Chapter 2

Frisk didn't follow Mask for long before a clearing came into view. This clearing was no different than the one from which they came, save the missing bed of golden flowers. However, unlike that clearing in which Frisk and Mask were the only ones there, somebody else stood with his back facing them in the middle of this clearing.

"Hello?" Frisk called as she and Mask approached the figure.

This person was tall and thin and had short blond hair, and he wore what appeared to be nothing more than a simple black suit. Slowly, as if he finally understood that someone had spoken to him, he turned around. Frisk bit back a gasp when she saw a mask on his face.

Unlike Mask's simple design, this mask was that of a flower. Precisely, a golden flower like one of the flowers in the other clearing. An opened-mouth smile and two soulless eyes were painted on the circular center, and six golden petals surrounded it.

"Howdy!" the person greeted, sounding to be a young person who was barely an adult. "I'm Flowey. Flowey the flower. You're new to the forest, aren'tcha?"

"I am not," Mask began, "but I have no memories as to who or what I am. Please, sir, if there is anything you can to do help me—"

"I can tell because of your naked face," Flowey continued as if Mask had not spoken. Actually, Flowey had yet to look anywhere near Mask's direction. He acted as if Frisk was the only one there with him.

Not really knowing what to do, Frisk replied, "Is there something wrong with my not wearing a mask?"

At this, Flowey reached out and pressed his palms against Frisk's cheeks. Flinching, Frisk tried to pull away from the touch, but Flowey held her head in place. Tilting his head this way and that, he ran his long fingers along her cheeks.

"Yes," Flowey muttered, "such soft skin covering a cute little face. No doubt about it: the monsters here will rip the skin of your face right off that pretty head of yours!"

At this, Frisk's spine stiffened. It didn't help when Mask felt it necessary to add, "I do not think he is lying."

Wrapping her fingers around Flowey's wrists and pulling his hands away – this time Flowey allowed her the distance – Frisk asked, "Is there anything I can do to make sure that doesn't happen? You see, I quite like the skin on my face."

It sounded as if Flowey chuckled. "If you want to blend in with us, you have to act like one of us."

"And how do I do that?"

In answer, Flowey produced a mask from inside his coat pocket. Frisk accepted and inspected the mask. By all accounts, it was similar to Mask in its circular shape and simple expression, only this expression appeared to be that of boredom, with one horizontal line for the mouth and two more higher up for the eyes, and not of Mask's creepy smile.

"As long as you wear this and allow nobody to see your face," Flowey told her, "nobody will hurt you. Instead, they will think you are a wretched, cursed being as they are."

Gripping the mask, Frisk looked at the man behind the golden flower mask. "If the monsters will take the skin off my face if they see me without a mask, how come you aren't attacking me? Why are you giving me this mask?"

"Well, you see," Flowey tilted his head so far to the side Frisk couldn't believe it was natural, "once you have a taste for ripping the flesh off another creature, either you become too sick to allow the next opportunity to take over or you become a blood thirsty fiend ready for the next kill. I am the first. Lose that mask, and you will inevitably meet the second."

Frisk shook all over. The mask quivered in her trembling hands. Her knees knocked against each other. Her breaths were uneven. She, like everyone else in her village, knew the legends, but she never believed they were true.

There were monsters in Ebott Forests. The very same forest she fled to the night before. Now, if she had not met one, she met two. So far, neither seemed interested in hurting her. However, that didn't mean others would be as friendly.

"I wouldn't hesitate much longer," Flowey advised. "Sooner or later, someone else is going to see you. By then, you might want to be wearing that mask."

Not wasting another second, Frisk put the mask on. There was a strap on the back that she was able to fit over her head. The mask, though a little uncomfortable, fit right.

With only two slits for the eyes, Frisk looked this way and that to adjust to her now limited field of sight. The mask all but removed her peripheral vision. She could see in front of her just fine, but Mask was no longer visible from her side.

The next thing Frisk noticed was how annoying breathing became. Instead of breathing fresh air, she was breathing her own hot breaths. The more she breathed with the mask on, the more she worried that she might sooner or later suffocate from wearing the very thing that was supposed to protect her in this deadly forest.

"Be careful with that mask, all right?" Flowey then said, and something about the way he said it sounded off. Not as if this was part of a malicious plan or as if he had tricked her into wearing the mask, but as if he was recalling something he did not wish to remember. "You see, that mask once belonged to someone very special. I would hate for something bad to happen to it."

"I promise to take extra good care of this mask," Frisk vowed although knowing she didn't have to, but she felt better watching Flowey take a deep breath of relief.

"Thank you," he said. Then he reached out, hesitated only a moment, then ran his fingers through Frisk's hair. Quickly putting his hand back to his side, he added, "Be careful in these woods, young miss. It might not completely be a kill or be killed world out there, but the people here have suffered for a long, long time. Give anyone any reason to think you might not be from this forest, and mask or no mask, it will be the end for you. Understand?"

Forcing herself to nod, Frisk stated that she understood. She wanted to look at Mask to see if he was still there, but she didn't want to give Flowey reason to think something was off when Frisk would have to turn her whole head just to look to her side. Mask had been quiet for a long time, and it took all of Frisk's self-control to not try to confirm his presence or absence.

"One more thing," Flowey began, but he never finished. He must have heard something off in the distance, because he turned around to look behind him. After muttering something incomprehensible, he looked back at Frisk and said, "I'm afraid I must go now, but we will meet again. That is a promise."

Then, just like that, he spun on his heel and disappeared into thin air. The dumbstruck Frisk looked this way and that, but Flowey was just gone as if he had never been. At least in her searching, she saw the Mask was still by her side.

"He didn't see me," Mask stated, sounding somewhat childish. "He never once looked in my direction. I don't think he heard me, either."

Before Frisk could reply to that, she heard someone in the distance.

"Hello?" called a woman's voice. "Is there anyone out there?"

Frisk stiffened. She thought to flee, but she didn't know where to go, and it sounded as if Mask was still talking to himself about not being seen. It was just as Frisk decided to go back the way they came that the owner of the voice stepped into the clearing.

"Oh!" exclaimed the woman. She was extremely tall and wore a purple dress that looked nice but was possibly a little old. Her snow white hair was cut to her chin with a faded pink ribbon tied into a bow above her ear, and she had the shape of a woman who was a little older.

Like Flowey, she wore a mask. However, hers was far more complex than the simple design Frisk had seen thus far. Her mask was carved into the shape of a she goat. Small horns protruded from the top, and long wooden ears ran down the sides. The snout was small and opened as if in a small bleat. The mask was white, but it seemed to also be dirty and aged.

"What are you doing out here all by yourself, my child!" The woman rushed towards Frisk but stopped a good distance away. "This is no place for a young lady."

Before Frisk could have a single thought about this woman or what she was doing out here all by herself, Mask said something that put all of Frisk's opinions and feelings to a screeching halt.

"I know her."