Chapter Text
...
...Hurts...
...Everything... Hurts...
I'm... not sure how long it's been like this. Years, of course, but... when did it start? When I was 5? When I was born?
...
That timeframe sounds... about right. I'd prefer it were more precise, but that's just... not something I have control over.
...
I think... I'll lie here, just for a bit-
"Howdy!" A weirdly chipper voice spoke before I could finish that previous thought. "You gonna keep laying there forever? That's no good!"
That voice sounded... familiar, somehow. And not in a good way.
"C'mon, up and at 'em, pal! You've got a whole life ahead of you!"
...As much as I didn't like it, the strangely upbeat voice... had a point.
I slowly pushed myself to my feet, pushing through the pain as well. It was bad while I was laying still, but it was worse now that I was standing. To the point I was barely even able to keep myself from falling over.
"That's more like it!.. Geez, you don't look so good. You have a rough fall or something?"
A bizarre sight stood before me. A flower... with a face on it. At a first glance, it donned a friendly expression, though through the eyes of a skeptic, it felt... weirdly fake. Not the talking flower itself, but the smile it wore.
I shook my head. Sure, I did have a rough fall, but that wasn't why I looked like this. I at least knew that much.
"...Hm. Well, I'm sure we can figure out what's wrong with you later." The flower remarked, oblivious to the fact that I already knew what was wrong with me. "Right now, though, no point in waiting around here!"
I reluctantly stumbled over to a narrow tunnel, leaning against the wall to take a breather. After having stood there for that long, I kinda had to.
"...Well, since you insist on staying here, I may as well introduce myself." The flower looked unamused, before quickly switching back to that (now startlingly convincing, though still clearly fake) friendly smile. "I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!"
I took a few moments to consider how to respond, before finally speaking up. "Real... original..."
I spoke quietly through heaving breaths. I had to. Speaking any louder would only add to the existing pain that was standing here and breathing.
After about a minute of extended silence, I got off the wall, and began walking onwards to the best of my ability. Flowey bid me goodbye (or, more accurately, said he'd see me later), and I willed myself forward.
After walking through a dark room, in which the only visible spot was a small patch of grass, I came across... actual color. More than I'd like, actually. It was so purple that it was hurting my eyes. And in the room I found myself in, was what appeared to be a... puzzle. Huh. Weird. Well, might as well do it, I thought. And I started by reading the sign at the corner of the room.
It took more effort than I'd like to admit to read it. I wasn't dyslexic, and it wasn't illegible, but... I suppose the pain just made it hard to focus on reading. It always did, now that I thought about it. But, I figured out what I needed to do, and proceeded to push the respective buttons, pulling the lever at the far end of the room with some effort. This rewarded me with a door opening! How exhilarating. I willed myself onwards, no more time for breaks.
This room was longer. There were several "gates" of sorts, consisting of spikes and levers. Well, I sure do wonder what those levers do... Oh, would you lookit that! This one disables the spikes. It was also labelled with writing by someone named Toriel. How nice of them.
Pulling that lever allowed me passage across the bridge, though Flowey dug out of the ground in front of me shortly after I crossed it. It startled me, but I didn't have enough energy to give a proper reaction.
"Howdy! You're getting along quite nicely! At this rate, considering your condition, and possible breaks... You'll be out of the ruins in about 10 minutes!.. Though, there is one way to get out faster. The last human went that way, too. And the best part? It's in this very room!"
I quickly went from wanting him to stop talking, to immediately intrigued. The last human? Could he mean..?
"Where... is it..?," I naturally inquired.
"Oh, it's just over there!" He pointed at the only unmarked lever using a thorned vine. "Careful, though! It's a bit of a fall!"
I, without much hesitation, barely managed to get over to the unmarked lever. With far more effort than the first two levers, it was pulled, and... nothing happened.
"Is it... supposed to-?"
The ground gave out before I could finish my sentence.
I fell forward, hitting my head - which caused a splitting pain to course through my entire body from the point of impact - and falling into the dark abyss simultaneously. I ended up passing out at some point during the fall.
"...What an idiot."
I woke up on another bed of flowers. Which... wow. If I had a nickel for every time I fell some unknown height before waking up on a bed of flowers today, I'd have two nickels. Which really isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice. Especially considering how specific that is.
I pushed myself off the ground, like last time, only this time with a splitting headache, which was still spreading pain throughout my body. Were I not here for good reason, I'd probably be unwilling to continue. But I willed myself to keep going.
Flowey was in the middle of the next room. It looked similar to the area I fell from, but... darker. I mean, the walls were still purple, but they didn't hurt my eyes down here. Which was... nice, to say the least.
"Well, look who's awake! I was just about to check on you. But it looks like I don't gotta!"
Well, how thoughtful. I... still don't trust him, though. I started to walk past him. My head hurts too much for this.
"...Not in the mood for conversation right now, huh? Well, that's alright! You can tell me your name later!"
Great, I remarked, to no one but myself. The less conversation right now, the better.
"Though, there's one thing I gotta teach you before you move on."
...Oh. Of course. He waited until I essentially had a goddamn migraine to teach me something important... I may as well be respectful. He might have just forgotten.
"And... that... would be..?"
"Why, how to defend yourself, of course! I mean, monsters down here... They aren't exactly friendly towards humans... But, seeing your condition, I don't think you'd actually be able to fight back, so... Your best bet is probably... talking them down, somehow." He seemed to hold back a gag as he said that. "I'm no good at that kind of thing, so instead..."
The world blinked from color, to black and white, and back a few times, before settling on black and white.
"...I'll teach you how to dodge!"
A white box appeared in front of me, with a green, cracked heart in it. The cracks were large, having only grown with time, to the point that some of the cracks were holes. I'd know. They were bigger than last time, too, which... Well, it wasn't a good sign, obviously, but it usually wasn't. Below the box was health on the right, my name on the left. There was also some sort of status to the left of my name, though it was stuck on "Hurting".
KETTUN LVL1 HP 10/10
"See that... heart?.." He looked... genuinely shocked. Which was surprising, in all honesty. It even took him a good few seconds to get his bearings back. "...Well then. That... certainly explains things..." He cleared his throat. "Let's start over, shall we?"
"See that heart? That's your SOUL, the very culmination of your being. You're gonna wanna keep that safe! Especially with how fragile it looks! And I'll teach you exactly how!"
Some weird... rotating ovals appeared behind him. Five of them.
"These are bullets! They can come in many shapes, but you don't wanna get hit by them! Just to make sure you understand that much, I'm gonna send them at you, and you're gonna dodge 'em!" They then start moving towards my SOUL. "Go on, dodge the bullets!"
I, somehow, moved my SOUL to the side, dodging the bullets. It... felt more natural than I thought it would, seeing as it was outside my body and all.
"Great job! Now, you won't be using these skills for a bit, since these parts of the RUINS have been pretty empty for a while. But I don't want you just stumbling off a cliff and that being it, so... If you see yellow stars like this," He dives into the ground, a yellow star taking his place. He returned soon after, the star disappearing. "Then interact with it, and I'll SAVE for ya!" He winked. That's... not possible, right? "Now, I gotta go. Plenty to do for this flower! On the other hand, all you gotta do is get through the RUINS, and you'll be... mostly home free! Save for the monsters in Snowdin, of course. See ya later!"
After that... rather one-sided conversation, which was only partly my fault, I took his advice and saved. I then began my trek through this place - the Ruins, I believe he called them.
It was... rather uneventful. As he said, this place was mostly empty. The puzzles probably automatically reset, since there was no one around to do that... Well, no matter. It didn't take very long for the puzzles to begin with.
I eventually came across a giant bat. They were asleep, though, so I kept quiet and willed myself forward. No point in disturbing them. They looked so peaceful, after all.
Doing that landed myself in a room with a pool in the middle, and a... save point, let's call it, in the middle. I decided to use the save point.
* The water around here is surprisingly deep. It looks incredibly shallow, but also causes a somewhat thick fog.
* Despite not being able to see the path ahead, I must push onwards.
FILE SAVED
I walked around the pool, coming across a somewhat narrow path, with water on each side. I carefully, still stumbling, walked across it.
As I walked, I noticed debris in the water. Most likely from whoever lived here, as through the door at the far end was a house, recently emptied. Within the month, I'd estimate.
After (begrudgingly) looking through the empty house and finding nothing of value, I steeled my resolve, walking to the back room.
It was a small room, just as empty as the rest, though it looked like it was always that way.
Boards lined the ground next to a door. On that door was a window. And through that window... Well, I couldn't see anything past it, as it was blackened for whatever reason.
So, with a deep breath, I opened the door... and found myself stepping in snow. Into a snow covered forest.
...This must be Snowdin.