Chapter Text
Trees encased the mountain, ranging from straggly lone oaks to a heavy forest. At the foot of the mountain, expanding into a river and encroaching on the sea was a thick marsh. A small sea-side town huddled on the coastline a few miles away.
A small figure walked through the woods, arms wrapped around themselves, fingernails digging into their blue and purple banded sweater made for an adult twice their size. Their big brown eyes looked over the trees and listened to the birds high above singing their noon songs. Darkness crept in as the trees above started to get closer together with thicker canopies of intertwining branches. The figure stopped, one foot sinking a few inches into a pool of mud. They hesitated only long enough to pull a shiny silver compass out of their pocket. Weird symbols scrawled along the inside in a ring. The red arrow pointed to a child in a striped sweater with a violet and red cloak thrown over their shoulders. Vines blooming with leaves curled like wings on either side of the young figure. They put the instrument away and kept walking.
The darkness got deeper the more they walked. Their feet splashed into puddles and sunk into mud. The singing of birds got louder and intertwined with the croaking of frogs. Then, their foot sunk too far into a patch of mud, and they lurched forward. A collection of brambles scraped past their cheek as they fell into a rather large puddle with a hearty splash!
Shluuursh. Shluuursh. Shlorp! Shluuursh.
The small figure struggled to pull forward, legs straining as both feet sunk deep into the shadowy swamp. Mud swathed over their olive skin and heavy sweater that now clung to them. Frogs croaked and birds cried, and the leaves above hissed in the wind in a cacophony of noise. The figure spat out a swarm of insects that attempted to enter their lungs with each heaving breath. The figure paused in their trudging and looked up. Sunlight was impossible to see beneath the massive canopy of thickly intertwined branches. In fact… was it night? Faint starlight glimmered above, cold and lifeless and far away. The figure shook their head, the tips of their cropped brown hair heavy with muck. They pulled out their compass. The semi-light stole any color or form from the pictures within. Hopefully, they were still walking in a straight line.
The human stumbled and pushed through a crowd of crystal blue, six-petaled flowers. They stood on a strangely hard piece of ground above the water. But, as the human passed through them, the flowers shuddered, and whispers breached the birdsong and croaking frogs. “My child…” “Are you there?” “It is nice to see you.” “It’s been so long, Chara…” “God knows how lonely the years have passed.” The human rushed out of the patch of flowers and fell head-long into deep water again. The blood chilling whispering stopped.
Then, a light glowed further in the marsh.
The figure froze. Although they tried to call for help, their muscles refused to move.
A little voice hissed, “Psst! Hey!”
The human jumped and swung their head around. Instinctual silence choked any noise they might have considered.
“Over here! By the tree next to you!”
The child turned their gaze on the tree near them. A little blue flower peeked out from behind the wood. Six crystal blue petals ringed the pale center of the flower. Rather than seeds or stamens, two round eyes and a little mouth curled down in a nervous frown stared back at her. “Come here! And stay quiet!”
The human looked to the aura of light, which glowed over the swamp like a lantern.
“Hurry! Or you’ll be killed!”
The human stiffened and turned back to the flower, who nodded vigorously. The human struggled over to where the flower was, effectively putting the giant, twisted tree between them and the figure holding the lantern. The human peeked around the tree. The lantern was held by a giant shadowy figure who traversed the swamp in grace, unaffected by the deep mud and tricky potholes of water. The human turned their attention back to the flower.
The flower took a deep breath and said, “Okay. You look like you’ve had a nasty turn here, haven’t you?” A little green vine unfurled from the ground and reached out. The tip of it grazed a series of cuts from a bramble bush that marred the human’s cheek.
The human nodded and swallowed heavily.
The flower’s vine recoiled and dipped back into the muddy earth. The flower frowned. “Oh, golly. You must be so scared and confused. You’re new to the Underground, arent’cha?”
The human blinked. “Underground?”
The flower nodded and then laughed. “Oh, where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself.” He straightened himself out and grinned. “Howdy! I’m Flowey! Flowey the Flower!” He giggled and asked, “Who are you?”
The human quietly answered, “Frisk.”
“Frisk, huh? Well, Frisk! Someone aught to teach you how things work around here. I guess little ol’ me will have to do.” The flower looked back. “But, let’s do this somewhere else! You see, we’re not alone here.”
Frisk sent a glance at the marsh past the tree. The light was brighter, now.
“Monsters live here,” the flower whispered, eyes wide as moons. Frisk bristled. Monsters? From the legends? “Yes, Frisk. Monsters are everywhere here. They wait every day to see if any children wander in. Then, they eat them! I’ve seen it happen.” The flower nodded vigorously. “So, we should get going. Come on! I know just the place!” Flowey dipped under the ground. Frisk grabbed the place where the flower had once been. Yet, nothing was there.
Frisk looked up as a blue shape entered their vision.
A few feet away, a little blue flower poked out of the swamp. “Follow me! Hurry! Stay low and quiet.”
Frisk nodded and, crouching as low as they dare, pushed through the marsh again. They looked back. The firelight washed over plants and mud, glimmering over patches of deeper water like stars. The shadowy figure moved slowly, but deliberately and did not search the swamp around them.
When Frisk got close to Flowey, the flower dipped under the ground and appeared a few feet away yet again.
Just as Frisk got close to Flowey for the third time, their foot slipped off an underwater root and they plummeted into the water. Instantly, they were above the surface again, scrambling back so that they were standing. Muddy water drenched their body, and debris clung to their clothes and hair.
Behind them, the firelight swung around as the figure moved. Dull light glittered on the mud a few feet behind Frisk, and their eyes reflected the glow. Flowey hissed, “FRISK! HURRY!”
Immediately, the human clambered up and, not bothering to attempt stealth, waded and hopped through the swamp as quickly as they could make themselves. The figure was moving faster, now. Firelight gleamed on their sticky clothes. As Frisk looked back, they could see the lantern’s light reflecting off bright blue eyes beneath a heavy hood.
Then, Frisk fell.
They were plunged into the water yet again. This time, as they tried to go up, they felt vines coiling around their ankle. A large hand sunk into the water above them, missing their messy hair by inches.
Yet, this water was leading them straight down. The vines, gripping Frisk’s ankle like a metal clamp, pulled them down and through a twisting tunnel. Just as Frisk thought themselves gone, the vines let go of their ankle, coiled around their midsection, and yanked them up out of the water.
Frisk scrambled to take a hold of the firm earth edging the pool and immediately coughed up the sludgy water they’d attempted to breathe in.
Once the worst of their coughing was gone, Frisk sat down on the edge of the pool and looked to the blue flower next to them. Flowey asked, his voice high pitched and shaky, “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?” His voice echoed in the chamber.
Frisk shook their head and then tipped their head up and observed their surroundings. Stone wrapped around them like a giant bubble with firm earth below and a gaping hole in the center. A puff of flame above them sent blue light shining over them. The only break in the stone was the mouth of a stone tunnel.
The flower sighed and grinned. “Good. Now, I have a question. Who are you?”
“Frisk,” Frisk answered.
Flowey shook his head, his smile unfaltering. “I know your name, silly! I meant: who are you? What is on the inside? …you don’t understand, do you? You humans have gone for so long without magic that you don’t know your manners anymore. Here.” Flowey popped into the earth. When he came back, a vine followed, setting a small bucket of water with a washcloth inside next to him. “Clear off your face. I want to take a good look at you.”
Frisk hesitantly obeyed. They cleaned off their face with the cool, clear water that very quickly darkened with sediment. Flowey’s grin widened. “Oooooooh! I see, now. You have a strong SOUL, huh?”
Frisk cocked their head. “What?”
Flowey chuckled. “Your eyes. Monsters can see into a human’s eyes and know exactly what their greatest attribute is. You are a candid one, huh? I haven’t seen such a strong SOUL in a long time.”
“Okay?”
Flowey’s vine retreated back into the earth. “Now, I should teach you a few things about the Underground, huh? Ready? Here we go!” Flowey stood up straight, his grin wide. Frisk felt their chest warm. A cartoonish heart, red as a ruby, hovered before their chest. Frisk’s eyes went wide. Flowey nodded to the heart. “See that heart? That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being!”
Frisk moved their hand. Their SOUL obeyed, moving slowly from side to side. Then, it stopped. An invisible barrier now stood to one side… and to the other… and above and below them.
“Your SOUL starts off weak,” Flowey went on. “–but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV.” Upon seeing the even deeper confusion cross over Frisk’s face, Flowey chuckled, “What’s LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course! You want some LOVE, don’t you? Don’t worry! I’ll share some with you!” Flowey cocked his head with a cute wink and stuck out his tongue. Frisk smiled a little at that. What a cute little flower.
Five oblong pellets burst out from behind Flowey and hung over his head like a halo, far out of reach of their SOUL. They twirled constantly, as if the second they stopped they’d disappear into nothingness. “Down here, LOVE is shared through…” The bottom of his eyes raised up a little. “–little white… ‘friendliness pellets.’” He turned his full attention back to Frisk. “Are you ready? Move around! Get as many as you can!”
The seeds slowly descended, twirling fiercely as they moved. Frisk started to move their SOUL toward the things, but hesitated. If what Flowey said was true, then their SOUL was weak. That has to be even more true if it’s outside of their body. Couldn’t Flowey kill them this way?
Frisk dodged the attack. The pellets fizzled out of existence.
Flowey’s eyes narrowed, but his grin stayed wide. “Hey, buddy. You missed them. Let’s try again, okay?” Flowey’s eyes opened, and he returned to being a cute, smiling flower. Five more pellets appeared above the flower. A bad feeling rose in the pit of Frisk’s stomach. They dodged this bout, too.
Flowey’s smile vanished and he glared at Frisk as if they’d said something obscene. “Is this a joke? Are you braindead? RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS!” Flowey blinked and then smiled again. “Friendliness pellets.” The five pellets burst into existence and flew at Frisk. They just barely dodged the spinning pellets.
Flowey’s smile turned into something like a Jack-o-Lantern’s grin, with wide black eyes gleaming with tiny pricks of white light in the center. His voice was sharper, high-pitched, and cold. “You know what’s going on here, don’t you? You just wanted to see me suffer.” A large ring of twirling pellets flush together surrounded Frisk and their SOUL. Flowey’s voice evened out. “Die.”
The flower burst into laughter, eyes narrowed and mouth shifting into something almost human with rounded teeth. Frisk’s head swung around as they searched the ring of pellets, vainly seeking any point where they could escape. Flowey’s high-pitched laughter rang in their ears, echoing off the water and the stone.
Oh, how Frisk wished they could have taken their chance with the blue-eyed figure.