I'm falling and falling and falling in the darkness. The world feels at peace; like an important issue's been resolved, but I don't know what or why. Where am I? Why is it so dark? I scrunch my eyelids together in concentration, trying to figure out why, until I realize…
Oh wait, my eyes are closed.
I snap them open, and light blinds my eyes but I'm still falling and falling.
And as much as I want to flail my legs and flap arms like a chicken, something in me is telling me to hold on. I've gotta hold on… but to what?
My grip instinctively tightens on the straps around my shoulders, and I suddenly understand. Purpose fills me as the wind rushes past me like a vacuum sucking me into its little whirlwind of doom.
I blink the weariness out of my eyes as the sun filters through the hole above me. I'm laying on something soft and yellow. Flowers? I make a move to get up, but my head starts to swim and I fall back down.
Franticness suddenly grabs ahold of me, and I rush my hand to feel the back of my head. There is no bump.
Relief swarms me at this realization. I've remembered this time. The flowers, having been fallen on by six humans in a row, was basically nothing when it was my time to fall. The only thing I had to do was to hold onto the backpack so that it instead could cushion my fall; that was all.
Fear suddenly fills me. If such little things could determine the entire fate of a timeline, I would have to be more careful. I couldn't just go around getting resets and risking the chance that I might forget again and repeat time.
But then I freeze, and I turn to the side, my gaze searching. After a few moments of finding nothing, uneasiness fills me.
Flowey didn't show up this time. And Chara's not here either. I'm alone.
Anxiety fizzles in my veins. Chara. She was with me on the last timeline, and that had been… devastating. My brain wants to flood and I am curious on looking back myself, but at the same time, I am terrified. I don't want to remember. I don't want to look back. I don't want to see it all again.
Something is threatening to spill over, and I am afraid. I rest my body in the flowers and shut my eyes and tighten my fists, trying to close it all out. Maybe if I go to sleep, I will forget it all. It will be as if it had never happened.
...yeah right.
When my eyes open again, the area around me is dark.
I hesitantly move myself to my knees. Though I was wobbly, I managed to get up on my feet. I brush the petals off my sweatshirt and flick my hair behind my shoulder to get it out of the way, and I am momentarily confused by its length until I remember that this is a Reset. The short hair in the first run will all be forgotten now.
I sigh wearily, already dreading the hallway into which I would have to walk. What would happen this time? Surely nothing bad, I hoped. My footsteps echo through the cavern as I slowly, very slowly trudge to the room with the patch of grass.
Nothing suspicious. I start to enter, but come to a panicked stop when a yellow flower emerges from the green strands. "Really, Chara?" Flowey smirks, but waves a leaf encouragingly. "Well, do what you will. I'll be waiting for you!"
Without even a moment to react, he slips back into the ground, leaving me by myself. Just the word Chara sends shivers down my back, but I growl rebelliously and charge onwards.
I pass by everything without really casting them a glance. None of them really matter at this point. But by the end of the extremely long hall, I meet a familiar face. This time, I am not surprised by Toriel's appearance, but her warm smile creates bitterness inside me. I try to keep my distance away. I am afraid of what I am capable of.
However, Toriel is encouraging. She leads me through the Ruins again, but this time, I just let her do the battles. I don't have the courage to face monsters again, and not to mention that I don't have time to be dealing with monsters when I've got somewhere to go. I barely notice Napstablook as I pass him, but he looks the same as the first run. Nothing different going on yet, so that's good.
However, Toriel seems to be deep in thought. "I have a feeling..." She murmurs quietly. "When humans fall down, strangely… I often feel like I already know them." She turns to me slightly. "Truthfully, when I first saw you, I felt like I was seeing an old friend for the first time." At my expression, she chuckles. "Strange, is it not?"
I nod to satisfy her, but inside, my heart rates had spiked slightly. This was a difference, and differences weren't good. Without any True Resets, everyone would still remember a little. Just a little, but every little bit was important. I gulp when I think to those waiting for me at Toriel's house. If they remembered…
A little longer, and we've made it. Seeing her humble home fills me with determination, but it also fills me with dread. Upon entering Toriel's humble home, the familiar setting comes back to me in waves of uneasiness. I check the floorboards for signs of blood and dust, just to make sure. Thankfully, it's devoid of any stains.
I flinch when she takes my hand, but it's only because I remember my knife slicing straight through her chest. She thankfully doesn't notice. I take deep breaths to calm myself, and my heart rate settles as she leads me to the door.
"This is it." She says kindly. "A room for you and the others! I hope you like it!"
"The others." I repeat, trying to remember how I had responded in the first run. "How many are left here?"
Toriel hesitates, something I don't remember seeing in the first run, before quickly exclaiming, "Is something burning…?" She gives me an apologetic smile. "Um, make yourself at home!" And thus, she leaves to attend to the kitchen.
I watch her leave, then slowly turn back to the door. How should I act? Normal? Indifferent? The wood stares back at me, daring me to open it. I slowly raise my hand to grab the handle. What should I say? My hand starts to turn the handle, but I freeze when the final question grabs me. Will Joyce be there?
Before I can even fully turn the handle, the door is yanked open and I let out a yelp before quickly letting go. On the other side I am greeted by a smile.
"Erisa!" Elaine cheers, her eyes shining. I am so surprised that I don't even have the time to correct her to Frisk.
"Wh-what?!" I exclaim, disbelieving and eyebrows knitted. "How did you know… why did you open the-"
"Foresight." She teases, her eyebrows wiggling.
"Really?" I gape in shock, mouth wide open.
"No, not really," Says another voice inside the room. It sounds like James. "We just heard an elephant storming around outside and guessed it was you."
I'm still scared that they might know, but James' terrible joke makes me frown with wry amusement.
"Really? Was that… necessary?" Elaine gives James a disapproving look. As she turns to face him, I get a better view of the room. I scour my eyes around the whole place, but it's just the three of us. Relief fills me.
"Kinda." James shrugs.
Elaine lets out a huff of annoyance before looking back at me. "I'm just glad you made it." She says, her eyes showing relief. "You were taking so long, I had just wondered if you were…" She gulps hesitantly.
"Dead." James puts out simply. I laugh a little at Elaine's reaction.
"Um," I start, wondering how I should put the question out. "So, how long are you guys planning to stay here, exactly? Like, you know, how long you're staying here in Toriel's home."
They give me a long, blank look. "N-not that long!" Elaine reassures me after a moment, but James narrows his eyes.
"Whoever said we were staying?" He raises an eyebrow.
Oh… right. "I was just wondering if we were going to stay long enough to get the pie slice." There, that should be explanatory enough.
James still looks unsettled, but Elaine nods quickly. "We're definitely staying for that."
"And then we leave?"
"Um…" Elaine looks pointedly over to James. "He's staying."
"Figures." I huff. "And you're going to stay with him, huh?" Elaine's eyes widen with surprise at my guess, but I wave my hand in dismissal. "That's fine. I'll just stay with you guys too, until you go, at least." I have many goals this run, but the first one on my list was definitely saving Elaine. And to do that, I was going to have to keep an eye on her at all times.
"Y-you don't have to wait for us!" Elaine immediately protests. She's so worried for my well-being that she doesn't even have the time to question how I've made these assumptions so well. "We might be staying here for a while, and it'll be a really long time, so you don't have to, um, wait for us or anything…" She stops when she sees me shaking my head.
"I'm staying." I say. "And I'll be with you guys until you decide to leave."
Elaine still looks hesitant, but James grins. "And our party becomes a trio of three." He cheers lazily, making jazz hands above his head.
"Yeah!" I nod agreeably, "We're like, the three musketeers now!" Elaine giggles quietly, and I smile a bit in return. "Say, any of you feeling tired?" I certainly wasn't, but I was going to trigger them to go to bed somehow.
"A little." Elaine admits. "But is it nighttime?"
"Yeah, it is."
She doesn't question how I'm so sure. "Well, alright. I suppose we could all do with catching some Z's." She lets out a tiny yawn before flopping down onto her pillow on the rug. I slip off my backpack and cautiously head to the corner of the room to turn off the lamp. Out the corner of my eye, I see James flipping the covers over himself.
"Night, everyone." I grin eerily, then the light flicks shut.
Just a quick note, writing styles will change pretty often. I wrote these chapters within a very long time span. 0-0