Your name is Chara, and you rise, as you always do.

The taste of poison is still on your lips, in your throat. You take the childs face in your minds eye, what you can remember, and recieve only a dull ache in the back of your skull for your troubles. Better than I usually do, you decide, and stand.

You're in Miss Toriel's house again, but the hallway torches are lit. You're not sure how much of what just happened was real. The through line is completely absent. You seem to be jumping through moments out of order, almost as if...

What if...what if the other one is a symptom, not the cause. Flowey said something about the skeleton in the snow...but also mentioned someone named Asriel.

I know Asriel.

Do I?

Is Miss Toriel okay?

You wander over to the living room and spot her asleep, a book open and pressed against her chest. You breathe a sigh of relief, and walk away, back to your room.

Obviously I'm not dead. So the child killing me was either a dream or a seperate event, you reason, opening your door.The lights are on, casting your kingdom in a dull yellow glow. You briefly consider removing the lampshade, but decide to leave it. I'm not afraid of the dark. I'm not a crybaby.

I'm just afraid of whats in it.

I'm still alive. My cheek isn't cut. Going further back...my hand.

You open your right hand and stare curiously at the crescent-shaped scabs on the palm, flexing it carefully. If you stretch it too much, they begin to itch, but otherwise they're hardly noticeable. So that did happen? But if I was just asleep, I could have done it in my sleep. And dropping like a sack of potatoes would make me sore, so I guess...none of it was real?

The buttercups.

Why does that feel so important?

The deranged, reckless part of your mind wants you to run out to the ruins and eat every single buttercup you can find, but something tells you that would end poorly.

I can't stay here. This place is wrong.

This is your thought, you know its your thought, but something feels off about it. You really should feel more scared about all this, you're just a kid, but an unseen, calming force bends your mind to the task at hand.

You can leave. You've left before, if for a very short time.

Maybe whatever happened last night will get the skeletons attention. He seemed scared of me, but...I'm scared too. Maybe he just doesn't get that.

This place is sick. I need to leave.

And you do. You gather up your belongings, what few items you can recall to be yours, and make for the staircase that leads out of the Ruins. You pause before heading down the stairs, and consider waking Ms. Toriel to say goodbye.

She'll try to stop me. She always does, you decide, before turning away from the staircase. But...I don't know if they grow in the rest of the Underground. I need them.

You leave the house, and backtrack through the ruins until you reach the flower patch. Buttercups fill the misshapen oval where you landed, just bright enough to stand out against the darker goldenflowers. You pick a great number of them before opening your phone inventory and removing them from your person.

You don't know why they're important. You know they're dangerous, but in that other Ruins, they were important to the child.

As you make your way back, you notice the Ruins change. Nothing much, not really. The world just feels...darker. Heavier. Occasionally, you can feel the grit of ash and dust on your sleeves, on the floor, but it vanishes once you try to analyze it. Could just be my head. Or it could be time to leave.

You're a bit more surprised than you should be to see Ms. Toriel staring at you from her porch. She's a worrier, and you did take off without warning.

"You've decided to leave," she says, and it's not a question. You answer anyways.

"I have."

"Can I ask why?" You stop in your tracks. This is different.

"You wouldn't understand," you say finally, brushing past her.

"You'd be safe here." You turn that over in your head. Remember the child plunging a dagger into Ms. Toriel's chest. Finally, you come to a conclusion:

"You wouldn't."

The boss monster does not reply, but tails you all the way down the stairs, down the hall, and to the old door between you and the snowy forest beyond. You turn, expecting her to defy you with words or flame, but she only smiles at you, and drops to her knees to speak on your level.

"I do not understand it," she said carefully. "But things are not as they should be. I feel it in my SOUL. Whether you're meant to turn it right or not, I don't know, but..." she fishes in her pockets for something, a pulls out a box. "I feel these are meant for you. The Underground is dangerous for a human. And now, with things as they are...I hope these can protect you, my child."

You open the box as Toriel stands, and pull out a golden locket. The words are faded, but you can barely make out the inscription, "best friends forever," on the front of a heart. You open it, and something whirs to life inside the plating. A cheerful music box begins plinking away.

The other object is a dagger, sheathed in reddish leather. You pull it out, expecting to be met with your reflection in the blade. Instead, mysterious patterns cover the steel, dulling the shine and making the blade look as though ot were quenched in smoke. You return it to its home, and look up and the boss monster.

"Thank you," you say, and mean it. She nods.

"Outside the Ruins, you will step into Snowdin Forest. From there, it's an hours walk to Snowdin Town. I don't know what awaits you there, but...no matter the case, you would not be happy here."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Please...do not return. I hope you understand."

Without waiting for your reply, she turns and walks briskly away, leaving you alone with the door to Snowdin Forest.