The Ruins Part 6

Once again Frisk found herself wandering alone in the labyrinthian ruins. Only now, she had a clearer path and goal ahead. Now, with a heavy backpack hanging on her back and with a large map in her hands, Frisk felt like a proper explorer. She held the large and brittle map in both her hands, carefully as she felt the lightest tug could tear it, only glancing from it occasionally to see if the road ahead matched the outlines.

After a while she found holding the map too much of a nuisance and rolled it up, believing she had memorized the surrounding rooms and pathways enough, and then she put the map into her jean pocket.

If Frisk could recall correctly, there was supposed to be a large open room nearby, which for some reason, the monster seemed to consider very important, judging by how it was marked with a large circle and near-illegible writing which Frisk could just barely read as saying vantage point. And after she went through the same doors and hallways as the map had said lead to this place, Frisk immediately saw why.

This wasn't a large room as she had misread. It was a large balcony, and from this balcony, Frisk could see large dome-like buildings, gigantic greek like temples, and tall stony towers reaching almost to the top of the cavern, stretching far and wide. Frisk couldn't believe her eyes and blinked a few time to make sure this wasn't a mirage.

"Holy shit," she exclaimed.

She had gotten so used to the claustrophobic hallways and low ceilings she had entirely forgotten that these ruins were once a city. Seeing these rows if ancient buildings from above, and in such large height, made the ruins feel for the first time like they were once a large and massive city.

Frisk looked straight down from the balcony and saw that there was a small climbable path on the tall, stone wall. She looked behind her, feeling suddenly as if someone was watching her, but she saw nothing but the dark shadows of the corridor. Frisk figured that maybe the sudden vastness of the place was just getting to her.

With that said and done, Frisk climbed down from the balcony and began her descent down into the ancient city.

"Goddammit old man! Why did your stupid map have to be as inconsistent as your… well, everything. Guess I shouldn't have been surprised, huh?"

Frisk now sat on the edge of a large bridge connecting two building, trying her hardest to read what the map had to say about the surrounding area. She had been wandering in the old city aimlessly for a while now, and the map had now become incredibly untrustworthy. First it started with minor issues like the angle of a street being wrong or a building being shown as slightly bigger or smaller, but the further she was away from the old hermits home, more major issues began to pop up such as the map showing building that didn't exist, not showing buildings that DID exist, and visualizing hallways that in actuality lead to dead ends. With her only guide having become unreliable, Frisk was beginning to feel lost once again. She sighed and looked across at the rows and rows of ancient buildings that faded into the darkness. Frisk had hoped, if somewhat naively, that comparing the map to the city from above would somehow make it more coherent, but doing so just revealed even more inconsistencies and errors. Unless the city was magically changing shape every now and then, it was clear that it had become horrendously unreliable and broken this far away from the monsters home.

"Welp," she began. "Let's get back to it. No point wasting time fiddling my thumbs I guess."

Frisk rolled up the map and headed back down the stairs she came up. Her footsteps echoed through the staircase with every step.

"I'll just make things up as I go along," she said to herself. "Has worked well for me so far. I think at least."

Having reached street level, she adjusted her pink backpack and continued on her aimless path. As she walked, she thought on how for a long time the only sounds she heard in this dead city of colossal structures was the sound of her own voice and the echoes of her footsteps. Frisk looked up at the towers occasionally to marvel at their wonderful and eerie sight.

Unlike the dull and meaningless hallways from earlier, Frisk felt like this place actually was a city. She could imagine the busy, cobblestone streets with vendors and dozens of strange mythical creatures like trolls, goblins or even something similar to the old hermit. She could imagine the loud noises as strange looking children played in the street and older ones wandering from place to place, and as Frisk looked at some of the faraway windows she could imagine some monsters looking out to appreciate the view or to greet a beautiful morning. She could even imagine the countless families that lived inside these busy blocks, of creatures waking up one tired morning in an ancient looking bed and then going off to work or do daily chores. Frisk could even imagine the skies, for lack of a better word, being filled with wondrous flying dragons, hippogryphs and whatnot, carrying heavy boxes and carriages, or just enjoying the ride.

But whatever this place was like in the olden days, it was obvious that time was now long gone and all the monsters with it as they either died or left to some unknown place. And despite her attempts to imagine a more wondrous place, Frisk could never manage to shake off her feelings of utter fright. At every step, Frisk felt as if the countless empty windows harboured countless eyes staring at her, and that in the shadows lay untold horrors just waiting for her to slip.

Due to all this rising dread, Frisk was now believing to think she should have never left the strange creature's home.

"Good job Frisk," she said to herself. "Look at what you've gotten yourself into. You've abandoned the only guy who knows anything about this place, and now you're all alone and lost in the middle of El-goddam-Dorado with no map, no guide, and no one to protect you."

She sighed.

"Merde. This really was a terrible idea. Why the hell did I-"

Suddenly, Frisk heard something rustling just behind her. Frisk nearly froze in fear.

Oh god, there is something behind me.

Then, having built up her courage, she slowly turned around and shined the light from her phone in the direction of the noise.

"Who-who's there?" she asked.

There was no answer. Frisk waited for a few moments and then gave out a short panicked chuckle.

"There's nothing," she said. "Of course there's fucking nothing. I must be losing my freaking mind over her-"

Frisk stopped dead in her tracks as another strange sound appeared. This one, however, was a lot more frightening than the last. The previous one could have been simply a gust of wind or a scurrying rat, while this new noise, on the other hand, sounded unmistakably like it came from a living, breathing creature or person. It was the sound of someone crying. Someone that was just around the next corner. Frisk was now practically frozen solid.

Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god-

The crying still kept going and grew louder. Frisk wanted to run, but she feared the echoes of her loud steps would alert whatever this was so instead she just stood there, shaking. But her morbid curiosity began to grow, and despite how ridiculous she knew it was, she wanted to take a small peak to see what it was.

Have I learned nothing from that fat, man-eating frog thing? she thought to herself as she crept towards the corner. The hell's wrong with me?

Once she had reached it, Frisk, readying herself to sprint, looked around the corner to see just who or what was making this noise. There, she saw something completely different from any monster she had witnessed, perhaps the oddest looking figure so far. This was clearly not a froggit creature, as it had no visible feet or limbs, and it was also much bigger than normal, but then again, so was that fat froggit from yesterday.

The crying thing in question looked like a strange, white and almost completely transparent wide figure in an oval shape. Frisk wasn't sure if it was laying on it's back or not, but if it was, then judging from this distance, once it was upright the creature would've been most likely about Frisk's size.

Is that a ghost? Frisk thought. Like what the monster guy mentioned yesterday?

Small white looking droplets seemed to roll down the visible side of it like teardrops on a cheek. The droplets completely vaporized once they touched the ground. But suddenly, the incessant crying and teardrops slowed down to a near halt. Frisk learned why in an utterly frightening way.

"Who-who are you?" the translucent figure asked.

Frisk felt her heart pounding and the sweat leaking down her head.

Oh god is this thing talking to me? she thought. I don't see anyone else here, but… shit, how did it see me?

And then Frisk noticed how. The talking shape now had a strange looking face on the place where it's side used to be. The face looked extremely minimalist, with only two black circles, and a small line that Frisk assumed was a mouth. She didn't see the face at first because it was so dark, but once she did it was impossible to ignore. With the full look of the figure now being fully registered, Frisk noticed it looked uncannily identical to those "sheet ghosts" you see in Halloween stores and classic cartoons.

"Who-who are you?" it asked again.

Run, said the thought in Frisk's head. For god's sake girl, just run. Just ignore it, and get the hell out of here. Don't you dare feel sorry for whatever this thing is.

But, despite all her most logical senses telling her not to, Frisk began to slowly walk towards this strange, crying figure.

"Hey, hey, what's the matter?" she asked in the gentles tone she could muster.

What the fuck am I doing? Frisk's thoughts began again. Why the hell am I not running away like a sensible person? God. I really AM an idiot.

She shone her phone flashlight at the translucent creature and it seemed to shake in fear a bit. The light also seemed to completely pierce through it.

"Hey I'm not gonna hurt you," Frisk said. "I promise ok?"

The figure now slowly "stood up". It wasn't really standing up since it didn't have feet, but rather, it just hovered above the ground like a holographic disk.

"You… promise?" the figure asked nervously. "I mean… it's not like you can actually hurt me since I have no body or mass… but umm, it would be nice of you if you didn't though either way…"

"I promise," Frisk reassured.

This is a weird figure, she thought. Seems harmless though.

Frisk stopped about an arm's length from it.

"My name's, um, Frisk," she said.

"That, uh, sound's nice," the floating, translucent figure said. "Kind of wish I had a name like that…"

Frisk felt curious and reached her hand out to touch the strange being. As she suspected, her hand went right through it.

"Can you, umm stop that," the figure asked anxiously. "It kind of um, feels weird."

"Oh sorry," Frisk said and pulled her hand away. "Are you like a... ghost or something?"

"Of a sort yeah," the figure answered shyly.

"Wait, what do you mean by of sorts?"

"It, uh, I can't really explain it sorry. I'll, uh, try though since you've been so nice. It basically means I'm a ghost, but um, not really?"

"Ok let's forget about that then if it's so hard for you," Frisk began. "So, umm, do you have like a name or something?"

"I have," the ghost said. "My name… it's not very good but um… it's Napstablook."

"I'm sorry," Frisk said and chuckled. "Napst-what now?"

The ghost seemed hurt by this.

"Are you…" it began. "Making fun of me?"

"What? Oh, no no no no no! Nothing like that. Your name's just… strange's all- NOT like there anything wrong with that, it's just how it is I guess."

The ghost looked somewhat confused, with its mouth a bit open.

"Umm," it began. "Thanks uh, you're very uh, kind I guess."

Frisk smiled.

"Uhh, thanks," she said. "I've uh, learned from the best.

They both stared at each other for a few moments, and Frisk was now thinking just how spectacular this moment was. She was speaking to a ghost. An actual ghost. Not only did she see evidence of magic and monsters, but of creatures beyond death as well.

But as she stared at it, she noticed that the silence between them was becoming awkward.

Soooooo, um," Frisk began after a while. "If you don't mind me asking but uhh, why were you crying back there?"

The ghost looked at her utter dumbfounded.

"You mean…" it began. "You haven't seen it."

"Seen what-"

There came suddenly a loud clanking noise not too far away.

"God," Frisk said and turned towards it. "That strange sound again."

Then she turned back to the ghost and saw it utter frightened state.

"I-I'm sorry?" Frisk asked.

"It's back!" the ghost said in utter panic. "Oh, gods! it's come back!"

"Wh-who?!" Frisk asked and felt the immense dread crawling up her spine. "Who's back?"

"I-I don't know!" the ghost said, practically wailing. "I don't know what it is! But it's… it's bad! Oh, gods, it's so bad! Awful! Completely and utterly awful! We must get out of here! NOW!"

"What?" exclaimed Frisk. "Hey, WAIT!"

Before Frisk noticed it, the ghost had vanished. It happened so fast that Frisk wasn't sure if it flew away in immense speed, or if it simply just faded away.

The clanking noise came again, this time much louder as if whatever was causing it was coming closer. Frisk looked at its direction and saw nothing but darkness covering the street. Then it finally dawned on her that she was alone again. The sound came again, much louder, and this time Frisk saw subtle hints of a strange silhouette by a building only a few steps away.

"Oh fuck," she muttered and began to sprint away.

Almost every single creature she met so far besides the old hermit seemed absolutely terrified by whatever was causing this noise, so Frisk didn't care one bit about what it looked like this.

She panted as she ran in an aimless direction, still holding her phone. The sound kept coming, and it was always a few meters behind.

Don't look back, don't look back, don't look back…

But Frisk's frightful curiosity took over one moment, and she glanced back for a second or two. That one glance was more than enough for her, and she turned her head back forward more frightened than ever. It was dark, and it was only a moment so she didn't see much, but what she did see was a strange, formless figure that seemed to constantly be changing shape and size.

Frisk had never run this much in her entire life, and her body seemed to not be strong enough for it, but she kept running despite that. The streets seemed to curve and bend constantly, so she was constantly changing her position which just made everything more straining for her.

But as she was beginning to think this chase would never end, Frisk noticed that noise from the monstrosity behind her was growing quiet and distant. A ray of hope entered Frisk. She was losing gaining ahead.

Yes, yes, yes, she thought. Just a little more. Just a few more meters and-

Suddenly, there was a massive hole in the ground, and Frisk almost stepped into it.

"GAH FUCK!" she yelled as she trying to readjust her balance.

Frisk had been so busy running she didn't pay attention to her surroundings, and now she was flailing around while standing at the edge of the pit on one foot.

"Woah, woah, woah. No! Goddammit!"

She accidentally let go of her phone, and it seemed to fall endlessly down the pit until it came to a sudden halt, as it broke and small pieces of light began spreading in every direction of the hole before vanishing.

After a quick effort, Frisk managed to regain her balance.

"Oh fuck!" Frisk muttered. "That was... *pant*... fucking close!"

But her celebrations were short, as the sound of the strange creature came closer.

"Oh no," she muttered.

Frisk began to frantically look around. There were two large buildings with no clear entrance covering both sides of the hole and the street she was in, and running back the way she came was clearly out of the equation.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Frisk said frantically.

She looked at the hole, trying to see if there was a way around it. The hole was extremely wide, so much so that Frisk couldn't see the other side of the street. It also was clearly not intentionally or carefully put there, as the edges were painfully uneven. It was like a piece of the ground was ripped off.

The sound of the monster came again which shook Frisk and made her turn back and face towards the street in fear. The monster was incredibly close, just beyond the darkness. She was sweating and shaking profusely.

"Oh god, oh god," she muttered. "I'll uh… maybe I'll, no, no…"

Frisk heard something crack beneath her.

"What? OH SHI-"

The floor beneath her broke and she fell. Thankfully, she managed to grab the ledge with one hand. She was now hanging from it with her feet dangling in the empty air. Frisk looked down into the pit and saw nothing but an empty void staring void.

"Oh fuck, Jesus Christ."

She tried to pull herself up with the singular hand, but she found it impossible. Then she felt something, a sensation that made her not want to get back up anymore in a million year. She felt breathing on the back of her hand. It was the heavy breathing of something big and heavy, and it was right on top of her. The formless monster was there.

Frisk dared not to look up, and she tried not to make a noise. Then she felt her arm tire and her stamina failing, and she realized her time was running out. She felt like her hand would dislocate from her shoulder.

Then she felt something touch her palm. Something, slimy and cold.

And Frisk let go.

She screamed as she fell into the seemingly unending abyss. Flashes of her life invaded her thoughts, as she fell faster and faster until the rush of air seemed to tear apart her flesh.

Then she saw the hard, rocky bottom only a few feet away from her, and the last thing Frisk thought to herself before her body splattered on the cold stones, was that she should have never left the old monster's home.

Frisk felt herself floating again.

What's going on, she thought. Am I dead?

In front of her, to her side and back, there was a strange star looking object, that seemed to constantly expand and shrink. There was nothing else in this void. Nothing but herself and the strange star. She felt as if it had always been there, but she also felt like it had just arrived.

Those two contradictory thoughts didn't matter to her, and she didn't question how she managed to hold them both in the slightest.

Frisk called out, but there came no noise.

Should I… touch it?

Frisk went closer to the star, and that was where she finally saw her entire form, the one she was occupying in this strange place if wherever she was could be called a place that is. Her form looked like a red heart.

I don't want to be dead, Frisk thought. I refuse.

Then she, and the heart, touched the yellow star, and the entire void filled up with all her memories, hopes and dreams, and she felt herself pulled into some time or place unknown.

I refuse, she thought.

And then, Frisk woke up.

"What the- what?"

Frisk found herself back at the monsters house, sitting back on the bed she slept in earlier.

"How the… how the hell am I back here?"

She looked around the bedroom frantically, trying to see if this was some sort of strange illusion of sorts. She blinked frantically, but nothing changed.

Frisk felt utter disbelief. She could have sworn that only a moment ago, she was falling down a deep pit and then her body splattered on solid hard ground. She looked down at her body, pulled up her shirt, but saw no bruises or any sign of a long fall.

I didn't dream all that did I? She thought. Did the large monster find me? Did he put me back here and then heal my wounds? Must be. I couldn't have dreamt all that. It was too real.

Suddenly, as she was further examining her body, the door to the bedroom suddenly burst open, and the large goat monster was standing in the doorway with intense dread and terror on his face. Frisk couldn't feel any more glad to see him.

"Uh, hi," she said to him. "I'm uh-"

But before she could finish her sentence, the monster had rushed towards her and embraced her.

"He-hey knock it off," Frisk said while almost on the verge of laughing. "I was only gone for like-"

"Dear gods what happened?!" the creature said with a tone of immense urgency. "I heard your yelling! Are you hurt?! Did the-"

"What no I'm fine," Frisk reassured. "Shouldn't you know tha-"

"Then did you see someone?!" the creature asked. "Was there someone in this room. Someone who threatened yo-"

"Wait, what are you talking about?"

Frisk was getting utterly confused.

"You- you don't know?" the creature asked. "Strange, I could have sworn I heard your screaming. Did you dream something?"

"I don't remember what I dreamt," Frisk said. "But I don't know what that got to do with-"

"Then why did you scream?"

"Why did I scream?! What kind of question was that?! Why did you think I was-wait hang on."

Frisk realized something. A surreal feeling that had an uncanny dash of deja-vu.

"This all has happened before," she said.

The monster's expression was replaced by soft confusion.

"Pardon?"

"This moment," Frisk began. "The one happening right now. Me sitting in bed and you bursting in here with immense worry. This almost exact scenario happened last time I woke up here. Down to some of the words even I think."

The creature looked incredibly bewildered now.

"Last time you woke up here?" the creature asked sincerely. "But you just got her yesterday. This is the first time you have woken up here."

Frisk looked at him, feeling almost as confused as he.

"Wait, how did you find me?" she asked. "After I fell, how did you find me."

The creature chuckled.

"How else?" he asked. "I found you perusing in the sunflower garden."

"What?" began Frisk. "Oh, that's not what I meant. I meant when I fell in the ruins. After I snuck out. How did you recover me because I recall falling like thousands of feet and-"

She stopped as she realized her words weren't going anywhere.

"You don't remember do you?" Frisk said. "Finding me in the ruins?"

The creature glanced at her with a look of suspicion.

"You've only been here in my home for 8 hours at most," the creature said. "Most of that time spent sleeping. I'm sure I would have remembered you sneaking out and then going to the ruins."

The creature face suddenly turned back to a look of worry, as if an uncomfortable suggestion just entered his mind.

"Unless…" he said before falling into deep thoughts.

Frisk sighed.

"Yeah, you're probably just having another one of your memory losses," she said, "Y'know I swear that-"

Suddenly, the creatures face gave out a loud screeching noise as it twisted and turned in immense speed and countless directions. It all only happened in a few seconds, but it was still one of the most nightmarish things Frisk had seen.

When it stopped, the creature looked with a terrified and sorry expression at Frisk who was now huddled up to the wall in immense shock.

"What the fuck was that!" she exclaimed.

The creature was shaking and still had the expression as if he accidentally revealed something he shouldn't have, and was now regretting it immensely.

"I'm… uhh… I…"

The creature quickly stood up and ran out of the room, shutting the door behind. Frisk now sat quietly in her bed, trying her hardest to process what just happened.

"What-what the hell," she muttered. "What was… this place… everything's messed up here."

Frisk glanced at the nightstand and saw something surprising. Her phone lay there, fully intact.

"What? How did it…"

She picked it up and felt no scratches or anything that hinted that it had broken. Could the monster also fix inanimate object as it could with flesh, Frisk wondered.

She put the phone back on the nightstand and lay down into the bed. She listened to her surroundings and heard nothing but eerie quiet, like usual. She thought for a bit, and then Frisk uttered something she thought she would never say in a long time:

"Man, I wish I was home."

She sighed.

"Ahhh," said an unfamiliar male voice in the room. "Who doesn't?"

Frisk hurriedly sat back up.

"Who's there?" she said.

Frisk picked up her phone from the nightstand and shone its flashlight across the room. But even as she frantically shone her light at every corner, Frisk couldn't find anything unusual.

Then, she heard something else. Something in this room that sounded like the movements of either leaf… or large pedals.

The flower! Frisk thought.

She shone her phone at the potted plant but saw nothing out of the ordinary. At first.

Then she noticed it's strange movement. The petals seemed to close and open randomly and independently from one another. Then they suddenly stopped, and Frisk found herself hear soft laughter coming from its direction. Then it began to turn around, slowly as if it was alive and wanted to savour this moment.

"What the-"

Then the laughter stopped and the flower turned and faced her, and immediately, Frisk saw that there was something different about it.

The sunflower then opened up like it was conjured to life and on its pistil, there was something that uncannily resembled a face. Then, the "face" smiled.

"Howdy," the flower said. "I'm Flowey. Flowey the flower."

Author's note:

Exciting cliffhanger isn't it? Frisk suddenly woke up back in the monsters home and now Flowey's a thing. Whatever could be happening. Unfortunately, while I have it planned, you guys won't know for a bit of a while.
You see, I'm kind of taking a break on fanfictions. It's not gonna be long. You guys aren't gonna have to wait for months on end.
It's just I've been kind of meaning to work on this one short story for a while. It's NOT a story that's related to Undertale or Deltarune, NOR is it a fanfiction of any kind.
This will be a complete, original short fiction with its own characters and own universe, and I want to move my focus on it for the time being.
I am not saying I don't like writing this fanfiction, FAR from it. It's just I kind of want to start working on something original and this is a story I kind of been having floating around in my mind a while but I've never bothered to write until now, and I kind of don't want to be an author that writes nothing but fanfictions, and I want to balance it out with *sigh* "real" writing for a lack of a better word.

But anyway, when I've finished with the short story, I'll come back to this fanfic I promise. Then I'm perhaps gonna jump around between writing fanfics, and "proper" short stories. Maybe I'll post the short story on some website and link to it from here.
I'll hope you guys wait patiently and I'll see you around.