Fighting For Life

The young girl gripped her aching head softly, she seemed to be laying on a bed of soft objects of some description, but she didn’t know what. Turning over slowly she saw she was lying on a bed of golden flowers, their soft petals must have broken her fall. Her entire body hurt like she had fallen from a two-storey building and, looking up she saw a single ray of radiant sunlight shining through a large opening in the mountainous roof. She seemed to have fallen into some kind of cavern inside of the mountain and somehow survived. How the girl hadn’t suffered at least a concussion or broken bones at all from this was beyond her.

“That hurt a lot more than I thought it would, but what was I expecting? It’s a massive hole in the mountain, of course falling down it would hurt.” The young girl asked herself as she lifted herself into a sitting position, still clutching her head to stop the sudden dizziness that had accompanied the rapid movement, shielding her eyes from the sunlight. “Where am I?” The girl asked herself, looking around the dark, smooth walled cavern. There was nothing here except for smooth stone walls and the golden flowers that had broken her fall. Nothing except a pair of tall purple pillars that flanked a long, dark hallway she couldn’t see through at the moment. Not when her eyes were still adjusting.

“There’s an exit.” The young girl muttered to herself as she limped over to the purple-coloured pillars. A dark hallway seemed to grow from between the pillars as the girl stopped quickly, her eyes adjusting to the near pitch darkness as she was now able to see down the hallways lightly and make out its dimensions. “There’s only one way to go. I can’t climb up, at least, not until I can find something to make into a rope” the young girl muttered again, afraid that something or someone would hear her if she spoke to loudly. Silently the young girl walked between the pillars.

The darkness seemed to envelop the young girl’s vision but after a short while the dark walls that had seemed suffocating to her opened into another cavern. This one had another bed of golden flowers in the middle of the cavern and another ray of sunlight shone from above but, looking up the young girl saw that the roof was as solid as the walls and a similar pillar formation flanked another hallway, this one made of pink tiles and brightly lit, suggesting it led to a dwelling of some description. In the middle of the bed of flowers a single flower stood tall among the others with a perfectly straight stem and six beautifully shaped petals adorning its white centre in a circular shape as the girl couldn’t hold back a sense of curiosity, to know why the flower was standing alone when the surrounding others had succumbed.

As the young girl approached the flower bed, the tallest flower seemed to sway slightly in the air, even though there was no breeze in the underground cavern. The young girl froze in place as a face suddenly appeared on the flower and the girl backed away quickly, frightened. “Get a grip. It’s just a flower. You’ve got to be dreaming”. The girl said to herself, reassessing her situation firmly as she examined the flower’s expression.

The face looked normal and unassuming. With grey eyes and a kind smile on its face, no visible eyebrows but there seemed to be a few creases above its eyes similar in shape to eyebrows. Despite the welcoming premise, the flower’s neutral expression seemed oddly suspicious. The young girl just stared in shock at the flower as it looked up at her and smiled as she managed to smile back, hoping to find some way to wake up from what she thought was a dream.

“Hi. I’m Flowey. Flowey the flower”. The flower introduced himself, its voice was high-pitched but nowhere near squeaky, in fact it had a certain firmness to it. The young girl just stood there, lost for words and still aching all over but this shock had pulled all thought of pain out of her head so the thought of falling through a mountain didn’t concern her as much as the thought of what she must have ingested to be seeing a talking flower.

“Umm. Hello” Flowey said again and this time the young girl answered, just not in the way it thought she would. “Am I dreaming? or am I talking to a flower? Sorry if that offended you.” The young girl asked in her soft voice, apparently lost for both words and manners as Flowey replied quickly.

“Wait, dreaming?” Flowey asked, looking surprised. “No. I’m as real as you are. Wait, you haven’t seen a monster yet haven’t you?“. Flowey added, raising two arm-like stems attached to its main stem with leaf-like hands attached to the end and pointing himself out. “I’m not sure if I am or not. Who exactly are you?” The young girl asked slowly, tugging on the collar of her sweater for a second while Flowey looked surprised.

“I already said that. I’m Flowey. I’m a monster. Doesn’t get much simpler than that. Now, as far as introductions go this has been a pretty ordinary one so let’s start from the beginning”. Flowey told the young girl slightly sternly but dropping it’s voice to a much more friendly tone. “You are not dreaming,” Flowey told the girl in all seriousness as she nodded firmly.

“All right. I’ll believe you. Besides, you are the only one I have met down here” the young girl answered, smiling as she looked at Flowey. The monster had a strange expression on its face. Was it amusement? The young girl sat down next to Flowey and spoke to him, wanting to know the details of her predicament. “Am I trapped down here or something?“.

Flowey looked back at her and answered. “Yeah. Sorry about that anyway. Turns out you’re on the opposite end of where you want to be. You want to be on the exit end of this place”. Flowey told the young girl who looked worried and scared at this thought.

Flowey had the same strange look on his face as before when he answered again. “I don’t know what I can do to help you and really I’m not sure if I care or not. Just it’s dangerous out there for you. Yes, I know you’re a human. You’re not the first I’ve seen. I’ve seen seven of them from what I remember”. Flowey told her sternly as the young girl stared at him with her bright green eyes.

Flowey looked straight at the young girl and said, not harshly but in a firm voice. “Look if I have one piece of advice for you, kid. This world is, like it or not, a kill or be killed world. Again, from personal experience. If you want to escape, kill. I know it’s hard but if you don’t then the monsters here will kill you in a second, I saw the king do some terrible stuff and that’s what made me think this way so don’t blame me,” The young girl looked terrified and disgusted at this thought and stared appallingly at Flowey.

“Sorry. I got a bit carried away there, I do that sometimes. Although that doesn’t mean I didn’t mean it. “Flowey said to the young girl, looking downwards slightly but a strange look on his face not like that of before. This time he looked more serious and also strangely smiling? “Why is this world like that? Why will they kill me so quickly?” The young girl asked Flowey, and he looked up at her. The strange look on his face erased and a contemplative look replacing it.

“You know about souls, right? Well, to break the barrier keeping us all underground, we need seven human souls and monsters kill humans. Unluckily for you, you are that seventh soul”. Flowey told her truthfully. The young girl looked scared again.

“Are you going to hurt me?” The young girl asked quickly as she suddenly backed away from Flowey. He looked insulted as he replied. “No. Well, yes, if you get on my bad side but I haven’t had much company for twenty years down here”.Flowey told the young girl who sat down next to him again, although a lot more cautiously this time.

“Sorry. I just want no one else to hurt me, and I don’t want to hurt anyone else”. The young girl told Flowey, tilting her head downwards and a look of sadness on her face as Flowey put a leaf-like hand in her shoulder, extending the stem as needed. “Wait. Anyone else? Who do you mean?“. Flowey asked, showing concern for the obviously saddened young girl, unsure about how she hadn’t noticed a massive hole in a mountaintop, much less climbed it in the first place in one day.

“I would rather not talk about it. It’s a sensitive topic and I, no offence meant, but I barely even know you really,” the young girl told Flowey. She placed a hand on her back as she said so but Flowey didn’t need to hear the full story, speaking quickly as Frisk drew her arm away, still feeling extremely cautious of the monster however he certainly seemed to be gaining her trust.

“I shouldn’t have asked. What’s your name, anyway? You never told me.” Flowey asked the young girl as Frisk replied after a short pause. “I don’t like it, but he did tell me his name.” Frisk thought to herself reasonably as Flowey waited patiently.

“I’m Frisk. I never really liked that name. I don’t know what my parents were thinking when they named me”. The young girl told Flowey, giving a short, awkward laugh that Flowey joined in on. This alone made Frisk feel much safer around the monster; this display of the fact he could accept humans.

“That’s a unique name, haven’t heard that one before.” Flowey noted. He seemed to decide what to say for a moment before speaking. “I might as well teach you how the Underground works. It’s a lot different from the Surface, obviously. “Flowey told Frisk, a small smile on his face that, to the scared young girl, looked oddly sinister.

“Wait what are you going to do!?” Frisk asked loudly, backing away from Flowey suddenly, her worried mindset at the moment making her possess an assuming attitude of future events.

“Shh, keep your voice down or someone will hear us. A monster who would hurt you willingly. Now hold out your arm like this and focus on yourself. Trust me, I’m not going to hurt you”. Flowey told Frisk, holding his leaf-like hand out and opening the palm of his leaf and stem hand quickly to demonstrate.

Frisk copied him but focused entirely on herself, something she found difficult at the best of times and, in front of her a black board adorned with white letters appeared. Frisk stepped backwards in surprise but Flowey was wearing his same, slightly amused expression as he turned to address the surprised Frisk again.

“Great. Now hold your hand to your torso area, around halfway up your ribcage. Using both hands is a good idea for beginners and focus on yourself again. This one thing I’m showing you here is probably the most important thing you’ll learn from me and you’re going to need it for however long you stay down here. It’s permanent what it changes about your anatomy but trust me it’s nothing bad. Seven kids your age and younger, or older, have done this before with no consequence. It’ll make you better, anyway.” Flowey told Frisk response to Frisk’s shocked and questioning look at permanent changes but she pushed her worried aside and she copied him again, but nothing happened when she pulled her hands away.

“I’m not trying hard enough. I’ve got to do this since I might be down here for a while. It’s a permanent change if I pull it off but he told me seven humans have done this before me. If nothing bad happened to them because of this then it helps to know I’m not the first”. Frisk told herself firmly as Flowey said. “Come on, you got it, just try a little harder, remember, you need to do this.” Flowey said supportively as Frisk repeated her actions, slightly expecting nothing to appear in her hands but instead a bright red, heart-shaped object emerged slowly from her body and floated in her hand. The object was as big as Frisk’s palm.

“Wow, you’re really good at this, second try. It took the last human who fell down here about ten to get it right, or at least from what I remember. Now that there is your soul. That is everything you are. If that goes down, then your entire existence goes with it. Souls are really important down here and almost everything revolves around them. I’m serious about that going down though, soul injuries are real severe.” Flowey told Frisk, staring straight into her bright green eyes to convey how important her soul is as she understood him perfectly but was curious about what her soul was.

“Why is my soul red?. Are there any other colours that you know about? What about the last human that fell? Do you remember their soul colour?“. Frisk asked and Flowey laughed for a moment, recalling his memory as Frisk stood her ground this time.

“As far as I know there are ten different colours including yours. Orange is a soul of Bravery. Usually these people are courageous to the last breath, literally. Yellow represents Justice. Generally, these people have an affinity for revenge and carrying out the law. Green represents Kindness. These people are usually pacifists, they refuse to hurt anybody and that’s what gets them killed down here, maybe calling them pacifists is overkill. Still, they make good friends.

“Deep blue is Integrity. These people only do what is morally right by themselves, even if it is murder, usually that serves them well down here. Light blue is Patience. These people can wait for everything, both good and bad, also by far the weakest soul type. Purple is Perseverance. These people always carry on. They don’t give up, no matter what. Now the last one I know for sure, pink represents Love. I used to know someone with this soul colour, until they died.“Flowey told Frisk slowly.

“The eighth one is a grey monster soul. Red is, heh, no idea really and the tenth one, well, no one talks about that since what it does to you is terrible. Even by the standards of what I’ve seen as an immortal flower, what the tenth soul does to the user is just, I think I’d get nightmares if I told you about it, much more yourself”. Flowey explained, his voice turning sour when he mentioned the mysterious tenth soul trait.

“That was a lot of information, but I think I got all of it. I won’t ask about that tenth type though”. Frisk told Flowey. “Do you have any suspicions at all on my soul?“. Frisk added as Flowey scratched his petals, looking slightly thankful that Frisk refused to mention the unknown tenth soul trait.

“No ideas but it might be Determination, like perseverance traits. I heard someone combine the words ‘red soul’ with determination one time. I think he was, umm, a skeleton, with a hoodie or jumper or something. Honestly, I thought you had a green soul at first”. “Now about that board.” Flowey told Frisk as she turned back to the board and took in its contents.

In the centre of the board, a yellow bar was present. The two letters HP next to it and another number on the right end of the bar, 20/20. Looking downward directly underneath the HP bar a number reading one was on the right of two letters, LV. On the left of the LV counter the number one was written on the right of the LV number was three letters, reading EXP and the number zero next to it. “Must be some kind of stat board, like a human video game or something. Oh well, it’s here so I’ll use it, Flowey knows what it is.” Frisk said silently to herself, still holding her red soul in her hand. She had closed her fist around it and now her hand was emitting a bright red glow as though she was holding an extremely luminescent ball in her hand.

“Geez your soul is weak, I haven’t seen one as weak as that in my life and i’ve had a pretty long life”.Flowey said loudly, almost laughing but regaining himself quickly as Frisk looked at him for answers, giving him a questioning look mixed with one of offence.

“Alright. That board is basically our way of determining a monster or human’s wellbeing. The HP stands for health points. Basically, a more refined way of making sure people are alive and well. LV stands for love. The lower the number, the more easily you make friends and the more appealing it is to others to get on your good side. Like some kind of positive aura. That won’t help you down here though. Finally, EXP stands for experience points. The more events you live through the higher that number goes, generally the older you are the higher the number because, life’s cruel game”. Flowey told Frisk who was listening to every word with rapt attention.

“You said my soul is weak. Is that a bad thing? Well, obviously yes”. Frisk asked. Flowey smiled widely and answered. “Of course. I can help you make your soul stronger. You’ll need to be as strong as you can be for what you have to do to get out of this place,“. Flowey told Frisk.

“I just wanted to ask. Do monster souls have a way to attain a colour at all? I know you said they’re grey but if so can I see yours, seeing as how you’ve seen mine?” Frisk asked Flowey whose grin suddenly turned into more of a scowl and Frisk knew she had touched a nerve that the flower would much rather not be disturbed.

“I actually don’t have a soul. I’m alive because I have the will to live — because I want to survive. Monster souls are grey, but the most powerful monster magically has a multicoloured soul, even if they take years to reach their full strength.” Flowey grumbled, looking extremely irritable as Frisk knew she had touched a nerve with her question

“Sorry. It’s my turn not to ask something”. Frisk said, but she didn’t look sad instead chosing to smile, Flowey didn’t though, instead he looked as though souls was a sensitive topic for him. “He doesn’t have a soul. I don’t know how but I also don’t know how long he’s been here. It must be torture for him to have to talk about souls, when he doesn’t have one right now”. Frisk thought reasonably to herself. The position of Flowey’s questioning existence still floating in her mind as his face regained its unassuming manner.

“Now we’re even, moving in from souls though. Now I can help you get more powerful but only like this. It’s not really hitting you with magic or anything, more like strengthening you but it will hurt. Although, when you get out there, assuming you do, you’ll die unless you have a lot of power”. Flowey warned Frisk as several, white, seed-like circles appeared around Flowey’s petals and Frisk didn’t back down. From everything Flowey had told her, minus his kill or be killed mentality which Frisk could work around he hadn’t given her a reason not to trust her.

“Don’t worry it won’t hurt that much. Now just let me help you out. “Flowey said as the seed like objects moved towards Frisk’s soul area which Frisk had returned her soul to before Flowey spoke, finding out how to by adjusting her sweater and finding her soul was missing. “Might as well, he’s the only person I can trust down here.” Frisk told herself reasonably as she stood patiently.

As the seeds touched Frisk she felt an intense pain and yelled loudly, stepping backwards from Flowey in shock. His face was no longer unassuming and kind or indeed recognisable as a normal face at all. It was sadistic looking and evil. His smile was wide and crazy. He had sharp, spike-like teeth and his eyes were glowing red as Frisk took a few more steps back, shocked that such an unassuming monster could suddenly look so insane.

“You really are an idiot Frisk!” Flowey said loudly, his voice sounding more like a high-pitched hiss. “Did you really think that I would help you?“. Flowey looked insane and Frisk was backing away quickly, wayto shocked to even speak or think clearly as Flowey continued.

“I told you I was a monster and that monsters kill humans. If you even suspected that this place exists, then you would know the war stories! I even told you I know you are a human AND I even took the liberty to drop the soul hint as well!“.Flowey hissed loudly, laughing as Frisk’s naivety to trust a monster.

“Flowey please! I thought you were nice! Why would you do this? I trusted you!“. Frisk yelled and Flowey laughed maniacally, Frisk barely managing to stand on her feet. “Okay, run around him, just run around and keep going”. Frisk told herself firmly, attempting to reassure herself.

“I told you we need another soul to break out of this damn prison! Why would anyone pass up an opportunity for such an easy to take soul! Especially from someone as weak, naïve and worthless as you! Now...“. Flowey hissed again, this time a ring of the seeds surrounded Frisk and rose to form a circular cage as Frisk did her best to stay in the centre. She was shocked from Flowey’s sudden betrayal, but the quick turn of events caused adrenaline to take control of the young girl who was desperately searching for a way under or over the seeds, staying silent as she did so.

“Die!” Flowey yelled maniacally as the seeds drew closer, growing sharp, spinning spikes that looked sharp enough to tear through skin. The seeds were closing in on her and Flowey started laughing. “No, no, no, no, no. Flowey, I trusted you!“. Frisk yelled as Flowey replied in a dark hiss, watching as Frisk crouched down to avoid the seeds further. “That’s why you don’t trust a natural killer Frisk! I’m soulless! I feel nothing. I can do this all I want, and I don’t give a single damn!” Flowey hissed, laughing maniacally. Until a bright orange, simmering light from behind the insane flower was thrown at him and Frisk ducked even further down, holding her hands over her head.

Flowey predicted the blast and dodged out of the way, as though he knew it was coming. Throwing a last threatening smile at Frisk he sunk into the ground and the spiked seeds disappeared, Frisk slowly standing up, terror in her mind. “He’s, he’s gone”. Frisk muttered to herself as her eyes widened at her saviour. A tall, furry monster dressed in a purple dress that fell to her ankles walked towards Frisk. Her fur was as white as snow and her face was genuinely kind with a welcoming smile on her face. She had deep blue eyes and had very long, droopy ears that fell along the sides of her head like a goat.

Frisk backed away quickly from her as well, visible fear on the young girl’s face. She was still under the stereotype that this monster was evil, in fact, that she was so evil that she despised Flowey. “Please don’t hurt me. I, I, I’m just scared, and alone, please. I’ve already suffered enough. Why do you think I fell in?” Frisk muttered audibly, flinching as she backed away but she quickly thought to herself. “Get a grip Frisk”. With this she looked up at the monster and saw she wore a caring expression, much unlike Flowey’s sociopathic smile.

“Don’t be worried my child. I will not harm you. My name is Toriel. I am the caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through here every day to keep an eye on that flower creature and it seems I came at the right time. Don’t be so worried my child. I will let no one harm you.”