A New Face in the UNDERGROUND

[Sans]

FLOWEY tried to 'restart' at his previous save file but he could not. That must have meant a new human was in the UNDERGROUND. He could 'reset' as long as there were no humans. He'd discovered this once FRISK had left, but now that things had been set back to the way they were, he was here again. He still felt ever so empty, but maybe this time his plan to take the human soul would not fail. He would make sure of it. He sank back underground and waited for the human to make its way to the entrance of the RUINS. This time he would make to mistake and attempt to kill the human first chance he got. He had made a mistake, trying to befriend FRISK before. That had only ended in his defeat.

TORIEL was waiting by the entrance to the RUINS. She was thinking that today was going to be different. She remembered that the last human who had fallen into the UNDERGROUND had appeared around this time. Perhaps now would be the same. She could not remember it well, but she had a feeling. She was prepared to show them through the RUINS and how it all worked, but she worried that the human who fell would also not like to stay with her and it saddened her quite a bit. This would be easier if her idiot ex, ASGORE had not declared war on humanity. That outburst had sickened her and she had not been seen by anyone for ages. It had been the cause of her disappearance in the first place.

 

[Strawberraki]

Falling was not something Emily favored, not one little bit. She also didn't particularly enjoy tripping on tree roots near large, gaping holes in the ground that seemed to stretch downward forever. This whole situation could have been easily avoided if she'd been looking at the ground as she ran from the only home she had known.

All of this was wrong...

No matter how much she wanted out of this or how wrong it was, it wouldn't stop her descent into the Earth. Soon, the young creature began to panic as she realized how fast the ground was rushing up to meet her. Her fear was not in vain as she landed on a bed of golden flowers with a sickening snap. She wasn't sure what she had broken, and she didn't know how she'd survived such a ghastly fall, but she couldn't care less. The young woman stared up at the hole she'd fallen from with half-lidded eyes. With all the adrenaline flowing through her veins, she couldn't feel a thing, and she hadn't yet fainted from shock.

After a few moments passed, Emily slowly sat upright and clambered to her feet. There was no way that she'd be able to get back out of here, at least, not this way. She turned to face a relatively short passage that, presumably, led further into the cavern. "Guess this is the only way from here..." She muttered to herself in a nervous tone before moving down the hall, only to stop at gray archway with a peculiar looking rune at the top of it. The rune itself was composed of a winged orb with three triangles underneath it, two facing up and the other facing down.

With a sigh, Emily passed underneath the arch and stepped into a dimly lit room. The room itself was empty except for a small patch of grass illuminated by a few rays of sunlight. A magenta archway stood at the back wall with the same rune placed at the top. "I must be in some kind of purgatory because this can't be real..."​

 

[Sans]

"Howdy! I'm FLOWEY, FLOWEY the flower," a golden flower popped up from the ground.

"You're new to the UNDERGROUND aren'tcha? Someone should show you how things work around here. I guess little old me will have to do."

[Initiate battle]

"See that heart? That's your soul, the very culmination of your being..." FLOWEY's smiling face quickly turned demonic.

A circle of inescapable bullets surrounded the heart. They were closing in, ready to kill.

TORIEL rushed out and hit FLOWEY with a fireball, "What a terrible creature, torturing such an innocent youth. Please come with me."

[end battle]

TORIEL extended her hand as though she expected the human to take it. Odd, she had been expecting a child, but nonetheless, she would care for this human all the same. Perhaps, this human would be more sensible. She did not want them to venture out from the RUINS. Surely, they would be killed by ASGORE.

"I am TORIEL, caretaker of the RUINS. You are the second human to fall down here..." her voice trailed off.

 

[Strawberraki]

Emily recoiled when a smiling, golden flower popped out of the ground. She certainly hadn't expected to see anyone else down here, let alone a creepy flower. "Stars above..." She exclaimed in a breathless voice. "You almost scared the life outta of me, man." She gave a nervous laugh as the flower began to speak. Flowey didn't speak very much, but he did speak rather quickly.

Not very long after he spoke of the Underground, the young adult began to feel like she'd lost something important to her, leaving her with an empty feeling in her chest. That emptiness was quickly replaced by dread once she spotted the small, emerald green heart hovering in front of her. Emily's heart sank to the floor when she noticed the flecks of glowing white in her soul. Now was not the time to be thinking of those memories..

Emily was snapped out of her thoughts when Flowey's demonic voice reached her ears, freezing her in her place for a moment. "And this is why you don't talk to strangers." She murmured to herself as tiny, white bullets surrounded her, slowly closing in on her soul. Squeezing her eyes shut, she waited for the inevitable.

But the end never came...

Emily hesitated before slowly opening her eyes when a kind, comforting voice rang out. She glanced up at the goat monster and smiled lightly. "Thank you for your kindness, madam. I surely wouldn't have survived if you had not intervened." She could only assume that this woman had saved her life since she was still alive and Flowey was nowhere to be seen. While she didn't fully trust this new stranger just yet, she hesitantly took the woman's hand, praying that this lady meant well.

"Nice to meet you, ma'am. My name's Emily." She introduced herself in a polite manner. "I didn't know that... I'm sorry that happened." She apologized even if she had no clue what she was apologizing for, it just felt like the right thing to do.​

 

[Sans]

"Yes, the RUINS can be quite frightening, but anyway, welcome to your new home," TORIEL walked with the human into the next room.

There was a puzzle in this room. From the floor there were tiles that jutted upwards from the floor. TORIEL walked across them in an S-formation. There was a clicking sound as the door was opened.

"The RUINS are full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them," TORIEL open the door to the next room and waited for the human to follow along.

There were several puzzles like this all of which were explained by the goat looking monster. She did not lay one harmful finger on the human. Although, something was peculiar about this human. It made TORIEL wonder.

"Because you are a human in the UNDERGROUND, monsters may attack you... but if you strike up a friendly conversation, the monsters will not feel like fighting anymore. You can choose to show them MERCY," TORIEL explained, "Here, you can practice talking to this dummy."

TORIEL gestured to a dummy in the corner of a room. It was just a regular dummy that didn't appear to be alive or a monster. She waited patiently for the human.

 

[Strawberraki]

Emily followed Toriel at a steady pace, trailing along behind her. As they both entered the next room, she stood by the door while Toriel explained how puzzles worked. "I guess it's a good thing that I'm decent at solving puzzles then. I just hope they aren't too hard." She spoke in a quiet tone. She crossed the room to join up with Toriel again. The goat-like monster seemed nice enough for Emily to trust her. It was easy for her to trust someone, one of her flaws that others could easily use against her, and it had gotten her into trouble on more than one occasion.

As Toriel explained each puzzle they passed, Emily listened to her intently making mental notes when she deemed it necessary. She was thankful that Toriel hadn't tried to harm her since she didn't want to lose her newfound trust in the woman.

Soon, the pair came to a room with a dummy in the far corner of the room, and Toriel began to explain how to fight a monster without harming them. "Thank you kindly for your explanation, ma'am." She thanked the monster with a slight nod of understanding and appreciation. With soft steps, Emily walked over to the dummy and gave it a pleasant smile. "Hello there, how're you doing? Good, I hope." She struck up a conversation with the dummy, glancing back at Toriel for confirmation that she was doing the right thing.​

 

[Sans]

TORIEL offered the human a pleased smile.

"Yes, I am very proud of you. Whenever a monster starts a fight, just strike up a conversation and I will come to resolve the situation," TORIEL assured Emily.

TORIEL had thought about leaving the human alone, but something nagged at her not to do it. Against her better judgment, she simply decided that she would walk with EMILY all the way to the NEW HOME. The NEW HOME was cozy and although TORIEL could not see it, there was a yellow sparkling thing in front of the cozy establishment.

"Feel free to come inside whenever you like. I have a surprise for you," TORIEL said happily.

She was genuinely happy to have the human here. She wondered if maybe this would be the one that stayed. Then she would not have to worry about her loneliness or about the human dying out there to ASGORE. She just wanted to have a child to care for again. The lack of one really made the RUINS feel empty.

The only person she ever talked to was someone who told jokes just outside the door and she had never seen their face. However, they had made the RUINS feel a little less lonely.

 

[Strawberraki]

Emily turned to face Toriel with a calm smile. "I appreciate your help, ma'am. I truly can't thank you enough for extended kindness." She said as she walked back toward the woman.

It was nice to have company, that was not related to her, every once in awhile. While it was true that she missed her twin brother and her mother, she still enjoyed Toriel's company. How could she not when the monster had been so kind to her? As they walked through the Ruins, Emily found herself looking around and wondering how long it had taken to build all of this.

Soon, the pair reached a quaint little home with a sparkling, star-like object in front of it. She was going to ask Toriel just what this was but she either didn't know it was there or it wasn't important. Being the curious thing she was, Emily approached the object and placed her hand upon it with a soft 'ping'. 'Well, that was certainly odd.' She thought to herself as she pulled her hand away from the strange object.

Emily stepped into Toriel's cozy home with a soft sigh, unwrapping her scarf from around her neck. "Sorry for the wait, ma'am. I thought that I saw something outside, so I had to see what it was." She explained as she folded her scarf and slipped it into one of the hand-stitched pockets on her jacket.​

 

[Sans]

"It is of no concern little one. Here, I would like to show you something," TORIEL guided Emily down a hallway.

They stopped at the first door and TORIEL gave her a little pat on the head. The inside of the room was cozy enough, but it looked like it was more fitting for a child. It looked like some new things had moved into it last minute as there was a book shelf with books stuffed in it. They looked rather hard to removed as though someone didn't care what had been placed inside them. There was no organization to them whatsoever. However, it was TORIEL's attempt to make the human feel more at home.

"This is your room. If you find yourself tired you will be able to sleep here and if you need me," TORIEL pulled something out of her dress pocket, "I have this CELL PHONE for you to use. You can call me at any time. While you get comfortable, I'm going to whip us up a nice cinnamon butterscotch pie."

TORIEL left the human alone in the room. She could be heard moving about frantically in the kitchen and she was humming a nice tune to herself.

 

[Strawberraki]

Emily followed Toriel down the hallway, giving her a slight smile once the woman patted her on the head. The room looked like it would belong to a child rather than a young adult, but she didn't mind. After all, she couldn't stay here for longer than an evening since she had a family that she needed to get back to as swiftly as possible. It was quite sad that she had to leave so soon.

"Thank you for the room and phone, Ms. Toriel." Emily thanked the woman for the hundredth time today. Hopefully, her many 'thank-yous' hadn't annoyed the monster. "Oh, alright then. I'll be in my room if you need me, ma'am." She said as the goat-like monster made her leave to the kitchen.

Stepping into her room and shutting the door behind her, Emily breathed a sigh of relief. Now that she was alone, she could assess her wounds. She removed her white jacket and crimson t-shirt, revealing a soft black tank top that had faded with age and, of course, a pair of brown, feathered wings. Both of them appeared to be broken but it was nothing that time, and a cast couldn't heal. Aside from the breaks, she had only suffered a few scratches and bruises on her back, arms, and legs. Emily leaned against the door and slid to the floor, careful not to jostle her injured wings. The adrenaline that had kept her from feeling any pain had now faded away, leaving her in quite a bit of pain. She'd felt worse, so this shouldn't be too distracting.

After a brief period of sitting on the floor, she decided to look around the room. Emily stood up and took her scarf out of her pocket, wrapping the cloth around her wings and torso in order to keep them in place so they could heal properly. She then slipped her t-shirt and jacket back on as she began to investigate her surroundings. Dusty toys sat in a crate and old drawings hung on the walls. It appeared that the only new thing in the room was the bookcase crammed full of books. How long had it been since a child lived here? It wasn't Emily's right to know, and she'd stay out of Toriel's business for as long as she stayed here...​

 

[Sans]

TORIEL whipped up a nice cinnamon butterscotch pie and the whole house filled with the aroma. She cut the human, EMILY a slice. She knocked on the door a few times before just leaving it outside, deeming them to be asleep. TORIEL walked back to her reading chair and picked a book off the shelf about snails. She would have made SNAIL PIE, but she thought she would hold off on such a thing for a different time.

She had sinking feeling that the human did not like it here in the RUINS. Even she had to admit, they can get very small once you get used to them. It was also lonely here. TORIEL had exiled herself since ASGORE had declared war on humans. It was why she wanted EMILY to stay here. ASGORE would kill her if he caught word of her being in the UNDERGROUND. There needed to be no more innocent bloodshed of innocent youths.

 

[Strawberraki]

Emily was taken from her thoughts when Toriel knocked on her door a few times. She turned away from the bookcase and moved toward her door. She needed to speak with Toriel about leaving, and she wasn't looking forward to it. Guilt filled her heart as she opened her door and walked out into the hall, careful not to step on the slice of pie Toriel left for her. She bent down to pick up the still warm slice with a disheartened smile. Leaving others behind was necessary for her to get back home, but that didn't make it feel any better.. In fact, it made her feel that much worse.

Emily walked down the hall and into the living room at a slow, agonizing pace, putting off the inevitable for as long as she could. "Hello again, Ms.Toriel." She trailed off before finding her voice again. "I was wondering if you'd be interested in talking while we ate. It's rather important, but we can get to the important stuff after we eat if you'd like." It was obvious that she was desperately trying to put this off. She crossed the short distance to sit down at the table, waiting to see if Toriel would join her or stay put in her recliner.​

 

[Sans]

TORIEL looked up from her book, "Yes, that sounds fine."

She went to the kitchen to get herself a slice of pie. She returned with a plate and a fork. TORIEL smiled warmly at EMILY, pleased with how things were going so far. EMILY had been so kind to want to eat the pie with her together. She wondered what could be so important that would make EMILY so nervous. Unless...

TORIEL didn't let herself finish the thought. Surely the human girl did not want to leave the safety of the RUINS. Of course, she didn't know about ASGORE, the king of monsters and her ex husband. He would kill the human if he found out another one had fallen into this dreadful place. She could not bare to think of the results. For once, she wanted to save the life a human who had the misfortune of falling down here.

"What would you like to discuss, little one?" TORIEL asked, taking a bite of the pie.

 

[Strawberraki]

"Glad to hear that you'll be joining me.." Emily murmured a reply as Toriel got up from her seat. She found herself expecting a word of denial, but the woman was much too kind to do such a thing. However, that only made her a bit more nervous. What if she prevented her from leaving and they ended up fighting? There was no need to get so bent out of shape just yet since they were just going to eat and have a chat.

When Toriel returned from the kitchen, Emily sighed softly in an attempt to calm her nerves. 'Calm down. There's nothing to worry about...' She mentally instructed herself before taking a small bite from her pie. Once asked about what she'd like to talk about, she looked down at the table, refusing to look up at Toriel. "I'd like to know how to exit the Ruins.. It's very important to me that I get back home as soon as possible." She explained in a fragile voice.

"I'm sorry that I have to leave so soon... I wish that I could've stayed here so that neither of us would be lonely, but I just can't..." Emily glanced up at the goat-like monster with sadness apparent in her emerald eyes. "I hope you can forgive me, but I understand if you can't."​

 

[Sans]

TORIEL's heart sank. She had been expecting such a thing to be uttered, but that did not make her any less disappointed.

"I see..." TORIEL said solemnly, "Excuse me, I have to do something."

She rushed out of the living room and down the stairs to what should have been a basement. There was a long corridor with one turn. It eventually led to a door and TORIEL stood there guarding it. She had always wanted to destroy the exit to the RUINS. If she could just save one life, this would all be worth it to her. She had not been able to save the life of a human child, what made her think that she could save an older looking human.

TORIEL sighed. She felt the human, EMILY would come. However, TORIEL would not budge so easily. If the human truly wished to leave, she would meet her down here.

 

[Strawberraki]

Emily looked down at the table as Toriel spoke. She could add this to the list of all the damage she'd done to others, almost all of which was emotional. It was alright, though. She could always find a way to fix all of this..

Soon after Toriel left the room, Emily got up and followed after her in hopes of catching up with the woman. She bolted down the stairs, almost tripping over a few of them, and raced down the long hallway. The walls matched the same deep magenta color of the Ruins which was quite odd since Toriel's house didn't match this place. Maybe, that meant that this place led out of the Ruins? That could explain why Toriel rushed down here so quickly...

Emily's footsteps echoed ever closer as she made her way toward the end of the corridor. After a quick turn and a very short walk, she came to face Toriel. The goat-like monster appeared to be guarding the door behind her, and she wore a serious expression. This situation could easily turn into a fight if she wasn't careful.

"Ms. Toriel, you don't have to do anything drastic.. I can figure something out so that nobody has to be alone." The young adult pleaded with the monster. If this took a turn for the worst, she couldn't guarantee that either of them would walk out of here without any injuries or, if something when terribly wrong, that either of them would walk out of here at all...​

 

[Sans]

TORIEL stood guard at the exit to the RUINS. Her will was beginning to waver at the mere sight of EMILY. She did not want to find such an innocent human, but TORIEL would not be able to forgive herself if she did not at least try to save the life before her. EMILY faintly reminded her of another human that had once fallen before her. She could not recall the name, but TORIEL had not been able to stop them from leaving either.

"There will not be any more warnings... please go back upstairs," TORIEL pleaded with EMILY, but she knew that the attempts were futile.

"If you wish to proceed, prove to me that you are ready..." TORIEL said softly.

[A BATTLE SEQUENCE HAS BEGUN]

TORIEL looked aloof and she stared at the wall behind the human. She didn't have any intention of hurting EMILY, but she was hoping that this would be enough to scare them or get them to run away. Something about all of this... it just felt wrong. She knew why the human would not want to stay. The RUINS was not a place to raise a human.

[ACT] CHECK | TALK WITH TORIEL

[FIGHT]

[ITEM] BSCOTCH PIE | MONSTER CANDY

[MERCY]

 

[Strawberraki]

It took a moment for Emily to realize how fruitless her endeavors were. No many would toss aside their beliefs without reason, and this whole situation was spurred on by this simple fact. It was no use to depute this..

Emily gave a humorless laugh at Toriel's words. "I guess we're both being forced into fighting, huh?" She forced a smile, not letting her sadness bleed into her voice. 'It's funny how much this reminds me of home...' She mused to herself. 'People almost always seem to argue over their beliefs up there.'

"Let's get this over with," Emily spoke in a tired voice. She wanted nothing more than to get this over with, without harming the monster in front of her, if that was even possible. For the second time today, her soul was pulled from her chest, and she felt that she'd never get used to this overwhelming sense of vulnerability. Toriel could easily kill her, but she doubted that would happen. However, that did nothing to quell the dread and fear that washed over her like a wave, threatening to drown her in a sea of emotion.

Pushing past her emotions, Emily decided to Act by talking with Toriel. "Just so you know, I have no intention of fighting back.." She stated with a slight, nonchalant shrug. "No matter what you throw my way, I'll still have no desire to harm you."​