On the bright side, this mountain wasn't completely filled with goats.
But what the hell even was this?
Whoever had just walked in appeared to be…a fish girl.
Yeah.
She was tall, and her scales were blue. What? I did say she was a fish monster. Anyway, she had flaming red hair in a long ponytail, and she looked like she could kill me and Frisk if she wanted to.
So hopefully she didn't want to.
I tightened my grip around my knife.
"Yeah, I didn't have much to do so I decided to show up a little early today. But seriously, where the hell did the humans come from?" The girl asked.
"They fell late last night." Asgore explained. "I planned to announce them to the Underground today or tomorrow. The one with the red eyes is Chara, and the one with the blue-and-pink sweater is Frisk. Girls, this is Undyne." He pulled out a chair for her. "Sit down; there's tea being made."
Undyne sat down and replied, "Dude, aren't you worried about how people will react? I mean, humans have kept us trapped down here for centuries. You really think everyone's going to be all chipper and nice about this?" She did have a point. If it had been the other way around, I'd be pretty damn disgusted if a monster fell down here. Besides, these monsters were completely in the right if they hated humans.
After all, I was human, and look how I'd turned out.
"Undyne, you said it yourself-that was centuries ago." Asgore pointed out. "Besides, do these two look capable of harming anyone? You're barely any older than them."
"We're right here, you know." Frisk said, her voice deadpan. "Blind and deaf are not the same thing; I can hear you both just fine, and I'm guessing Chara can too." I turned to glance at her, trying not to cringe at her eyes. They were looking straight at Asgore, yet they seemed to look through him. It sickened me, knowing what I'd caused.
"Well, then do either of you plan on hurting us?" The fish girl-Undyne-asked.
"Depends." I replied, becoming aware of the cold metal handle my right hand was still clenched tightly around. "Lay a single goddamn finger on Frisk, and you'll regret the day you came into existence. But leave her alone, and you won't be hurt."
Undyne's eyes narrowed. "Look, I get that you care a lot about her, but you can't have that kind of attitude and then expect us to trust you."
"No? Well, then I guess you'll just have to keep your hands off of Frisk."
"Chara, stop." Frisk's quiet voice startled me. "They don't want to harm us."
"They say that, but she said that, too." I reminded her.
Frisk flinched before saying, "Don't compare them to each other. There's no way in hell these monsters are anything like her."
"How do you know that for sure?!" I snapped.
"Dammit, Chara, I just know! Besides, there were signs that she wanted to hurt us from the beginning, now that I think back. Her fake smile, her dark, mysterious way of dressing, her angry nature, and let's not forget the black whip in her back pocket."
I knew, deep down, that Frisk was probably right, but I wasn't about to show it. "You know what? Fine. I'm still going to be on guard, though." My grip loosened on my knife. There was still a reddish tint to it, despite my compulsive washing of the blade earlier.
"Heh, I like this kid." Undyne laughed.
There was the sound of the door opening, and a voice said, "I smell tea. Is there enough for one more?" I turned my head to see Asriel coming in.
"Jeez, this is like a big damn party." I muttered.
"Oh, sorry, was I interrupting anything?" Asriel asked innocently.
Asgore shook his head. "No, don't worry. Undyne and I are going to go train. There's some pie in the kitchen; you and the girls could go get some."
"Okay, Dad! You two have fun!" To us, Asriel said, "Come on, let's have some pie!" Frisk and I let him lead us to the kitchen.
"Undyne's training should be over in approximately an hour or two. When she is finished training for the day, you can go to Asgore and see if you have magic." Toriel said to us as she took the pie out of the oven. "You must wait a moment or two for the pie to cool, but once it is done, I will give you each a slice."
"Mom makes really good pie." Asriel said.
After around ten minutes, the pie was cooled enough for us to eat it.
The pie was, in a word, incredible. It was flavored with cinnamon and butterscotch, which I never would have guessed would have gone nearly as well together as they did. The filling was creamy, fluffy, and absolutely delectable. The crust was cooked to total perfection. It was flaky, and not even a little burnt. It was puffy, yet smooth at the same time.
I tried to savor this little bite of heaven, but despite my best efforts, it was gone within a few minutes. "This pie is incredible." I said.
"Why, thank you!" Toriel smiled.
"Mom's the best cook in the whole underground!" Asriel said enthusiastically, scarfing down his slice of pie.
The four of us made small talk while we ate, and eventually Undyne came back with Asgore.
"Ha! See you Tuesday, Asgore!" Undyne borderline shouted. (It seemed like she was pretty loud in general.) A grin on her face, she walked out the door.
"Howdy, Dad!" Asriel said.
"Hello, children. Chara, Frisk, are you ready to learn magic?"
I shrugged. "Ready as we'll ever be."
"Come along, then." Asgore brought us outside to the garden.
"Hey, um…" Frisk hesitated for a moment before blurting out, "How the hell am I supposed to do magic if I can't see my hand in front of my damn face?"
Asgore paused for a moment before answering calmly, "It all depends on the color of your SOUL."
"Our what now?" I asked.
"Allow me." Asgore held out his hand towards me, and I felt a strange sensation. It was like my heart was being torn out of my chest, but it wasn't even a tiny bit painful. It was just…weird. As I watched, a glow began to form in front of my chest, and it materialized into a red heart with a bit of yellow scattered around it. He then did the same thing to Frisk, only hers was pure red.
"What the…" Frisk's blank eyes were wide. "What's in front of me?"
"It's your SOUL." Asgore answered. "Human SOULs are incredibly powerful, and there are seven colors that they typically are. They represent your most prominent trait. I have a book explaining it in much better detail than I can; perhaps Chara can read it and explain it to you later. All human SOULs have determination, which is what provides them with their power. You two both have red SOULs, which means that your most prominent trait is determination. However, Chara's appears to have some yellow."
"Is that bad?" I asked cautiously.
Asgore shook his head. "No, not at all. It just means that another prominent trait of yours is justice, or rather, a strong belief in it. Is that true?"
I thought about it. You are not above consequences. How many times had I said that or some variation of it? "Yes." I nodded. "Definitely."
"Well, despite Chara's yellow, your SOULs are the most powerful type of SOUL. They are powerful enough that, even if you are completely blind, you can still sense magic around you. With enough training, you may even be able to sense your non-magical surroundings, allowing you to 'see', in a sense. It would not be the same as actually seeing, of course, but it would be a good enough replacement for you to function like someone with sight would without any trouble."
"Wow…" Frisk breathed. "How long would it take?"
"At least 2 to 3 years."
"2 to 3 years?" I repeated. "Frisk, can I talk to you? Alone?"
Frisk and I went to the corner.
"What is it, Chara?" Frisk asked.
"I just…I wanted to make sure you're okay with this. I mean, I guess we won't be going to the surface anytime soon regardless, but…"
"Well, yeah. I mean, I can't see, so I want to have a decent replacement, right? And of course, it might be useful for you, too. From what I can tell, it can get pretty dark down here, so it would be helpful even for you."
She did have a point there. Okay. I could go along with this. It seemed like these monsters were nice enough. I would keep my guard up, of course, but I supposed I could relax a bit. Maybe I didn't need to be so clingy with my knife. I'd already ended one life with it; no need to increase that number.
Over the next few weeks, we continued our training. Over time, we gained a basic understanding of how our souls work. A few days after we learned dodging, at which point we'd probably been there for a month-how had it been a month?!-we were officially introduced to the Underground.
Quite a few monsters had already seen us by then, and we were the talk of the Underground, but this made it official and filled in anybody ignorant. We had a sort of welcoming ceremony where the monsters all got to meet us. Frisk went around, making fast friends with just about everyone she talked to-she was good with people like that-but I just hung around Asriel. He made me feel comfortable, somehow. I felt like I knew him from somewhere, but it was beyond me where. Hell, I felt like I knew everyone here, for some reason. But that was ridiculous. He introduced me to some of his friends, and as we talked, I forgot all about that feeling of recognition.