'll find a way out of this, I'm sure." Frisk quickly grabbed ahold of Simon's arm, turned, and ran through the doorway after Toriel. The tunnel system was brighter than before, and Simon was sure it was her who was shining.