Ruintale

Chapter 2.

Moving on, time to meet more monsters.


Frisk and Asriel walked through the snow covered woods, until they ended up in an open area, where some strange looking monsters were hanging out on the bank of a river. Two sort of bird-like, serpents, and a small humanoid creature made out of ice, with an impressively pointy hat, seemed to be having a conversation among themselves, when they noticed the human and monster teenager. They were visibly dumbfounded by their presence, as they stared at them in shock as they passed, before conversing amongst themselves once more.

Just then, Frisk shivered, the cold air finally starting to get to him.

"Getting cold?" Asriel asked.

"Kinda." Frisk admitted, clutching his borrowed shirt in an attempt to warm his cold fingers.

When he said that, Asriel promptly took off his leather jacket and put it around Frisk.

"Here," the goat boy said, "I don't really need it, my fur keeps me plenty warm."

"Then why wear it?" Frisk wondered.

"'Cause I like it," Asriel replied, "plus, it was a gift."

The two youths kept walking through the forest, passing more surprised monsters along the way, until they came upon a town with a sign in front of it. The sign reading "Welcome to Snowdin".

"Snowdin?" Frisk noted, "Really?"

"Like I said," Asriel said, "the king sucked at naming things."

"Um, I don't remember you saying that about the king," Frisk replied, "you said that your dad sucked at naming things."

Asriel looked around awkwardly.

"Uh, well, y-yeah," he stuttered, "him too, him too, lots of monsters have that problem."

As they walked into the town, they saw some of the monster residence standing outside, hanging out, chatting, when they noticed the teenagers making their way through. All of them looked stunned, some of them frantically calling others attention to the two boys, there were even monsters coming out of their houses.

"Wow," Frisk voiced, "people sure are getting worked up, I'm guessing it's cause they haven't seen a human in while."

"Just keep walking," Asriel urged, putting his hand on Frisk's back to hurry him along, "don't make eye contact with anyone."

The two walked briskly and had nearly reached the town's end, until someone finally addressed them.

"Your highness!?" they heard.

The teenagers stopped dead in their tracks.

"Fuck!" Asriel hissed.

They turned around and saw a crowd of monsters looking at them in awe, Sans and, who Frisk could assume was his brother, Papyrus were standing right along with them. A black and white dog monster spoke up.

"Is that...really you?" he inquired, astounded.

"Asriel," Frisk asked the goat teenager, "what's happening?"

"Frisk!" Asriel groaned tensely.

Frisk words seemed to draw a reaction from the crowd.

"Asriel?" a male bear monster uttered.

"So, it is him!" a female bunny monster responded.

"He's alive!?" a white, female dog monster commented.

As the chatter continued, Sans quickly stepped in front of everyone.

"All right, guys," he announced, "that's enough, just back off already."

When none of the monster would move away, Sans' eyes went blank.

"BACK OFF!" he shouted furiously.

With that the other monsters started backing away, Sans then walked over to the two teenagers, Papyrus following along.

"Come on, kids," he said, "come with us."

The skeleton brothers then led the monster boy and human boy away, to a house just a little ways away.

"This is our place." Sans said as they walked inside.

Once inside, Papyrus locked the door behind them.

"Wowie, your highness," the tall skeleton voiced, "you actually left-"

"Don't call me that!" Asriel cried hysterically.

The frustrated goat teenager flopped down on the green couch in the middle of the room.

"Okay, confused human boy would like some explanation, please," Frisk voiced, "I thought everyone was freaking out because of me, but, they seemed more hung up on Asriel. Also, why the 'your highness' thing?"

Asriel sighed deeply.

"Well," Papyrus revealed, "Asriel...formally, Prince Asriel...is the son of King Asgore and Queen Toriel."

A dumbstruck Frisk, looked at a chagrined Asriel, who nodded feebly.

"Wow," the human teenager responded, baffled, "wow, I...wow."

"I know I should've told you," Asriel sighed, "but, you were bound to find out once we left the ruins anyway."

The human teenager rubbed his head awkwardly.

"I'm just...surprised," he said, "when you talked about Queen Toriel, you spoke of her so hatefully-"

"I do hate her!" the goat teenager asserted.

An awkward silence filled the room.

"Ahem," Sans voiced, "so...what brings you two out here?"

"Frisk wants to talk to her." Asriel stated.

"Her as in...the queen?" Papyrus responded curiously.

"I thought that maybe if I told her about the state of the surface," Frisk explained, "then maybe she'll change her mind about breaking the barrier."

The skeletons looked on strangely.

"Geez, is the surface that bad?" Sans responded.

"Chara, the Chara, is king of the humans," Asriel huffed, "and guess how he managed that."

"He turned the surface into a merciless hellhole, he kills anyone who defies him and absorbs their souls," Frisk added, "it's been constant suffering for almost nine years, if you guys go up there, you'll be in the same situation as us!"

"Slow down, kid," Sans replied, "just...give us a minute to process this."

He closed his eyes while a stunned Papyrus rubbed his skull uneasily.

"So," Sans inquired, "you're saying that Chara, the same kid that fell down here, was adopted by the king and queen, got the king killed, and then ran off with said king's soul all those years ago is now running the surface?"

"That's right," Frisk responded, "except...that 'adopted by the king and queen' part is also news to me."

"We would all like to forget that part," Asriel said, "we have been trying to forget Chara all together, but, it seems like we'll never be rid of him."

Frisk hung his head dismally.

"I'm sorry." he said solemnly.

"Don't be, Frisk," Sans told him, "it doesn't matter how much we try to ignore it, the damage Chara caused can never be undone."

"No shit." Asriel sighed quietly.


After resting for about an hour, Frisk, Asriel, and the skeleton brothers finally left Snowdin and ended up in a new, very wet, water bound area, heading for the castle.

"Okay, kid, listen," Sans voiced, "if you really are that determined to meet the queen, then you'll probably have a better chance at survival if you have a good number of monsters on your side."

"That's why we will be accompanying you from this point on." Papyrus avowed.

As they walked Asriel looked around.

"Hey, isn't this the way to Undyne's house?" he inquired.

"Yeah," Papyrus said, "before we left, I called her and explained the situation, so, now, we're going to pick her up so she can come with us."

"And you're sure she'll be up for it?" the goat teenager responded, "She's not all that fond of humans herself."

"I know," the tall skeleton replied, "and that's exactly why I called her ahead of time and had lengthy conversation with her about the situation."

They soon came upon a bizarre looking house that looked like a sea monster's head.

"And here we are." Papyrus said.

The tall skeleton approached the door and knocked on it, as he did, Asriel carefully moved Frisk behind himself, as if shielding him.

Eventually, the door opened and, in the doorway stood a very tall monster woman with characteristics of a fish.

"Hello, Undyne," Papyrus voiced, "we're all set to go visit Queen Toriel."

"You have the human with you?" Undyne questioned.

Asriel shifted slightly, so she could see the human teenager who smiled politely at her.

"Hi, Miss," Frisk said genially, "nice to meet you."

The fish woman crossed her arms and looked at him dubiously.

"You don't look like much of a threat," she voiced soberly, "but, kid, you gotta understand if I don't wholly trust you right off the bat."

"Understandable," Frisk replied, "I don't trust humans either."

"We lost a lot thanks to one human." Undyne stated.

"And that same human took everything from me," Frisk attested, "from all of mankind."

They stared at each other silently for several seconds.

"Look, when it comes down to it," Asriel voiced, "we all want the same thing, to be happy, to live our lives in peace, if that's the case, then we're all on the same side and we should all be able to work together, right?"

"You're not wrong, As," Undyne replied, "but, honestly, I'm surprised you of all people can still find it in yourself to get along with a human."

Asriel looked off to the side.

"What happened to Dad was all Chara's fault," the goat boy expressed glumly, "I see no reason to condemn all of humanity when only one person is truly to blame."

"What about all of those villagers who-" Undyne started.

"Let me ask you something," Asriel interjected, "how would we have reacted if we found a human down here standing over a pile of monster dust, while also covered that dust?"

Undyne could not find a response.

"That's what I thought." the goat boy scoffed.

"All right, we'll do what you want," Undyne said, "but, if we're heading for the castle, maybe I should call Alphys and tell her what's going on."

"Odds are," Papyrus voiced, "if she's been paying attention to the cameras, then she probably already knows."

"Oh, right," Asriel responded, "I forgot about the cameras."

Frisk looked at him curiously.

"Shortly after...the incident, Toriel made Alphys set up security cameras in every area in the underground to keep an eye on everything," Asriel explained, "honestly, I think it's a little extreme."

"What does she do to people who break the rules?" Frisk asked.

"She...has them sent to the lab." Papyrus answered.

"What happens at the lab?" the human boy wondered.

"Those sent there are required to be test subjects for whatever experiment our dad is working on," Sans affirmed, "our dad being being the royal scientist, Dr. W. D. Gaster."


Meanwhile, at the underground castle, Dr. Alphys was sitting in front of her video monitor, observing what was being caught on her cameras. She had been watching for quite some time and was confounded by what she was seeing, after watching for quite some time, she decided that it was time to speak up.

"D-Dad," she called, "Dad, come here, you should see this."

Hearing her call, superior and adoptive father, Dr. W. D. Gaster, entered the room to investigate.

"What's going on, Alphys?" the looming skeleton man asked.

"Sir," the lizard woman said tensely, "I-I've been watching the monitor, there...there's a human-"

"I know." the skeletal scientist uttered coolly.

Alphys was taken aback by his response.

"Sans told me," Gaster told her, "he also informed me that our prince has finally left the ruins for the first time since that horrible day."

"I saw it on the monitor," Alphys voiced, "they're...coming to talk to Queen Toriel."

The impressively tall skeleton nodded in response.

"W-Well, what should we do?" the lizard scientist inquired, "Should we tell the queen?"

Gaster stared at the video screen for several seconds.

"No." he finally answered.

His adopted daughter looked at him in shock.

"We say nothing about this, we let them come," Gaster expressed, "the queen has not left the castle in quite some time, she's practically a shell of what she once was, perhaps...hearing what they have to say, seeing her son again, will be the wake up call she needs."

"But, Dad," Alphys replied tensely, "if the human shows up here unannounced, there's no telling what Queen Toriel will do, she hasn't shown any mercy toward a human since..."

"I believe...we will just have to trust our prince, our friends, and your brothers," Gaster voiced coolly, "and just maybe...help them out, any way we can."

Alphys was uncertain, but, she knew better than to question him, without another word, she turned her attention back to the video monitor.


Another chapter down, sorry it is so short compared to the first chapter, I just thought this would be a decent place to end it.

I promise, every chapter will exceed at least 1000 words, any less than that would just be pure laziness.

More Ruintale to come eventually.