Macie stirred.
Her quiet mind crackled back to life.
Memories of the world's disappearing beneath her sent her heart thumping painfully against her chest. A distant echo of pain fluttered at the outermost edges of her conscious thought. She cracked her eyes open, greeting a world that shone darker than the one beneath shuttered eyes.
But what else could she expect at the bottom of this hole? It was absurd to think that the insides of a mountain would greet her with some carefully carved path, lighted with torches, leading her back out into the world. Or better yet, a kindly guide to hand-hold her out of the pit she'd fallen in. Absurdity.
Macie sighed, finding the bottom of this much too quiet and unexpectedly warm. Caves were supposed to be damp and chilling, right? Lack of sunlight should do that. Whatever. Macie needed to get moving. She stretched her toes, flexed her fingers. There were no sharp pains in response to those small movements. Good signs, considering the expected injuries one should sustain from a plunge into death.
She tried to move. Her legs tugged against what felt like rather plush restraints. Macies arms found themselves similarly bound beneath warm fabrics.
Did someone find me and tie me up? What freak would do that?
Now, that familiar taste of anxious bile bubbled in her stomach, rising quickly to the back of her throat. She swallowed it back down. Her surroundings felt warmer now. Too warm to be a cave. She craned her neck, felt fabric shift across her face.
Is there a bag over my head, too?
Bubbles of panic jumped back into her throat. Thoughts sprinted across her mind but she could grab onto none of them. Her breathing quickened- a sensation of lightness filling her skull.
Don't. Freak. Out.
Those were the only words she could manage to grasp. She was absolutely freaking out. Fallen down a hole? Found and tied up by some weirdo? Bag over her head? Those were perfectly suitable reasons to freak out. But losing her head now wouldn't help anyone.
Stay. Calm. Just. Breath.
She chanted the words in her mind like some kind of life-saving mantra. She tried to steady her breath by forcing out an extended exhale until all the oxygen left her lungs. Naturally, her body sucked in the air to replenish what she had forced out.
The lightness drifted away. She could breathe. She could think. She could figure out what to do. The pace of her heart slowed, though it continued to beat loudly against her chest. She could grab onto other thoughts, now.
She fell into Mount Ebott. She could remember the wind, screaming in her ears as gravity pulled her down into the dark. Flashes of her tumble into the mountain flickered across her memory. The rising walls of the earth. The growing darkness that swallowed her as the only source of light above grew smaller and smaller until she'd finally succumbed to the terror of death and shuttered her eyes against it. She felt the miserable, aching memories of bones shattering as her body crashed into the ground. It should have been her death.
But, she could think.
She had not died.
Despite this thought, she remembered the terror of feeling the life leak out of her crumpled body. The panic was bubbling up again.
Don't. Freak. Out.
Inhale. "Stay."
Exhale. "Calm."
Inhale. "Just."
Exhale. "Breath."
The panic stuttered to a halt.
Macie rolled her shoulders strained to sit upward despite her unseen restraints. Torso vertical, she craned her neck until it gave a satisfying, painless pop.
A heavy, warm comforter unraveled from around her and dropped from over her face. It slid off her shoulders, and pooled around her waist. A muted light trickled into her vision now. Her wary gaze roamed the space around her, finding that the room's only source of light came from a crack under a nearby door. She stared at the blanket in her lap.
Had there been enough light, had someone been watching, they might have seen Macie blush in an embarrassed realization.
Oh. Well- ...blanket over the face is better than a bag.
She grabbed at the blanket with her hands, fingers sinking into its softness, and threw the overly warm blanket off her legs. She kicked at the fabric clinging to her ankles until it was crammed satisfyingly against the footboard of the small bed she sat on. Sending a final glare at the treacherous bundle. she turned her attention elsewhere.
Like the blanket, she discarded the murky haze of thoughts that coated her mind in sleep. She pushed herself off the small bed that cradled her and reached for a floor-lamp placed conveniently at the bed's side.
It snapped on, shining brighter than the dim line of light that crawled in from the crack beneath this room's only door. The new light shooed away any residual murkiness from her previous slumber and introduced a dull throbbing between her eyes. She felt her mind cranking into gear.
She scanned the area, and found herself in a kid's room. A kid with a rather healthy enthusiasm for stuffed animals… if the number of fluffy creatures lining the bedroom wall was any indication. Macie suppressed the urge to shove her
Sharing a wall with the bed, but residing in the opposing corner, Macie spotted a half-bookcase lined with shoes of varying styles and sizes. On the topmost shelf of the book- … shoe-case… beside an empty picture frame, she spotted her orange cap resting atop her hiking shoes. She scanned the room for her hiking bag and frowned at its lack of presence. Maybe whoever rescued her had left it outside of the room. Or back where they found her.
Macie would need to find that before seeking out Frisk. It had all the gear necessary for her rescue mission. First-aid. Cell-phone. Food. Water. Definitely not a bag of Frisk's favorite caramel candies. Reading glasses - not that she expected to find much reading material in a forest. She'd also brought her wallet- stuffed more with sentimental-photos than… wallet-stuff.
Curling her toes, Macie watched the black fabric of her socks strain and warp the patterns of feline-esque cactuses decorating them- her "catcus" socks. Bringing her hands to her head, she patted the mane of hair on her head - no longer restrained an elastic band and frowned at the thought of being undressed while unconscious.
It was only my hat and shoes… she thought, attempting to dredge up any sort of silver lining she could muster. Wearing those in bed would be uncomfortable, anyway. The thoughts didn't really make her feel any better.
Nabbing her hat by the bill, she stuffed what she could of the wild mop on her head into it before pulling it down over her ears. Next, she moved to grab the worn shoes and noticed they sat atop a folded note with curvy scrawl bleeding through the paper.
Forgetting the shoes for a moment, she took the paper, unfolded it, and attempted to read the elegant scrawl written for, she assumed, her.
"You are safe here. Please focus on recovering from your fall." She shivered. So she did fall. She remembered again, the black pit. But before that- what had happened? Her headache thumped the more she tried to remember. Something about laughter.
Frisk's laughter.
She heard them. Chased after the sound of their voice through unfamiliar terrain. Tripped and fell head-first into Mount Ebott. And it seemed, was rescued by- Macie glanced at the lower corner of the not, reading at a hastily scratched out phrase:
"Love, Toriel".
Rescued by some person named Toriel. Who, it seemed, regularly signed notes off with a "love", only to realize such a signature to a total stranger might be viewed as a bit odd. Macie let herself smile at the edit. She wondered if Toriel had felt the same kind of embarrassment a kid feels when accidentally calling the teacher "Mom." Macie snorted at the thought- she'd done that plenty growing up.
She wouldn't judge this individual too harshly. They had saved her from the abyss. Macie found herself feeling rather grateful. Toriel had, presumably, dragged her out of the mountain's belly to whatever cabin/home they lived in, and let them sleep in their kid's bed. Poor kid. Having a weirdo in their bed.
Macie tugged her shoes on.
She ought to find this Toriel-person and thank them. Thank their kid for letting a strange lady mess up their bedspread.
Raking her fingers through the tangled brown curls spilling out from her ball cap, hoping to make herself look somewhat presentable, she headed out the door.
…
The smell of something warm and sweet curled around her the moment she left the bedroom. It was an earthy scent mixed with… cinnamon? It made her mouth water.
Macie wandered down the hall, inspecting the two other rooms along its corridor. One was marked for repairs while the other presented a tidily made bed and writing-desk. Everywhere, in both rooms, along the hallway walls, she spotted empty picture frames. There were no photos tucked anywhere. She tucked the worrisome observation away.
Deciding that the hallway was a bust, Macie wandered out of it and by a set of stairs that dove into what was likely a basement. She hesitated at that threshold for a moment- the steps diving into darkness seemed less than inviting. She'd already tumbled into one dark hole on this adventure. Last thing she'd needed was to trip down another hole lined with face-breaking steps. If Toriel wasn't in the rest of the house, she could check there last.
Macie turned her attention towards a pair of windows, lining a door that led out of the cozy little home. She spied a great tree surrounded by fallen ruby leaves.
The world outside was dimly lit, "It must be night time…" Macie wondered how far Toriel had to carry her from the mountain-pit. How she even dragged her out of the pit to begin with. The cave must have had multiple entrances. One… less deadly than the route Macie had stumbled upon.
Macie walked into a vacant living area, decorated with a simple dining area, a rather large armchair, and a low, crackling fire. She noticed the dull pokers beside the fireplace, considered grabbing one for defense, and ultimately decided against arming herself. If her rescuer had meant any harm, "She could have done it while I was knocked out."
Macie sighed when she entered an empty kitchen. There was evidence of life in the form of food-crumbs scattered across the countertops. But no human was present. No person scrounging around for a midnight snack. Macie's stomach growled. Hungry eyes settled on the kitchen's fridge, tempted. Rummaging through another's fridge without permission felt… impolite. She swallowed her temptations and abandoned the thoughts.
Back in the living area, Macie drifted towards a heavy bookcase. With some aggressive squinting, she could see a majority of the frames revolved around monster lore. Predominantly, about the great war between monsters and humans.
Maybe Toriel had an interest in that sort of thing. That would explain why they'd been on the mountain - digging around for old legends. Most people stayed off of Mount Ebott because of the fictitious threat of monsters. The people of the city held an unnatural fear of the mountain. Mistrust in Ebott was so instilled in society that even the local authorities refused to search its grounds. Even when all signs clearly pointed to it. Nobody went to Ebott unless they had a reason good enough to outweigh an individual's sense of self-preservation.
Additional books about snails lined the shelves.
"Maybe it's not about monster-lore. Maybe Ebott just has the tastiest snails." Macie mused, slightly annoyed at her lack of glasses. With the man-made enhancements to her wimpy eyesight, she couldn't even read these books to pass the time waiting for Toriel's return. Wherever that person would be wandering around at night. People ought to be in bed at night. Sleeping.
What could this Toriel-person be doing?
Maybe it was better not to outright trust this stranger. Even if they had rescued her. Anxiety pooled in Macie's stomach. She couldn't just leave the home. Maybe she could get away without saying thank you, but Macie needed Toriel to figure out where she had fallen and where her hiking bag was.
Macie heard soft laughter echo from the darkened staircase leading into the basement. Her head snapped toward the sound. She moved towards the sound and halted at the head of the stairs, feet cloaked in their darkened steps. The last time she'd chased the sound of laughter, things hadn't gone too well.
She thought bitterly about her fall. The sudden appearance of that pit. How lucky she was to not have broken all her bones. Macie took a step down. At least this time, she knew she was heading into darkness. It wasn't a sudden surprise. The laughter, almost musical, drifted up and out of the darkness, whirling around her, beckoning her to move forward.
She stepped down into the dark, found herself at the beginning of a long hallway. With an audible gulp, she moved into the darkened corridor.
…
Macie walked through the basement hallway at a steady pace. Or maybe it was a slow pace. She'd been walking down here for a while. To her, the corridor seemed an inappropriate length. She had been walking forever. Or maybe she'd been walking too slow.
Either way, the hall was too freaking long.
The laughter that had drawn her into this endless corridor visited her now with conversational murmurs that Macie couldn't quite parse. Maybe this Toriel-person was talking to someone on the phone. That would explain why they weren't asleep. Maybe they were trying to be polite and let Macie sleep by having this conversation in the basement.
Well, basements were terrible for cell signals. And also, Macie wasn't asleep. Oh, and this hall was still way too long.
Macie shot a nervous glance backward, staring at the ever-dimming light from the hallways entrance. She didn't want to get too far from the light, even if her eyes were adjusting to the darkness around her.
She could see ancient bricks piled atop one another, forming the sturdy walls of this passageway. The ground below her had gone from stone to dirt and scuffed around her shoes. Everything had an unusual purple hue.
"I must go now. Check on my guest. It was nice to talk."
Macie's ears pricked at the gentle, feminine voice. Her steps quickened. It would be dishonest to say she wasn't eager to meet thiz Toriel-person who rescued her. She would thank them in earnest for dragging her out of Ebott. For letting them rest in their child's room instead of some lumpy couch. Or the floor.
"Ah- excuse me-" Macie called out, "Toriel, right-?"
The hallway came to an abrupt end and Macie rounded the corner, eyes landing on someone she realized was Toriel-definitely-not-a-person.
...
Author's Note;
Hi friendlies, I won't be posting a new chapter next weekend! (I know I said the goal was to update once a week... and that's what I'll be doing! Going through the previous three chapters and making some edits). Anyways, thanks for sticking through three chapters, I appreciate it.
As I always hope,
Have a wonderful, wonderful week,
~T.T