Her body ached. She rolled over, Hoping her new position would help ease the pains that sleeping on benches usually caused- when she was suddenly met with cold, hard, stone. Her eyes snapped away and she shot up, momentarily confused. She glanced around, only to find darkness surrounding Frisk in it's inky choke hold. The only light seemed to be coming from above. She turned her head skyward to see a tiny trickle of light bleeding downwards.

Then it hit her.

She fell.

She felt her body start to shake, her eyes wide with fear. She fell. Down that huge, scary hole. She gulped as she shakily sat down, only to find there was suddenly some soft cushion underneath. She yelped in shock, jumping up and turning to see... a literal bed of yellow flowers in bloom. She hesitantly patted the bed, Then blinked, confused. She didn't want to hurt the flowers, but, she seemed to have had fallen on them- from a seemingly thousands on thousands of feet high, and yet they stood perfectly fine.

She patted them a little harshly, to find they were indeed like small, soft springs. She softly apologize as she sat on them, using their springs as both, actual and emotional support. Frisk ran her fingers through her brown hair, eyes wide as she looked up at the pinprick of light. Small bits of dust floated too and fro, the scene could almost be seen as tranquil if not for the whole under thousands of feet of rock that could fall at any time onto her frail body.

She breathed in and out, looking up at the sunlight. She stood up, then let out the loudest scream she could manage.

It ended up being so loud that it vibrated off of the walls and echoed several times before subsiding. She waited for several seconds, watching the sunlight, hoping for someone to answer. But all was silent except for her quickening heart rate. She clenched and unclenched her hands, her eyes darting around.

Nobody was there... But why would they be? The entrance to the hole was on top of a mountain that nobody went on- and then it was on a completely secret path that nobody knew about. Nobody knew where she was.

She felt tears well up in her eyes, gripping onto her skull as she started to hyperventilate. Was she going to die down here? How would she get back to the surface? Would anyone know where she went? Would anyone even miss her?

She shook her head, trying to shake off those thoughts, tears slowly falling down her cheeks. She needed to be strong... There has to be a way…

She breathed in as much as she could, then exhaled, attempting to keep whatever composure she had left. She wiped away the tears dripping off of her chin, slowly trying to calm herself.

Find a way out.

With her less then realistic goal in mind, she breathed once more, determination flowing through her system. She can do this. It's easy! Just find a path and walk! She attempted to reason with herself that she'd be out soon enough.

She took several steps, the only thing keeping herself from falling apart was her determination to find a way. She could do this. With her arms outstretched, she felt along the walls. This particular room seemed to be in an oval pattern- and quickly she feared this was the only room and her determination would be mute against a stone wall.

She found an edge, causing her to make an audible whoop of joy. She felt along the edge, seeing that the wall must of been attached to a hallway. Frisk followed along for several feet, quietly debating if this was an actual hallway or just a dead end. The stone was... strangely clean cut, no little bumps or cracks across its surface to be felt. She felt unnerved as she recalled the history book.

Could there be monsters down here? She wondered- but before she could continue if it was even possible for there to be monsters after all this time, she came across... a pillar.

There was no mistaking it. The cleverly cut and rounded edges, the complex design, it was most certainly a pillar of some sort. She felt next to the pillar and noticed empty space- and if she looked closely enough, she could see... Light!

She excitedly bounded through the doorway, ready to leave this small adventure behind-

Only to see just another beam of light above, a single yellow flower- almost half of her height stood, it's roots digging through the stone. Her smile broke in half as she stepped closer to the much taller flower. She was impressed with its height. It must of been growing there for a while- and for it to have broken through stone itself!

But she still couldn't help but feel disappointed. As she walked closer- intending to walk past the flower entirely, she noticed the outline of another room ahead. She allowed herself to be filled with a little more hope. This must be some sort of... Cave! Yes! A cave! So she could maybe find an exit of some sor-

She saw something move out if the corner of her eye. She jerked her head, only to see the flower...

And the flower was smiling at her.

Frisk rubbed her eyes, then looked again. No doubting it, the flower... had an actual face. Six blindingly yellow petals, two eyes, and a single mouth... Grinning.

It even had teeth.

Optical illusion! Frisk quickly reasoned. She walked to the left slightly…

The entire flower moved with the face.

There was no mistaking it. That flower was watching her- smiling at her even!

She quickly thought to the monsters. She always imagined the monsters as four legged, clawed beasts with long fangs that could eat her whole- but... the book had only given silhouettes. At least, as much as she could remember. She quietly wished she had brought that book along- but then realised that it was a library book, and she didn't want to accidentally damage someone else's property.

Frisk decided to wave slightly with her hand. The flower's grin seemed to widen.

"Howdy!" It declared- making Frisk jump back in shock.

It... talked.

"I'm Flowey!" The flower continued, clearly unfazed by her jump. "Flowey the Flower!" Frisk blinked slowly at it's name, then nodded.

This was a monster... It must be friendly since it didn't attack... Calm down. Frisk walked a little closer, arms still raised slightly.

"Hmm..." The flower smiled. "You're new to the Underground, aren'cha?" Frisk raised her head. The calming slang and new knowledge helping ease her into the sudden surrealism of a flower talking to her. "Golly, you must be so confused." Frisk nodded, straightening her back slightly as she relaxed. This flower would help her. "Someone ought to teach you how things work around here!"

Frisk nodded gracefully. She was so awfully confused... and this flower was so nice... The flower smiled softly. "I guess little old me will have to do." Frisk nodded gratefully. "Ready?" It asked. Frisk glanced around, then nodded. "Let's go then!"

There was a soft, rapid clicking noise as the flower pointed one of its petals at Frisk's heart. She looked down, to see... Wait... Her heart was glowing?! Frisk pulled at the neck of her striped shirt to see her heart was glowing bright red. She fixed her shirt and looked up at the flower. "You see that heart?" Flowey asked patiently. Frisk nodded, her hand going over her chest as she watched it beat.

"That is your Soul- the very culmination of your very being!" Frisk's eyes widened as she looked at the heart again. That was... All she was? That was it? She couldn't help but feel so small that her tiny little heart was all of her memories, all of her personality, all of her... everything- wrapped into one tiny package.

"Your Soul starts off weak, but it can grow strong if you gain enough LV!" Frisk blinked, confused. The flower seemed to notice this and quickly explained. "LV stands for LOVE, of course!" It smiled, the happy feeling the flower was emitting spreading to Frisk and she smiled as well. But how do you gain Love? Is it in a literal sense- or a metaphorical one? She looked at the flower, hopeful it would explain. The flower tilted its... head, seemingly confused on what Frisk wanted- then a look of inspiration seemed to strike.

"Oh! I can give you some LOVE if you like!"

Flowey grinned- Causing Frisk's eyes to widen. Was Love that expendable to where it could be given out to- an outsider like her? She wasn't one to say no to a gift- so she nodded. The flower stuck out it's tongue happily at Frisk, then suddenly shook slightly, releasing white.. pollen? She wasn't quite sure what it was. It seemed to have a white aura and floated around, as if it had a mind of it's own. She could only relate them to small balls of white light- like a Christmas decoration.

"Down here, LOVE is shared through these little, white," Flowey paused. "Friendlyness pellets." Frisk nodded as the friendlyness pellets started moving closer, playfully floating around. "Go ahead and catch them!" Flowey exclaimed, Frisk nodded, grinning as she ran up to the nearest one and reached out for i-

Frisk was knocked onto the ground. Her eyes unfocused as the world seemed to be spinning. White hot fire burned inside her soul as she gasped. She curled, tears forming into her eyes. It hurt. The pain wouldn't go away. She felt like crying.

She slowly pulled herself up, grabbing onto her chest with a pained expression, looking at Flowey for an explanation.

"Wh-" She started to ask the flower before she saw the gruesome face of pure malice before her.

"You IDIOT!" The flower cackled, it's full row of teeth visible inside of it's body. "In this world, it's kill, or BE KILLED!" Frisk felt her blood turn to ice. She desperately backed away, then turned to see the little pieces of 'friendliness pellets' coming towards her in a fog, their originally floaty and friendly movements stiff and calculated.

She glanced behind her to see vines slowly reaching up from the ground, blocking the exits. She hadn't even thought of escaping- and before she could even hesitate to think about it, the flower had already cut off her only means of escape. She looked at the flower with pleading eyes, hoping to have some mercy.

"Who WOULDN'T take an opportunity like this!?" The flower cruelly laughed in Frisk's face. She glanced down, looking at her hands. She had been... so easily tricked into trusting this Monster... Frisk rubbed her eyes as she glanced at the blurry shapes at the corner of her vision. They had surrounded her, no way to escape.

Suddenly they all jerked forward. The thought of that excruciating pain wracking through her soul again caused her to cry out in fear. "H-HeLP!"

And then she saw a figure burst through the doorway. The vines were engulfed in flames and Flowey let out a cry of pain as it's body shook. The 'Friendlyness pellets' faded out of existence and Frisk took this time to dive for as far away from the flower as she could. The large... Beast swung its hand, fire escaping its paws and the flower quickly ducked into the ground. The vines soon followed underground, and Frisk soon found herself wondering when they would return to attack again.

She had hidden herself in the shadows of a corner- or as much of a corner as you can get inside of an oval room. Frisk hoped that the shadows would help hide her from both the eventual return of the flower and the strange monster before her- but the beast seemed to take notice of her shaking form rather quickly.

The beast- could only be described as some sort of anthropomorphic goat wearing a long robe with a strange insignia on the front. As strange as that sounded- although next to talking, killer flowers, she guessed it was about as normal as she could of gotten in the Underground.

Frisk looked up at the goat lady- wide eyed with fear as she stepped closer. Frisk remembered Flowey's words clearly in her head- Who wouldn't take an opportunity to kill her? Frisk shrunk down, wincing, hoping her smaller size would invoke some mercy on the goat monster. She covered her face- not wanting to see if she was going to be hit with more pellets... They weren't any kind of pellets she'd seen- they acted more like deadly bullets. Her body still ached and shivered with pain, her heart burning inside of her chest.

"What a terrible creature-" She heard an... oddly mother like tone speak, clearly exasperated. Frisk half expected the voice was talking about her. "Torturing some poor, innocent youth." She blinked, then uncovered herself, looking upwards at the friendly face, much softer with age then the flower before. The goat lady was much closer then before, but she was on one knee, reaching out a paw halfway. "Do not be afraid, my child." Frisk wasn't as accepting this time and shook her head softly. The lady still remained, rather determined. "I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins."

Frisk pushed herself upwards, holding onto her arm softly as she looked off to the side, rather then at Toriel. Toriel continued either way. "I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down, You are the first Human to come here in a long time." Frisk turned to Toriel, wide eyed- Was there other humans here? Perhaps they knew a way out!

"If you would like, you can come with me, I will lead you through the catacombs." She spoke softly, not a demand in sight. Frisk could go with Toriel, or she could stay here. Before Frisk had time to fully think of her options, she tried to stand up a little straighter, only to wince and hold onto her chest in pain as it laced up her spine. "Before you decide, you seem to be in extreme pain- would you like me to heal you, my child?" Frisk looked at Toriel skeptically.

"Does... It hurt?" She meekly asked the taller being. She didn't like being suspicious of others, especially those who just saved her hide- but Frisk had thought Flowey was helping as well, and that didn't turn out nearly as well.

Toriel shook her head softly, lowering her arm as she turned over her palm, revealing what looked like a small, green orb that swirled and danced with energy.

"This will only temporally heal you, the only true healing is a nice meal and a good night's rest," Toriel explained, her expression seemed to be on the brim with worry. "I am not forcing you to use my magic though, if you don't want to use it, I will not force you." Frisk glanced down at her own heart- the glowing had subsided, but she could still feel it right there, if she looked hard enough, she swore she could see an outline. Frisk turned to Toriel, rubbing her head and nodding.

Frisk watched the orb rise from Toriel's palm and slowly float over to Frisk's chest, as if the magic itself was hesitant. Frisk was tempted to take a step back, but she pushed herself to stay strong. It didn't help her legs were shaking like a leaf.

The orb expanded, the green wrapping around Frisk and holding her in a warming blanket. Frisk felt her tense muscles relax as she slouched over slightly, letting the healing magic flow through her system. She could only compare the feeling to a nice hot coco on a winter night, or being wrapped in a blanket right out of the dryer. Perhaps both combined. The pain still ebbed slightly, but it felt more like accidentally hitting something hard rather then being hit by something much harder.

Frisk looked up at Toriel after the warm feeling subsided, stepping out of her little corner ever so slightly as she looked up at the still kneeling Toriel.

"I'm Frisk." She stuck out her hand slightly, pulled it in a little as she imagined it could of been another trap, then extended it out fully. If it was a trap, why would Toriel heal her? Toriel smiled, her happiness over Frisk trusting her, even with what happened not several minutes ago, evident on her face. Toriel pushed herself upwards, standing to her full height- Which Frisk soon found to be nearly two and a half times her own height.

Toriel reached out her own paw, and Frisk saw Toriel's paw was so large that it more than doubled her own. Frisk quickly shook Toriel's hand with both of her hands as to compensate for the size difference. Toriel then turned halfway from Frisk.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Frisk, If you so desire, please do come along!" She then smiled once more, and walked away through the light in the other doorway. Frisk blinked, and soon followed suit- not wasting any time in case the flower decided to show back up for round two.

As Frisk walked to the center of the room, she was awestruck by the vibrantly dark purple brick that lined the room. Red leaves were spread across the cave- reminding her of the fall on the surface above. The ground itself was akin to some kind of purple grass- but the way her shoes crunched against the plant seemed to signal it wasn't alive. Two sets of lavender concrete stairs wrapped up the walls and arrived at a platform several feet high. Frisk rubbed her arm as she looked up at the platform to see a sign hung above a doorway, the next room barely visible. The air felt cold and dry inside the Ruins, and she kept feeling this pressure on her body, as if the very weight of the earth was resting on her shoulders.

Frisk then remembered she was thousands of feet underground. She distinctly remembered that the closer to the earth you were, the more pressure was put on your body. That's why she couldn't go to the bottom of the ocean by swimming- if she could breathe underwater.

Frisk turned her head to look up at Toriel as she ascended the steps without her. Toriel had to pick up her robe as she walked, causing her to slow down as she focused on each step. Frisk quickly ran up the opposite steps and to the top, meeting Toriel before she got to the top. Toriel seemed to notice Frisk's eagerness, a sad smile washing over her features. She chuckled softly anyways.

"Slow down, little one-" Toriel raised her palm. "An old lady, such as myself, can only move so fast." Frisk looked over Toriel- She didn't seem that old in all honesty. She might of been the age of her mom- although she hadn't seen her own mom in a while now so that might of been a bad example.

Frisk nodded and let Toriel take the lead into the next room. Frisk followed close behind, glancing from behind Toriel's robe at the room ahead in case some less friendly monster tried to attack. The new room had the same purple bricks- an unknown light source keeping the room lit. A closed, stone door sat on the opposite side of the room while a worn path stood in between. Several stone switches sat to the left and a golden switch hung by the door. Toriel walked the the center of the room and knelt down to Frisk's level.

"Welcome to your new home, innocent one." Frisk felt her heart do a flop. New home? But- did that mean there was no way to leave the Ruins? Was she trapped down here forever? No- There had to be... Some way! She didn't belong here- She didn't have strange magic or any will to hurt even a flower- (Although she felt would feel less guilty then normal if it was Flowey.)

Frisk felt Toriel's paw on her shoulder as she smiled sadly. Frisk felt tears prick at the edge of her vision, but she desperately clung onto the hope she could maybe find a way to escape. Perhaps there was something she could find that they didn't know about?

She knew that her chances of leaving were now down to nothing, but she refused to read the writing on the wall.

That couldn't be it. It just couldn't. Frisk held back her tears.

Toriel took Frisk's small hands and smiled, clearly trying to ease the situation. "Let me educate you in how to get around the ruins." Toriel softly led Frisk to the stone switches. Frisk rubbed her eyes and nodded. She'd get to the surface. Somehow.

Toriel pointed out the four switches to hit, and then Toriel demonstrated how to properly step on all four of the switches. She then led her to the golden switch on the door and flicked it up for Frisk. "The Ruins are full of puzzles," Toriel explained as the door behind her shook and wobble- Slowly being pulled upwards. "One must solve them to move from room to room, so please do adjust yourself to the sight of them." Frisk nodded obediently as they headed to the next room.

The scent of fresh water hit Frisk like a pile of bricks. Her eyes lit up as she saw the crystal clear liquid flowing through the long hallway, bridges built over it for crossing. A convenient path was worn away in the slightly livelier grass. Vines hung from the purple, brick walls and a sign was hung on the wall- another picketed sign was struck in the ground in front of them. Frisk suddenly felt Toriel let go of her hand, making Frisk look up at the much taller Monster, slightly confused.

"To make progress here, you must trigger several switches, but do not worry! I have marked the ones you need to flip," She explained, taking a step back to let Frisk explore a little. Frisk nodded, then stepped up to the first sign she saw- thinking perhaps it would be a clue of some sort... instead It read, 'Press Z to read signs!'...

"Z?" She asked out loud, turning to Toriel, confused.

"Hehe, that's just an inside joke some silly friend once told me," Toriel explained, smiling sweetly. She then motioned for them to cross the bridge with a sweeping motion of her arm. Frisk ignored the other sign, suspecting it would be another inside joke, and walked across the bridge.

Her eyebrows raised as she saw the same switch as before- except now there was arrows painted onto the bricks pointing to the switch. Frisk walked closer to see there was writing all the wall.

Please press this switch. - Toriel.

Frisk turned slightly to Toriel, to see her eagerly smiling on the bridge, her hands clasped together as she waited. Frisk internally snorted over how silly this all was, then flipped the switch.

Toriel let out an audible laugh of joy as she clapped her paws together. "Fantastic job, Frisk!" She exclaimed. Frisk rubbed the back of her neck and smiled softly at Toriel's excitement. It was only flipping a switch…

They walked across a second bridge to see two more switches. One had arrows pointing to it, and the other was left blank. After walking over and flipping the obvious answer, Toriel clapped her paws together.

"Splendid! I am proud of you, little one." Frisk rubbed her head once again, nervous about accepting such praise. It... wasn't that hard.

The next room had no small rivers running through it, but it did curve to the left, which Frisk guessed it meant they weren't just walking in circles. The same purple brick lined the room, and the pathway on the ground seemed rather average. The only thing that made this room unique was an oddly shaped dummy in the center of the room on a dead end of the pathway. Frisk glanced up at Toriel nervously. Did that mean she was practicing to fight Monsters?

Wait, why did she just have a Dummy randomly in a room? Was Toriel expecting her?

Toriel walked next to the Dummy, placing her hands behind her back as she spoke. She didn't look entirely pleased with what she had to say. "Now... As a human living in the Underground, Monsters may attack you." Frisk felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise at that thought. She looked up at Toriel, then at the dummy, then back again with wide eyes.

"You will need to be prepared for this situation," Toriel told her. "However!" She raised a finger. "Worry not! The process is simple. When you encounter a Monster, you will enter a Fight. When you are in that situation, strike up a friendly conversation!" Frisk blinked in surprise. "Stall for time. I will come and resolve the issue." Toriel then motioned to the Dummy. "Let us practice on the Dummy right here." Frisk couldn't help but feel dumbfounded. Talking... To a Dummy? And that would help buy time for Toriel to arrive? What if Toriel was busy? Or she couldn't get there in time? Frisk rubbed her arm at the thought.

Frisk watched the Dummy, then hesitantly looked over at Toriel, taking a step back nervously.

"What is wrong, my child?" She asked exquisitely. Frisk shrugged nervously and crossed her arms, hoping that would be enough to suggest she had no idea how to even start a conversation with... A dummy.

"Oh!" A look of realization crossed her face. "Do you need some ideas for conversation topics?" Toriel tilted her head slightly, her hands cupped together.

Frisk nodded shamefully. Toriel raised a finger to her chin as she thought over it. "Well... I often start with a simple 'how do you do'..." She paused, "You could ask about their favorite books, Oh! Jokes can be useful for 'breaking the ice'." She suddenly looked as if she was struck with inspiration. "Listen to this one, What did this the Skeleton tile his roof with?"

Frisk tilted her head.

"'Shin'-gles!" Toriel smiled, and Frisk only managed a grimace. "Well ... I thought it was amusing."

Frisk glanced at the Dummy once again, taking Toriel's tips to heart as she walked up. She noticed a slight glow coming from her chest- and once she looked down, she noticed that her heart was glowing red again through her striped shirt. Her hand reached up to grab at her shirt, then she looked at the dummy with determination... She could do this.

"Hello...!" She attempted to sound half normal, but she worried if she got to into talking to a Dummy, she might be accused of being insane. Which, with the day she was having, would've been a completely normal statement.

The dummy did not respond. She saw Toriel grinning out of the corner of her eye, and she felt her own heart warm. It felt... Nice.

"Such a good child." She heard Toriel whisper softly to herself as she motioned for them to move to the next room. Frisk felt her own smile lessen ever so slightly as she followed behind the taller Monster.

The next room was covered in the same purple bricks as before, but before she could figure out what the puzzle could be, Toriel kept moving onwards. There was a small, thinner hallway at the end of the room that connected to- Another purple bricked room. Vines continued to etch up the bricks, occasionally breaking up the constant barrage of violet with the contrasting green. The only thing noticeable in this room was the odd shape of the twisting and turning pathway.

"There is a puzzle in this room, but there is a room ahead as well that you should see." Toriel gave the child a soft smile, leading Frisk ahead.

Frisk was still confused where all this light was coming from. She was tempted to ask Toriel, but stopped herself once she saw what sat in the other room. Her jaw opened slightly in shock at the rows on top of deadly spikes that shot up from the ground with a menacing gleam.

She was so shocked that she didn't even notice a sleeping... frog in the middle of the pathway. She tripped over the poor toad and landed on her face with a shocked yelp. She quickly pushed herself up to see the figure of the frog was much bigger than any frog she had ever seen before. It was at least the length of her arm, as wide as Toriel's leg, and had the same strange insignia on Toriel's robe on it's chest. It picked itself up, She assumed the frog was glaring but it's closed eyes were not helping matters.

She caught the faint glow of her chest out of the bottom of her vision, and her eyes grew wide. She took a step back, raising her arms defensively. "H-hello!" She greeted the frog just like she had the Dummy before. "What- You have such lovely eyes!" She blurted out, hoping her loud voice would help at least draw Toriel.

The frog didn't quite seem to understand- but from what she could tell, the commitment had calmed down the frog ever so slightly, but it didn't seem to be enough. It's neck puffed out as it hopped closer, the frog's body slamming onto the ground as it got closer. Frisk backed up into a robed monster and she looked up to see Toriel with crossed arms, glaring at the hopping beast. More then ever, Toriel's giant stature presented itself to Frisk, and she was glad that Toriel was on her side.

Frisk grabbed onto Toriel's robe as the frog hopped past, ribbiting softly at Frisk what she had assumed was an apology. Only when the frog actually jumped into the spikes, she saw the ones it had stepped on had actually shrunk down into the ground as it passed over.

Frisk let go of Toriel's robe and rushed over, quickly watching where the frog had hopped. The jumped between the spikes seemed to be a little far, but if she jumped high enough, she could probably make it. Frisk had readied herself to jump when she felt Toriel's hand on her shoulder. Frisk halted her plan to jump as she looked up to see an apprehensive Toriel watching the spikes shoot up after the frog had hopped away.

"This seems... a little too dangerous," She explained, "Here, take my hand for a moment." Frisk obediently grabbed onto Toriel's paw with both of her hands as Toriel was about to step onto the spikes. Frisk quickly saw this and tried to pull back Toriel before she stabbed herself in the foot with the spikes, but as Toriel stepped down, the spikes retreated into the ground under a layer of steel.

Toriel turned her head. "What is wrong, my child?" She asked. Frisk went red with embarrassment and pointed to the spikes.

"I- thought you would... Hurt yourself," She murmured, glad that Toriel was okay, but upset over the fact that she actually thought Toriel would get hurt when she had said she would lead Frisk to safety.

Toriel seemed to take that as a compliment, a true smile ringing across her face as she continued forward, still holding her hand the whole way.

As Frisk stepped onto the steel plates, she hesitantly thought that they could of been on a timer of some sort, or perhaps they would jolt up if she didn't put enough pressure on them. She could see the holes the spikes shot out of, and she could still see the spikes hiding inside the holes as if they were some sort of spider.

Frisk shivered at the thought.

She nevertheless followed behind Toriel, squeezing her eyes and Toriel's hand tighter as the spikes behind her shot back up. Frisk let out a whimper as they walked in some sort of S shape, and she was all too glad to be back onto solid ground once they were off of the tiles.

The two of them walked to the next room- although the room was not like any room Frisk had seen before. It was much more akin the a long, endless hallway. The end could just barely be seen, and the path swerved back and forth towards the other side of the room.

Frisk felt Toriel slip away from her grip and stand in front of her, a saddened expression spread across Toriel's face as she seemed to struggle between joy and unhappiness. "You have done efficiently thus far... However... I have a difficult request to ask of you." Her head turned down slightly, avoiding Frisk's sight. "I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself."

Then, before Frisk could think too hardly about the idea of just walking down a simple hallway, Toriel ran down the hallway, disappearing suddenly behind a pillar that stood oddly next to the doorway.

Frisk watched the pillar for a second, wondering if it would do anything- but after several minutes of nervously glancing around, Frisk decided that standing around was rather pointless. So she started her trek down the ridiculously long hallway.

She wondered if there was perhaps some booby traps stuck to the walls, or perhaps there would be another flower ready to trick her again. She quickly wondered if all flower Monsters were little imps- but she then feared of coming across as racist if she thought like that.

She rubbed her arm, still walking down the hallway. She preoccupied her mind with little games to keep her brain from delving into things she'd rather not dig into at this time. Like the whole never being able to leave and this being her new home. Or the fact that if she was to live down here that monsters would regularly attack her and her only protection would be Toriel scaring them off with her strange fire magic. Or how she would never see her friends again. Or how she never apologized to that one kid in third grade for trading their pudding with her pudding when they weren't looking. Or-

She blinked, realizing she was starting to sink into those topics. She shook her head, shoving those questions and fears in a tiny box in the back of her mind until she knew, for certain that there was no way out.

There must've been a way to go back to where she belonged.

Frisk watched the pillar silently as she got closer. She walked up to it and saw a certain anthropomorphic goat hiding behind it with her eyes closed. Frisk poked Toriel, hoping to get Toriel to notice her. Instead, Toriel seemed to be nervously ignoring her- No, She must of been lost in thought.

"Toriel?" Frisk murmured softly, curious to why she was hiding. She jumped slightly and looked down at Frisk, a hand over her chest and a smile across her face.

"Oh, my child, you startled me," She responded in a soft, motherly voice. She walked out from behind the pillar and bent down onto one knee as she looked Frisk in the eye. "Thank you for trusting me." Frisk simply nodded. Of course! Toriel saved her, had been so nice to her, and there had been no backstabbing so far- why wouldn't she trust Toriel. In all honesty, Toriel acted a lot like her mother...

Frisk shook away the thought. Not wanting to associate a bad memory with Toriel.

"However, There was an important reason for this exercise." Toriel rubbed Frisk's head softly. "To test your independence."

Frisk raise a brow, confused on on both, how did walking across a hallway prove her independence, and why did she need independence.

"I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while," She explained sadly, sending unpleasant memories done Frisk's spine. "Please stay here, it is too dangerous to explore alone."

Too similar. It was too similar. Frisk looked up at Toriel in a panic, stepping closer to grab her robe, refusing to let her leave. It wouldn't happen again. She wouldn't let it. Frisk shook her head, pulling Toriel's blue robe closer.

Toriel looked down at Frisk with an expression of worry. Frisk could tell she had reacted too much. Now Toriel would definitely leave. Frisk quickly stepped back, looking down at the ground quickly and keeping her hands by her sides, hoping what she had did would be ignored.

"Sorry..." Frisk apologized. She could feel Toriel's gaze boring into her, so she squeezed her eyes shut. Her wrists felt like they were burning.

"It is okay, my child." She reached down and rubbed Frisk's head, kindly. "I have an idea." She then reached into the sleeve of her robe and pulled out an odd, square, black device with a small screen on the front with several buttons and numbers. There even was a cute keychain with a little red heart attached to the phone. "If you need anything, you can call me."

Frisk ran her fingers over the screen, the green text lighting up and highlighting a small menu with several icons attached. She looked up at Toriel, holding up a crooked smile as Toriel rubbed her head and took her leave out of the door.

Frisk took a seat by the pillar, messing around with the menu to pass the time. There was several options to choose from on the menu. She could call someone- as marked by an old telephone, she could look over her own health and status, marked by the silhouette of a small monster that seemed to be a smaller version of Toriel, She also had some settings she could mess with that was marked by a gear, or she could store things, marked by a small... vortex?

Out of curiosity, Frisk unwrapped the bandages on her arms and planned to store them... in her new phone. She pressed the icon and her phone vibrated slightly in her hand and glowed green. Suddenly, the screen had a small, floating ball that left the phone and appeared to be a separate entity entirely. Frisk looked over the glowing ball. It looked to be made of thick, green glass, but the inside seemed to be some sort of strange liquid that moved and flowed around inside of it's glass bubble.

Frisk held up her used bandages and tapped it lightly against the glass bubble of magic. Surprisingly, the bubble indented slightly where she had tapped. Frisk looked curiously, then tried to poke the bubble with her finger. But when she got close, the bubble actually inverted around her hand, letting her hand inside the glass bubble, but not actually touch the bubble itself.

Frisk placed the bandages inside the glass storage, the bubble surrounding the bandages in the liquid, but leaving it in its own air bubble. Frisk curiously returned the glass bubble with her phone, and the bandages disappeared along with it.

Frisk left the bubble storage alone as she messed around with the other features. She checked on her health status and found she had full heath, zero gold, and was at LV one. She messed with the settings a little, changing the text color to red and setting her phone to ring and vibrate in case Toriel called.

She then hesitantly called Toriel. After ringing for several seconds, she heard a click as Toriel picked up.

"Hello? This is Toriel." Frisk heard her voice on the other side of the phone. "Is anything wrong?"

"No." Frisk fidgeted around as she sat. "I was just checking to make sure the phone worked," She told Toriel anxiously. She honestly didn't like using phones. It forced her to talk, and she'd much rather stay quiet. It was a habit she had learned when she was smaller, and it had served her well on the surface.

"Oh, Well, the phone works, I assure you." She explained, then paused. "By the way, Do you prefer butterscotch, or cinnamon?" Frisk blinked at the odd question, and thought it over for a second.

"Butterscotch." She told Toriel.

"Oh! Alright! Thank you!" She then heard Toriel hang up, the dial sound ringing in Frisk's ear. Frisk decided to mess with the setting a bit more, but found her phone shedding ringing once again. She saw it was Toriel and picked up.

"Hello?" Frisk asked softly. She heard Toriel shuffle with the phone for a second.

"Hello! This is Toriel! You do not, DISLIKE cinnamon, do you? I know your preference, but you would not turn up your nose if you saw it on your plate?"

Frisk shook her head, then realised Toriel couldn't see her, and told her Cinnamon is also okay.

"Right! Thank you! Bye, my child."

"Bye mom." Frisk realized her slip up and froze. She shut her eyes, "...sorry." She apologized, then was interrupted by a clearly excited Toriel.

"No no! That's okay, if that's what makes you happy, You can call me whatever you like!" She then gleefully hung up.

Frisk groaned and rubbed her blushing face, embarrassed. Why did she say that? Toriel looked nothing like her mom- why would she even think about that?! She just met Toriel, and yet, at least subconsciously she thought of her as a parental figure in her life.

Frisk tried to think about this logically. Why would she think of a giant goat monster as her mother? Was she truly that desperate for an adult in her life? She had been fine for the past year. Sure, food may of been a little hard to come by, and she may of had to run from a few fights, but that made her stronger... Right? She didn't know anyone her age who liked going to school, so that was a plus. Nobody knew about her... recent...

No, her mom would come back. She was just a little lost at the moment. She would fix herself and come back. That's what she said she would do when she left Frisk on that bench. She... just wasn't ready yet. She'll come back soon enough. That's why she needed to leave. Her mom was waiting for her.

But why did she think Toriel was her mother, at least for a split second?

She sat the new phone down as she looked up at the ceiling of the cave. A frown came over her features as she thought about the sky. Would she ever get to see it again? Or would she be forever stuck over hundreds of miles of rock and stone?

All of these thoughts, her doubts, her worries, everything threatened to claw at her mind. She gritted her teeth in frustration, tears starting to form as she just sat there and just thought of how messed up this all was. She didn't know what to do.

She pushed away those thoughts, locking them back up. Frisk grabbed onto the phone and stood up, her gaze watching the door. She couldn't sit there and wait. If she sat for too long, she'd think too much. And then she'd become a complete mess.

Frisk couldn't do that. She had to go. She had to find a way to escape. Even if it killed her.

Frisk quickly thought that to be overdramatic. Dying seemed a little extreme.

Frisk gripped onto the phone a little tighter, then walked through the doorway.


I do not own Undertale. Undertale is owned by Toby Fox and can be purchased at his website. Please support the original creator as none of this would be possible without him. Thank you.