Chapter 2: Once Upon a time

Rick and Chloe followed Toriel all the way to her home in the Ruins, meeting other monsters along the way. When she tried to explain to them about getting in and out of fights on their way to her home, Rick and Chloe told her that she need not worry about them, and explained about the encounter they had with Flowey and how they scared him off. "My my, so you just brought to life these weapons to block his pellets?" "It's a lil more complicated than that but yeah." Rick would say, as he demonstrated to Toriel by calling forth his keyblade. The keyblade materialized in his hand, holding it in the middle of the blade where it seemed like it could be used as a handle for the keyblade to be used as a lance or staff like weapon. "You can use magic! I did not realize that there were still humans that could use magic… Well, I guess then at least you would be able to handle yourself out there if you were to leave…" When Toriel spoke, she sounded almost saddened by the notion of the two leaving. After dematerializing his keyblade, they entered Toriel's home where inside looked a lot more cozy then compared to the near damp ruins outside, though they did notice the stairway leading down to what Rick and Chloe assumed was the basement… Or some other section of Toriel's home. Looking down the right one could see a hallway leading towards bedroom doorways, while the left led to a living room space that also had a dining room table on it. "This is a nice place you have Miss Toriel." Chloe said as they followed her to the left path into the living room. "Thank you, now please have a seat, and I'll get the pie out… I made it a few days ago, so it should be good, it's um Cinnamon Butterscotch flavored. Hope you don't mind." Rick went to sit down at the table while Chloe decided to look over at the bookcase that Toriel had next to the fireplace. It had quite a collection of books, one in particular Chloe saw was what looked like a history book that she picked up and brought over to the table to read over. "Find something good to read?" Toriel's voice would be heard as she came back with two plates, each having a slice of pie on it that she would serve for the two. "Thank you." The two would say before they began to eat bites of their pieces of pie. It tasted as if it was still pretty warm. "Mmm… Oh um sorry, yes I guess I did…" Chloe would say as she looked over the book, "I thought it would be a good idea to read this worl-... I mean learn a lil history." Rick couldn't help but shake his head when he caught Chloe almost saying World. "Chloe, I don't think it'll harm anyone or anything if we say where we're from, besides how often does a weapon just materialize in one's hand?" Rick pointed out, before he turned his attention to Toriel with a smile. "So… I'm Rick, and she's Chloe. We're both human but we're not exactly from this world." Hearing that, Toriel's eyes blinked as she looked between the two looking a little surprised. "You mean you're not from like… The Surface?" Chloe's eyes turned to Rick before she gave a nod to Toriel. "You see, um this is our, or well my first time exploring another world outside my own, this would be Rick's second time visiting another world… We came to explore, and when we came here, we sort of fell in that hole that led here…" "I see… I guess that would be why you have magic and why you're different from the other Humans." There was a small moment of silence when Chloe took a look over at the history book, and noticed something that made her turn to ask Toriel, "Can you tell us about this world? This book mentions something about a Barrier… Are you and the others trapped here or something?" When hearing the question, Toriel softly smiled as she looked between the two Keyblade wielders. "Since you are new to this world as a whole… I suppose it's right to answer your question about our history… It's a sad, and gloomy one…"

Long ago in the world above, Monsters and Humans once ruled over the Earth as equals in their own rights. One day, a war broke out between the Monsters and the Humans that led out to many bloody battles between the two races. The Humans believed that Monsters did not belong on the surface world, and so they fought the Monster race until they were pushed back into the depths of Mt. Ebott. With their hearts filled with DETERMINATION, they used their magic to create an impassable barrier that would seal the Monsters inside for all of eternity. Legend says that only that of a Human SOUL can pass through the barrier safely, but a Monster's Soul would never pass through…

As Toriel spoke to Rick and Chloe listened carefully over the details of the world, and waited until she was done before Chloe would ask, "How did the war start anyway?" Toriel's eyes glanced away, it was obvious she knew, but she replied, "It was so long ago… I doubt anybody remembers why the War started in the first place." Rick looked at his half eaten piece of pie, thinking about the short history lesson they were given, he couldn't help but speculate one or two things before stopping to ask, "This um, Human that I'm gonna guess came before us… Where are they?" "Oh… She left to try and go "home." yesterday… I tried to stop them, but… They were determined." The more Toriel spoke about the Human child, it seemed the sadder she would get as Chloe moved closer to place a hand on one of Toriel's large paws. "Why did you try to stop them?" It was a simple enough question from the girl, and Toriel took a moment to wipe a growing tear before laying out the details of what happened. "Down the stairs in the entryway, along the corridor, there is a door that leads to the rest of the Underground, it is the only known exit out of the Ruins… Young Frisk… Wasn't the only child that has fallen down here before… Others have, and they all wanted to try and return to their home on the Surface. But eventually they all died… King Asgore, the King of the Monster Race, declared that if a human was to enter the underground, their SOUL's were to be collected and brought before him… I told her that if she were to leave, I could not protect her, I could not go out there… I made my choice long ago… I'm tired of seeing children fall again and again, only to leave and die… My children…" Toriel couldn't hold back the tears at this point as Chloe moved closer to put an arm around her, trying to comfort the broken hearted goat woman as best as she could when her gaze turned to Rick. He was stuck in his own thoughts for a moment before he reached out for Toriel's other paw, and held it gently before speaking up. "Toriel… If the exit is still intact… Let me and Chloe go, and we'll not only find this, Frisk… We'll make sure she's safe." Hearing him speak softly to her, the Goat woman looked up to Rick, her eyes looking over the young man as he too seemed to have a determined look upon him. Her paw gripped his hand tightly for a moment, as Toriel looked over to Chloe who gave a nod, "Rick's right, we'll find Frisk and protect her for you. As a Swordmaiden, you have my word." Toriel didn't know whether to hug them both or mourn over the fact that more humans would leave… But these humans were far different than the young child she took in days ago, if they both wield the weapons that she saw Rick had earlier, then maybe… Just maybe they could survive the Underground. "O-okay… I'll take you to the exit. I'll hold you to that, as a promise that you'll do what you can to keep Frisk safe." Both Rick and Chloe smiled as they told her, "We promise." The three would take their leave, following Toriel back to the entryway and slowly moving down the stairs to the long candle lit corridor.

Coming around a bend, the path ahead led towards a small open area where they saw a door with the same symbol that Rick and Chloe had seen above the previous doorways earlier. Chloe couldn't help but walk ahead of Rick and Toriel to the door, taking a second to examine it while the two caught up before turning to Toriel to ask, "Toriel, we've been seeing this symbol a lot, and I know I saw it in that history book before… What does it mean?" When Toriel's eyes looked upon the symbol she asked about, she smiled and traced her hand over it to say, "Why, that is the Delta Rune my child. It is our emblem, representing the Kingdom of Monsters. You'll find this symbol in other areas when you head to the Underground." "Your Emblem… Your Kingdom's Crest." Chloe would say as she looked back at the door for a moment, thinking back to her home and the many crests for Kingdoms and Noble Houses… She turned to Rick when he placed a hand on her shoulder before looking over to Toriel, "Thanks for leading us this far Toriel, don't worry, we can handle ourselves here." There was a moment that Toriel looked like she wanted to tell them to stay, but she took a moment to take a breath and say, "Ok, I'll put my trust in you two. Please, be careful out there." The two would then turn to the door, pushing the heavy door open before they begin to walk down another long corridor, and as they walked, they heard the door close behind them as they looked back, and waved at Toriel before the doors shut.

The path ahead was long just as it was to the doors, but ahead they could see a light that led to a larger room, and the closer they got the more of a larger door with that same Delta Rune symbol on it. "No idea what we'll find… But whatever we find, hopefully it won't take us long to find this Frisk person." Rick would say as they entered the larger room. "Hopefully they're safe… I mean other than that flower, not all monsters are bad, right?" Chloe would ask as they stepped over a tuft of grass, which suddenly sprouted a flower as a voice was heard saying, "Oh I wouldn't be too sure about that now." With both of them turning at once, keyblades materialized in their hands, they saw Flowey in the grass, laughing a little. "You two may seem like you're more the fighting type then Frisk, but don't think that will save you. In this World, the rules are simple. Kill, or be Killed." Rick couldn't help but shake his head as he dismissed his keyblades from his hands. "I'm sure for some. But if that was true those other monsters would be fighting each other, more so considering how they treated us and how Toriel treated us, I doubt it's like that." "Oh? And what sort of pathetic noble sentiment do you think is why you doubt this rule? Huh!?" Flowey seemed to get a little angry, and more menacing as Rick smiled. "Simple really, a choice. Everyone can choose to kill, or not to. The reasons why we kill, and the reasons why we don't, may be because of a goal we have… Whatever that goal is, if it's to be better than someone who enjoys killing without reason, regret and remorse, then we'll be those better people." After giving Flowey his response, the flower was silent for a moment as his eyes glared downward before he began to chuckle a little. "Idiots… You may think that things are so noble, but it's all false… Trying to over complicate the simplicity of a simple rule for this world… But fine, if you two want to be idiots, then we'll just see how long it takes before you die like the rest of them!" Flowey laughed at the two before he retreated into the ground. The two watched as Flowey left, before Chloe dismissed her keyblade before letting out a long sigh. "What is the problem with that Flower?" "I don't know Chloe… But I think we need to keep our eyes open and watch out for him…"

Rick then turned to the double door that led to the next section of the Underground, his eyes looking over the Emblem of the Monster's above it before he began to walk towards the doors. With Chloe coming up behind him the two stood at the door taking in the moment that they had no idea what was on the other side. It could be more ruins, it could be something completely different, but another Human was out there in possible trouble, and they promised to find them. "Well, we still have a lot to find out about this world, let's find out what we can discover." Rick would say to Chloe, as the two reached out to push open the doors, they felt a deep coldness of wind blow through the cracks before they opened them further, and stepped out to the next section of the underground.