Night soon embraced the Ruins.
You woke up with the strange feeling of having a functional family. It got stronger as soon as you heard the reverberating laughter of your actual sibling.
You also heard silly banter and witnessed playful parents, things you thought were lost in the Hell above.
This is just a dream, is it not? It cannot be real, you thought, surprised by the ordinary family picture you came to see, first thing after waking up.
Something made you feel you do not deserve this at all. Deep down yourself, you know you have sinned, you just can't recall how, or when, or where.
The weight of your past burdens your shoulders, and you cannot fully trust anyone just yet. Still, you would not pass up this semblant of happiness.
Someone calls you for dinner, someone you just called Mother out of nowhere.
Why did I say that first thing out of bed ?! you cursed the needy child you were, there was no telling if Asriel's mother would be that nice.
Yet, she was since instead of being irritated by the title, she accepted it wholeheartedly.
"Would you … be happy … to call me Mother?"
You blushed at your blunder, but you liked the fluttering feeling in your chest. It took you a minute to actualy nod and run to Asriel's mom, which was probably the Queen now that you thought about it.
"I'm … sorry" as you got out of the embrace.
The Queen sort of giggled, then realized she forgot something.
"Young one, I am sorry I haven't introduced myself yet. I am Toriel, Queen of Monsterkind and caretaker of the Ruins."
Before you had a chance to whine about your lack of names, Asriel jumped before Asgore could propose a name.
"Wait right there, Dad … you were about to suggest something like "Human" or "Red" right?"
Asgore laughed as Asriel got a little angry, his father naming sense was so terrible their home was just called "Home".
"Do you have anything in mind, Asriel?"said Toriel as she placed dishes and pie slices on the nearby table.
"Maybe Flame or Flare would work but …" Asriel just looked like some scholar, making his parents look at each other.
You laughed, Flare sounded nice, so you adopted that as you cuddled Asriel.
"Hey, you good with tha-? Wait, which one did you pick?"
You un-hugged Asriel quickly and sort of posed a reverence.
"I am Flare, pleased to meet you, Monster Prince."
Toriel smiled, as so did Asgore, they kind of liked how you just fitted in without too mich trouble.
You ate some pie and drank warm tea, along Asgore talking about his flowers and Toriel scolding him for not doing his primary job. Asriel apologized in silence but you shook your head, it felt nice being here after all.
Somewhere in the middle of that conversation, Asriel asked something.
"Are they my sibling now?"
You blushed, you had no idea you were already part of the family.
"I guess so Asriel, and now they'll need a roo-" Toriel suddenly became sad for a second, before dismissing the thought and getting up.
"I'll be back in a minute."
She went upstairs as you questioned Asriel with a whisper. "What happened?"
Asriel never responded to that, he just looked concerned, and so did Asgore.
Both glanced upstairs as you got even more confused, but Asgore soon brought you back to your senses.
"It is alright, Flare, there is nothing wrong."
He gave you a smile, it felt a little empty but you chose to smile back.
"Flare, my child, come to your room please." said Toriel, who looked like she just cried over something.
You thought you should not pry on that matter right now, maybe you could ask Asriel later on. Wishing everyone good night, you entered the room Toriel prepared in a hurry.
The bedroom looks quite furnished. Items of humans your age are all over the place, seems your hosts were really eager to have you down here. A couple of toys were in a chest, and you kind of looked around those to find a plushie. A bunny with floppy ears, like Asriel's, caught your fancy.
You change into whatever pajamas you could find, and they fit you perfectly. You looked at you blue striped, purple PJs in the mirror and gave your plushie a pat. The bed looked confortable, probably better than anything you can remember.
Truth is, you can only compare it to flowerbeds and giant couches.
The familiar scent of a person you knew came to mind, perhaps was it the pajamas or the plushie. You shrugged it off and rolled around until you figured out a good sleeping position.
Sleep got you again, not that you did not mind it, having heard someone weep downstairs.
"Tick, tock.
It started,
The indubitable,
The ineluctable,
End of all things."
They got up in the middle of the night, somewhere akin to a dark room. "Flare" looked a little alarmed but approached a glistening object, which turned out to be a mirror up close.
The "room" was awfully quiet, so "Flare" went to glance at their reflection. They could not see one right away, but it soon began to form before them.
Surprisingly, it smiled as "Flare" looked at it, dumbfounded. The reflection smirked and brought a knife out of nowhere, playing with it. "Flare" looked at their own hands but couldn't find anything sharp, then heard their own reflection talk.
"ɿɘʜ uoʏ ɿoᎸ bɘɘᴎ oᴎ ꙅi ɘɿɘʜT"
The reflection glared at "Flare", who could not get anything of what was said. It got out of the mirror and loomed on the human, speaking to them one more time. It did not get through either, so "Flare" stabbed "Flare".
Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
"Flare" felt like falling down the abyss, the same one they just woke up from yesterday. It took forever to reach the bottom of it, neither screaming nor panicking seemed to help them.
When they finally reached a dead flowerbed, "Flare" looked at their own blood, flowing as it colored the garden in light crimson. Someone came running towards them, yelling as "Flare" was about to pass out."
"I am here _ _ _ _ _ ! "I am here _ _ _ _ _ ! ɿɒᎸ oꙅ ƚi ɘbɒm ɘw ɿɘƚᎸɒ ƚoᴎ ,woᴎ ɘib ƚoᴎ ɿɘƚƚɘd uoY."
Honestly, stop talking in gibberish. "Flare" thought sarcastically, as they were about to "die".