Septenary 4

Most of the children had mixed reactions to the fact the RUINS consisted mostly of puzzles. Adeline didn't mind herself, but Akin seemed pretty upset about having to use more time to problem-solve. Beatrice had tried to pat his arm and reassure him, but the look he'd given her sent her skittering behind Frisk.

"There isn't anything we can do about it," Micah had snapped and received a glare in response, but once they'd quieted down, she touched his shoulder carefully.

"I know it sounds upsetting," she said in a soft voice. "But we're all smart and so are you. We can get this through together, alright?"

"Together?" He'd grumbled, but she could tell by the glint in his eyes she'd gotten through to him.

"In order to make progress here, you will have complete little tasks," Toriel explained patiently as they huddled near the entrance. "But do not worry, I'm sure you can do it! I even labelled them."

Akin waltzed further in immediately, looking across the walls briefly before running up to the first clearly labelled switch. Micah and Beatrice followed behind briskly, the older of the two gently lifting her up to pull the other lever. When the room trembled briefly and the door opened, she grinned contently and laid her head against his shoulder; the sight of it made the nine year old girl smile.

"Very good," Toriel praised immediately, a genuine smile on her face. "I am very proud of you all."

"But we didn't even do anything," Maria quipped with disappointment in her voice. "We were useless."

"There is much do and learn here, my child," the goat mother soothed immediately. "Do not worry. There are so many of you, it'd be silly to think you would all do everything. I am confident you will find your purposes soon."

Maria seemed pretty reassured by her words, so they walked on slowly. Adeline found herself lagging behind a bit, her eyes looking up to the rocky ceiling above. It wasn't small for them or Toriel, but she wondered how any other monster that was bigger could fit in such a small, cramped area. A pang of pity surged through her at once; those poor monsters.

"Now that you are here," the motherly monster explained, interrupting her thoughts. "You will occasionally encounter other monsters. These monsters may...Well, they may want to have conflict with you all. However, do not fear! Just stall for time before I can arrive and solve the situation. These encounters will be known as entering a FIGHT, and I do not want you to be alarmed with the mechanics of how to stall. Please practice on this training dummy."

The dummy was about Adeline's height, and looked void of life and certainly not threatening. Akin smirked and immediately advanced on the creature, but before he could reach it, the entire room went black all around them. At once her brash friend was slumped up against an invisible barrier, his glare focused on the training dummy still standing stationary before them.

"You encountered the dummy." She jumped at the voice speaking in her head again, but given the others' expressions, they'd heard it, too.

"Whoa!" Beatrice gasped and gripped onto Micah more tightly, her eyes peeking out from behind him fearfully. "Our...Those are our SOULS?"

"Yeah, dummy," Akin replied indignantly.

"He didn't know either," she rationalized evenly. "We are all just as surprised as you, sweetheart. Why are they out there?"

"The battle mechanics are alarming but simple. The others' confusion fills you with kindness."

She didn't know how this mysterious voice seemed to have knowledge of everything, but it was right yet again. This time she ventured forward, gently pressing on the invisible barrier. To her surprise, it did do something; four orange options suddenly appeared before them all.

FIGHT ACT ITEM MERCY

"Fight, Act, Item and Mercy?" Micah repeated while pushing up his glasses. "These seem to be the only options we can choose. What items could we possibly have?"

"It just says I have a 'manly bandanna' and a 'tough glove'," Akin announced after a moment. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"What you're wearing." Frisk's voice alarmed all of them, making Adeline jump a bit and look back to them with an encouraging smile.

"Oh, and you know so much," he spit back accusingly. "Y'know, what the hell even is your gender?! You don't look like a boy or a girl!"

Frisk merely smiled patiently and brought a hand to their throat; it must hurt to speak so much. "You may refer to me with female pronouns if that makes you more comfortable."

"I will act as their- or 'her'- narrator from now on," the mystery voice noted. "I can translate their signs."

At once the group looked toward Frisk in alarm, but she didn't seem to have any answers either, as she was staring up in confusion as well. Whoever this voice's owner was, they were obviously very smart. It would certainly be to all of their advantages to stay on their good side and follow their advice.

"We should do something," Oswald stated before pressing the FIGHT option.

"No! Toriel said to stall, not to hurt them!" Beatrice yipped, her small hand pressing the ACT option.

As they made their selections, Adeline noted that small copied images appeared beside the large four options that were plastered over their heads. She watched curiously as Micah's heart appeared on MERCY, then Akin's appeared on FIGHT, and Maria's appeared on ACT. After Frisk's appeared on MERCY, she realized with a start that it was up to her break a tie. She certainly didn't want to fight and it seemed tedious to try and ACT for now, so she opted to MERCY.

"Dummy stands around aimlessly."

"That did a lot of good," Akin commented sarcastically, opting once more to FIGHT.

"Then let's try talking?" Beatrice suggested calmly as she repeated her prior choice.

This time the group decision was 6 to 1 in favor of acting, so new options appeared in place of the ACT: Check or Talk. Now they selected one unanimously, causing something very strange to happen to their SOULS. They merged temporarily to form a rainbow-colored heart, tapping against the TALK option. Adeline knew she said something, but her lips moved too suddenly to process it and she couldn't hear her own voice.

"You all talk to the Dummy...It doesn't seem to be much for conversation. Toriel seems pleased."

"Very good, my children!" Said goat mother praised eagerly, a large smile on her face as she gazed on them. "I'll be honest, I was not sure how your mechanics would work as a group. But you all did very well! Thank you for being merciful and working together."

She walked briskly into the next room, but Micah's voice was enough to make them all pause. "You know, I find it oddly satisfying that we made her proud in the end. But we can't do that every time if we don't have too. I mean...That took too long, and it got confusing."

"Frisk says she agrees."

"Uh huh," Beatrice said softly.

"Well, maybe if you could all just listen to me-" Akin began, but Adeline had tolerated just about enough of his brash, inconsiderate attitude.

"I hate to interrupt," she interjected. "But I propose we listen to each other. Perhaps we could discuss it together before we act, or somehow merge our SOULS like it did when we all agreed. We could take turns from there, maybe?"

"Take turns?!" Akin complained. "Why should I have to listen to one of you?!"

"Micah is right and so is Adeline," Maria declared and narrowed her eyes sternly at him. "Your constant complaining is just going to make things worse for all of us, including yourself. Hush if you won't offer anything better."

When the others nodded slowly in agreement and all of the girls gave her a gentle smile, Adeline couldn't help but blush and beam in pride. She didn't need the voice to guide her thoughts now; their consideration and compliance filled her with kindness.


"I was going to let you solve this alone," their makeshift mother commented. "But I believe this will be too difficult for such young children. Here, take my hand."

She extended her paw toward them, and Frisk decided to take it first when the others hesitated. Her hold was gentle and warm, just like she'd imagined it might be. The little ghost above her was smirking, their arms crossed over their chest as they looked on.

"Told ya you could trust her," they noted smugly.

Behind them, Frisk watched out of the corner of her eye as Beatrice wiggled down from Micah's arms and grabbed onto her other hand. Micah followed naturally, and blushed when Maria held onto him. Akin grabbed hers, likely to seem braver than he looked when he flinched at Toriel's request, and even seized Adeline's before she could move.

"Hold on tight, my children," Toriel instructed gently. "You do not want any of you to get hurt."

She began leading them across the grid of spikes, her expression never changing as she stepped barefoot onto the metal. Frisk couldn't help but frown with concern, but her Tally voiced her thoughts for her.

"Doesn't that hurt?" The five-year-old questioned worriedly.

"No, my child," she soothed softly. "Our feet are made differently than yours. We are made to handle rougher and sharper surfaces with minimal discomfort."

"That would be why you didn't want us trying this alone," Micah rationalized. "We couldn't afford a mistake."

"Precisely. You are all very smart," Toriel praised as they reached the end of the puzzle. "The next room awaits."

Before they could enter, however, the entire area went black and a small frog creature appeared in their path, it's eyes narrowed at all of them. "Froggit hopped close!"

"I still say we fight it!" Akin declared as he glared back. "Who's with me? We'll show him whose boss!"

"Toriel is boss," Beatrice voiced easily.

"We're going to take turns, remember?" Adeline reminded gently. "How should we decide who gets control when?"

"The most logical and practical solution is to go by age. After all, age typically leads to experience," Micah offered after a moment of consideration. "If I'm not mistaken, Maria is the oldest out of us seven."

"You seem to know a lot about her," Oswald commented flatly, causing Frisk's best friend to blush. "Why?"

"It wouldn't be too hard to guess that," Adeline mused while placing a reassuring hand on his back along with herself. "She has...notable physical differences than us, and she is the tallest."

"You mean her-" Oswald began, but Maria cut him off with a quick press of her hand to his mouth.

"That'll be enough!" She hissed with a bright blush. "Yes, I am the oldest because I'm thirteen. If I'm going to make the decision, however...How do we make our SOULS do the...mergy thing?"

That was a very good question. Frisk looked up toward her ghost companion now, signing 'How?', and they smirked and shrugged in response.

'That's helpful,' she responded with a disbelieving look.

"Look, Queen Mom didn't know how your mechanics would work either," they replied smartly. "Why the heck would I know? I'm just a kid."

"Hey, Voice! Whoever you are!" Akin yelled suddenly. "What the heck are we supposed to do now?!"

"You've got to be kidding me."

She frowned but nodded; that made sense, but they still needed to come up with something before Toriel grew more concerned than she already was. Their goat mother had said before that their SOULS was the very culmination of their being. If that was case, surely they could control them to gravitate toward each other.

"Frisk says, 'Try to focus on your SOUL and move it. We are them, so we should decide what they do."

Her idea worked, which made everyone grin with pride in the end. But they moved very differently; for example, Adeline's gravitated to the center and stayed stationary, Tally's wouldn't move until Frisk's moved, and Micah's only seemed to be able to move up or down. Nevertheless, they did make it to the same place, and as soon as they all connected the rainbow heart appeared once again. The sensation that pulsated through her was an extreme power that seemed to course through her veins, but it made her skin crawl just as hard.

"Make a decision quickly," she heard Oswald grunt from behind her. "This feels weird..."

Maria nodded once and tapped the ACT option, then to Talk once again. This time only she spoke, but Frisk felt her lips move soundlessly in the same pattern as hers nevertheless.

"H-hello Froggit," she greeted cautiously. "You're looking really...green today. It suits you."

"Froggit didn't understand what you said, but was flattered anyway."

Only now did Toriel appear and glare at the creature until it slunk away, and the words claiming they'd won appeared and gained nothing from it appeared briefly. Her ghost applauded silently and smirked at the look she gave in return, but she was quickly distracting but the others' excitement.

"That was so cool!" Akin announced eagerly as he gently punched Maria's shoulder. "Good job, Old Lady!"

"Well done," Oswald agreed.

"We won!" Beatrice agreed and hugged onto Maria's waist eagerly. "You made the right choice!"

"Frisk is proud of you."

"I was going to ask you to walk down this corridor alone," Toriel said with a tone of pride in her voice after the celebration settled. "But I see that you all are both independent and able to work in a team setting. I will trust you all to be alone while I go attend to things across the rest of the RUINS. Do not leave this hallway while I am gone; it will be dangerous without my presence."

"You can count on us, Mom!" Beatrice replied eagerly before blushing brightly.

"Did...Did you just call me Mom?" The motherly monster repeated with a wide smile forming. "Well, please, call me whatever you like! And please, take this cell phone if you need to speak with me while I'm away. Do share, play nicely, and be good, alright?"

She exited and Beatrice buried her face in Frisk's stomach immediately, encouraging her to pick her small friend up. "Frisks say to not be embarrassed, Tally Mark. It was cute and she took to it well. She even seemed happy about it."

"Well, I'm going to explore," Akin decided after only a moment or two. "See you all later."

"But Toriel said to stay here," Micah protested at once. "How are you going to handle it if someone fights with you?"

"I'll fight them back," he replied as boldly as he always did. "Any of you losers coming with me?"

"If you promise not to refer to any of us as 'losers' again, I'd love too," Adeline said in her 'Toriel' voice.

"Me too!" Maria suddenly proclaimed with another red blush covering her face when they all looked to her surprise. "And...I'm sure Ozzy will come if I'm going, right?"

He nodded once in reply and Micah made a face. "She said to wait here and I agree with her; it's the safest. Beatrice, Frisk, and I will all stay here while you go get yourselves hurt or killed."

Beatrice nodded happily in response and she chose not to respond right away, so she watched as the other four exited the room talking among themselves. She didn't want to disappoint her best friend or leave Tally, who was still holding onto her close, but she wanted to take some time and get to know the ghost still watching her expectantly. Even they wanted to go more than stand around until their mother returned.

'I'm going to go explore alone,' Frisk signed after putting the smaller girl down several minutes after the group was gone. 'I won't go too far, I promise. Call if you need me.'

"If you insist," Micah responded warily, but he smiled softly when she frowned. "I trust you more than them to not do something stupid."

'Thank you. I'll be back soon.'

As soon as she walked out, she saw another glowing star in a pile of autumn-red leaves. As she hurried to it and jumped into it on instinct, she couldn't help but smile when they crunched under her. She loved her friends dearly, but the realization she was 'alone' for the first time in months was exhilarating.

"Playing in the leaves fills you with determination."

FILE 2 SAVED.

'So if you're going to be with me constantly and narrate my life, I should at least know your name,' she signed purposefully. 'You know my name is F-R-I-S-K."

The little ghost smirked and considered it briefly before lowering to stand on the ground before her, their left hand raising in front of their chest. "C-H-A-R-A."


Author Note: And there you have it! A lot of this chapter was exposition, but the next chapter will focus much more of character development throughout the RUINS. I got inspiration for the original group-battle mechanics from another Grouptale author, so shoutout to benedicteggs. Even if I did end up changing it, I thought they deserved the credit for being my inspiration!

Don't forget to review! Who is your favorite human so far? Do you have any suggestions or predication of where this story will go next?