StereoTale

Chapter 3: the ruins

You don't really remember much else of your time living with toriel. However, the moment when tried to leave: let's just say, it wasn't very pleasent.

Anyway, i'll spare you the details for now, and just move on with the events that transpired.

...

You woke up out of bed, but today, you didn't smell any breakfast: which was odd considering it was 'daytime', but evidently, that word didn't apply in your current situation, i mean, you can't use time sensitive words without even being able to see the sun, or some sort of time telling instrument: which toriel didn't have. Anyway, you shrugged off the time based dilemma and got out of bed. You opened the door to your room and went downstairs as usual, but, on the way to the kitchen: you noticed something which you somehow didn't see before, it was a trapdoor which was unlocked, and led directly to a flight of stairs. You stared at it for a moment, wondering if you should go down the trapdoor, or, if you should go looking for toriel. But after a couple moments of thinking; your adventurous side got the better of you, and, you decided to open the trap door and head down the flight of stairs. When you walked down the stairs, you noticed the lack of light: there were no torches down here, at least from what you could see, and if there was: they were most likely un-lit, due to the aforementioned lack of light. Regardless, you continued on through the dark hallway, and as you did, you noticed a similarity: this hallway was very close in design to the hallway toriel led you through after your encounter with flowey, it just had a lower celing, and it, was, well... less... Err... Lively.

But, your 'adventure' was cut short by a voice talking to you, it was toriel: still dressed in the same maid outfit from the days prior, but she carried a different voice, this time, she sounded more forceful, she yelled the words, "Child! You get backen up here right now! Ve got somefingen to do!" Following this, she grabbed your hand and started leading you out of the hallway, and as she did so, she spoke again, "You thouldn't be headink down here, zit'z dangerous to be in zis hallvay!"

After she said this, she kept leading you out of the trapdoor, until, eventually, she lead you into the living room and sat you down on the couch. You sat there, scared: expecting to have her yell at you or lash out physically, but, she did neither, instead, she took out a book and started talking. "Do you vant to know a fakt about snails?", wanting not to sound rude, you told her that you would be very interested in learning about snails. Following this, she started speaking again, "Fakt Vumber #347: Did you know zat snails kan turn zere digestif systems inside out?", you, again, not wanting to sound rude, told her that, it was a very interesting fact and that you wanted to hear more. Obliging to your request, she turned the page and started reading another fact from the book, "Fakt Vumber #253: Did you know zat snails die ven zey are exposed to too mush salt?", You didn't give much of a reaction to this hint, since it was more of a well known fact about snails.

After sitting there, silent, for only a few seconds; she had already picked up on your disinterest and asked you a question, "Zis somefing vrong?"

When she asked you the question, something else came to mind: You still had to get back home, your real home, not this 'home' you were in. You also didn't wanna seem too rude, thinking about it a little more: you realized how much this lady has done for you; she doesn't know your name, your age, or your intentions: and still, she helped you through the ruins and gave you a place to stay: all with no questions asked. With these thoughts in mind, you couldn't find it in your heart to just up and leave: no, you had to respectfully ask to leave. After all, it was only the right thing to - your thoughts were interrupted as toriel tapped you on the shoulder and asked, "Are you ok?" In response to this, you asked her one question, "How do i get home?" She paused for a moment: shock visible on her face, before answering your question with "Vat are you talkink about? You are home, zis iz your home, my child.", you stopped for a second before replying and stood up, "no, i mean my home, as in -" you stopped speaking and pointed straight up at the celing, but after a few moments, you sat back down and said a few more words, "My home, as in, my home on the surface. You know? Where i was before i fell down here. How do i continue on my way back there?"

After you finished speaking, she grew a scared look on her face and spoke in a nervous tone, "u-u-mmm... I got somefing to take kare of real quick... stay right here, ok?" You nodded your head in agreement, but, despite that, you looked to see where she was going. She went off in a very quick sprint, but, she wasn't quick enough, as you could still see exactly where she had gone: down the trapdoor you had briefly checked out earlier. Since you knew where she had went, and because of the expressions she was giving, you needed to know what was going on, and if it was anything bad, you needed to put a stop to it. Keeping this thought in your head, you opened the trapdoor and started running down the hallway.

When you were running down the hallway, something occurred to you: the hallway was now lit just as well as the rest of the house, which was odd, considering this was essentially an old basement, which should have had the same bad lighting that you saw before. But, you could not think about the lighting forever, as toriel stopped in her tracks and kneeled down to face you. She had paused for a few moments before she spoke again, "Listen, my child, please do not go any furver.", but her words didn't impact you, as she stood up again and kept walking, you got up and decided to do the same. You kept walking forwards, until, she knelt to face you and started speaking again, "I'm only doing zis vor your own good, iv you keep going, he vill vind you. ASGORE vill take your soul." However, you were not scared by this, as you continued walking after toriel. But, your walking couldn't continue for much longer, and neither could toriel's: as you both reached the end of the hallway. The room at the end of the hallway had a door, a large, purple, ornately-decorated door, which upon closer inspection, had the same emblem which you had seen in the entrance of the ruins.

You continued looking around the room: it wasn't a very large space, it only had a few torches on the wall for lighting, and, of course, the door which toriel stood in front of. You looked up at toriel, her face carrying an expression of both sadness and anger, she stared down at you and started to speak "So, you hafe made it zis var. Vell, i bet you're curious to see vhat's on ze over side of ze door. So, i vill tell you vhat's on ze over side. Zit'z an entrance to ze rest of the vunderground, hovefer, i'm goingen to destroy it. I'm not gonna let ASGORE take your soul."

You stared back at her with an expression of frustration. Ordinarily, you would have felt sympathy for her, but, given the current situation, you simply told her to stand aside. You stared at her in expectation, but, she didn't move as you would have expected, instead, she spoke, "So, you vant to go vrough here? Vell Zen, Profe to me... Profe to me zat you are strong enough to surfife out zere!" You jumped back, confused by her sudden change in tone and by what she had just said, but, you knew something was clear, she wanted to fight you: but not to harm you, no, she merely wanted to test your abilities.

With this realization in mind, you quickly jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding a fireball which had come 'just a little' too close to your face. You rubbed the side of your face, checking for any sort of injuries, but, you had found none. You stood up and tried to speak to toriel, but all that came out of your mouth was... nothing.

you couldn't think of any conversation topics...

After your miserable attempt to communicate, you looked up to see a wave of fireballs falling down towards you. Almost as if by a reflex, you ran to the other side of the room, still looking up at the ceiling; However, in the process of running away, you tripped and fell face first into another fireball. You recoiled in pain: feeling like your flesh was burning off, but upon closer inspection, you realized that you had very little burn damage on your face, only a few small burnt spots here and there. But, you couldn't think about it for much longer, as toriel had launched multiple fireballs towards you. You closed your eyes and held up your arms in defense, but then, something shocking happened: the fireballs swerved to the side and avoided you. You opened your eyes in surprise to see that toriel was giving you the same warm smile from before, you walked closer, and after only a second of doing so, she spoke, "Vhy kan't you just stay here?", you stayed in place, unmoved by her words. She must have picked up on your indifference, as she started speaking again "Kome on, Vee kan hafe a good life here.", again, you stood there, unmoving. She saw the futility of her speech and stopped talking, then she knelt down to face you once more and opened her arms. You stared for a second, unsure of what was going on, then, you realized what she wanted to give you, and you went over and gave her a hug. You held on to her fur for what felt like an eternity, but alas, you eventually had to let go. So, you stopped delaying, let go of her, and walked over towards the door. You heard one last statement from toriel before you opened the door, "Good luck.", and after hearing that last statement, you opened the door and walked out.

However, it didn't lead straight into the outside as you were expecting, instead, it lead into another hallway. You sighed and started walking down, until, you saw that same flower from before. This time, you avoided stepping on him, stopping right before you reached him. You stared down at him, waiting for a response, until, he started speaking, "So, you hafe managed to spare one person. *clap* *clap* *clap* good vor you. You played by your ovn rules and made it through zis area vifout killink anyone, but, you can't keep zis sharade up vorefer: efentually, you vill enkounter a rufless killer, and zen vhat? Vould you keep dying ofer, and ofer, in an attempt to vree vem, or, vill you vinally let your 'ofer side' take ofer? Only time vill tell. Anyvay, i applaud you, if i vas in your shoes: i vould hafe vought vey vere too different to vork with, killing zem vould hafe been ze virst ving on my mind. Regardless, i gotta get goink!", and with that, he disappeared into the soil.

You looked once more around the room, before walking forward to the other door, and pushing it open.

End of chapter 3

A/N: Someone has told me that my accents are a bit off in this fanfic, but, there's not really much i can do about it. I don't know any native speakers of german in real life, and online advice can only get you so far. Furthermore, if you have any suggestions for improving these accents, or tips for typing out any other accents, please share them with me. I am open to constructive criticism and would love to see some feedback as far as my writing is concerned. Regardless, i have something else to say. This is my first fanfic, so there are bound to be some mistakes, but, i'm not using that as an excuse to write poorly: i'm still trying my hardest to produce these chapters, but, due to life getting in the way right now, it's making it hard to crank out chapters bi-weekly as i had originally planned. All in all, thanks for sticking with me, and i would love to hear what any of you have to say.