Hello, and welcome to my second story, Omega Child. In this timeline, we follow Frisk's original route through the underground world of monsters in a neutral, genocide, and pacifist route, with a little twist later. This is not taking the place of my other story, FirstTale. It's just another idea I had knocking around in my head, and both will be worked on simultaneously. That said, strap in for a long haul, because we have three full runs to go through! Also, don't be afraid to leave a comment/review. I love reading them, and usually respond to them in the next chapter.
Picture by Maryryn-Nya on tumblr.
I woke up on a bed of flowers.
That first time was terrifying. I thought I was a goner after tripping and falling into the hole. Down, down, down, seemingly forever, though it was just a few seconds. Hoping to wake up from a nightmare, or start flying, or anything before I hit the bottom. Instead, all I got was the wind rushing past my head and the rocky ground rushing up to meet me. I braced myself, trying to avoid the inevitable, hoping that the end would at least be quick. Next thing I remember was looking up at where I had been moments ago, both wondering if I was alive and afraid of what it meant if I was.
Would the lack of food or water take me first?
Would I freeze?
Would anyone find me?
"Not likely," a thought came, floating through my head.
I'm not sure how long I lay still, dreading my fate. Just a young boy, alone, with nothing but a stick, fallen into an impossibly deep hole inside a mountain no one else would climb. My chance of survival was a big fat zero.
Still, it could have been worse. Despite the fall, I wasn't in any kind of pain, and a quick once over confirmed nothing was hurt or broken. Even my old bandage, which I'd had to use a few times already, had stuck on.
That was when I noticed the reason for me being alive. Among the stone ground was a small patch of yellow flowers and loose soil, like from a garden. Some of the flowers had been crushed, but most were springing back up like they'd just taken a strong breeze and nothing more.
Rolling off the flowers, my eyes scanned part of the cave and saw that, to my surprise, there was a tunnel off to one side. I checked the rest of the small area and, finding nothing, headed off. I was caught off guard by the ancient-looking doorway at the end. If there was a door, someone had to live there, or used to. Maybe I could find help, or at least food and water.
The next room is when I met...him. Flowey the flower. Once I stepped close enough, he started a little speech, pretending to teach me how things worked under the mountain and acting like a friend. I should have known it was all fake, it was too good to be true.
"Howdy! I'm Flowey. Flowey the flower!" His voice was so cheerful and happy, I got caught up in it. It wasn't often...or ever, really...that someone sounded glad to see me. Because of that, I fell for his shtick hook, line, and sinker.
"Hmm...You're new to the underground, arn'tcha? Golly, you must be so confused. Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do. Ready? Here we go!"
With that, I felt something strange happen, as though a bubble had formed around me and the talking flower. When I looked around, I could still see, but it was like viewing things through dark frosted glass. Flowey, meanwhile, was crystal clear, and floating in front of me was a bright red heart. Whatever movement I made, it followed, always staying the same distance away.
"See that heart? That is your soul, the very culmination of your being! Your soul starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV."
"What's el vee?" I asked, not sure what the flower was talking about.
"What's LV stand for? Why, LOVE of course! You want some LOVE, don't you?"
I'd have given anything for love then. If Flowey had asked me to, I probably would have given him my soul willingly if he promised to always be my friend. Instead, I just nodded, and he continued his practiced schpeel.
"Don't worry, I'll share some with you!" He topped his reply off with a wink, somehow making a twinkle pop out from his petals. Right after, little white things floated above him.
"Down here, LOVE is shared through...little white...'friendliness pellets.'" His pause when naming them was strange, like he was making the name up on the spot.
"It's an obvious trick," I thought. But that couldn't be right, Flowey was being so nice. It was okay to trust them, right?
"Move around! Get as many as you can!"
With that, he made the pellets lazily move towards me. I went to catch one of the pellets like I was told to, only for it to zip past my hand and go straight into my soul. Collapsing to the ground in pain, I listened to what I thought was the final words I'd hear.
"You idiot. In this world, it's kill or be killed. Why would anyone pass up an opportunity like this?"
I was surrounded by those pellets as they formed a ring, leaving no chance of escape no matter which way I tried to crawl.
"DIE!"
"I knew it." My inner voice was right, but that wasn't helpful at the moment.
The attack slowly closed in on me, spinning around while Flowey laughed maniacally. I was going to die, not by a large fall into a mountain or starvation or anything like that, but by a little flower pretending to be a friend. Just before I met my end though, what felt like a warm wave washed over me, making me feel better instantly and pushing the pellets away. Flowey looked just as confused as I did, at least before a ball of fire sent him flying through the air and into the darkness.
As I thought myself lucky, I heard footsteps coming from the direction the fire appeared from. Out of the strange vision-concealing bubble came a woman, but unlike any I'd ever seen. While her clothes were strange enough, a dress with an odd symbol on them, what she herself looked like was most surprising. She looked like a cross between a human and a sheep, or perhaps a goat, with white fur all over, large floppy ears, small horns, and a snout. I could also see sharp fangs jutting out from under her lips.
"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth." She looked off into the darkness as she spoke, looking to see if Flowey would return. When he didn't, she turned to me.
At that point, I was so confused and afraid. Falling into the mountain, having what I thought was a friendly flower creature try to kill me, and now a fire throwing goat monster standing before me was almost too much. I backed away, taking short, ragged breaths. She must have seen the terror in my eyes, because smiled softly and knelt down.
"Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the ruins." Her voice was hushed but not too quiet, having an endearing and comforting quality to it, the exact opposite of the overly cheery and enthusiastic charade Flowey had used. She sounded like...like...
"Like a mother," came another thought. Yeah, like a real mother might sound.
"I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come down here in a long time. Come! I will guide you through the catacombs." With that, she stood back up and walked a few paces away, stopping to let me get up as well. I went behind her, taking time to stop at a strange yellow star in front of a double staircase, which gave me a feeling like I could do anything, as well as a few strange buttons hovering in front of me.
"The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with determination. Hp fully restored." Wait, what was hp? Why would I think something like that? I held my hand over the first option.
"Save." Wondered what it was saving, so I touched it.
"File saved." What was a file?
"Welcome to your new home, innocent one." Toriel's words snapped me from my thoughts. Wait, new home? Was I trapped? It made sense, as I'd never heard of real monsters on the surface, so maybe they were all stuck in these ruins below the mountain. I tried to ask Toriel, but she continued talking.
"Allow me to educate you in the operation of the ruins." With that, she walked over some buttons on the floor, pressed a switch on the wall, and a door behind her opened.
"The ruins are full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them."
The next room had another 'puzzle,' but it was just pulling two switches that were in the open, and even marked. There was a third one, but it was broken and unmovable. Next was a smaller room with what looked like some kind of large doll.
"As a human living in the underground, monsters may attack you." Toriel said. Oh, that got my heart beating in worry.
"You will need to be prepared for this situation. However, worry not! The process is simple. When you encounter a monster, you will enter a fight." Was this supposed to be some simple combat training, or maybe how to run away or dodge attacks?
"While you are in a fight, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time, I will come to resolve the conflict. Practice talking to the dummy." I did as she asked, and she seemed happy, which made me happy too. The dummy didn't seem much for conversation though.
In the very next room, Toriel went ahead after asking me if I could solve the puzzle, only for a strange, large frog to jump out at me, making me yell. I did as I was told again and said something nice to it, making it blush while Toriel rushed back to chase the thing off. It felt nice having someone that could watch over and protect me. On the other side of the room was a bunch of spikes. Rather than risk me getting hurt, she took my hand and guided me across, the spikes sliding down into holes beneath us. Her hand was warm and soft, holding mine gently yet firmly. I didn't want to let go, but she pulled her hand away after the room, then turned around to look at me.
"You have done excellently thus far, my child. However..." Oh no. Did I do something wrong? Was she going to leave me? Would I be alone again?
"...I have a difficult request to ask of you. I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself. Forgive me for this." And she rushed off down the room, out of sight in the dark corridor.
I stood there, paralyzed, wondering what I had done to make her leave. My mind raced through the events of the day, thinking of and criticizing every little thing I did and didn't do. Did I not talk enough? Was I not friendly enough? Perhaps I was too weak and stupid?
"It's a test. Just go." Well, my inner voice was more confidant than I was. It seemed to kick me out of my spiraling thoughts, and I started moving, slowly at first, then finding a decent stride. The hallway seemed to go on forever, with nothing but vines along the wall to show any progress. Eventually, I saw the a pillar near an exit. While passing the pillar, I saw movement come from behind it, causing me to flinch away, only to realize it was Toriel coming out.
"Greetings, my child. Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time. Thank you for trusting me." I started to feel better at those words, thankful I'd passed her little test.
"However, there was an important reason for this exercise...to test your independence. I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while. Please remain here. It's dangerous to explore by yourself." So much for feeling better. Being told to stay in an unknown place, by myself, and just wait for someone to come back is something I didn't want to do again.
"I have an idea. I will give you a cellphone. If you have a need for anything, just call." She held out her hand, holding a very old cellphone. It was a large black box, with a small screen, large buttons, and an antenna that could be pulled up.
"Be good, alright?" She said as she handed the phone to me, then turned and left. I examined the phone, wondering why she had something like it and not something more modern. It had an option called for contacts, which had one number inside, a 'previous calls' feature, a clock, and...that's it really.
I had to make sure I wasn't being abandoned. I couldn't handle that again. So, with shaking hands, I quickly hit contacts, then dial on the number. It rang once...twice...
"This is Toriel." My breath was let out in a relieved sigh as I calmed down, now trying to think of something to actually say. I went with the first thing that popped into my head.
"H-hello..." I tried not to let her hear the quiver in my voice, the fear of her being gone still slowly leaving.
"You only wanted to say hello...?" She asked after a few seconds of awkward silence. I gave an 'mhm,' not trusting my words anymore.
"Well then. Hello! I hope that suffices. Hee hee." That laugh at the end, it sounded actually genuine, like she wanted to say hello to me as much as I did to her.
The call ended right after that, and I decided that I would do as she said. I sat against the pillar, clutching the phone, determined to be a good child so Toriel would come back. I waited what I thought was a couple minutes before getting nervous again and looked at the phone, dialing Toriel again. It rang twice before she answered.
"This is Toriel." Good, she was still answering. I thought quickly about what I wanted to say.
"Hi, Toriel. Can you tell me about yourself?" I had hoped she'd give me some details, maybe ramble a little about herself, anything to keep her talking.
"You want to know more about me? Well, I'm afraid there is not much to say. I am just a silly old lady who worries too much!" That was it, she hung up after that. It wasn't what I was hoping for, but it was better than nothing. Still, it didn't hold me over very long, and I dialed again soon after.
"This is Toriel." Seemed she used the same greeting every time she answered the phone.
"It's me, just...just wanted to say hi." God, I was pathetic, sitting there holding the phone to my ear as if it would bring me closer to her.
"You want to say hello again? Salutations! Is that enough?" She hung up too quickly for me to respond, though now I had a new word to try out sometime.
"Would be nice to hear her voice again." I wasn't going to argue with that line of thinking, so I dialed Toriel once more.
"This is Toriel." Ah, her usual greeting. It was nice having something that didn't change.
"Um...hello again." I heard myself sigh internally at that.
"Is that the only thing you can think of?" I hung my head a little, knowing I wasn't a very smart kid. I couldn't even talk to someone properly.
"Are you bored? I should have given a book to you. My apologies." I couldn't tell her that wouldn't have helped. I hadn't gone to school before, so I never learned how to read.
"Why not use your imagination to divert yourself? Pretend you are...a monarch! Rule over the leaf pile with a fist of iron. Can you do that for me?" I wasn't sure how to turn my hand into iron, but gave a quiet 'mhm' which she seemed to take, and hung up. There were only a few small leaves from the vines growing on the walls, so I gathered as many as I could find and put them into one pile. I didn't have a metal hand, so instead I sat on it, turning it into a pillow. At least it was softer than the floor, and I could pretend they were all trying to hold me up. I couldn't tell what the time said when Toriel handed me the phone, so I let the numbers change a few times before calling her again.
"This is Toriel." It sounded like she was going past a bunch of stuff and that she was busy, so I just gave her a quick greeting.
"My errands are taking longer than I thought they would. You must wait five more minutes. Thank you for being patient." She hung up after, but that was okay. I could do five, that was how many fingers I had on one hand. I sat, squirmed, lay down, got up and paced, jumped around, then checked the clock on the phone, expecting it to be close to calling her again. Instead, the numbers hand only changed once. I think my groan could be heard back where I fell down. Eventually though, the numbers changed five times and I called Toriel again.
"This is Toriel." This time it sounded like she was moving quickly, the wind hitting the microphone sometimes.
"Hi Toriel, are you coming back now?" I asked, hopeful that she was done and rushing back to me.
"I found what I was looking for, but before I could take it..." She paused a moment, as if distracted or looking around.
"...a small, white puppy snatched it away. How odd. Do dogs even LIKE flour?...Er, that is an unrelated question, of course. It will take a little longer. Please understand." She ended the call there, leaving me to wonder what she was trying to do, and what I would do.
"Could just leave." I could, but I said I'd be a good boy and wait for her. She even gave me a phone and answers every time I call, so she'll come back. This time will be different.
Every time the phone's clock changed numbers five times, I called. However, Toriel wasn't answering anymore, though on most I could still hear her voice. Instead, it sounded like the dog from before had taken her phone away and was hiding. I wanted to be good and wait, I really did, but I was getting hungry and tired, and no one was answering the phone anymore. I got up and slowly moved towards the doorway. No sooner had I stepped out of the room than the phone rang.
"Hello? Hello? This is Toriel," she said before I could get a word out.
"My apologies. A strange dog kidnapped my phone, so if you called, I could not have helped you. However, I have recovered it. And you are still in that room, are you not? What a good child you are. There are a few puzzles ahead that I have yet to explain. Be good, alright?" I couldn't get a word in at all before she hung up. I was worried now, I'd disobeyed her and had left the room with pillar, meaning I wasn't really a good child now and she wouldn't want a bad child and would leave me while everyone else ignored me and...
"Relax, and just go. Nothing you can do about it now." Right. My inner voice was right. I could only do what I did before, just go. There was one of those big frogs near the door, but I was too afraid of it to go near it, going instead through the door behind it. There was a bowl with what looked like candy inside, with a little note that I couldn't read.
"It says 'take one.'" Don't know how my thoughts knew that while I didn't, but I was too hungry to think about it much. I reached up and plucked a piece, popping it into my mouth right away, getting a surprise as it dissolved. Turning around and leaving the rest like the note said, I stepped back into the other room and took a look around. It looked like another small purple hallway, only now it had red leaves all over the floor. Walking over a pile with one of those odd stars floating above was kind of fun, hearing the crunching leaves with every step. It made me feel like things weren't as bad, and that I could keep going. After a bit, I touched the star to see what would happen this time.
"Playfully crinkling through the leaves fills you with determination. Hp fully restored." So same as before, including the save option. Pressing my hand to it, I saw what looked like the same buttons like last time. I moved my hand to the second one this time.
"Return." Wondering what that meant, I went to press it.
"You won't save, and if something happens then you'll go back to the previous star." What...how did I know that? There couldn't be anyone else, since these were thoughts coming from my head, but how could my thoughts know something I didn't? Was I going crazy now? In my hesitation, I felt something like a push on my hand, as though someone was trying to move it towards the other button but they weren't strong enough. Not wanting to make angry whatever it was, I moved my hand for it and pressed the save button.
"File saved." It almost sounded like there was a sigh of relief at the end of that thought.
A little creeped out, I walked away from the leaves and the star, thoughts wandering and not paying attention, only to jump in fright by a loud croak right in front of me and my soul popping out. In my way sat another strange frog, looking at me like it was somewhat confused.
"Froggit doesn't seem to know why it's here," my inner voice said. Well, I could certainly relate. Remembering what Toriel said about fighting, I went to talk to it to try and keep things calm and wait for her to return.
"Uh, h-hello there. You look very n-nice Mr. Frog," I said while trying to give my best smile. I might've been imagining it, but I thought I saw the Froggit blush.
"It didn't understand what you said, but was flattered anyway." The voice in my head sounded amused, so it looked like I made two things happy with that. Now all I had to do was wait for Toriel and...
I almost missed the buzzing sound before it was too late as what looked like a small white fly flew towards my soul. I barely got out of the way in time, jumping to the side, only to then hear another buzz to my side. This one was too close and smacked into the heart, sending pain through my whole body. Another few flies came towards me, but they were all easier to get away from.
"Froggit seems reluctant to attack you," the voice in my head said. This confused me, since I didn't know what reluctant meant. Either way, the frog was still there and hopping to and fro, so I tried again.
"You can jump r-really well. C-could you jump away, please?" There was more desperation in my voice this time, not wanting to get hurt again. The Froggit looked at me as I talked, and then...meowed? That caught me off guard enough to make me not see another magic fly coming at me, knocking into my soul from above. I felt a sharp pain go through me, like a lot of needles all over. In a panic now, I tried to back away, narrowly avoiding a second fly, but then getting smacked again by a third when I hit the wall behind me.
"Talking isn't working, try something else," the voice inside my head suggested, but that's not what I was supposed to do. I had to talk to it and wait for Toriel. She was supposed to come and stop the fight like she did before. She'd come back, she had to come back.
The Froggit seemed to get tired of watching me do nothing, because the next thing I know it takes a big leap at me and tackles my soul, causing even more pain than the flies. I couldn't help myself and swung my arm at it, smacking it against the head and knocking it off. It hurt to stand now, but I had to do something. Maybe since I hit it...
"If you keep fighting, I-I'll hit you again!" I yelled at it, trying to scare it off. It started to shudder like it was scared, but instead of running away it sent more flies at me. I almost got away from them all, but the last one managed to graze my heart, knocking me to my knees and bringing tears from my eyes.
"Do something else, or you'll die!" It was right. I couldn't take much more of this, and I was realizing that Toriel wasn't coming. I was on my own again, with someone actively trying to kill me. There was only one thing I could think to do. With a loud yell of desperation, I pushed myself up and rushed at the frog creature, delivering a hard kick to its face. That sent it rolling on the ground into another section of leaves, where it stopped moving. Then it seemed to come apart and turn into dust, with most of it flying off on an unfelt breeze, but still leaving a large pile.
I couldn't believe it, I had just killed something. Sure, it was trying to do the same to me, but...I was a murderer. I was a bad child, a stupid boy that couldn't do anything right, like I'd heard so many times. I sat down and started to cry, both from the pain and the experience. I don't know how long I was there, but when I looked back up, the frog that was by the door was gone, probably scared away.
"...Go to the star." The voice in my head didn't seem too happy either. I probably made it mad too. Even so, I did as it suggested and went back to the yellow star in the leaves, touching it. Somehow, I felt completely better, and touched the 'save' button thingy again.
"You did what you had to do. Guess the flower was right, it's now kill or be killed here, too." No, the voice wasn't angry, it was...sad. Whether it was sad that I killed the frog or that it tried to kill me, I didn't know. What I did know was that I had to get out of this place as soon as possible. It wasn't safe, not for me, nor for anything coming after me. I looked on ahead and took a deep breath before taking a firm step forward, the first of many.
"The thought of leaving this awful place fills you with Determination."