The rest of the Ruins, compared to the events preceding it, were pretty uneventful. I got attacked by an array of new monsters now and again, ranging from a pair of useless-ass jelly blobs that did basically nothing until I slapped them with the Almighty Stick, to some short, stubby creature with one huge eye that ran away screaming when I jabbed him in his obvious weak-spot, and finally a living turnip that tried to force feed me veggies by shooting them at my big mouth. No problem for me, since I thankfully wasn't one of those stereotypical kids who boycotted all vegetables that every sitcom and family movie took advantage of.
...Monsters were frigging WEIRD.
Every time I chased one of the little buggers off, they dropped behind a few shiny gold coins, which I quickly discovered were the currency of the monsters. Figures they'd be using such an old-school currency living in a place that looked more ancient that the Mayan ruins, even though it had continued with it's incline of appeal as I journeyed farther into it. I thought I might be able to smuggle some back to the surface in a get-rick-quick type scheme...so I put aside a few to save.
Hey, money doesn't grow on trees, you know. And it's not stealing if they attack me and leave their precious life savings behind. Maybe they're the jerks for carrying so much gold around in their pockets when they fight people. Ever thought of that?
Whenever the monsters' pathetic attempts at attacks actually connected, I popped one of the monster candies in my mouth, cringed through the tasted, and went on about my day as if nothing had ever happened at all. Their healing effect occurred more and more quickly the more I used them, although I really couldn't tell you why. I guess my body was growing more and more used to the magic seeping through my veins, or some other shit like that.
I was able to spend my, ahem, "hard earned" cash at a so-called bake sale run solely by spiders, which believe me, was a lot less creepy than you might think. They must of been way more intelligent than they were on the surface if they were able to run their own buisness, and I figured that it was more than plausible considering I just had a friendly chat with a ghost. I blew most of my cash on it, partially 'cause my pockets were running out of space quick with the amount of coins they were dropping (seriously, these guys fumbled their money more than little league football players fumbled the ball,) and partially 'cause I was dying to eat something besides the terrific monster candy that was steadily increasing my desire to throw up.
First thing I bought was a donut, which I downed immediately. It wasn't too much better than the candy, but it tasted like a five star meal after eating nothing but those sweets. Then I grabbed some "spider cider," kept in a bottle with an cap so I could store it for later. I wasn't in too much of a hurry to drink it, since the donut batter was apparently made from the same ingredients.
And what were those ingredients, you may ask? Well, as the sign sitting right outside the shop proudly declared, "Come eat food made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders!"
...Needless to say, I nearly lost my lunch after reading that incredibly useful tidbit of information.
The remainder of the rooms, and the puzzles for that matter, were much easier to stomach thanks to their simplicity. You'd honestly think they were designed in advanced just so my time spent solving them could be leisurely. Drop in a pit, flip an switch, done. Read some cryptic message, press a few eerie gremlin-shaped switches in a certain order, done.
Toriel called a couple more times to check up on me, and this time I actually made it through her incredibly useful advice without lashing out at her. Especially impressive considering she was filling me with handy tidbits such as leaving room in my pockets for other items. Because I was really suffering from the mentality that pockets were just bottomless portals to another dimension, and no amount of stuffing could fill them. Don't know what I'd without you, Tori, but maybe next time you could warn me about an actual threat, like to not to eat anything that comes from spiders?
I came up to a hallway branching off in two different directions, praying to nothing in particular that I was nearing the end. It wasn't the biggest place in the world, but going through the constant cycle of walking into a room, getting jumped by some weird monster, rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat, was growing old. I treaded over a pack of vines carelessly seeping across the floor and continued forward, oblivious to the path of crimson leaves on my left clearly marking the way out, because I'm just that observant, and continued on the entirely wrong way.
My restrained curiosity just so happen to work out this once. I stumbled through another doorway, blown away by the sudden change in my surroundings.
"No frigging way..." I muttered in disbelief.
The Ruins had completely opened up without warning, leaving me awestruck gazing at the massive city sprawled out before me. Okay, maybe 'massive' was a bit of stretch, what really caught my attention was its similarities to my favorite place on Earth.
I sat on an incline towering above even the tallest buildings occupying the city. The entire expanse was walled in like the rest of the Ruins, but somehow the larger confines gave off a larger sense of oppressive isolation drowning the place, me included. In fact, everything screamed, or more accurately whispered, isolation. Few lights glistened from the windows; most were kept completely pitch black. Few monsters roamed the streets; most were kept completely devoid of life, save for a few stragglers wandering around seemingly aimlessly. It felt like a black hole, sucking any joy out of the air and replacing it with an icy nothingness.
The Ruins had never felt more dead.
"Jesus...is this where Toriel lives?" I asked myself uselessly. Whether or not she inhabited any of them was besides the point. She lived and breathed this place everyday, dealing with all...the few monster's problems day in and day out, like any decent caretaker would. Knowing her, she would assert herself into every little problem they had. No wonder Grey was writhing in a pile of his own dissatisfaction, if this is the shit he had to deal with everyday. I knew that feeling all too well.
...So it was a bit of a mood killer to say the least. Or a mood corpse offender, since it was already far into the grave.
I shook my head, brushing the hair out of my face as I did so, heaving a sigh. No use fretting over it, it's not like I knew the vast majority of these freaks anyways. We all had problems, why waste time worrying about someone else's, right?
On the bright side, I got a glimpse of something actually worth-wile as I was preparing to double back and try the other route I'd neglected. My expression lit up instantly.
"Wait...is that a knife?" I asked the Almighty St-I mean, no one! My brain had more or less been turned to mush after wandering the Ruins for twenty long...minutes.
Sure enough, I hadn't been mistaken. Sitting precariously on the edge of the drop-off was at the very least a knife-shaped-thing, which was certainly a lot closer to a knife than a non-knife-shaped-thing. Without a moments hesitation, I inched closer, wrapping my hands around the hilt.
I lifted it up, only to find it was...
"...Plastic. Dammit, could've used an actual weapon for once. I'd take a fricking Nerf gun if I had too." I'd been eager to get my hands on something that had a chance to do some damage (no offense Almighty Stick, but you just...really...suck); so eager in fact I didn't even bother to question what a plastic knife had been doing there in the first place. It was only half the length of the stick, but the tip, albeit dull as hell compared to actual blades, still felt like it could make a deep enough gash if the user wanted to do some damage.
And no, I hadn't gone back on my promise not to kill anything. Don't get me wrong, I'd been pretty much slapping the crap out of anything that came within reach, but so far I'd left nothing broken and bleeding out on the floor, let alone dead. It's just that having something a little more powerful might come in handy if the situation ever escalates above a slap fight. Hell, maybe I could scare these things off just by waving the toy knife around in their faces.
So I inevitably grabbed it and stuffed it into my only remaining empty pocket before leaving. I mentally face-palmed when the alternate path filled came into my view. It might as well had had a neon sign for morons like me. "Hey assholes, go the hell that way!"
You know what goes really well with depressing scenery? Even more depressing scenery, of course! Which was exactly my thoughts when I finally came across the source of all those leaves that had been littering the Ruins' floor.
A single tree was all that lay before me, black as charcoal, maybe about seven or eight feet tall, and old. Very old. The bark was cracking apart across the whole damn trunk. It seemed vaguely oak-like, but I'd be lying if I said I could tell exactly what it was. Certainly wasn't like any tree I'd ever seen on the surface. Granted I wasn't a tree expert or anything; hell, Ebott probably had about as many trees as the Sahara Desert, but never in my life had I seen a tree grow leaves like that.
The fullest crimson leaves I'd ever seen in my life.
They sat in a short pile surrounding it, clinging so close to the tree it looked like they were curling around the roots and trunk for warmth or protection. Not a single leaf still hung on the stout branches, which appeared to be stretching and grasping at anything they could only to come up empty-handed. I stared at it for what felt like the longest time, wondering what was so disturbing about it. And then it hit me.
It wasn't dead. The stems of the leaves I'd strangely grown so fond were hiding in the shadows of the thick branches, like insects using the bark for shelter. To my surprise, they grew incredibly rapid. One went from just sprouting to fully grown in the literal blink of my eye. I frowned, though. Still had this feeling in my gut that something was wrong.
Just the new leaf sprouted proudly to it's full height, something snapped. It slipped off the branches, sifting through the air despite the lack of any wind to keep it airborne, fighting till the last breath until it inevitably joined the ranks among its fallen brethren, defeated. A few more fell beside it. Any leaf that grew was immediately cast away.
Jeez, did hanging around Grey turn me into such a sad sap? Find one depressed city and one half-dead tree that, for some odd reason, can't hold its leaves on for more than two seconds, and suddenly I'm in awe, spouting poetry out of my ass like the next Edgar Allen Poe. Boo-hoo, the tree will forever remain ugly as shit. Who the hell cares?! What I needed to worrying about was getting back on track, finding Tori-
"-Oh dear, that took longer than I thought it would..." came a familiar voice to aid in getting my brain to function properly again. Toriel popped out from behind the tree, speeding along at her usual power walker pace, coming to a brisk stop beside one of the branches. Without even glancing my way, she whipped out her phone and instantly started dialing you-know-who's number.
I smirked at her behind her back. Leave it to Toriel to be so concerned she calls to tell you how pockets work, and yet so oblivious she can't see the same person she's fretting over five feet away.
Just the thing to get me back to normal; screwing with Toriel's sanity. After all, what kind of me would I be if I let this Perfectly good opportunity to mess with her slip out from between my greasy little fingers?
I silently darted around to the other side of the tree and crouched down to completely block myself from her view, then grabbed the phone out of my pocket, making sure to pick up the phone before even the first ring.
"T-toriel, is that you?" I whispered in a gravelly voice like I was biting the bullet, just quietly enough that she couldn't hear my voice without the phone.
"Are you okay, My Child? You sound injured." Her voice indicated she had already snapped to full attention. She was buying it."
"I got jumped by a couple of frogs..." I sputtered weakly, adding in a few soft coughs for added effect. "I'm hurt real bad...I'm all out of candies...I think I might be done for."
"What!?" Toriel cried. I barely kept from chuckling to myself. My Oscar winning performance had apparently been enough to convince her. Eat your heart out, DiCaprio! "Where are you!? I will come to your aid immediately."
"I'm not sure..." I croaked. Then, in my normal voice, said; "But there's this really dark tree, bunch of leaves everywhere, and this weird goat lady standing around screaming into a phone. I think she might be a little off, if you know what I mean." I waited patiently for the fireworks to go off.
Toriel came charging around the tree, took one look at me and my stupid smirk, and nearly dropped her phone in disbelief. Her eyes washed over with relief.
"Whoops, sorry, wrong number," I said cheerily, hopping up to my feet. "Seriously though, you should've really caught on when I said the frogs jumped me. Those things couldn't hurt a fly." Huh, accidental sincerity for the win.
I figured Tori would be all over me, checking to make sure I didn't have a single bruise on my entire body, but she actually started chuckling. "That was a very dirty trick, my child," she scolded, although it was pretty ineffective without any anger to back it up.
"Dirty tricks are my specialty," I boasted, absentmindedly leaping up and grabbing on to one of the branches for some random make-shift pull-ups. I regretted it immediately and dropped back to the floor with a thud. The rugged bark felt sharper than fricking barbed wired. "Besides, no harm, no foul, right?"
She nodded cautiously, her laughter drizzling out. "I suppose so..."
"What's up? You look like someone actually died," I noted. She'd gone into this weird trance, eyes glazed over and staring at the tree as if it were about to come to life and chomp our heads off. Which, given the series of events occurring as of late, wouldn't really surprise me. Nature seemed to want me dead for some reason. Call a few flowers 'lucky bastards,' and suddenly they're all out for your head.
A moment of awkward silence hung dimly in the air. For awhile, I worried I'd somehow struck a soft spot with my last comment. Then I realized that was exactly what it was and shrugged it off. "Tori? Ready to go?"
"Ugh, it was irresponsible for me to try and surprise you like this!" Tori bleated, loud enough to make me jump out of my skin. I had honestly began to think she couldn't physically be that loud, like she had a muzzle strapped to her vocal cords or something. I whipped around wide-eyed to see what the hell had gotten into Tori in the last seven seconds.
Her head was buried in a half face-palm, half face-smother combo, and her fingers were tugging at her comically long ears so hard I swore she was trying to pull them clean off.
Left me in a tad of an awkward spot to say the least. I wasn't really sure if I should comfort her, shower her in insults, or walk away slowly and inconspicuously, and no one would ever know i was here.
I settled on something sort of in the middle...aside from the walking away thing, that shit was stupid. "Tori, didn't you ever learn you're only allowed to nag yourself over making mistakes when you're actually making mistakes?" I interrogated in a tone that made me question who the parent figure was in this relationship.
Wait...the hell was that monster candy doin' to me, there was no parent figure in this relationship!
At least I'd managed to help Tori to get over herself somewhat, as she peered up from her self imposed hand exile. I met her gaze, glad to find she wasn't crying, or we'd be here a good deal longer. "I thank you for your words, even if I'm understanding them the wrong way, but just because you aren't in any major harm does not mean I have not failed in my duties," she said calmly, folding her arms over her lap in an attempt to distract me from her diffidence.
A thought struck me I hadn't even considered before. When she had first found me, those few hours that felt like weeks ago, Tori had said I wasn't the first human to come here. I'd wager I wasn't the first one she's, "cared for," either, just because of how obnoxiously over protective she was of me. She was practically grizzly level of protecting her young, minus the snarling, biting and...you know, everything else that could describe a grizzly bear.
But that raised another question I'd been repressing for awhile now.
What happened to the other humans?
Somehow, my gut told me Toriel wouldn't give me a straight answer if I threatened to beat her over the head with the Almighty Stick, which was already ranked pretty low on my options list for a good two million some-odd reasons. Besides, that surprise of hers was sounding pretty good right about now, so I could stomach to put it off for awhile.
"Guess what, Tori, if the person you're trying to impress is telling you that you haven't failed, then you haven't failed. So stop moping over something that wasn't even your fault in the first place," I commanded, voice and gaze steely, with the confidence of a general in the military.
Damn, door-to-door salesman, motivational speaker, and army general? I was hitting all the marks for shit I didn't wanna do with my life today!
Toriel nodded, rising to her full height with newfound confidence brimming in her...well she still kind of looked a little unsure of herself, brow furrowed and a certain shakiness to the way she stood, but I'd take it for now. "Very well, my child, if that's the way you believe it's so." Apparently, my half-assed speech, if you could even give it that much credit, had gotten through to her. A little.
All of a sudden, Tori's expression blew up like ten nuclear bombs stacked on top of one another had all toppled over in her brain. "Oh, I almost forgot about your surprise!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together and almost sending me ducking for cover the...what were on now, third time today? "Here, come this way, small one!" She shuffled her way through the ever growing pile of leaves surrounding us and sped off before I could even say, 'Holy shit woman, wait the hell up!' Still couldn't tell if I liked her better when she was energetic or when she was sitting around fretting over me. Probably the former, I guess, now that my tight ring of people I can actually stand already had one emo in it.
Oh, for Christ's sake, what possessed me to add anyone to that ring?! Well, I gather Napstablook could...were these ghosts even in to the whole possession thing?
I followed after Toriel, forced to stop every two seconds to yank another leaf outta my hair, which thankfully wasn't necessary for too long. Not even a minute later and Toriel disappeared through an opening protruding from the wall, stopping a moment to make sure I was right behind her.
Great, more frigging Ruins, was my first thought upon entering. The repetitive nature of the place, along with the dimly lit and drafty caverns, and even the ass-tastic food was getting harder and harder to stomach. It seemed the farther I went along, the more I was reminded of Ebott. And no, homesickness was the last thing on my mind.
Of all the times I'd been completely wrong, like, completely miss the target and end up stabbing someone in the eye wrong, this one hit the bulls-eye. On a totally different dart board that I wasn't aiming at.
The very moment I stepped out of the doorway, I was hit with an almost jarring warmth, so pleasant it felt practically unpleasant just because of how huge a change it was. I nearly recoiled and turned the hell around from that alone, but when my nostrils were assaulted with the sweetest aroma ever (no arguments), I pressed on. The stone at my feet melted into a hardwood floor, and the garnish magenta walls that'd been haunting me for ages were replaced with a new eggshell white coat of paint, which was infinitely less aggravating to the eyes.
Tori stood proudly in the center of the room, a gentle smile on her face, basking in the glow of an actual ceiling light. Never thought I'd see any of those ever again...
"Do you smell that?" she asked cheerily. "Surprise! It is a butterscotch-cinnamon pie. I thought we might celebrate your arrival."
Were we really far apart, or was I just trapped in a different world? Her voice sounded more like a distant echo. Tori's house had completely transformed the Ruins into something else entirely, a completely different reality than anything I'd ever grown used too. And it was a bitch to try to process all of it at once.
The house was small, but felt roomy compared to claustrophobic aura of the Ruins, possibly because of the high-hanging ceiling. Tori was eight feet tall at least, so I guess it'd make sense she'd need a roof fit to house a professional basketball player. Everything, from the cleanliness of the floors to the potted plant tucked into the corner to even the dust-free staircase leading into the ground behind her screamed neat-freak, which, since this was Tori we were talking about, didn't surprise me in the slightest. I, personally, couldn't give less of a shit whether all my crap was in the right place, but here it felt comforting, and...
Cozy. That summed it all up. Toriel's appearance, her personality, and her living quarters. One word.
Cozy.
"I want you to have a nice time living here," she elaborated, oblivious to my eyes darting around the room, scanning for something familiar only to come up short. Why was my heart beating like I just a did a line of cocaine? "So I will hold off on snail pie for tonight."
Now that snapped me back to my senses. "Whoa whoa whoa, slow down a minute," I begged, but either she didn't hear me or she didn't care.
"Here, I have another surprise for you," she interjected, even more enthusiastic than before, and turned to exit down a hallway leading off to the right.
You'd have sworn my feet were glued to the floor. Had she not given up on trying to get me to stay here with her? I mean, it's not like I gave any reason for her not to, aside from literally making fun of every aspect of her life whether it was behind her back or right to her face. Maybe she was a serious masochist...or she was one of those people who felt they need to help every troubled soul that came their way.
I eyed the staircase desperately as a means of escape, but opted out of it. Tori was mental if she thought she could get me to live in this incredibly nice house that she spent forever preparing for me personally, even going so far as to make a special dessert as a means to welcome me, but I couldn't just hang her up to dry just yet.
...Wait, the hell were my other options again? Sulk back to the surface, get stuffed by monsters, or live a peaceful life with a friendly goat lady? Not sure which one was worse. Eh...at least getting stuffed would be over quickly?
"Is something the matter, My Child?" Tori's voice fluttered from down the hall.
C'mon, witty comeback, witty comeback... "Only the fact you keep asking me that!" Dammit, that was weak.
She had stopped in front of the first door on the left, unable to contain her excitement. "This is it, a room of your own!" she said warmly, gesturing to the door wildly. "I hope you like it!"
I padded over beside her, still not sure exactly what to make of everything. "So, you're serious about this..." I muttered to myself, too quietly for her to hear properly.
"What was that, My Child? You sound awfully quiet all of a sudden," she asked, genuine concern creeping into her voice. Her hand mounted itself gingerly on my head, running its fingers through my hair in a comforting fashion.
Naturally, I instantly jerked myself away. "W-watch it." My face was burning hot now, but whether it was from embarrassment or anger or confusion, I couldn't tell. All I knew was that I needed a moment to myself, to think all of this over. My gaze fell on a couple more doors lining the hallway, and I realized her kindness was met with a certain desperation to have someone else to share the space with.
Maybe I was jumping the gun a bit, but an old lady living alone by herself in a huge place like this pointed all the signs to loneliness. I knew there couldn't be anyone else here, she would've told me by now. As obnoxious as she was, she was also far too considerate to have forgotten to tell me.
"Can I...can I have a minute to check it out for myself? This is happening kind of fast, I-I need a second to breathe," I told her preemptively, knowing she was about to ask what was wrong.
A little of the light died in her eyes. Could she tell I was having second thoughts? Did I even care if she did? "Yes, of course. Feel free to ask me if you need anything else."
I smiled a little at that. "What are you, a maid?"
Toriel smiled, too. My usual jab seemed to reassure her I was okay. "Hey, is something...burning?" she asked, a look of panic crossing her face. With that, she rushed back down the hall and into the other room.
With nothing left to obstruct me, I calmly opened the door and closed it behind me without a second thought. When I said I needed some time to myself, I wasn't bullshitting her.
The room was dark, and I could only make out the faint outlines of furniture. A dresser, a cabinet, maybe a lamp, and a...
A bed. That's what I needed. Sleep.
I hadn't even felt tired a moment ago, but seeing a bed sent of a wave of exhaustion washing over my whole body. Besides, maybe an actual rest would be the ticket to figuring out where the hell I'd go from here.
My feet unconsciously trudged over towards the bed. I flopped down on top of it without a second thought, blanket and all, amazed by how comfortable it was. My head collided with the softest pillow in the universe, as far as I was concerned. Wandering through monster-infested ruins practically undiscovered by humans sure could take a lot out of you...
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