Strolling past another pointless hallway I began to question the sanity of the architecture, hallway after hallway, room after room… no purpose to them except to be farther from the entrance— to put distance between themselves and the entrance; like they were running from something. The puzzles… a deterrent… diversion— a method to prevent intruders from drawing near. That was what this place was made for wasn't it?

Security.

Entering the next room, my eyes were drawn to the white blob in the middle of the room— more of a bed sheet really. With two black dots next to each other, and a droopy… frown… Was this a ghost? Those low-effort Halloween costumes were more accurate than I had given them credit for.

It was just lying there, doing nothing. I couldn't even get past the ghost. The whole room was shaped like an hourglass with the ghost smack dab in the middle, lying on the floor like a bedsheet.

I inched forwards, maybe I could jump over it—

"Zzzzzz… Zzzzz…"

"Zzzzzzzzz… Zzzz… Zzzzz..."

"Zzzzzzzzzz… Zzzzzzzzzzz…" Were they pretending to be asleep?

"Umm… Hello there, are you ok?" I questioned the spooky specter. "You're just saying Zzzzzzz… sleeping people don't ya know... say things… they just lie there... So I guess you're halfway there! Good on you!"

"Heh…" The living sheets with eyes rose into the air, my heart similarly rising from my chest, the corners of their frown lifting a little— and then they started crying— oh god, crying, compliments or puns, what should I use to cheer them up.

As I was contemplating the superiority of puns one of the milky tears landed on my skin— and started SIZZLING. "Ow ow ow, why are your tears burning me, oh god, oh god, why is everything here so open? There's nothing for me to hide under. Please stop crying, you're burning me, duck, dive, dodge, ow ow ow, that didn't work, I've never been able to dodge rain before— I wish I had an umbrella, a nice green one maybe? That sounds nice."

Then I had a nice green umbrella in my hands, with a nice curved handle, a shaft leading up to ten delicate ribs covered by a pleasant translucent lime film— 'This wasn't here before.' My similarly lime heart thrummed in front of my chest and I realized what I was… A Green Lantern!

The umbrella sheltered me from the acid tears, pitter-patters falling on it to no avail... I liked my magic umbrella! Turning back to the ghost under the safety of my new umbrella, I triumphantly declared,

"Wanna hear a knock-knock joke?"

"ok…"

"Knock, knock!" I chirped as I pretended to knock on a door in front of me

"who's there…"

"Boo!"

"Boo who...?"

"Well, I'm not going to tell you the joke if you keep crying." I teased with a smirk.

"heh, heh…"

"I have a lot of puns I'm just dying to tell you, but they're too much of an emotional roller ghoster," I said with a wink and a grin, a glimmer of a grimace from my second pun.

"let me try…"

The tears that had been falling from their eyes suddenly inverted and gathered above the specter's head coalescing into a… hat!?

"I call it dapper blook," they confessed as they eagerly awaited my response "do you like it...?"

"Of course I do! You turned your magical acid tears… into a HAT! That's amazing! You look absolutely fa-boo-lous!

"oh gee" two tears fell from their face as their frown eased just the slightest

"i usually come to the ruins because there's nobody around… but today i met somebody nice…" They rambled as they bobbed in the air "oh i'm rambling again, i'll get out of your way."

I was too enthralled by their magical hat and the equally magical umbrella I was still holding to respond as they faded away, opening up the path ahead.

Empty hand, green umbrella, it just… popped into existence? It had the same shade as the heart that popped out of my chest whenever I encountered a monster. So it was probably safe to assume that the two were related. I had a distinct memory of gracefully flailing around trying to avoid the acid rain and then pop— there it was.

If the green construct really was tied to my heart thingy in some way, maybe I could make it appear and disappear if I vaguely waved my hand over it like a magician? With a magical wave of the hand and in true green lantern fashion, the umbrella poofed into non-existence, leaving nothing behind.

I waved *pop* ...and again *poof* well I guess it wasn't just a fluke, I did have some sort of magical power. Could I make things other than umbrellas? ...While being able to pull out an umbrella from my heart was incredible, it would be pretty lame if that was all I could do.

I could already hear the theme song in my head... 'Umbrella Girl, she appears with a twirl. She protects you from tears and lifts you up with cheers!'... It sounded nice and all, but it was kind of lame if you thought about it.

What else would I even be able to make? Maybe a sword? With a sweep of my hands I attempted to will a sword into existence… nothing happened, maybe another wave? Nope.

Was this my fate? Was I doomed to be Umbrella Girl: Summoner of Umbrellas? ...well, better than nothing. Feeling a bit lightheaded for some reason, I left the room and continued forward. My viridescent heart zoomed back into my chest like a puppy running back to its mother.

The next room branched into two separate rooms. The one straight ahead appeared to be a tad darker than the other rooms around, with spiderwebs strung every which way around the entrance. Clicks and clacks, skittering noises barely audible crawling out of the room... I was not going in there.

Entering that room would be almost as bad as splitting up in the woods. My mind and I were in agreement: I was not going in there. I was going to go to the left... it was another hallway.

Hallway after hallway. Puzzle after puzzle. The monsters were desperate, weren't they? Trying anything, anything. To get away from the humans. Putting distance between the entrance and their homes so they would have time to evacuate if anything ever happened, to get away from the monsters.

The monsters didn't seem to realize I was a human though, even though they continued to attack me with magical pellets that would cut and sting whenever I wasn't able to get out of the way in time.

They never seemed scared when they saw me and started peppering me with magic of all shapes and sizes. It didn't feel like an attack, it was more natural than that. Like it was just something they would do all the time. Like waving hello to an acquaintance on the other side of the room, something done in passing, like a… greeting? Maybe that was what magic was to them?

How long had they all been down here, to not recognize the race that had terrorized them and forced them underground. I wish I could do something to help, but I was just me. 17-year-old Bea, more hugs than brains or brawn.

Up ahead, the omnipresent red leaves were arranged in the shape of an... arrow; following the arrow would most likely be an awfully stupid thing to do… but what else was I supposed to do? Go back to the giant hole, flap my arms, and fly out? Unless my arms had magically turned into wings while I wasn't paying attention, that scenario was unlikely, to say the least.

In front of me was a tree, the first tree that I had seen since falling down here. There weren't any leaves on it, but it was surrounded by the same red leaves that were scattered everywhere throughout the ruins. 'Oh joy a tree,' the hamster in my brain drawled, 'how amazing'. Even though it was just a tree, it meant that someone spent the time moving the leaves from this place to all those other places where I had seen leaves,

Behind the tree sat a purple brick house. It didn't feel inviting, but it also didn't feel ominous. It just sat there, cracks covering the walls, but appeared to be lived in and in surprisingly good condition if it was as old as I thought it was. I approached the door and knocked.

—

Toriel sat on her sofa beside her roaring fireplace, the glow of the lights above illuminating the faded pages she held; '72 Uses for Snails' she had already read this particular book countless times, the contents of the next page vividly imprinted in her mind, but she was reading it anyways. She hoped that one day she would be able to sit in a colorful classroom, filled to the brim with little monsters and humans, eyes aglow with awe at the world around them. Perhaps a distant and naive dream, but she had everything prepared: English, math, science, art, foreign languages, and history; though perhaps some review of human history would be needed with how much time had passed.

A dream that would never be fulfilled. For if monsters and humans were to unite, the barrier must first be broken. Six children: she had allowed six innocent children to leave the ruins. If she allowed one more to pass the barrier would be broken and the monsters would be freed. Asgore would absorb the seven souls; becoming a true monster. He had allowed those children to be slaughtered, would the rest of humanity be any different? If he would allow six children to die by his hands, what more was the rest of humanity. She would not allow that to happen.

Putting the book back into the creaking shelf, she glanced at the clock. 3 o'clock, time to visit the golden flowers. Where they had buried her; under their favorite flowers... It had been years since the last human had fallen into the Underground. She still remembered him… the shy little boy with a purple soul, bringing his small worn notebook everywhere they went, always curious about the different monsters and meticulously taking little notes in the few pages left, erasing and rewriting, to make sure they were perfect. So very proud to show her their efforts, beaming with pride whenever she praised them for their effort and perseverance... Then he learned about what was past the gate, 'more monsters to learn about' he cheered. Face so full of joy and excitement that she just… couldn't. He promised that he would return to show her the notes he had taken on all the new monsters he had met… He never returned. They never did.

She knew what would happen to them if they left, they would die like the ones before them, and still, she let them leave… what a coward she was—*Knock *Knock

A visitor? How unusual. She walked up and opened the door. Before her stood a—

"Hello, miss! Or mister, I can't really tell, I haven't met that many anthropomorphic goats, you're the first actually! You look like an eight-foot-tall fluffy grandma, so I hope I got that right! My name is Beatrice, but I prefer to go by Bea. I fell down here a little bit ago, wonderful little place you have here…very homey! If I'm bothering you, I will leave immedia—

"No no, please come in dear" she welcomed as she stood aside to let them in. The child beamed at them and stepped in. A human… here? She certainly hadn't expected a human to appear at her front door. They appeared to be a teenager with a round face and shoulder-length dark brown hair, light brown eyes on their soft features staring back at her, confusion becoming increasingly evident. They were waving their small little hands in front of her face… Why were they doing that?

"Hello? Earth to fluffy grandma?" they chirped with their arms still waving about.

"Oh! Forgive me for forgetting to introduce myself, I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins…" she said.

"Well, I am Bea, caretaker of the umbrellas!" She said as she waved her hand with a flourish and immediately appeared confused as if she expected something to happen.

Her clothes were ripped and filled with holes and cuts, small burns littering her arms. Still, a bright smile was on her tired face.

She had failed another child, she should have checked the hole earlier, a child had to go through all those traps and monsters, somewhere dangerous with no one on their side. If she had gone just a little bit earlier, instead of wallowing in her own self-pity— "Hug!" two arms wrapped around her torso, a small face full of worry looking up at her,

"My child? What are you doing?" Toriel asked as the child's face pressed into her chest.

"Well you look sad, hugs always make people feel better! Even if I don't know why you're sad, I can still do this!" Bea responded as she hugged harder.

It was true… she did feel… happier. Happier than she had been in a long time, but such a kind child would never survive the Underground, they never did.