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The day is cool, the spring breeze whispering across the playground. There are tulips on finely maintained beds around it, bright and colorful. Mt. Ebott looms above the school yard, not all too far away. You hear screaming, the screaming of a child. You whip your head up searching for the source of the sound. There are two kids, about your age, seven, talking to a younger girl. Well, talking is a kind word for it.
They were yelling at her, obviously bullying the girl in the apron. She looks to be about five. She is sobbing, sitting on the ground while they continue to yell at her. You feel yourself fill up with rage, and stomp over, your cowboy hat flopping down so that it covers your eyes, making you look a bit more menacing. "Stupid!" "Weak!" "You can't cook at all!" They were even throwing around insults that made no sense.
You spin one of them around, a boy like you, and punch him in the face, causing him to fall to the ground with a bloody nose. The other kid, also a boy looks at you in shock and anger, and scowls at you. "What do you think you're doing? This is our space!" The little girl looks up at all of you, fat tears rolling down her cheeks.
You grab her hand and pull her up, a smile on your face. "You okay?" She gives you a weak smile, and the boy you punched begin to get up. You mutter under your breath at the looks they're giving you. "Come on." You say to the girl, her hand still in yours, and begin sprinting for the mountain. The two boys scream in rage, and with your free hand, you take out your toy gun, and make 'pew pew' sounds at the boys behind you both. They begin chasing you, but you lose them quickly on the mountain, knowing it better than them. The girl struggled to keep up, but did well.
You slow to a stop, next to a clear stream. The girl has stopped crying by now, but she is still sniffling. You sit next to the stream, releasing the girl's hand. You remove your socks and shoes, and dunk them in the stream. You look up at the cautious looking girl. "Wanna join?" You give her a smile and she slowly sits down next to you. She begins unlacing her shoes, and puts her feet in the cool water as well, shivering at the touch.
Eventually you ask, “You okay? I mean, I've dealt with those jerks before, and they can be pretty mean. But there is no need to fear, I the upholder of JUSTICE was there to save you!" You puff out your chest, and a small giggle comes from beside you. You look to see her hiding her smile behind her hand. You give an embarrassed smile and scratch the back of your head, dislodging your hat. It falls into your lap, but the girl picks it up and inspects it. You let her, and enjoy the silence of the mountain.
After a while, you find your hat plopped back on your head. The girl is getting up, and beginning to replace her shoes. "You know, you can come back here whenever you want. It always makes me feel better. It's really nice here." She nods, and gives you the first real smile you had seen her give. She stands up, and brushes some grass and leaves off of her apron. She waves at you as she begins making her way back down the mountain. You lay back, and let the sun wash over your face, closing your eyes.
When you open them again, it's dark. You sit up, panicked. The mountain looms darkly, much less friendly than it had been in the sunlight. You stand up, and quickly put on your shoes, and straighten your hat. You pick up your toy gun, mostly to make you feel safe. You knew it wouldn't help if you really needed it. You slowly pick your way down the steep slope. Bugs cricket and buzz softly, and an owl hoots in the dark trees. Suddenly, you have a horrible sense of vertigo, and you fall down, down, down. You feel yourself stop after an eternity, and you know no more.
You wake up, who knows how much later. You feel dizzy and cold, and you can't move for a moment. Out of nowhere, tremendous pain shoots from your right leg, making you wince and whimper in pain. You raise your head up slightly, and see your hat a few feet away, and your gun a bit further out, closer to the shadows of the.....cave?
You sit up, trying not to jostle your leg any more than it has been. You look down, and see bright yellow flowers all around you, living only due to the small amount of sunlight from high above. You hear a clicking sound, with the same cadence as a person walking. You duck down beneath the yellow flowers, and watch as a large creature looks around the room. It steps out of the shadows, revealing a large and fuzzy goat woman. She has two small horns on the top of her head, and large floppy ears.
You slowly sit up again, and when she spots you, she gasps in surprise and concern. "Are you alright little one?" She kneels down and gently tries to pick you up, but you yelp in pain when she touches your leg. She winces, and looks down at it. Her eyes widen. "Oh my. Well, that is most definitely not good." She puts her palm on it, causing your body to rack with pain again, but this time you stifle your scream of pain, but you can't stop the tears from flowing. Her palm flares red, you feel a spike of pain in your leg, and you once again know no more.
You wake up /again/. Except this time, you're on a soft bed piled high with blackest and pillows. You look around groggily, and see your hat and gun next to a door in the room. You sit up, and you wince, anticipating the pain. It never comes. You look confusedly at your feet, and tear off the covers. Your leg is whole and unbroken, and it looks like nothing ever happened at all. How long had you been out?
You slowly get up, testing your leg with some weight. Still no pain. You stand up, and walk to the door, and open it. The most amazing smell comes down the corridor of the house. It smells like a bakery. Cinnamon and butterscotch. You follow your nose past a large staircase and into a living room with a large reading chair, bookshelves, a fireplace, and a table. You continue on, pondering at the size of the chair. You walk into a kitchen, where your savior, goat lady, is cooking with fire.....coming from her hand?
You gasp in wonder as you watch the goat lady expertly move the fire, and cook what appears to be pie. She turns at your gasp, and the fire disappears. She gives you a sweet smile laced with concern. "Hello, my child. Are you well rested? Feeling alright?" You respond quietly "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Say, what was that cool thing you were just doing? With the fire and all that?" She chuffs at you in amusement. "Just some simple magic. Baking a butterscotch-cinnamon pie. Would you like some?" She sets down the giant pie tin, and cuts a large piece out at your enthusiastic nod. She sets it on an equally large plate, and leads you to the table. She gives you a fork along with the pie.
You tip your hat at her "Thank you very much Madam." You then proceed to stuff your face. She laughs at your gusto, and leaves to clean up. You finish the pie in record time, but then look down, a little guilty and embarrassed. You call after the goat woman. "Thank you a lot. Um, what's your name?" She turns at you from the kitchen and smiles. "My name is Toriel, and welcome to the Ruins, your new home." You scrunch your eyebrows in confusion. "New home?" She looks hesitant in answering, before just avoiding your question altogether by not speaking.
You look down. New home? What does /that/ mean?
You stand up, and go to your room, and grab your toy gun where it was, in the corner of the room. You go back into the living room, and Toriel is sitting in the large chair, reading a book that appears to be about snails. She looks up at you. "Would you like to know a snail fact? Did you know that snails can hold up to ten times their own body weight?" She looks nervous saying this, and you wait until she's finished before asking your question. "Can I go home?" She ignores the question, but looks guiltily to the side. "This is your home now." You give her a huff. "This isn't home. You're really nice and all, and I love your pie, but I do need to get home. My parents are probably worried sick!" She winces at that, and turns away.
She stands up, and takes your hand. She leads you down the stairs and into a long passageway. She stops at a door with the same symbol as her purple robe. She releases your hand, and looks down at you sadly. "This is the entrance to the underground. Once you leave, you cannot come back, however. I wish you luck. If you make it to Asgore, he may let you pass." She gets down on her knees for the second time that you've known her, and she gives you a hug. You hug back, tucking your head under a fluffy ear. You release each other, and you step out of the door, and into a snow filled landscape. The door closes behind you with finality.
The cold chills you to the bone. There is no sky above, only a cavern top, covered in icicles. You almost feel like they could be a danger, if one were to ever fall. This things look huge. You focus back on the path in the snowy forest. You step over a stick, and carry along, trying to stay as warm as possible. You come to a crevice in the ground, maybe five feet across. You consider the leap, and decide that you can make it.
You throw your toy gun and hat over the gap, and walk back a few feet, readying for a running jump. You steady yourself, and run as fast as possible, before making a flying leap. You land on the other side, less than graceful. You pick yourself off the ground, shaking snow from your hair. You grab your hat again, and put your gun in your pocket. You continue walking, until you begin to hear shouting, reminding you of a certain situation you helped with a few.....how long had it been?
As you consider the question while walking, you hear the shouting again. You forget about the question, and go towards the sound. You see a few creatures surrounding another one. The surrounding ones seem to be wearing some type of hat, while they seem to be picking on some type of deer. They are throwing lights and gifts onto its antlers, even though it doesn't like it. You wince when the surrounding monsters laugh at its distress.
You move forward, foot crunching in the snow. All of them freeze. (Heh, nice pun.) They turn towards you. The moment they see you, they all scatter, all except the deer, who is still lying there. It looks up at you in fear. You give it a small smile. "Hey there. Are you okay? Were those guys messing with you?" The creature hesitantly stands up and backs away quickly. "Yeah. I'm fine. Uh, thanks." It backs up against a tree, and you feel bad about scaring the creature. "Do you need help?"
You reach out and untangle lights from its antlers. It flinched at first, but relaxes after the lights are off, sighing in relief. It looks at you again, this time curiously. "I've never seen a monster like you. What're you called?" You stop for a moment, and think. They don't know you're human? Maybe that's a good thing. A name, a name, a name.....uh......you draw up a blank. You shoot off the first thing that comes to mind. "Call me Black Jack." The deer nods. "I'm Gyftrot." You walk alongside Gyftrot, talking with each other amicably.
You part ways when you reach a town, punnily called Snowdin. You walk through the town, without much confrontation. A few monsters look at you funny, but you move on without a hitch. You walk into a snowy wasteland, not much for miles. You walk through, occasionally, you see some dogs or other monsters. As you walk, a dog jumps out of you. You yourself jump, and your chest begins to glow.
A tugging suggestion fills your chest, and a yellow heart floats out. It looks like sunshine on a summer day, contained in a glass cartoon heart container. You stare at it in shock. The dog yips, and you watch it for a moment. It has a dagger and a shield, and is in full body armor. You whistle to it hesitantly, and it bounds forward. Suddenly, it attacks you with a spear, and you desperately jump to the side to avoid it. It stands there, panting. You reach out and pat its head. It quits attacking you, and its neck continues to grow longer the more you pet it. You part with it happily, if not a bit unsettled. Why did the dog attack? You brush it from your mind, and continue on.
You reach a tunnel, and enter it, feeling a tug in that direction. When you enter, it is dark, and you set a hand on the wall, and run it along so you don't run into the rock. There is a glow in the distance, and you pick up your pace. You come to a stop once you reach the glow. It emanates from a flower that seems to be whispering something. You look at it skeptically and with confusion. Flowers aren't supposed to talk. You can't make out the words, so you move on, hand sliding easily against the cool rock.
You reach a river, and you hop easily across it, certainly easier than the crevice in Snowdin. The caves are relatively quiet, not very many monsters. You continue walking, and pick one of the glowing flowers for light. You hold it in front of you, and the glow lights your way. You reach a cave filled with waterfalls and puddles, and you stop to watch yourself in a puddle. Your cowboy hat slips down into your eyes, and you push it back. You sigh and keep walking.
Your footsteps echo loudly, but not enough to be heard well over the waterfalls. You leave that section of cavern, and meet the most beautiful sight you had ever seen. Chips of blue gems stick out from the wall and ceiling, and glowing water and flowers everywhere. It is louder in here than the other caverns, and you realize that is because it is more populated. Monsters walk around, some hand in hand, others on their own, enjoying the caverns.
Nobody disturbs you, and you don't disturb their nice time. You leave the cave, albeit with regret. You slip into the next room, and find yourself in almost complete darkness. Your flower even seems to glow dimmer here. You accidentally brush up against something, and it squeaks, and begins to glow. You jump what feels to be a foot in the air, and fall onto your butt. You look at the thing in surprise, and find yourself looking at mushrooms. The glow slowly fades, leaving you in darkness once again.
You tentatively poke it, and it once again squeaks and glows. You realize that it also lit up grass. You stumble along, and hit another mushroom before the light fades. You continue in this fashion until you reach a dead end. You sigh, and make your way back, except that the glow is already dimming, and by the time you have the thought to retrace your steps, the glow is gone. "Oh crud." You whisper.
You walk along slowly, until something strange and small jumps out at you. It calls itself Temmie, and you once again feel the heart being pulled out of you. You say hi to it, and it responds in kind, when suddenly another one of it appears above you, except with very long legs. You scramble to keep from running into them. This pretty much repeats twice until it leaves you be.
You stumble once again through the dark, and suddenly find yourself in a much smaller cave with considerable more amounts of light. You make your way around, and find more of the 'Temmies'. You talk to a few, and find they have strange things to say, but are generally friendly. You leave more confused than when you entered.
After managing to retrace your steps, you manage to leave the dimly lit mushroom cavern. You come across a room with three ways out. Two of the archways appear to go to the same place and looking into the distance you see two houses, one white and one pink, both leaning. You decide to leave the owners be, and continue along your path. After more walking, and walking, and walking, you come across a large open cavern filled with nothing but bridges. You walk along, finding multiple dead ends, but you get to the end in another cavern. You peer over the edge of the precarious bridge, when you suddenly feel a tug downwards. You find yourself descending once again, and you know nothing more than darkness.
You wake up in a small patch of golden flowers, not really too confused, as it was by far the most unweird thing you had found so far. You pick yourself up, finding yourself mostly unhurt except for a few scrapes and bruises. Unlike your last tumble. There would likely be no Toriel for you here. You take in your surroundings, and find your flower, devoid of glow, next to you. You keep it anyways, and put it on your hat.
You step off of the flowerbed, and find yourself knee deep in cold water. You grunt in discomfort, but carry on. You slosh through the murky water, and find a rubber duck floating in the water. Along with ginormous mounds of trash. Human trash. You pick up a game boy color, and inspect it. The damage is too extensive for it to be functional anymore, but the familiarity of it brings a smile to your face. You put it back down fondly, and continue walking. You come across a dummy, but ignore it and continue walking.
You come across another split in directions, and go to the one on the very left. There is nothing there but an empty area of land, but it seems a bit moister than the other areas. You leave, and walk for a time. It begins getting warmer, and you eventually have to take off your hat, and sweat begins collecting on your forehead and at the small of your back. You leave the caves of waterfalls, and enter a land of heat and lava.
You squint at the sudden brightness, and hiss at the heat against your skin. You slowly open your eyes, adjusting to the blast of light. Compared to Waterfall, it was as bright as the sun in here. As you adjust to the heat, you begin to feel sleepy, lead weighing down your movements. You yawn, and look around for anyone or anything. In the distance you see a few buildings, so you walk that way. You pass a volcano looking monster, and get into an argument with a plane, but are once again just avoided for the most part.
After an age or two of walking, you finally make it to the metal building. The word 'Lab' is written in capital letters on the front. You go to the door and knock on it, but nobody came. You huff in annoyance, and knock again. This time, you hear a series of grinding sounds and the 'ker-chunk' of a lock. You are greeted by a small dinosaur in a striped shirt. You stare at each other for a moment, before her eyes go wide. "Woah...." She whispers.
You give her a smile, and she flinches, scooting backwards a few inches. "Um, hi." You say. She startles at your speech. "U-um.... W-who are y-you?" She stutters our quietly. Your mind goes blank again, before remembering what alias you chose for yourself. "You can call me Black Jack." You tip your hat at the little girl, after all, it's the polite cowboy thing to do. "W-well B-Black Jack, um, come in." She stands aside, and you walk into the building. Cool air washes over you, and you sigh heavily in relief.
You turn back to the small dinosaur girl, who watches you apprehensively. "What's wrong?" She tenses up, and glances quickly to the side then back up at you. "A-Are you a-a human?" You look at her funny. "Yeah. I'm a human. Never seen one?" You ask this jokingly, not expecting her serious answer. "No. I haven't." You were honestly shocked by her answer, but then you think back, and realize, that despite having conversations and seeing intelligent life, you hadn't seen one human. You begin to nod slowly. "No. Humans seem to be in short supply around here." You huff out a short laugh, and look back at her.
She starts a moment, and smiles shyly. "O-oh. Where are my m-manners? Do you, uh, w-want anything?" You look at her pleadingly. "Do you have anywhere I can sleep? Or maybe food." She nods, and walks away. You stand there awkwardly in the dimly lit lab. There is a beeping sound, and a thunk. A moment later she comes back with a bag of potato chips.
She hands you the chips, and you immediately tear them open, and devour them. You then blush, and hide your face with your hat. "Oh. Uh, sorry. I guess I was hungrier than I thought." She laughs and waves you after her. "U-um, I know where you c-can uh, sleep." You nod, and follow her, dumping the empty bag in a trash can along the way. You assumedly go deeper into the lab, but after a few minutes of walking, surprisingly encountering nobody else, you enter a room full of beds. She leads you to one. "You can s-sleep here i-if you want to."
You inspect the fluffy pink bed. "This is great. Thank you." You give her a big smile. She smiles shyly back. You sit on the bed, and she watches. You think quickly, trying to come up with something to say. So, this results in saying the first thing that comes to mind. "Hey, do you know what anime is?" She scrunched her face, her snout wrinkling a bit. "A-Anime?" You smile, and launch into a long explanation. With each word her eyes get wider, and eventually she sits on the bed next to you, and you talk about Mew Mew Kissy Cutie until you fall asleep, the little dinosaur girl absorbing your every word.
You wake up warm, but alone. You sit up, and find your hat next to your bed. You check, and find the gun still in your waistband. You replace your hat on your head, and you retrace your steps back to the Hotland as well as you can, and after a wrong turn (or twelve), you reach the entrance. You leave, regretful that you hadn't found the girl again, if only to say thank you. You leave quietly, or, well, you assume you do.
You walk for a while, and admire the glow of the lava. You meet a few more monsters, but again, generally leave you alone. You wonder why that is. Well, you suppose that if they'd never seen a human, they wouldn't have much reason to suspect you were one. Unless they knew what every single monster looked like, which would be like knowing what every person on the planet looked like, except with fewer people.
You barely realize what you're doing until you run into the wall. You let out an 'umph' when you hit the ground, and stare up at the elevator. You look at it strangely. Were elevators a thing here? You shrug, and enter it. It opens, but instead of elevator music, it is completely silent. There is only one way, up. So you press the button, and with a lurch, the elevator hauls you upwards. After a few minutes it dings, signaling the stop of its ascent. The doors slide open to reveal gray stone, and nothing but the wind and pressing silence greets you.
You step out cautiously, looking around for someone. When you find that nobody's there, you feel deep confusion. You walk slowly down the gray corridor, feeling pensive for no reason other than the utter stillness in the air. You take a turn, and walk straight onto a path over a gray city, equally as quiet. You think that the reason it's so quiet is because you're so high up and far away, but that doesn't offer any comfort. You continue walking, nothing but the sounds of your footsteps breaking the silence. You reach another corridor, and enter. Again with the gray stone and silence and turns. Until you find a house.
It looks suspiciously familiar, but you can't place why. You tilt your head and inspect it. Eventually you sigh, just not being able to recall where you know this house from. You enter it slowly, not wanting to disturb anybody, well if anyone lives here. When you walk in, you see stairs leading down, and two padlocks on a chain. There is a note on it. It reads 'Howdy! I'm in the garden if you need anything. If you have anything you want to get off your chest, please don't hesitate to come. The keys are in the kitchen and the hallway.' Hm. That seems strange, to leave your house open to anyone who might pass along. But maybe they do things differently here.
You wander into the kitchen, past a chair and a warm fireplace, and take the key on the counter. You go back to the foyer and grab the key from the hallway opposite of the living room. You unlock the padlocks, and set them gently on a table, along with the keys. You descend, and arrive in another long hallway. What is it with them and hallways? You walk down it, until you reach another ledge.
You look down at the city again, this time pausing to admire the view. You take a deep breath and continue walking, until you see another elevator, and a door leading to the right. You go through the door, and enter a golden corridor, and a voice in the back of your mind whispers 'The Last Corridor'. You shake the feeling off, despite the goosebumps rising on your skin. You see the faint light, probably produced with magic, dapple the floor like sunlight. You let it wash over you, but soon continue your journey. You leave the golden hall, and enter a world of gray once again. There is a large archway, leading into a room with golden flowers, and a tall monster. You enter.
There is a large goat man that looks a lot like the goat lady from when you first fell....You hit yourself on the forehead, that's where the house looks familiar from. Duh! He was humming a small tune, but apparently the smacking sound attracted the man's attention, and he turns to look at you. He stops humming. Several emotions flicker across his face. Shock, anger, sadness, and resignation being the forerunners. He sets down a large red watering can that was in his hands.
"Hello, human." You tilt your hat to him. "Howdy." His head lifts up a little at that. "So, human, what have you come to the underground for?" He seems genuinely curious, but there is a hint of an edge to his voice. "Honestly? I didn't come here, I fell. Now? I just want to go home." The goat man looks down, shadows around his face so deep that you couldn't read his expression. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that isn't possible." You tilt your head. "Because you make it so, or because it can't be done?" He flinches a bit. "Because I need your soul, to break the barrier that traps us."
He looks back at you, looking resigned and haunted. "It's only thanks to you humans that we're trapped down here. If it weren't for you, we'd be free. If it weren't for you, my wife would still be with me. If it weren't for you, my sons wouldn't be dead!" After every sentence he gets louder, and finally, to accent his final words, a red trident finds itself lodged in your chest.
You look at him in shock, and his eyes immediately fill with horror. You stumble backwards as he stretches a paw towards you. Your hat falls into your lap from the jolt, the echo flower falling from its position. You try to say something, but it comes out as a wet wheeze, blood pouring from your mouth. The goat King seems to be saying something, but you can't hear him, the blood in your ears is pounding too hard. Maybe, this is his JUSTICE, you think to yourself. Maybe this will be enough. Your vision blurs, and the last thing you see is the bright yellow color of a raincoat.