It only took a moment for a rather troubling question to pop up into Frisk's head: What now? Other than their new cell phone and stick, they didn't really have anything with them. But Toriel was only attending to a few things. She would be back. After all, she did tell them to stay there. Why would she tell them to stay if she wasn't coming back? Frisk sat on the cold stone floor crisscrossed, staring intensely at the doorway that Toriel walked out of.

She was coming back, right?

Just before that thought could dig deeper in Frisk's mind, resurfacing memories that would make them panic, the sort of familiar sound of a phone ringing interrupted. At first, they were confused, since there wasn't a phone anywhere. But then they remembered the cell phone Toriel gave them, and answered it.

"*Hello. This is Toriel." Frisk replyed with a very excited greeting. "*You have not left the room, have you?" No, they hadn't. "There are a few puzzles ahead that I have yet to explain. It would be dangerous to try to solve them yourself." They understood. "*Be good, alright?" They said their goodbyes, and a click could be heard on the other side. A smile of relief grew on Frisk's face.

And just like that, they were left with nothing to do. There had to be something in this room that could entertain Frisk. They parted back the ivy curtains, and peeked at every stone crack, but all they found were some gold coins plated with the symbol, and dressed in moss and dust. They could use these. Frisk laid the coins on the floor, and began to count them until they ended up with an odd number. That didn't prevent them from trying to split them up evenly though. Once they realized that they couldn't, no matter how they organized the coins, they started to create a family. The family included a mom, a dad, two brothers, two aunts, and a baby. The game didn't last for long.

Tiny fingers pressed against giant cell phone buttons.

"*Hello. This is Toriel." Frisk gave a small hello, followed by a moment of silence. "*You only wanted to say hello…?" They gave their reply, and a giggle escaped Toriel's lips. "Well then. 'Hello!' I hope that suffices. Hee hee." That made Frisk feel better. Time dragged on until Toriel's voice echoed through the ruins again.

"*You want to say hello again? 'Salutations!' Is that enough?"

A trillion years passed.

"*Are you bored?" Frisk moaned a response. "*I should have given a book to you. My apologies. Why not use your imagination to divert yourself?" How? "*Pretend you are… a monarch! Rule over the leaf pile with a fist of iron. Can you do that for me?" They said they would try, and all that could be heard was the dial tone.

Through the doorway, they spotted a pile of beautiful ruby red leaves. Their kingdom! But, it was out of the room. How were they going to rule from where they stood? How could they help their subjects if they were told to stay? Frisk paced back and forth, trying to find a way to solve this problem. After pacing for a minute or so, they found their answer: they couldn't.

Fists tightened and a muffled huff planted the feet into position. A deep breath entered and escaped, and a countdown from three sent Frisk flying out of the room. With such elegance and grace, they dove into the pile, and playfully crinkled the leaves.

...

Leaves fell from the sky like snowflakes. Red, Orange, Yellow, and Brown dominated the world. The air was chilling, but only enough for them to want to wear a jacket. Mamma raked the fallen leaves into a large pile, while they stood and waited excitedly. At last, she was done with her task, and walked up to them.

"Are you ready?" Mamma asked in an energetic tone of voice.

"Uh-huh! I'm going to beat you!"

"Oh ho! We'll see about that!"

"One!"

"Two!"

"THREE!"

Mamma and child raced on foot, giggling all that way. Their springy steps launched them into the air, and the two safely landed on the pile. Leaves scattered all over the place.

...

They were filled with DETERMINATION.

"*Ribbit, ribbit. (Excuse me, human.)"

The croaky, Kermit-like voice caught Frisk's attention, and they turned to look at who was speaking. It was the Froggit from a few rooms ago. They were happy to see it again, but they couldn't help but notice that it wore a worried expression.

"*(I have some advice for you about battling monsters. If you ACT a certain way or FIGHT until you almost defeat them… they might not want to battle you anymore. If a monster does not want to fight you, please…)" Before the Froggit could finish its sentence, a meek, ghost-like insect, named Whimsun, approached Frisk with a forlorn face. It smelled of lavender and mothballs, and muttered apologies while avoiding eye contact with them. It was too sensitive to fight, but Frisk's soul appeared anyways.

"*(Use some MERCY, human.) Ribbit."

Fight, Act, Item, Mercy, said the soul. Fight, Act, Item, Mercy. Fight, Act, Item, Mercy. Act, Item, Mercy. Act, Item, Mercy. Act, Mercy. Act, Mercy. Mercy. Mercy. Spare. Frisk reassured the Froggit that they won't hurt its friend, and stood up from the leaf pile, their soul vanishing in the process. Since they were no longer in the room that Toriel told them to stay in, they might as well explore the rest of the ruins. Frisk hunched down to a squat and began to hop away, humming "Hello My Baby" while doing so.

All of a sudden, they found themselves falling for the third time that day. Fortunately, a large leave pile broke their fall. Once they recovered, they looked up at the floor they fell through, and started giggling. That was actually kind of fun!

SOME TIME LATER…

Moldsmal: a jelly creature that smelled of lime gelatin. If one thought about it, it was quite stereotypical. Yes, it was curvaceously attractive, but didn't have any brains. Lying next to it was Frisk, immobile as could be. To any by stander, it would seem as if they were doing nothing. But in truth, they were gaining a better understanding of the world. Feeling refreshed, Frisk jumped onto their feet, and their soul hid away. There was nothing that was going to stop them from continuing their journey through the Ruins!

The next room consisted of three grey rocks, three buttons, and a fence of attractable spikes. A very simplistic puzzle compared to the previous ones. As if it was animal instinct, Frisk began to push the rocks onto the buttons. However, something unexpected happened as they nudged the third rock.

"*WHOA there, pardner!" Frisk jumped in surprise upon hearing a low, slow, loud, southern voice. Where did it come from? Was there another monster in the room? "*Who said you could push me around?" Oh! It was the rock! Frisk never knew rocks could talk before. Now that they thought about it, they recalled a sign that said "Three out of four grey rocks recommend you push them." Perhaps this rock was the one out of the four rocks mentioned. They got an idea.

"*HMM? So you're ASKIN' me to move over?" Frisk nodded their head. "*Okay, just for you, pumpkin."

The rock moved a few feet.

"*HMM? You want me to move some more?" They nodded their head again. "*Alrighty, how's this?"

It moved a little bit to the left.

"HMM? That was the wrong direction?" Frisk gave a slightly impatient nod. "Okay, think I got it." Much to their relief, the rock moved all the way to the button, and the spikes disappeared. Finally! But just as they sprinted toward the next room, the spikes returned, and Frisk skitted to a halt, falling onto their bum while doing so. What happened? Looking back, they saw the rock no longer on the button.

They wanted to yell at the rock for moving, but a little voice in their head reminded them to calm down before saying anything. So instead, they took a deep breath. After all, it probably didn't know that they were trying to solve a puzzle.

"*HMM? You wanted me to STAY there?" Uh-huh. "*You're giving me a real workout." The rock returned to its spot on the button, and Frisk walked safely across. They needed to work on their patience a little bit more.

Not much could be mentioned as Frisk continued through the Ruins, other than it was cold, and kind of dark. But soon they walked into a room that had a round wooden table with a slice of cheese stuck to it. It must have been there for a long time.

Squeak! Frisk turned toward the tiny noise, and found a small mouse hole in the wall on the other side of the room. They ran to the hole and peeked inside, trying to see the mouse. Sadly, they couldn't. It was hiding in the dark, too afraid of the monsters outside. It was lacking courage. Nevertheless, Frisk knew that someday, the mouse might leave the hole in the wall, and get the cheese placed for it.

...

It wasn't under the couch. It wasn't behind the TV. It wasn't inside the vase.

"What are you looking for?" They turned their attention to Daddy, who was looking up from the newspaper.

"Have you seen my birdie?" His eyes widen slightly.

"What birdie?"

"The birdie that was sleeping under the tree. You made a bed for it out of a box." His smile dropped.

"Oh yeah. I did…"

"But it's not there anymore. Where did it go?" His eyes darted across the room.

"It…um…it m-must have woken up, a-and…" He noticed the open window. "…flew out the window. Yes! I saw it leave this morning."

"So it went back home?"

"Yep! It's happy now." At that moment, Momma walked through the door, smiling warmly. She had returned from her visit.

"There are my two most favorite people in the world!"

"Momma!" Momma and child hugged tightly.

"What about me?" Daddy asked, giving off a sad tone of voice. Momma laughed, and the two lovers proceeded to kiss. Their child, who saw the whole thing unfold, stuck out their tongue in disgust.

"Hey. I noticed a dirt mound under the tree. It looks like a grave. Did something die while I was gone?"

The sound of a pin needle dropping broke the silence that followed.

Something wasn't right.

They decided to go play outside.

Spring was clearly present the moment they stepped out of the house. The sky was a pastel light blue, with freckles of white clouds here and there. Red, pink, yellow, blue, purple, and green invaded the ground their feet stood on. The air was filled to the brim of the scent of roses and daisies. Off to the distance was the tree were the birdie lived. Perhaps they would pay it a visit.

"DON'T GO OVER THERE!" They found themselves being lifted in the air and coming face to face with Daddy. He looked anxious.

"Why?"

"JUST! …Don't." After a few deep breaths, he sat them down. "You won't like what you see."

He sounded scared.

...

They were filled with DETERMINATION.

Frisk carried on to the next room, and soon encountered another monster, bringing their soul into existence. The monster, or ghost to be more specific, was lying on the ground, blocking their path to the other rooms.

"*zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… zzzzzzzzzzzzzz… zzzzzzzzzz… (are they gone yet) zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…"

Not to mention that they were pretending to sleep by saying "z" repeatedly.

As much as they didn't want to, Frisk had no choice but to move them by force. Upon confronting them, Frisk learned their name was Napstablook. Their body resembled a transparent bedsheet, and their eyes quivered, due to the tears forming in their eyes. They didn't seem to have a sense of humor.

Napstablook could really use some cheering up. Frisk leaned over enough that Napstablook could see them, and gave them a reassuring smile. They looked at Frisk, and then looked away.

"*heh…"

Frisk wasn't quite sure if it worked or not. Maybe a joke would make them feel better.

"*heh… heh…"

It was barely noticeable, but they could see a smile on Napstablook's face. All of a sudden, a quiet, wailing voice broke out of them.

"*hey… i want to show you something. unless you don't want me to…" Frisk beamed as they exclaimed that they would love to see. To their horror, Napstablook began to cry. However, to Frisk's amazement, the tears fell upwards, and gradually formed into a white top hat.

"*i call it "dapper blook". do you like it…?" They clapped in response. "oh gee…" Frisk stopped clapping. Did they do something wrong? "*usually come to the Ruins because there's nobody around… but today i met somebody nice…" A relieved smile grew on Frisk's face, but Napstablook's hidden smile disappeared.

"*oh, i'm rambling again. i'll get out of your way." At that moment, the depressing ghost faded away from thin air, while Frisk waved goodbye. They hoped they would see them again.

LATER ON…

Lips smacked as Frisk ate their last bite of the Spider Donut. Even though it had Spider Cider mixed in the batter, and it tasted like spiders, it wasn't exactly filling. What they really needed was a proper supper.

"*Ribbit, ribbit. (I have heard you are quite merciful, for a human…)"

That voice. That sounded like Froggit! Frisk turned to their left and looked down. Sure enough, there it was, with a look of confusion still present on its face. But its tone of voice was serious.

"*(Remember, sparing is just saying you won't fight.)" They understood, and said they won't forget. Their cheerful attitude shattered when they heard what the Froggit said next.

"*(Maybe one day, you'll have to do it to someone who doesn't want it.)"

With that, the Froggit hopped away before Frisk could ask what it meant.


Special call out to those who have reviewed thus far!

To Cool beans: Thanks! X)

To Sarah: Thank you very much for your critique! I love when people tell me what I'm doing right, and what I need to improve on.

To U dumboDie: Your trolling needs some work. Just saying.