Chapter two: Ruins part II
Ruby pushed a rock onto a button and kept walking. The voice in her head was doubling as her guide and a companion. Walking in the underground alone for long would make her go crazy in due time regardless.
"So what's your name, anyways?" she asked it.
"I'm Chara. I was the first human to fall underground."
"So you're a ghost?"
"That isn't important. Keep moving if you want to go home." They snapped at her. She nodded and kept going.
The next room was a big floor of breakable tiles. Ruby stared at it for a moment, trying to figure it out. With no clear path she took a step... and fell right through.
"Ouch... wait a second." She muttered, realizing a path that was leaf free. Assuming it was the answer, she got an idea. She extended Crescent Rose into its scythe mode and jumped up. She stabbed a hole in every tile around the path and climbed up the vent to test her theory. She walked the path she revealed and folded up Crescent Rose, moving on to the next room.
"Be careful here. That third one doesn't like being pushed around."
"Got it." She replied, pushing the first two and preparing for the third.
"WHOA THERE PARDNER! Who said you could push me around?"
"Sorry, it's just that I need to get through here. So if I may ask, could you please move over that way?"
"Hmm? So you're askin' me to move over?" it asked, clarifying Ruby's request.
"Yes please." Ruby begged, hoping that it'll help her case.
"Okay, just for you pumpkin." It replied, sliding to the left. The wrong direction.
"Um, Mr. Rock? That was the wrong way." Ruby muttered, pointing at the button in front of her.
"Hmm? That was the wrong direction? Alright, I think I got it." The rock stated, moving on the button. Ruby thanked him and walked towards the opening. Just before she stepped down, the spiked shot back up, startling the poor girl.
"Oh my Oum, that was close. What the hell just-"she cut herself off, turning her head. The rock had moved from the switch and was just beside it now. In anger, Ruby stormed over to it.
"Hmm? You wanted me to stay there? You're giving me a real workout." It muttered, sliding back in place. Ruby walked back towards the opening, and this time, ran across using her semblance to ensure that it wouldn't shoot up under her feet. The next room was a narrow hallway with a table and another one of those small lights. Ruby noticed that there was a small hole in the wall, and a wedge of cheese on the table. She walked over to the light and touched it.
"Knowing that one day the mouse might one day leave its hole and get the cheese fills you with DETERMINATION."
Ruby walked into the next room and noticed a ghost lying on the ground. She approached it.
"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (are they gone yet?) Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz."
Ruby noticed that the ghost kept saying 'Z' out loud. It was kind of annoying.
"Move it with force. Don't worry; this ghost isn't going to get hurt. It's incorporeal, like me." Chara explained. Ruby nodded and walked over to it. Not knowing what else to do, she picked up a stick and hit him with it. They engaged in battle.
"Why are you so sad, Mr...? Uh..."
"Napstablook... that's my name. I'm always sad. My cousin disappeared years ago."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
Napstablook started crying. Ruby noticed that the tears were his attack and used her semblance to dodge them. One hit her arm and it burned. She looked at her scroll and saw it took 10% off her aura. She recovered from it and gave him a patient smile, which cheered him up a bit. Ruby waited for the attack, only to realize he wasn't going to.
"What's wrong Napstablook?" she asked.
"I'm just not really feeling up to it, sorry." He muttered glumly. Ruby thought for a moment. What would her friends do in this situation? Yang would probably tell a joke...
"I got it!" Ruby shouted, getting a confused look from the saddened ghost. "Why do ghosts like using elevators?"
"Why?" Napstablook muttered.
"They really raise their spirits."
"Heh heh..." Napstablook laughed awkwardly, crying again. These were only a few, so Ruby didn't even need to use her semblance. Ruby smiled at him again, which made Napstablook smile back, but only a little.
"Here, let me try..." He muttered, crying upwards to make a hat out of his tears. "I call it dapper blook. Do you like it?"
"Of course I do." Ruby praised. Napstablook looked bashful.
"Oh gee..."
The battle ended. Napstablook felt more open to talk to Ruby though, so he did.
"I usually come to the ruins because there's nobody around... but today, I met someone nice..." he hesitated to keep talking. Ruby thought he might have had second guesses on her. "Oh, I'm rambling again. I'll get out of your way." Then he vanished.
"That happened." Ruby muttered, trying to process what just happened.
"You're telling me." Chara agreed. "Are you okay? That must have hurt."
"Oh, no worries, I've dealt with worse. Have you ever fought a pack of Beowolves head on?"
"No, I can't say I have. There aren't any Grimm down here, and I haven't been on the surface in almost a hundred years. The war happened over a century ago, I fell a few years after. I never made it out of here alive, nor had the other humans who fell. But I have a feeling things will be different with you."
"Thanks for the confidence boost, I think." Ruby muttered, moving on to the next room. It was a dead end with spider webs and a sign.
'Spider bake sale. All proceeds go to real spiders.' The sign read.
"I would buy something here. But don't eat it. It'll come in handy later."
"Um, okay." Ruby replied, walking to the webs. She placed 18g in the larger web and got a jug. "What is this stuff?" she asked, swirling the jug and listening to the liquid swish around inside.
"Spider cider. Don't worry, it isn't made of spiders. It's just apple cider sold by spiders."
"Okay." Ruby replied, placing it in her pocket. She was actually surprised it fit. She walked out of the room and took the path to the right of her position. It seemed to be the right way. There were froggits there, but only one of them had important information.
"Ribbit ribbit. (I have heard you are quite merciful for a human.)"
"Well, I never had any reason to hurt you so..." Ruby muttered in response. The froggit nodded.
"(Surely you know how to tell when a monster can be spared by now, right?)"
"Yep sure do." She reassured. Again, the froggit nodded.
"(So my friend in the other room gave you helpful information?)"
"Yep. Sure did." Ruby again agreed with the froggit, who, again, nodded.
"(Remember, sparing is just saying you won't fight. Maybe one day, you will have to do it, even if the monster will not accept your mercy.)"
"I'll keep that in mind." Ruby reassured, moving on to the next room. She got another call from Toriel.
"I just realized that it has been a while since I cleaned up."
"Okay..?" Ruby questioned the significance of the statement.
"I was not expecting company so soon. There are probably a lot of things lying about here and there. Feel free to pick up whatever you'd like. But do not carry around too much, or you won't have any room for something you'd really like or need. Bye bye now." She hung up. Ruby sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"That woman's gonna be the death of us, I swear..." Chara sighed. Ruby nodded.
"Oh hello!" Ruby called out in surprise at the next puzzle. It was six cracked floors, three vents. The sign read that one of them contains a switch to move on.
"The middle on the left contains the lever, but the closest one on the right contains armour." Chara instructed. "You can do both, but I wouldn't if you don't want to keep falling." Ruby nodded and ran for the middle one... on the right.
"Ouch... oh, hi Blooky." Ruby greeted the ghost, who just happened to be in the hole she fell into.
"Ooooooohhh..." The ghost sighed, vanishing. Ruby again tried to process what just happened. It was like Penny all over again, only worse. This guy wasn't a talker. Ruby climbed up the vent and walked to the one across from it. She fell down with a thump.
"Ouch... Toriel really needs to think of a safer way to do these puzzles." She grumbled, rubbing her sore butt. Chara giggled. "Yeah, yeah. Really funny. You wouldn't be laughing if it were you would you?"
"Sorry, Ruby. It's just funny watching an elite huntress in training complaining about her sore keister."
"Oh hah hah." Ruby retorted sarcastically, pulling the switch. She just realized that she was sounding a lot like Weiss. "Oum damn it." She grumbled.
"What's the matter?"
"I'm starting to sound like my school partner. She's kind of bossy."
"Understandable."
"Yeah. Come on, best get moving." Ruby enthused. They walked through the door to another room.
"This is interesting." Ruby praised with a whistle. Chara agreed.
"This is my favorite one. When I was alive, Asriel and I would have a competition to see who could solve it the fastest. Of course, he won. Monsters are naturally good at creating and solving puzzles." Chara got lost in their memories, almost forgetting about the teenager they currently accompanied.
"Chara? Who's Asriel?" She asked, snapping the ghost out of their thoughts.
"W-what? N-nobody! I mean- that's not important. Come on, I know this puzzle like the back of my hand. We'll be past it in no time."
"We're out." Ruby sighed, stretching.
"I'll admit I was not expecting so many monsters to show up. You handled that well Ruby." Chara praised. "We're almost there. Just up that path."
Ruby walked over to a path on the left hand side. It was covered in leaves. Just as she reached a dead looking tree, Toriel walked out.
"That took longer than expected." She sighed, pulling out her phone. Ruby's phone went off, alerting the goat that she was there. "Ruby? How did you get here? Are you hurt?" She asked, scanning the young teenager for any injuries.
"Honestly, the falling puzzles hurt my butt. And a whole bunch of monsters ganged up on me at once. It was kind of scary, but I only left with small cuts and bruises. Nothing I couldn't handle of course." She explained triumphantly. Toriel sighed.
"This is my fault for leaving you for so long... at least let me heal you." she healed every cut and bruise that Ruby received. "I was so irresponsible, trying to surprise you like this, in such an unfamiliar environment..." she realized what she just said. "Err... well, no point trying to hide it anymore. Come small one."
"I'm not that small. I'm fifteen so..."
"Of course you're not Ruby." Toriel giggled. Ruby didn't know why, but she felt kind of insulted. She walked over to the building in front of her and touched the light in front of it.
"Seeing such a cute, tidy house in the ruins fills you with DETERMINATION." Chara narrated.
"Why do you keep doing that?"
"Don't know. By the way, you're fifteen? But you said you attend Beacon. You need to be at least seventeen for that do you not?"
"Attended." Ruby corrected. "It was destroyed. As for how I got into the school, that's a long story. I'll save it for when we're alone and I don't seem crazy."
Ruby walked into the little cottage and gasped. It was so cute. And she smelled something sweet in the air. It smelled like cinnamon... and butterscotch. She giggled.
"There she is again with her butterscotch-cinnamon pie." Chara sighed. Ruby couldn't see them, but could tell they were smiling.
"Do you smell that?"
"Sure do. It smells amazing." Ruby drooled. Toriel let out a small giggle.
"Surprise! I made butterscotch-cinnamon pie for us. I thought we might celebrate your arrival."
"If my sister were here, she'd celebrate with alcohol and dancing." Ruby meant that to be a joke, but only realized then and there how much she missed Yang. She missed everyone. Yang, Blake, Weiss, Nora, Ren, Jaune. She missed them all. That just made her more determined to get home.
"I want you to have a nice time living here-"
"I'm sorry Toriel, but I-" Ruby started, before being interrupted.
"So I will hold off on snail pie for tonight." She finished; more firm than gentle. Ruby sighed. Leaving the underground just might break this woman's heart.
"Don't think much of it Ruby. You need to go home. It hurts at first, but you'll get past it."Chara reassured, thought it didn't make Ruby feel better.
"Come now Ruby, I have another surprise for you." Toriel smiled, leading Ruby to a door. "This is it." She smiled, rubbing Ruby's head. Subconsciously, the reaper was about to flatten it, only to realize that not a single hair was out of place. "I remembered you don't like your hair messed with, no worries." The kindly old goat reassured. Ruby smiled
"What is this room Toriel?"
"It's a room of your own! I hope you like it." She paused, sniffing the air. "Is something burning? Uh, make yourself at home." She ran off. Ruby stopped and smelled the air as well.
"I don't smell anything." She sighed, opening the door. Looking inside, she noticed kid's clothes and toys and shoes. She flopped down on the bed and dozed off. She hadn't realized how tired she really was before then. She was asleep for a little while before waking up again. Checking her scroll she realized it's been about 7 hours.
"About time you woke up." Chara scolded. "Though it's a good thing you did. Fighting Toriel won't be easy, especially when you're so tired."
"I have to fight her?" Ruby gasped. Chara stayed silent. Ruby sighed and picked up the plate with the pie on it off the floor and put it in her pocket along with the cider from before. Ruby was shocked. Girl pockets suck, but these pockets are practically bottomless. She didn't feel the items in there at all until she placed her hand inside. It was like magic. She sighed deeply as she walked over to where Toriel sat in the living room.
"Toriel?" She asked in a small voice.
"Up already, I see. Um, I want you to know how glad I am to have someone here. There are so many old books I'd like to share. I want to show you my favorite bug-hunting spot. I've also prepared a curriculum for your education. This may come as a surprise to you, but I've always wanted to become a teacher. Actually, that probably isn't so surprising. Still, I am glad to have you living here." She rambled. Ruby thought she reminded her of Nora.
"Actually, that's why I'm here Toriel. I was wondering... when can I head home?" Ruby stated, sadly watching the smile falter on her mother figure's face.
"What? This... this is your home now. Um... would you like to know about this book I am reading? It is called "72 uses for snails". How about it?"
"I'm sorry, but I really need to leave the underground. I have a father, a sister, a boyfriend, all on the surface. I can't stay here."
"Um... how about an exciting snail fact? Did you know that snails... sometimes flip their digestive systems as they mature? Interesting."
"Toriel..." Ruby tried her best to end the woman's stalling. Suddenly Toriel's face got stone cold and here red eyes went dull. She closed the book and stood up.
"I have to do something. Stay here." She ran off. Ruby could faintly hear the sound of her paws going down stairs. Chara sighed.
"This is gonna be difficult. No worries, I'll help you through it."
Ruby nodded and ran downstairs. There was Toriel, standing 100% motionless, as if waiting for Ruby to follow her.
"You wish to return "Home", do you not?" She asked darkly.
"Yes. I do." Ruby replied both firm and timidly. Chara sighed at how not intimidating the silver eyed reaper was.
"At the end of this hallway lies the end of the ruins. A one-way exit to the rest of the underground. I'm going to destroy it."
"What?!" Ruby cried in shock. She wouldn't. She couldn't. That's so selfish.
"No one will ever be able to leave again. Now go upstairs like a good little girl, will you?"
"Toriel stop! This is crazy!"
"Every human that falls down here meets the same fate." Toriel began. Ruby looked saddened. What had she gone through? "I have seen it again, and again. They come. They leave. They die. You naive child, if you leave the ruins, they... Asgore... will kill you. I am only protecting you, do you understand?" Ruby could only nod. "Go to your room." Ruby stood her ground. Chara was saying that she made all the right calls so far, which was good. "Do not try to stop me Ruby. This is your final warning. Go upstairs, I will be there soon." Ruby didn't walk away. She followed her to the door. Toriel was not happy.
"Toriel, just let me head home." Ruby tried yet again to plea for freedom.
"You want to leave so badly?" the woman asked, her voice so deadpan and dark that it would probably make a Grimm run in fear. Ruby gulped, preparing for what was to come next. "Humph. You are just like the others. There is only one solution to this..." Ruby felt her soul prepare for battle. She was just hoping that she didn't need to hurt Toriel. "Prove yourself..." she whispered.
"Huh?" Ruby asked, unable to hear what Toriel said because she was so quiet now.
"Prove to me you are strong enough to survive!" Toriel yelled; the battle beginning.
"I don't want to fight you Toriel! Please listen to me!" Ruby cried. Toriel seemed to be staring through her.
"Fight me or run away."She stated flatly. Ruby felt a chill. A miniature vortex of flames shot at her, some striking her. It burned, but Ruby ignored it.
"Toriel please! I don't want it to end like this." Ruby pleaded. Toriel still seemed emotionless.
"What are you proving this way?" she asked. Ruby did not have the answer. Toriel shot more fire at her. It burned, and she couldn't hold back her despair this time. Ruby cried out in pain, causing Toriel to start acting aloof. "Fight me or leave!"
Ruby couldn't handle anymore of this. Toriel shot more fire at her, but every single one missed. Ruby even reached to touch it, and it moved away from her. "Toriel?"
"Stop it." Was all she said, before attacking once more. Again, all the attacks missed. "Stop looking at me that way..." Ruby looked at her sadly. Again, Toriel attacked, and nothing happened. "Go away!"
"Toriel, I'm sorry for what happened to you, I really am. But this can't continue on like this." Ruby tried to sympathize, but to no avail. Toriel said nothing. "Toriel?" Still nothing. "Toriel, please say something."
"I know you want to go home, but..." she began. "But please, head upstairs now. I promise I will take good care of you." she smiled sadly. Ruby felt bad.
"You know I can't do that Toriel."
"I know we don't have much... but-"
"I'm sorry Toriel. I need to head home." Ruby stated, her smile faltering.
"We can have a good life here. Why are you making this so difficult?"
"Toriel..." Ruby sighed. She knew it was a simple guilt trip, but it was working.
"Please go upstairs." She frowned. Ruby did too. Toriel's face suddenly grew a sad smile, and pained laughter escaped her throat. "Pathetic, is it not? I cannot save even a single child." Then her smile left her face.
"Toriel, I promise that if you let me go, I will survive, and go home safe and sound."
"Idiot! Don't make a promise you might not be able to keep!" Chara snapped at her. She shushed them.
"No, I understand." Toriel broke. Ruby let out a sad smile as red eyes met silver. "You would just be unhappy trapped down here. The ruins are quite small once you get used to them. It wouldn't be right for you to grow up in a place like this. My expectations... my loneliness... my fear... for you, dear Ruby, I will put them aside." Ruby felt a tear roll down her cheek, then another, then another. She did not intend to cry, but it couldn't be helped. "If you truly wish to leave the ruins, I will not stop you. However, when you leave, please do not come back. I hope you understand." Ruby jumped into her arms and hugged her. Toriel was taken by surprise, and hugged her back. "I will always love you like a daughter Ruby."
"I love you too mom." She whispered, catching the monster by surprise. Toriel felt tears roll down her cheeks and get absorbed by her fur. She let go of Ruby and left without another word.
Ruby walked down a long hallway for what seemed like ten to fifteen minutes before a familiar voice drew her attention.
"Clever. Verrrryyy clever." Flowey's voice echoed through the small room they were in. Ruby scoffed.
"What do you want?" she asked, keeping her hand close to Crescent Rose if need be.
"You think you're so smart, don't you?"
"What the heck are you talking about?" Ruby asked in confusion and impatience.
"In this world it's kill or be killed, but you did neither. You were able to play by your own rules." Then his voice got demonic again. "You spared the life of a single person. Hee hee hee..." his voice returned to normal. "I bet you feel really great. You didn't kill anybody this time. But what will you do if you were to meet a relentless killer?"
"Been there, done that, got the t-shirt." Ruby replied, sounding bored.
"W-what? Ugh! Never mind! Let me finish my speech!"
"Go ahead. I'm in no hurry." She was using a page out of Blake's book. It seemed to be working.
"Right. Where was I? Oh yeah! What will you do if you were to meet a relentless killer? You'll die and you'll die and you'll die, until you're tired of trying. What will you do then? Will you kill outof frustration? Or will you give up entirely, and let ME inherit the power to control it? I am the PRINCE of this world's future! No worries, my little monarch. My plan isn't regicide. This is so much more interesting." Then he started laughing maniacally before disappearing into the ground.
"Chara, I don't think this is just about heading home anymore."
