Chapter 2
Ruined
Amber felt sore all over, and regained consciousness with a fuzzy feeling in her head. She tried to remember what she was doing before she fell asleep, but the last thing she could recall was being over at her parents' house helping James declutter his computer.
She didn't remember falling asleep, but she did remember the computer was about to explode when…when what? She couldn't remember what happened after that, and it was starting to annoy her a little.
She opened her tired green eyes to see a large hole above her, sunlight pouring in, and surrounding that hole was the rock-encrusted walls of a massive cave.
Wait, a cave?
"Aaahh!" Amber screamed as she sat up straight.
Her eyes darted around the area to find that most of it was shrouded in darkness. There were no plants, no animals, nothing. Just cave walls. Emptiness. Then she felt something under her hands and looked down…
Flowers. Amid the nothingness of the cave was a garden of tiny golden flowers. She didn't know what kind they were, but they were beautiful and felt soft against her skin. They also made zero sense for the environment she was in.
"Where am I?" Amber asked, her voice slightly echoing in the cavern, "Is this a dream or something? How do I test that?"
Amber remembered that in dreams you couldn't cause yourself pain, so she bit down on her hand as hard as she could, and cried out in pain.
"Owww! Okay, that's blood. Guess I'm not dreaming…"
Not knowing what else to do, Amber stood up and decided to explore the cavern. She didn't have any equipment to climb up to the hole above her, but maybe she could find another way out. She really hoped so, because otherwise she might run out of air and suffocate or something.
As she walked, she saw another point of light similar to the one that was above her when she woke up. Maybe that was an exit.
She walked up to the new spot of light, and out of nowhere, a flower with a face popped out of the ground!
"Howdy!" The flower greeted her with a big smile, "I'm Flowey. Flowey the flower!"
"Aaahh!" Amber screamed again and stepped back in terror.
"You're new to the underground, aren't cha?" Flowey asked cheerfully.
"Is this Hell?" Amber frantically asked, "Because no one mentioned Hell had flowers! I mean, I guess it makes sense for all the people with hay fever, but still…"
"Golly, you must be so confused!" Flowey exclaimed with mock concern.
"Understatement of the century…" Amber said through gritted teeth.
"Someone should teach you how things work around here," Flowey declared, "And I guess little old me will have to do."
"Is that a threat?" Amber asked suspiciously.
Before she could register what was happening, Amber felt something weird happening in her chest. Suddenly, a black box appeared in front of her, and a red heart thrust its way out of her chest and into the box.
"Aaaaahh!"
"See that? That's your soul," Flowey explained, "The very culmination of your being."
"So this is when the torture starts, right?" Amber asked in resignation, "I mean, I didn't think this place was real, but I guess if I was gonna go anywhere this feels about right."
"Your soul starts off weak, but it can get strong with lots of LV," Flowey continued undeterred, "What does LV stand for, you ask? Why, LOVE of course!"
"I don't like how happy you sound about that," Amber said nervously.
"You want some LOVE, don't you?" Flowey asked.
"I'd rather have a ladder," Amber quipped.
"Oh, don't worry. I'll share some with you," Flowey winked.
"I don't wanna make out with a flower!" Amber cried out, "Just let me go home! I don't wanna be dead! Especially not such a stupid death as technical difficulties!"
"Down here, LOVE is shared through…little while…friendliness pellets," Flowey explained.
"Is that what the teenagers are calling it now?" Amber snarked.
"Here we go! Catch as many of them as you can!" Flowey ordered enthusiastically.
Amber dodged every friendliness pellet, caught somewhere between fear and annoyance. She didn't know what this talking houseplant was, but she didn't trust it or its little white seed pods.
At this, Flowey stopped, realizing something was off about the human. His face contorted into a truly terrifying visage, with fangs and eyes that held nothing but predatory malice. If Amber was nervous before, she was utterly horrified now.
"You know what's going on here, don't you?" Flowey asked, his voice sounding like something from the abyss, "You just wanted to see me suffer!"
"No, no! I don't!" Amber tried to defend herself, "I, uh…fine! I'll make out with you!"
Amber then found herself surrounded by a barrage of white energy pellets, which honestly reminded her too much of the computer light that preceded her supposed death.
"DIE!" Flowey screamed in the most terrifying voice Amber had ever heard.
Amber cowered into herself, wondering how she could actually die if she was already dead, but also not really wanting to find out. As the flower's wrath drew closer to her, Amber was sure this was the end. She could hear the cruel unholy laughter of the flower creature as it slowly, sadistically, crept its energy pellets closer to her shaking frame.
Her demise was prevented however, when a fireball came out of nowhere and punted the little flower away. The fire didn't burn the flower. It just propelled it away harmlessly. Well…that certainly defied the laws of physics. Could this still be a dream?
"Oh, what a terrible creature, torturing such a poor innocent youth!" A feminine voice called out from the darkness.
As the figure approached, the first thing Amber noticed was the woman's impressive height and build. This woman wasn't just tall. She completely towered over Amber! When she came into the light however, the height wasn't the only frightening thing about her alleged rescuer.
It was a giant goat! There was no other way to describe this. This woman, who saved her life, was a giant two-legged white goat wearing a purple dress. Could this day get any weirder?
"So…was this all a big misunderstanding?" Amber asked with cautious hope, "Am I getting kicked upstairs now?"
"Come, child. I will guide you through the ruins," The goat woman offered.
"Um, ruins? This just looks like a big cave," Amber pointed out, "A big cave with inexplicable living flowers and a garden for no reason. Can you please just tell me if I'm dead or not? If I am I'll stop bothering you and if I'm not then I have to get home."
"This is your new home now," The goat woman replied gently, "My name is Toriel. Every day I pass through this place searching for any human children that fall down here. Do not worry. I promise I will take good care of you."
"We don't have to share love, do we?" Amber asked dubiously, "Because that didn't work out with that other guy."
"Come, take my hand, small one," Toriel offered.
"You don't have to remind me, Gigantor," Amber sniped sardonically, "Okay, okay. I guess I'll go with you. I mean, whatever torture you have cooked up can't be worse than death by tiny flower. That would've just been embarrassing…"
Toriel didn't get offended by Amber's harsh words. She knew the human was likely just scared and confused. Amber was confused alright, but not for the reasons Toriel assumed. She still didn't know what anything was, or if she was alive or dead. If this was the afterlife, it was a lot weirder than she imagined.
Snowdin
Sans fell asleep on the couch after a long night of trying to contact the anomaly. He didn't know how many of his messages, if any, got through to it, but he knew there was no reply. If the anomaly did receive them, then it didn't want to talk, which was concerning. Whatever this day brought, it would probably be the beginning to a horrible end.
He had to make this last day count.
Sans knew he would either kill the anomaly again or else die and doom the universe to its cruel will. But that's then. Now…
"Sans, wake up!" Papyrus shouted and shook his brother, "Wake up! We have to get to our posts! A human could come through any day now!"
"Hhn?" Sans grunted in his sleep.
"Come on, Sans! You do this every day!" Papyrus chided his older brother, "We need to be ready! Undyne said if I captured a human that I could join the Royal Guard! I simply have to find one!"
Sans wanted to sleep through this whole thing, wanted the timeline to end right here so he could just stay blissfully unaware, but he knew he couldn't. He forced himself to wake up, and didn't even bother getting dressed…again. If nothing else, at least he would get to spend his last day on earth with his brother, the coolest monster in the underground. He just hoped that Papyrus didn't feel too much pain when…it happened.
Sans shook away that idea as soon as it entered his head, but every few minutes it would try to come back. Sans knew, with near certainty, that the anomaly would kill his brother. It had happened for the past hundred resets at least. For whatever reason, the anomaly hated Papyrus.
With these thoughts in mind, Sans decided that he would make Papyrus's last day a happy one. Puzzles, japes, plans and dreams…
Yes, this would be a perfect day for Papyrus. Sans just hoped the human, whether it was the anomaly or not, would be willing to play along.
The Ruins
So. Many. Puzzles! Why was this place such a stinking maze? Spikes, switches, giant buttons, and more. Amber felt like she would've pulled her own hair out if Toriel hadn't been there to help her with some of them. Of course, that literally meant some of them.
That overgrown grass-guzzler left her alone right when the puzzles started involving hidden pits and strange monsters! Oh well, at least she got a cellphone out of the deal. If only it didn't look more ancient than her dad's old Nokia…
Amber fell on her butt more times than she cared to admit, but thankfully the fall was always broken by autumn leaves. Why were there autumn leaves in a building underground in a cave? She didn't know, and frankly she didn't care. Amber didn't know what was going on with anything, and at this point she decided to just accept the madness and try to survive.
In one room she found a bowl full of candy, and decided to take a few pieces. The wrapper read "Monster Candy", and for some reason that bothered Amber. Like, nobody called it "Human Candy" when it was a chocolate bar or some fruit gummies. Was this candy actually made of monsters, or was it only meant to be eaten by monsters? Maybe it attracted monsters?
This line of thought wasn't leading anywhere productive, so Amber decided to drop it for the time being.
Along the path she kept finding stars, or at least they looked like how stars look from a distance. Whenever she got near them, she would hear a message in her mind about determination or whatever, and then felt a warmth emanating from the star. She hated that warmth because it reminded her of her brother's computer blowing up, but for some reason she felt compelled to touch every star she came across.
The next puzzle contained switches to deactivate spikes blocking the path. Amber, not being the brightest when it came to puzzles, decided to just walk over the spikes. That was a mistake, as she tore her pants more than once and even cut her leg at one point. When she looked down at her clothes, she realized she didn't recognize this outfit. It was blue pajama pants and a blue and purple striped shirt. That was way dorkier than the things she usually wore, but more importantly…who put these clothes on her?
"Great…" Amber sighed, "I'm in a cave filled with monsters and I'm wearing kiddie pajamas. If this is a prank, I respect the commitment to the bit, but come on! This is ridiculous! Okay, Amber…you have some time to think, so think! If this is an afterlife scenario, then why do you still bleed and feel pain? Blood is for living things, so you must be alive. So, next…maybe I was kidnapped by aliens? Okay, if it was aliens, then why the cave? This doesn't make sense. Aliens would have better technology than spikes and a bright yellow lever. So…what does that leave us with?"
As Amber made her way through the ruins, she came across a sight that almost gave her a heart attack. There, blocking the path, was a ghost! There was no other way to describe what she was seeing. It was semi-transparent, shaped like a blob, and just…it just looked like a stereotypical ghost.
Sneaking up on the strange being, Amber couldn't help but overhear the creature snoring, or at least pretending to snore. She could kind of hear it mumbling, asking itself if she was gone yet. Well, that was relatable. Amber wanted the ghost to be gone too.
Not really knowing what else to do, Amber just walked over it, knowing that the ghost was likely incorporeal and therefore had no mass to get in her way.
"Ow!" The ghost yelped as she stepped on its face.
Amber gulped, sure she was about to invoke this thing's wrath. Yeah…stepping on an obvious ghost…not her brightest idea.
Thankfully, instead of dragging her into the pits of Hell or whatever, the ghost simply disappeared. Amber breathed a sigh of relief, and wondered if a stereotypical ghost meant she was alive or dead. If there was a dead thing around, and she didn't look like that, then she deduced that she had to be still alive. Well, at least, she hoped that was the correct conclusion.
Amber continued to walk down the path as she thought, turning toward a room that held nothing but a plastic toy knife. That…was weird. Why would there be nothing in this room but a children's toy? Oh well, it didn't concern her, so she left the toy behind. After all, stealing from a giant fireball-wielding goat monster with ghost friends just seemed like suicide. Oh, wait. The candy…Amber cringed at the thought and hoped the goat lady didn't notice anything amiss.
As she turned the next corner, she saw a large dead looking tree with autumn leaves surrounding it. Well, that simultaneously did and did not answer her question about the autumn leaves all over the place.
As she approached the tree, the ancient looking cellphone rang. When she answered it, the voice of the goat woman was predictably on the line. Amber wished she could remember the goat lady's name. It was something that started with a T…
As she thought this, she realized that the goat woman had already hung up the phone, and was walking around the dead tree to meet up with her. Well, that was convenient.
"My child! Are you hurt?"
Amber didn't reply, mostly because the blood dripping down her leg was too obvious to ignore and it seemed like a silly question.
"Do not worry. I will heal you," Toriel promised, "It was irresponsible of me to try to surprise you like this…"
Amber frowned. Deadly traps? That was supposed to be a surprise? Well, yeah, in that case, this was indeed very irresponsible.
"Oh, I guess I cannot hide it any longer," Toriel sheepishly added, "Come, innocent one."
Toriel then reached for Amber's hand, and Amber took it. She just assumed that the goat lady was going to guide her through more stupid puzzle traps.
Man, if I never see another puzzle or row of spikes again, it'll be too soon… Amber thought as a cranky expression formed on her face.
Toriel let go of her hand when they arrived at the door to a stone house that looked similar to the ruins, but seemed better maintained. Amber didn't go in quite yet though, as something else caught her eye. She saw another one of those warm stars by the entrance. She touched the star and heard the phrase "Seeing such a cute, tidy house in the ruins fills you with determination".
"No it doesn't," Amber said out loud to the star thing, "I am losing both determination and blood."
Nonetheless, there was nowhere else to go, so Amber went inside and hoped for the best. To her surprise, this house looked much nicer than everything else she'd seen so far. The walls were a lovely cream color, the floor was made of blonde wood, and standing in front of her was the gently smiling goat woman.
"Do you smell that?" Toriel asked excitedly, "I baked you a butterscotch cinnamon pie! I want you to feel welcome in your new home, so I'll hold off on snail pie for tonight. Come, small one. Follow me."
As Amber slowly followed her host, she couldn't help but cringe at the idea of snail pie. Sure, escargot was a thing that existed, but still…snails carried a lot of parasites and whatnot.
Wait… Amber suddenly thought. Did she say my new home? Hold up, am I being kidnapped? Oh great, it is an alien abduction!
"Surprise!" Toriel lightly exclaimed when they made it down the hallway, "A room of your very own!"
Toriel then petted the top of Amber's head affectionately. It was a warm and loving gesture, yet Amber couldn't shake the feeling that this is how people treat their dogs. Was she this goat's new pet? Was she a hostage? Was she being adopted? That last one didn't make any sense. After all, Amber was 23 years old.
Toriel opened the door to the room, but before Amber could walk in Toriel had to leave to make sure the pie didn't burn. Since she was alone again, Amber decided the best thing she could do was explore. She could've started with the room Toriel just gave her, but she would probably see more of that anyway. Instead, she went down the hallway to see what else was unlocked.
Walking down the hall, she saw two more doors. One was locked and had a sign that read "Under Renovations" and the other one was unlocked, and was clearly Toriel's bedroom. Amber looked inside for a moment, but nothing seemed amiss so she left the old woman's stuff alone.
"Well, no torture dungeon or fiery pits so far," Amber said to herself, "No murder kits, no other hostages…maybe I'm safe. I don't know what's going on or how I'll get home, but I'm safe."
As Amber reached the end of the hallway, she saw a window. On the other side was some freaky looking jaundiced kid looking back at her.
"Hey! Do you mind?" Amber snapped at the kid, until she noticed the kid's face made the same motions as her speech.
Amber's mind blanked for a moment as she processed what she was looking at. This wasn't a window. It was a mirror. That ugly kid…was her. The blank expression, the bad clothes, the yellowed skin, the grungy brown hair…that was her!
"Aaaahh! No, no, no, no!" Amber screamed as she fell to the ground, "I look like the meh emoji! Eww! My hair looks just like James!"
"My child! Are you alright?" Toriel asked in concern, rushing to Amber's side, "What happened?"
"I don't look like me!" Amber sobbed, "I look like a freaky child! My face isn't even emoting correctly, and my eyes aren't opening but I can still see! What the heck is going on!?"
"Shh, everything is going to be alright," Toriel said soothingly as she hugged Amber, "I am here. Nothing can hurt you here. You are going to be alright. Eat some pie. it will heal you."
Amber sniffed, feeling dumb for being so emotional in front of a stranger, let alone one this strange. Toriel's words did remind her of something though. She didn't feel the blood dripping down her leg anymore. She looked at where the injury had been, and there was nothing. The only proof that she was ever hurt was the bloody rips in her pants.
"What the-?" Amber gasped.
"Come, you must be tired," Toriel said as she helped Amber up, "Why don't you take a nap in your room. That will give the pie time to cool."
"You expect me to sleep when there's pie?" Amber laughed, "Come on! Let me eat some first, and then we can talk about my continued imprisonment."
Toriel didn't reply, but rather just took Amber to her new room. Amber sighed sharply, annoyed at being trapped in this monster's mom fantasy, but she supposed it could be worse. This goat woman didn't seem malicious, and there weren't any evil living flowers in here to torment her or odd monsters to heckle her while she escaped the puzzle gauntlet.
She looked around the room, and noticed that most of the items inside were for children. Why did the goat lady just have all this ready to go? Something about this situation seemed odd. Well, more odd than the already high level of odd Amber was currently dealing with.
Looking around the room, she saw a small bed with a soft red blanket, some toys that were covered in dust, shoes in various sizes…
"Shoes in various sizes?" Amber thought out loud, "Why are there so many…?"
Sneakers, slippers, sandals…boys…girls…little…big…
"What is she doing?" Amber whispered to herself, "What happened to these people? Is she killing people for pie or something? Is this like a Hansel and Gretel situation? Am I next, or does she really just want company?"
Amber pondered the situation with a surprising amount of calm. Given everything she'd been through this day, the lack of immediate danger meant she was willing to try to think this through without panicking. Well, at least for now.
"Okay, is there another explanation for this besides a serial killer goat monster?" Amber asked herself, "Hm…maybe she just lives a lot longer than the average human lifespan, and these were all the previous people she took care of. Well, if that's the case, then why does this still look like a child's bedroom? Wouldn't there be some adult stuff if her children grew up?"
Trying to figure things out was only making Amber's head hurt more. She probably cracked her skull when she…fell? She didn't remember falling into that cave. She only remembered the heat and light from the computer. Was this a dying dream? Was she in the hospital? No, she felt pain. She felt the blood when it dripped down her leg. She felt the warmth of those star things. This was real. Whatever was happening to her, it was really happening.
Finally, her brain exhausted from puzzles and ponderings, Amber plopped into bed and allowed sleep to overtake her.
Notes: I really wanted to write Papyrus's sentences with 3 exclamation marks, but FF's formatting won't let me. There's no way I'm writing all caps for speech, as that would get annoying to read. So, this is the best I can do. I'll try to differentiate the character voices as best as I can.