My virtue is Integrity.

I woke up on a bed of flowers, which was surrounded by water. It looked as though there were bridge pieces for me to hop on. But, there wasn't enough bridge for me to walk through without stepping in water. The water went up to my belly and was actually quite warm. I took off my ballet shoes so they wouldn't get wet.

I didn't know why I woke up here. It was atypical of my routine. At least, I thought it was. Judging from my ballet shoes and tutu, I thought I might be a dancer. As I held my shoes to leap from bridge piece to bridge piece, it became more apparent that I indeed was a dancer. My leaps were large, and I didn't even touch the water until there was absolutely no more bridge pieces near me.

I didn't know either why I felt the need to move on. I could have stayed on that bed of flowers, and take some time to appreciate the sound of the waterfall. But I felt something inside of me, connecting with the environment: like a cry for help.

The more I walked through the water, the more disgusted I became. A small pile of trash began to form and that's when I realized that this water was a sort of trash filter. I wondered where I was. How did I end up in an aqua-dump? I kept walking until I found a waterfall, separated by a bridge. Above me was a loud waterfall. I could feel the mist. I loved it, despite it being trash-water. The ambiance was nice. Mist, good smells, waterfall scenery, and the nice color of dark blue. I loved the color, and I kept walking through the water.

My tutu was soaked and so were my tights. I passed through more turns in the water halls and found the way to dry land. I walked around and found nothing more than what seemed like a mini maze until I figured out where I was, which was the dry land entrance again. I went through every possible route until I found an entrance in the east hall.

I walked in to find so many beautiful, precious gemstones. I was taken back in awe as I took in the beautiful scenery. I then saw an insignia of some sort. A circle with wings and triangles below it. I stared at it for so long, that I was extremely startled when a monster appeared behind me and said, "Fancy seeing a human here."

I jumped and began to feel kind of afraid. How could I be seeing a monster... unless... I fell into the underground... "What are you?"

"I believe the question is who," said the turtle-like monster.

"Who?"

"Ah you sound like an owl, now," he joked.

"There are owls in these caves?"

"No, but I remember them. Back when monsters used to live on the surface."

"Back when? Is this not a regular cave?"

"Human, this is the underground. Your kind forced all monsters in the caverns of this mountain. Now, if the barrier was broken, wouldn't that be a field day for me? Wahahaha. Well, in that case, I suppose this would be a "regular" cave."

"Who are you, then... monster sir?"

"My name is Gerson. I've been alive for quite some time. I like to explore the caverns. This one, however, was already previously explored, as told by the Delta Rune there. I think the scenery is so nice here, that I'll make a home here. My wife and I have been planning to find somewhere amazing to call "home." I'll have to talk to the King's administrators to get the right to set up my home. It'll take a few months, though. Ever since the Queen left, things have been moving slowly, but at least we have hope." With that, I found out many things. The name of the emblem, some history, and that monsters are actually quite advanced with civilization. They have their own society and government set up, with property regulation and marital relationships and everything. My viewpoints on monsters had certainly changed. There were stories about monsters inhabiting the mountain, looking to kill humans. Though, not much was known about them. It was nice to meet one and understand the different perspectives as well as fact from fiction.

"So is it false what the humans say about monsters being evil?"

"Well, monsters aren't inherently evil... We are born innocent. However, if you encounter a monster, they might feel scared and will try to defend themselves. Unlike humans, our souls don't linger, for the most part. Our souls are not as strong and if you kill us, that's the end of our life completely. I fought in the war. I was actually part of the scouts: studying the battlefield then reporting everything to the general. While I was there, I saw monsters die instantly with a quick blow from a strong-souled human. It wasn't fair that humans were murdering monsters, which is kind of why the war started.

The humans feared our ability to take their soul and become extremely powerful. They then used that fear and segregated monsters to live in the mountain, a place where no monster could escape, especially with the magical barrier. Except, there's hope. With the power of 7 human souls, King Dreemurr will be able to break the barrier and free the monsters. That's how us monsters stay hopeful around here.

Oh, dear, sorry. It seems I'm reaching that old age where I just ramble on and on about what I've seen."

"No, it's okay," I quickly reaffirmed. "How many human souls has he collected until now?"

"Just two. Although, with you here, maybe the number will increase to three." The thought of my death made me uneasy. I held my breath.

"...And... Is he going to come to kill me?"

"Well... I don't think so. The King has never killed a human before." I exhaled, relieved that he hadn't reaped the other humans himself. Maybe they died of natural causes. Maybe. And maybe they all lived peaceful lives, coexisting with monsters. I mean, if monsters thought humans were just as dangerous as my town did, then Gerson would have attacked and killed me by now.

"Does that mean the King is now twice as powerful with all the souls he has collected?"

"No, he keeps the souls in containers and the bodies in coffins. King Dreemurr isn't a power-hungry guy. I've met him, he's nice folk, drinking tea, and helping out the community. He doesn't want to feel the power of all the souls until the time comes to take them and use them for our freedom." I felt as though I had a strong moral duty to sacrifice my soul to help out the monsterkind. However, that would require my death. And I never really thought about my death until this moment. I would be a martyr. When I really think about it, I didn't remember my family, my friends, my life, my talents, my qualities, my goals, or anything. I have a few memories involving strong events I've lived through but nothing concrete enough to say that I had aspirations. What I can remember is a word that popped into my mind. 'Integrity.' That word keeps me bound and makes me feel as though I'm not crazy. After all, I could just be hallucinating everything. But my integrity kept me grounded.

"I can see that the thought of the soul collection topic troubles you," Gerson said quietly.

"What?" I responded, "I'm fine." I shook my head.

He smiled at me. "You don't have to give up your soul. As I said before, the last thing Asgore wants is to kill a human himself. You can live down here, if you want. Until your human life ends." My eyebrows scrunched together.

"Why did you say, 'human life?' Are monsters immortal?"

"Only a select few can achieve immortality but for the most part, we monsters just fade away."

"what about you, are you special?"

"Wahaha, I wish. Well, honestly, I'm not sure. Maybe. Maybe not. Wouldn't like it. Even now, the history tends to change around your brain."

"I understand. I suppose not all things glamorous are true to their word."

There was a silence and I started to walk around. My feet had started to hurt. That's when I noticed I've been holding on to my ballet shoes that entire time. I sat on the pebbles on the ground and dusted off my feet and put on my shoes. "Well, Gerson, it was a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine! Please, enjoy your time underground."

"You speak as though I had chosen to stay underground."

"Well, do you wish to leave the underground?"

"That would be desirable. Despite your unfortunate situation, I would prefer to keep my life."

"Well, then, I'm not going to stop you. But please, consider the incredible difficulty it is to pass through the barrier."

"It can't be that hard. I supposedly have a strong human soul."

"You need a human and a monster soul to pass through. You would have to take a boss monster soul to cross the barrier. However, the boss monster souls stay around for only a few seconds before it disappears. So you'll need to catch it quickly."

"Why don't you attack me? Keep my soul and give it to Asgore?"

"I'm not the fighting type and certainly don't want to die just yet-"

"How do you think I feel? I don't want to kill neither do I want to be killed."

"Well then, I'd recommend walking by the waterfalls and learn from yourself. Find your answer from within."

"Thank you, Gerson."

"Of course!"

I waved goodbye at the strange turtle-monster. But I smiled at how amazing it was to meet a friend in the Underground. I had accepted I was in the monster world and that I'd be faced with an Ultimatum. I walked from where I came from but got lost, so I just kept heading straight until I found some glowing grass leading to a peninsula. At the end was an old bird. He offered to take me from one side to the other. I accepted. After all, the worst that could happen was that the bird dropped me in the water, where I'd get wet. It dropped me on the other side and bounced slowly, happily. I kept moving on and found a small bridge. Perhaps it led to the waterfall where I awoke. I met a few other monsters. One in particular asked me about the stars.

"The crystals shining in the cave aren't much different from real life star. And if you really want to see a star, look in a mirror. Anyone can be a star." The monster smiled and told me about how her children will grow up with the knowledge I shared. That made me smile.

I kept walking until this flower popped up.

"Well hey! My name's Flowey!" A talking flower. Was this also a type of monster? Maybe it was a hallucination of my conscience. "Don't worry, like Gerson, I'm a friendly monster."

"Umm… hi," I responded. "How did you know about my encounter with Gerson, and how did you pop up from the ground? Aren't flowers stationery?"

The flower smiled, sweetly. "Sorry for my intrusion. I have the ability to pop up anywhere, so long as there's some kind of ground. So I overheard your conversation with Gerson."

"What about our conversation?" My guard was not let down. Something about this flower seemed… off.

"Well I seemed to recall your inability to choose a decision. Either help out monsterkind and kill yourself or help yourself and kill monsterkind."

"Woah, wait, who said anything about killing all of monsterkind?"

"Well, how would you know who is a monster boss and who isn't? Gerson could have been a monster boss. I could be a monster boss. You'll have to find out who is and isn't. And how would you do that? Well, it's not like you could ask a monster. That would mean their imminent death."

I pondered for a moment. This flower made a good point. But I needed to think more about what I would do. I walked further. Then took a right. Dead end. I saw some tall grass and sat on it. The flower followed me and situated itself in front of me.

"Think of me like a therapist. You have to vent out what you're going to do."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Well, I wanted to reiterate the idea you mentioned before. That you didn't want to kill or be killed."

'It's true, I've never killed anyone."

"I'm sure you've killed a mosquito here and there. Didn't you know they have souls too? Insect souls. If they die naturally, they go to heaven, but if they are killed then they don't have any chance whatsoever." I got frightened. I've killed many bugs in my life. I wasn't sure, but I must've stepped on many bugs while walking. My ballet shoes are hard and would surely crush a bug. The flower saw my face of worry.

"Do you feel guilty? You shouldn't. Your entire life you have probably been told, 'it's okay, it's just a small mosquito.' So much that you probably have stopped recognizing it. Down here, the local spiders have begun selling their cobwebs in exchange for money. The latest Spider Queen has decided on beginning selling webs to make money for the family, since they lost everything after racist monsters set their parlor on fire. Apparently, monsters here believe that monsters smaller than an inch are bugs- not monsters. I'm sure the humans on the surface have similar beliefs."

My eyes were opened in disbelief. I had no idea how precious every life was. And I had the audacity to believe I had integrity. I removed both my ballet shoes and hid them in the grass. I didn't want to hurt any more monsters. At least barefooted, my feet will sink on them but won't crush them.

"But those monsters are right. How could a small, insignificant bug be anything like monsters or humans? Like I said before, why bother feeling guilty about killing monsters when your life is what matters most. Even then, human life is so much more precious. So much stronger than any monster life."

"That doesn't mean their life is worth any less than mine, though."

"There used to be more humans in the Underground. But the monsters fear them so much that they kill them. While you were running away from the truth, I popped to spy on Gerson. He called the local monster bosses to try to kill you and take your soul. Your weak, childish soul."

"What?!" I couldn't believe Gerson did that. But maybe the flower was telling the truth.

"All the humans that have fallen previously had tried to live peacefully with the monsters but they were all killed after falling for their false kindness. When someone doesn't have their guard up, they end up dying quicker. And that's the strategy the monsters used." I shook my head even more in disbelief. "And that's what they did to you once again."

"What do I do?!" I said, panicking.

"Remember that in this world, it's only 'kill or be killed.'"

I nodded and ran away, trying to stay safe.

While I was running as far away as possible, I thought more about my life and what is considered precious. All life is precious. Spiders, Mosquitos, Monsters, Humans. But human life is stronger than all those. We have the ability to murder everyone if we want. Kill or be killed. Kill or be killed. That is what the flower was wrong in. It's kill and be killed. I killed so many monsters, even if they were small ones. Now, it was my time. With my honor, with my integrity, I will save monsterkind. They have certainly found a way to catch on to societal values and be a helpful, working class. Why must they continue to be banished? Punished for no reason, other than out of intimidation.

I found a waterfall with falling rocks. I took off my tutu and grabbed a rock. I was planning to smash my head with the rock.

"Halt!" called out a voice. "Who goes there?!"

"The human, you are searching for."

"Human? We have not received word about a human." Out of the mist popped out an old rabbit-like monster wearing an iron suit. "My name is Sir Reynolds. It's been years since I've seen a human and I've got a bit blind. Are you truly a human, or a prankster? If so, I have the right to arrest you under Dreemurr law."

"Yes," I said peacefully. This was the right choice for me.

He concluded his duties by taking my arm and guiding me to a boat and took me through a large river all the way to the castle. I stayed silent the entire walk to the castle.

"Hello," said a calm voice. "My name is Asgore Dreemurr. I am the King of the Underground and rule over all monsters, ensuring their safety and ensuring their hope stays intact."

"Hope as in-"

"-Hope as in awaiting the arrival of seven humans in order to break the barrier."

"Look, I don't like to talk so formally like this. Would you like to come inside to have some tea?" Tea? This monster King was asking me to have some tea with him. I remember Gerson saying the king was kind, but I couldn't believe the King would offer me tea.

Sir Reynolds interrupted saying, "Your highness, it would not be wise to have tea with a human. They might try to kill you. It would be safer to execute the command for execution."

"Sir Reynolds," he replied, "this human has no sins. They haven't killed you. You've become quite aged, making you an easier target. If it were the malintent of this human to murder a monster, they would have killed you by know." Sir Reynolds bowed his head as a sign of understanding and dismissed himself. The King led me through the castle entrance to the various rooms. He brought me to a house-looking section of the castle. It was a mostly grey color and had music.

"What is that music I hear?" I asked.

"Correct you are! Here, come with me." The King brought me down a grey corridor. I passed by a few golden flowers, the same type that I woke up on. As we walked, the music got louder. We walked until we came across a small table adjacent to the wall. That's where it was coming from. A music box played a cute melody. "Isn't this an amazing little box?" said the king, excited with the music. "You wind it up on the side here, and then out comes music without even having to have monsters pick up an instrument! I think it's such a wonderful box." He began to speed up his words, being so excited. I don't know how I got it, but I have two theories. Either Gaster made it and set it on my door as a gift, or it came from the human world and someone picked it up and set it for me to find. Either way, it's a wonderful gift. Currently, I'm having a statue built and I'm planning on setting this music box inside the statue. However, I'll need to find a way for it to play without being needed to wind."

"What's the statue for?" That question made his excited face change to one more grim.

"My son… He was… murdered."

"I'm so sorry to hear that," I quickly responded. I didn't mean for him to shift his mood so much.

"It's alright. It happened a long time ago. So, is it true?"

"What?"

"My theory. That the box came from the surface."

"Ah, it's very likely. They do have music boxes back home. I remember I'd use music boxes to practice my routine."

"Which routine?"

"Well, I know I was a dancer. And hearing this music reminds me of when I used to practice my dances at home. I would listen to the box and my body would dance according to my muscle memory."

"Do you feel the need to dance now?"

"It would be nice to try."

"By all means," he said gently, "do whatever you wish!" I smiled and as the melody began, I took a few steps, turning into skips, turning into leaps, turning into turns. My hands positioned themselves gracefully and I let the music take me like the ocean reaching for the sand, taking any small creatures it can find to pull into the deep waves. I could feel the music resonating in my bones and my muscles followed through with what the music yearned for me to do. "You're an excellent dancer!" I would take small, quick steps to follow the notes and huge leaps when it became dramatic. After a while of dancing, the King joined me by tilting his head left and right along to the beat and tapping his foot.

"Are you thirsty?" he asked after dancing for a while. "I haven't danced with such joy for a long time now. It seems like forever since I last danced."

"I'd like a drink, thank you." I didn't want to ask him about the last time he danced. It seemed to me as though he had a very sad past. We walked to his kitchen where he asked me for my favorite tea. I told him that I'd have what he liked. He lit the stovetop with magical fireballs coming from his hands. In a mere minute, the water resting in the pot began to boil. We walked down to the kitchen and dipped golden flower into the tea and added a few cubes of sugar. I stared at the flower petals as their colors dissolved into the water.

"Are all flowers monsters?" I asked.

"I've never met a flower who was a monster. From my knowledge, flowers are plants; rich with beauty and taste."

I nodded my head. That flower probably lived in isolation. No wonder it was so bitter. King Asgore had a sad past but he wasn't bitter.

I was ready.

I would be a savior.

I stood up. "King Asgore, thank you for your kindness: showering me with music and tea. I'm ready to help out monsterkind."

"You don't have to die right away. You can stay here. Dance, drink tea, and have fun every day until old age. Please be open to that option."

"I am and I have decided that I would become unhappy, because of the lack of family. However, my moral needs are stronger than my personal needs. I have seen how diverse monsters are. Some mean, some kind. And I don't think that you should all be trapped down here. So please, King, take my soul.

"I hate to be your executioner."

"It's okay. I understand everything."

"Your integrity will benefit monsterkind immensely. Thank you, human." I closed my eyes, awaiting the blow.

Integrity.

Integrity.

Integrity.

Integrity.

My integrity is what led me to the fateful moment. My strong morality and decision to help others out came with a grave price.

Integrity isn't my virtue.

Integrity is my vice.