Disclaimer: Toby Fox owns Undertale as a whole. I only own this humble story. Please support the official release. (Though you probably already have if you're reading this.)
-Chapter 13: Into the heart of darkness-
The first sign that I had by some miracle, or grievous cosmic error survived my fall was shockingly not an immediate and crippling rush of pain as one might expect, but rather the soft and soothing sound of water lapping against a shore... shortly followed by a far less pleasant feeling of being wet from the waist down.
Pulling myself forward and out of the water I flipped over and stared out ahead, now seated. A massive lake of softly glowing pale blue water with interspersed small islands caught my gaze. Large swaths of that strange grass lined the small dunes around the ancient lake.
A rather wicked pain throbbed in one of my ankles. Bugger. Sprained, possibly fractured. I hadn't escaped this fall unscathed after all, though still miraculously better than logic would dictate. A familiar pain, but one I couldn't for the life of me remember where I felt. I'd never actually hurt my ankle before today.
Only one way to tell for sure which injury it was that I knew of, and I was in no hurry to try it. Instead I took stock of my supplies. First thing I noticed and most worrying was that the knife I'd been carrying with me was shattered into several pieces, leaving about a third of the blade left. All but useless as a weapon against those demons, and dubious as a tool.
Over all about as cheap a knockoff as I thought it was. It was lucky to have survived the first fall. One of my plastic bottles was crushed beyond repair, though the other one seemed intact... it was also full of that weird blue glowing water. Maybe it could be useful...?
After a moment I realized something dug into the palm of my hand. Slowly opening it I found the locket had been clutched tight into it. -Lost locket' Def: 5 "Your best friend's. Too important to lose. It feels lonely."- I blinked silently at that information. I could check objects like I could people? I wasn't sure how I felt about what this one told me.
After having checked the locket it occurred to me that I had not checked myself in a fair while. -Chara HP: 5/20 Def: 17 Atk: 6 MP: 20/20, Determined, but very much a monster at heart. Despite everything, still you.- Oof... I wasn't looking too hot there with my HP... and I didn't really have much in the way of healing items except...
Checking the bottled glow water... -'glow water bottle' restores 5 HP & 5 MP, can be used twice. "A bottle filled with softly glowing aqua colored water. Makes for an alright light source. Tastes a little strange but probably safe to drink...? "- Something that restored my Magic? Now that was handy.
Steeling myself, I took a swig. It... really left something to be desired, having a faint briny seawater-like taste to it along with some sort of weird herbal undertone. Definitely an acquired taste, but I was feeling better after having drank it down so it was doing some good at least. Carefully I refilled the bottle with a fresh dose in case I was ever desperate enough to need it.
That brought me to my bag, not far off... and moving. Scooting over, I braced myself for whatever might be inside, and pulled it open to reveal... Well I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at. It was like staring at a white cat, but with dog ears as well, shoulder length black hair, and a blue sweater. It seemed to jitter about and be intently searching for something, the remnants of my last cinnamon bunny in it's mouth.
It didn't take it long to notice me, it's heartstoppingly cute eyes piercing into my soul... and then the cute illusion was partially shattered when it opened it's mouth. "hOI! i'm tEMMIE!" Loud. Very loud. Like a cheerful and overly energetic parakeet. "U-um... hi Temmie? I'm Chara." They stared at me thoughtfully... or at least what I could only assume was thoughtfully.
"Chara? Chara is... a humens? Ure a humens?! Legendary! humens is a cUTE! Can tem pEt u?" They seemed to have an... exceptionally poor grasp of the common tongue. They seemed harmless enough though, general lack of indoor voice aside, so I decided to play along. "Sure. I'll let you pet me if you tell me why your were digging through my bag."
They looked around as if to see if anyone else was spying on us before whispering to me as if it was the greatest secret in the world. "Uah... tem wuz hunting tem flakes. Very expensiv." Tem... flakes? What the... "Can tem pEt nao? P! fgsfgs" They jittered around seemingly vibrating with boundless energy. "Well, a promise is a promise I suppose, huh?" I leaned down and braced myself.
I wasn't sure what I expected, but it wasn't their paw stretching out and bending bonelessly in a physics defying way like something out of a cartoon. A few soft pats on the head before the now elastically stretched paw retracted.
For my part, I didn't end up all that stunned at this. Perhaps I was becoming a bit too used to all this strangeness. "Well that was... something." They hopped cheerily. "yEP! Somthin is somthin!" They tilted their head curiously, some of their hair flopping over their face slightly, staring at my hood now. "ooooo~ wHAT's Dat!"
"This?" I pulled at it slightly for them."It's a hoodie. Real comfy and warm." Without a second thought they leaped on up and before I could react buried themselves into the hood. Good thing they didn't weigh much or that'd have caused more than a few problems. "Yay! tem not colb nomoars! tem liEk!" -Tem has forced themselves into the party-
"Ah...hahaha... well I'm glad you do." They popped their head out, resting it on one of my shoulders, clearly quite pleased with themselves. "Tem iz nao hoodie Tem." They declared proudly, with a sage nod. God, now I kinda knew how Luke felt having a weird speaking tiny person riding around on his back. The difference being his was at least wise and taught him some valuable stuff.
"Yeah. Good for you I guess, huh? Know a way out of here? I have some friends I got separated from and really need to get back to." They scrunched their face up in thought at my question, before stretching a paw out like Reed freakin' Richards and pointing in a direction. "Dat wai... hoodie tem thinks?"
"Gee. You really sound confident there." I replied with such deadpan sarcasm I might as well be a skillet. Heh. Would have to tell Sans that one at some point. Uneasily I scooped up my bag and rose to my feet. The pain in my leg flared up a bit but... it was still manageable and I could stand. Probably a sprain then. Still bad but I wasn't screwed at least... not yet.
Staggering at a slow pace in the direction they pointed, I could only trust my strange and fluffy guide for guidance. Slowly but surely a figure materialized along the shore. I wasn't entirely sure I was actually seeing them either. Tall, with short cut brown hair and pale skin, a slightly ragged poncho draped over their shoulders and an old battered sword in one hand and primitive spear in the other as they kneeled peering into the waters.
A human. Another human... Down here... but something felt incredibly wrong. My skin itched just looking at them. Their gaze snapped my way like a feral beast before they vanished into the darkness. Two ruby red eyes which seemed to glow in the dim light of the underground. I wasn't entirely sure if it had really even happened, but for some reason that event left me deeply shaken.
Unsure of what I saw being real I decided to ask my strange companion. "Did you... just see another person?" They were silent for a moment before saying "No. Only humens here iz u..." And that reply didn't really help matters. If I hadn't been so bothered I might have picked up on their change in tone more.
Wandering in the gloom, eventually they posed a question. "Does chara hav a favvrite place? i leik Tem village." I sat thoughtfully for a moment before laughing a bit to myself as I thought of a perfect reply. The opening from an old book I once read. I never really figured out it's origin but supposedly it came from the eastern islands.
"The place I like best in this world is the kitchen. No matter where it is, no matter what kind, if it's a kitchen, if it's a place where they make food, it's fine with me. " They tilted their head curiously at my words. I gave a small smile and continued. "I suppose to continue my point, there's one kitchen in particular I really like though. Back home with mom."
Talking helped take my mind off the dull throb of my leg, which was good. Meant I wouldn't struggle as much going forward. What would Asriel think of this situation? I couldn't help my mind drifting to them again. They'd probably tear up, the crybaby, thinking about it. Assuming they were real and not part of some sort of weird delusion I was suffering.
I clasped the pendant close with one hand. It's light weight gave me some level of comfort. Another matter of habit I was finding myself falling into. I kept the scarf tied around one arm as well. It was something I did without really thinking, but it felt right keeping it close.
The lake gave way to a valley filled with a forest of trees. It felt odd seeing a forest after so long that didn't have the snow and cold of Snowdin... "Loneliness is a terrible thing... It will devour a man from within and hollow them out until nothing is left."
I wasn't sure why but I felt the need to offload these thoughts of mine to my strange companion. "I came dangerously close to that point myself. I was... not a very happy person on the surface. Sure I had a few 'friends' if you could call them that, but no one really cared what happened to me. I didn't really care that much what happened to them as it happens... and then eventually I didn't care what happened to me either."
I gave them a weak smile. "That was almost three years ago. I've come a long way since. If I can't call Toriel mom, then I don't know who I can." They hummed thoughtfully as we passed a cluster of boulders. "tutorial iz importan 2 chara, yaya?" I opened my mouth to correct them on her name, but froze on the spot.
Before the two of us was a human skeleton, bones greatly aged and clothes hanging from it in ancient ragged strips, pinned to a large slab of stone between the ribs by an old looking spear. Their jaw hanging open in a silent scream as one hand grasped the aged wood shaft of the spear which was embedded fully in the stone behind them. The other hand grasped the strap of a surprisingly intact looking duffle bag just barely.
This was a human. A long dead human. "uuuu... scury..." They shifted uncomfortably, bothered by the sight. A grim reminder of the danger looming over us. Monsters hadn't been down here in a very VERY long time... so what had killed this human then?
I didn't exactly feel proud about it, but I was going to take what I could get from them. I had people counting on me, and that meant I needed to survive. Carefully I set about the morbid task and removed the bag from their skeletal grasp... resulting in the entire remnants of the arm falling apart. Ew.
Still, I now had my grim prize, the contents of which I would need to go over. If nothing else the duffle bag would be a better form of storage than my current one. I didn't exactly recognize the brand, mainly because it didn't actually have a brand it seemed, but it was a sturdy built one and it had at least a little something in it.
Kneeling down I opened it and started taking stuff out. Most of it was remnants of what might have at one time been food (ew), a really old busted compass, A leather bound worn book, and... a video camera of the same model as the one I found in the closet? Oh. And a whole load of hardtack as well. That stuff would probablly still be good for the next millenia. Not exactly something that'd heal me... or even taste good like monster food, but it was edible so I'd hang onto some of it.
Dumping out the rest of the worthless junk, I took it carefully. It looked to shockingly be in much better condition than the broken video camera... and a bit of experimentation proved it able to power up. Removing the tape from the old one, I transferred it over to the new one and discarded the broken camera.
"r u sure u wants 2 watch dat?" My curious little companion chimed in. "Yeah... I think I do." They hummed softly to themselves at that. "Olb memoriez can b scury...but tem won't stop u if u sure." Tuning them out a bit, I flipped open the small video screen and hit play.
Nothing at first but black... "Let's see here..." a voice spoke. A soft click and vision filled the screen. "Look at that. I told you I would remember to remove the lense cap this time!" I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at regardless. Clapping came from the camera. "Good job Az. You actually remembered this time. Now give me that. You're pointing it at the ground."
The sound of the camera being pulled from their hands and a surprised shout. "H-hey! Be careful with that! And can you stop with that nickname? My name doesn't even have a Z in it!" There he was... just like in my dreams... "Well maybe so, but it kinda sounds like it does, and hey. I LIKE that nickname, thank you very much."
A defeated groan came from Asriel as he placed his face in his hands. "Charaaaa... You know I hate that nickname." I froze solid. That was undoubtedly my name. Maybe it was another Chara though? It wasn't exactly a common name but... No It must have been me. However these memories where not matching up with the memories I had growing up.
"But you're smiling, Az." And indeed he was, despite himself. A bit flustered but with a happy smile. "I know, and I hate it you idiot!" The camera shifted slightly. A shrug? "Well if i'm an idiot then i'm the world's smartest idiot." Asriel sighted at that. "There you go with that megalomania of yours again..." A soft laugh from the Video Chara. "Say... how's dad feeling today? I..." The camera hung limply now, giving me a fantastic shot of the ground. "It wasn't a very funny joke."
"No. I suppose it wasn't Chara. I was... really scared when he collapsed. I wish I could laugh off scary stuff like you did." A soft sigh from the Video Chara. "Az, promise you won't tell anyone what i'm about to tell you?" A non-committal hum at first before he replied. "I promise. Pinky swear and all."
"Alright... well... I was actually pretty scared as well. That's why I... disappeared for a bit. I couldn't face mom, dad, and you after what happened... I couldn't stand the though that I might have..." A soft thump as they sat down on a rock. "Chara... where did you go?" The... other me gave a small chuckle. "I'll show you some day. I want to keep it my special place a bit longer."
A soft beeping from somewhere. "Oh? It seems the camera's battery's low. Wait. Was the camera on that whole time?" An annoyed grunt from the Video Chara. "So it seems. I don't get how these so called 'machines' of yours work yet. Well, we'll have to do something about that tape later." Click. With that the tape ended.
"I... I don't understand." My hands were shaking a bit, and a chill ran up my spine. Numbness started to set into my mind as I was lost in my inability to understand. I felt like I was going insane. I was starting to lose my grip on who I really was. If I grew up here, underground, with Asriel... then who was I before? Why didn't I remember any of this? Why was it that I grew up on the surface until a few years ag-
"Humen! Pay ATTENSHUN! Iz dangerous her still. we shud keep goin..." Their words snapped me out of that dangerous thought spiral. "R-right. Thanks." Pushing further on, I decided it would definitely be a bad idea to try and watch any more of whatever was on that tape.
Instead I decided to crack open the dead man's journal. It might possibly give a bit of context to my situation. Most of it was... pretty boring stuff about old mineral and water way surveys from about 1,000ish years ago or so and quite illegible. The last few pages though...
At some point in time he arrived at a village at the base of Mt. Ebott, sent there to survey a possible water source from the mountain. When he told this to the locals one of them thrust a sword into his hands, warning him to beware as a monster lurked there which had attacked the village in the recent past.
Some time later there was an... incident. While surveying a promising location they ended up falling into what they were looking for. A sub-terranian water way. Annnnd judging by his flowery descriptions of the area he had wound up in, he found himself down here, which clearly didn't end well judging by the perforated chest of his.
There were stretches I couldn't read since they were in Lucilian. I only learned a little of it, so a lot of it was unfamiliar to me. It seemed to be mostly dry drab observations on the local geology anyways though at one point he lamented missing the Lucilian holiday of El día de los gran carne.
That did raise a question though... what was a hydrogeologist from Lucila doing all the way in Grieland, much less around Mt. Ebott. That wasn't the weirdest thing to come from reading this however. My finger stopped tracing the page at a rather odd note.
"I have not seen hide nor hair of any so called 'dangerous monster' that the people from the village prattled about in my time down here. You would think that if such a thing existed they would beset me by now. There was however a curious surprise today. Someone else is down here. A fellow man, though he dresses strangely like the ancient tribe once said to inhabit the valley around this mountain."
A frown touched my lips. That sounded an awful lot like what I saw. I continued reading in any case. "It took a level of effort catching up to them. Strange though they be, they have been quite friendly and personable after a fashion. I asked them for directions to the surface, that I may be rid of this place. They smiled the strangest of smiles and said that they would 'help set me free'. A curious way of putting it, but as long as I reach the surface I am content."
A few pages described the scenery as they went before finally... "I am beginning to suspect that my strange guide is leading me in circles. This is the third time we have passed this stone in as many days. My supplies are about run out, these abominable crackers aside, and yet strangely he does not seem to need rest nor food nor drink at all. I believe I will confront him about the matter after I finish this page. He promised he would set me free!"
No further pages after that... and dark stains covered the paper. It didn't leave much to the imagination what had happened here. I certainly dare not think deeper on it. Snapping the book shut I cast it aside and picked up my pace. I needed to call mom, Sans, someone. I needed a friendly familiar voice. Hell, even Flowey would do. Pulling the phone out, I rapidly tapped in Sans' number... beep... beep... An overly cheery mechanical voice met my ears. "I am sorry, but it appears that you are out of our service area, please try again later."
I cast an incredulous glare at my phone, having the gall to say I couldn't place my call. Today I was having decidedly not a good time. Clenching my hand and carefully opening it, I let loose a small flame, toned to the color of my soul and hovering just above my palm. It wasn't true fire magic so it was just as cold as the surrounding air and just about as harmless, but it gave me a measure of comfort in what was an understandably stressful situation.
"Uah. Chara knows magic?! but Humens can't..." I gave them a proud grin. "Maybe not most, but I'm not most humans." A brief calculating look flashed over their eyes before they declared loudly "KEWL!" Ack, right next to my ear! "Can you... be a bit more quiet? Don't want the demons to hear us."
They looked at me confused... or perhaps like I was some sort of idiot. " If U r tryin 2 avoid demons de diggin up teh past?! Uuuu... bad tiems!" I went to correct them and say that they were not those sort of demons but as if in response to their words, a wretched chill ran down my spine, and an indistinct shadow started to approach. My breath caught in my throat... until the light cast upon them.
Golden yellow petals and a smiling face. "Flowey...?" He gave a smile that almost seemed genuine. "Boy am I glad to see you, Chara! I was worried for a bit there! Scared actually!" Happy to see a familiar face, even if they weren't... the nicest one, I smiled back. "Greetings, Flowey. You have no idea how happy I am to see you."
"Save the mushy crap for later Chara." He harshly cut me off, his expression a mix of anger and anxiety. "You're not supposed to be here. None of us are. This is forbidden grounds. Not even i'm stupid enough to come here without very VERY good reason."
"And trying not to get murdered by the head of the royal guard isn't good enough reason?" Flowey gave an annoyed growl. "No, it's not. You really ARE an idiot! You know what, just shut up and follow me before we both get torn to pieces by those ghoulish horrors because you want to argue with me til doomsday, and make no mistake, You die now? Everyone else gets dragged down with you. I'd rather not, thank you."
Flowey burrowed forward, digging a small trench through the dirt as he went. Might as well follow. "You know how Frisk and the kid are doing?" I figured i'd ask since he was probably following us the whole way. "Smiley trash bag found 'em and is keeping an eye on them. Still don't know how you get along with that bag of bad jokes and greasy bones."
I shrugged. "Someone who can genuinely enjoy bad jokes is a person with an integrity you can trust." Flowey sneered at me. "Oh? I dunno about that, Chara. Smiley trash bag's got a few 'skeletons' in his closet, heheheh." Did Flowey just pun? I'd have laughed at it, if not for the lingering tension in the air and the possible implications or accusations he was laying down by saying that.
"You know Chara. If you're going to pull stupid stunts like that then i'm gonna have to stick close to you, at least for now. I can't have you ruining my fun when things are getting so interesting." -Flowey has forced himself into the party- Well. I guess three was better than one, and it felt good being able to stick with someone who could also handle themselves if things got bad.
And things were about to get very VERY bad as some far less pleasant shadows encroached on us. Demons like shadowed silhouettes in the distorted shape of warriors with a fuzzy pixilation to their outline and glowing red lines where their eyes should be. "Chara and cohorts draw near!" One of them exclaimed much too cheerily, bringing a vantablack sword to bare at us.
They grinned wickedly, a blood red glow from their gash-like grin. "Let's see here... Chara has HP:15/20... the little Temmie has 5/5... and..." They tilted their head as they stared at Flowey, smile fading a bit. "2,420/3,000 HP?" They murmured with their cohorts. Blinking in surprise I ran a check on Flowey myself. -Flowey HP: 2,420/3,000, ATK: 7, DEF: 0, Can't feel positive emotions but is trying for Chara's sake.-
"Flowey... you're hurt..." A worried frown touched my lips. The fact he had such abnormally high HP was irrelevant next to the fact that he was injured. "Worry about yourself, Chara!" Flowey quickly spat out in a mix of frustration and fear as one of the demons took a leaping slash at me, blade cutting through what little light shown in this dank place.
I just barely managed to scramble back, missing the blade by inches. Their 'eyes' if one could call them that glinted with an inhuman desire for bloodshed. My heart ran cold at the sight. I was broken from this state by something white whipping past my ear and snapping across that terrible face like a whip crack, sending the attacker reeling back.
"You think this is a game?" A voice growled just behind me. I was so jarred by the calm fury of their tone that it took my mind a monumental effort to process that it had come from the temmie in my hood of all people. Their words were so carefully measured, and completely devoid of the normally overly cutesy and noisy tone they usually held. It was practically like they were someone else entirely now.
One of them jeered "Best game i've played in years, and if we kill you we'll be able to fight and fight as much as we like without having to worry about the 'consequences' anymore, heheh-urk!" but their jeering was cut off by several thorned vines constricting around their throat like a jagged boa. "Assholes like you will never be above consequences..." Flowey hissed with untold venom as he blasted them point blank with a load of his pellets, causing the demon to burst into black smoke which rapidly dissipated.
All hell broke loose at that moment. This was nothing like the controlled structure of a monster fight. Hectic, uncontrolled, brutal. Swords and spears fell upon me from seemingly all sides, and it was all I could do not to be eviscerated. Drawing on my magic, I lashed out with uncontrolled bursts, and cleaving swings at anything that looked darker than black in reach.
Frustrated cries and sadistic laughs filled the air along with Flowey cussing up a storm. My body stung all over like one large aggravated burn, but I couldn't slow down. I didn't even have time to breathe, much less check my HP. If I'd still had my knife perhaps this wouldn't be so bad...?
Magic would have to do, and perhaps if I rationed mine carefully I could make it out of this with some MP to spare. 10 strikes per knife give or take, 4 blasts of raw magic to an MP point. There were 3 of the demons left and Flowey was handling one on his own well enough, though his petals were starting to look nicked and wilted, and a frustratedly furious fervor graced his face, eyes sunken and wild and teeth gnashed together like a wild beast.
He was a pretty terrifying sight to behold actually compared to past appearances, lashing thorned vines at his adversary as they cleaved at them. A sharp pain dug into my shoulder as I was preparing to face off against the other two unattended. Pulling away, a cold sweat and flash of pain flowing through me, I found an extra assailant I'd somehow missed in the chaos.
Very much a living shadow like the other demons, this one seemed to fancy itself more of an assassin type compared to it's more knightly companions, with two wicked daggers and a hooded cloak. A cocksure grin touched it's 'face'. I raised a hand to strike them down with a blast of magic but froze.
In one of their hands was temmie, held by the scruff of their neck, a dagger precisely aimed at them. Tem locked eyes with me, courage surging in those dark blue eyes of theirs. "Chara, whatever happens from this point forward... stay determined."
A sickening grin cracked on the demon's face. "Psh... nothing personal... kid." Time seemed to slow as the dagger rose and started it's deadly arc, temmie squeezing their eyes shut tight in brace for the blow. Not fast enough. I'd never be fast enough... but I was filled with determination.
Breathe in... breathe out... between one heart beat and the next I rose my hand, magic and determination pouring over me. Being human means having limits. The more carefully you scheme, the more unexpected events come along... and... every now and then a human finds a way to surpass these limits.
The World. Time had stopped...? No. It was slowed. Adrenaline kicking in? No... something else was happening here. Not that it mattered much to me. This was a chance I was going to seize. Drawing every bit of my magic I could cling to, I drew it into a singular sphere, not much bigger than an acorn.
End it in one blow. "Judgement has been cast." The words left my mouth though my mind didn't fully process where the thought originated. I slung the sphere, air particles burning as it tore through the air, a clean hole bored through their chest, and with a swiftness everything fell into place.
They staggered back, shocked and entirely off balance, knife falling away from their hand and clattering to the ground before dissolving. "I-impossible. H-how. How did I lose to such a sickening candy-ass...?" I scowled at them as the temmie dropped down and hurried over to me. "There's a single reason for your defeat. One simple reason... You pissed me off."
They staggered back, barely able to stand anymore, only hanging on by their hate. "A-as... simple as that...? S-SON OF A BITCH! I AM ABOVE CONSEQUENCES! ! I WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS RESULT! I WILL NOT ACCEPT TH-" And with their final words strangled off in an anguished cry they evaporated like the others. "Ah... what a pain..."
Even Flowey and the last remaining demon stared slack jawed at the violent tantrum they threw, the demon still tangled in Flowey's vines. The moment was shattered by the temmie speaking in a hushed tone. " A judge..." I blinked slightly in confusion. "Huh?"
They just shrugged before clamboring back into their hood perch. "Humen Chara did gud. Vry detemmined. U can has Temmi flake" They handed me a 'temmie flake' as Flowey finished the last demon. It... was certainly a thing.
It looked like a scrap of construction paper. Felt like a scrap of construction paper. More or less smelled like one as well. "Umm... so what do I-" They cut me off cheerily by saying "U eats it!" I looked down at the colorful thing before looking back at them, entirely blissful. "Um... alright then?" I hesitantly placed it on my tongue.
It... tasted peculiar. Not unpleasant, and not papery either, but also very very unremarkable. Sort of like a knockoff frosted flake really. And being monster food it all but instantly dissolved... with barely any noticeable effect on me as far as I could tell. "Huh."
My attention quickly snapped to Flowey, not in the greatest shape. As I had recalled he'd been hurt before even finding me. I hurried over, though not perhaps as fast as I could like, an injured shoulder compounding my sprained ankle. "Flowey... Why were you hurt already when we met?"
He cast me a baleful glare, perhaps offended at my perceived pity, and with one of his vines pulled something up from the dirt, tossing it to my feet. "Insurance. The previous owner put up more than a little of a fight."
A sword lay at my feet. It... looked an awful lot like the one which that seemingly phantasmal person from earlier carried. In fact... " Who... what were they? The previous owner of this sword?" Flowey gave an unpleasant grin. "A soul wraith. A soul so filled with hate that they refuse to believe they're dead and cling to that feeling until they become something... quite dangerous."
He glanced quietly at the sword, worn with age and use. "Always hungry for exp, blood, and dust, their anger directed at anything and everything living they cross paths with." I stared down at the sword as well, unsure if I should take it given this... context. "Human? Monster? They're all fair game. Bet they had their sights set on you the moment you fell down here."
Licking my dry lips, I downed the bottle of water. "How... do you even know all this stuff?" Flowey gave a sad chuckle. "When you've been around as long as I have you pick up on these sorts of things. Feel free to fact check it if you make it to the royal library though. If you make it that far." I furrowed an annoyed brow at that, but I didn't have the energy to argue with him. Like it or not, he wasn't exactly wrong.
Setting the bottle aside I figured I had to ask. "Who do you think they were before they became... that?" Flowey did the closest thing a flower could do to a shrug. "Don't know, don't care. For all I know they could have been one of the original humans that sealed us down here. And Chara... don't get the wrong idea." Flowey looked me square in the eyes.
"I didn't do this purely out of the kindness of my 'heart'. I had my own reasons for fighting them so don't you start thinking you can get all buddy buddy with me." I sighed, picking up the sword. -'worn sword' Atk: 12 "An old sword weathered by the ages. It's edge is still sharp as ever though. It reeks of determination."- Tucking it into the bag wrapped in cloth, I replied. "Trust me. I didn't think that for a second. It's just... never mind..."
The belligerent flower grumbled before pointing a leaf ahead. "The path back to Waterfall proper is that way. You're not far. Now if you'll excuse me, I have my own business to attend to, you idiot." -Flowey has left the party- And with that, the surly flower was gone. "Stoopid Flowr." My tiny companion chimed in as Flowey left.
The path became less and less distinct, reeds growing thicker and thicker. Enough where I had to start using the sword to carve a path through them. At the least it was getting brighter as well. Bursting out from the underbrush, I nearly tripped over a telescope. Back on the path again. Out of the abyss... and almost bowling over Sans as well. "Whoa there buddy. What's got you shakin' a tibi- Chara? That you? And... who's your little friend?"
Frisk and Monster kid were right next to him, about as surprised as Sans was. "Yooo... Chara..." the monster child said, a bit awed by my sight. Maybe. I must have looked like hell. I couldn't help but let a big grin spread across my face though. "Sans... guys... you have no idea how happy I am to see you all." Perhaps today wouldn't be so bad? I could feel exhaustion clawing at me, but I was filled with determination.
MsYakumo: You would think that writing a temmie would be easy enough, but it seems to really take a force of will to capture that oddness and nonsensical feel just right. It's worth noting I almost didn't included Flowey at all in this chapter. I ended up feeling like it'd be interesting to include him in the way I did though in the end. This was perhaps one of the more interesting chapters to write as well since it's completely removed from classic Undertale plot.
As a small side note I like to think that El día de los gran carne is something akin to a mash up of Thanks Giving and Dia de los Muertos, giving thanks to both the living and the dead with a lot of partying and ending the day with a big ol' whole roasted pig.