Prologue: Fallen down

Long ago the world was ruled by the two great races: humans and Monsters. Despite their differences these two races lived in relative peace. But all good things must one day end, for reasons now lost to time, the two races went to war. Humans won this war, again for reasons lost to history the victors sealed the defeated under ground by a powerful barrier spell. Though anyone could pass through the barrier from above, only the power of a human soul could pass back through from below. That was millenia ago, and the war has long since faded from the minds of men.

A young boy stands at the bottom of the mountain, he has always wondered about it, it was not far from his town and the people always told terrible stories. Like ghost stories they told of monsters and traps and said that none who climbed it ever returned. He felt he was getting too old to believe such things anymore, but it was strange, truly no one climbed it anymore, even the grown-ups stayed away. He wanted to find out this mountain's secret, the reason it was feared, he didn't believe the stories so there was only one way to find out, he would have to climb it.

He began the ascent, noting that the mountain wasn't really that high, after about an hour of climbing he was halfway up it. He noticed a cave and decided to look inside. Just a peek he thought to himself I won't go all the way in. he stepped into the cave and looked around, it was more of a small cavern really, but because of the angle of the stone it was dim inside, as his eyes adjusted he moved around a bit. He noticed that there seemed to be a hole in the middle of the cavern and decided to give that a wide berth. After a few minutes of looking around he decided it was time to leave. As he moved his foot caught on something and he tripped, trying to regain his balance he realized too late that his other foot had landed squarely in the hole, and his body began to turn as gravity took hold, and his life flashed before his eyes.

The boy's eyes opened, sunlight filtered towards him from above, his back hurt, his tailbone hurt, his arms hurt. What happened? He wondered o himself. He sat up and looked around, the place he was in was dark, very dark, the only light being sunlight coming down in a shaft. I remember falling… it must not have been far if i'm still alive.

"Hello." a small voice said from the darkness

The boy started and looked around frantically "Whose there?" he asked.

In response a form stepped into the light, it appeared to be a yellow flower, with a face in the middle, the boy yelled and jumped back in terror.

"Shhhhh!" the flower implored "She'll hear you! C'mon, I have to get you out of here!"

"What?" the boy said uttering the first word he had spoken since approaching the mountain "What are you!?"

"Hm?" The flower responded "I'm Flowey, Flowey the Flower, now please let's go!" he seemed to be afraid of something "If Toriel Finds you, you're doomed!"

"Toriel?" The boy asked again

"The mistress of the ruins, The mad queen," Flowey continued "It doesn't matter what you call her she's bad news! I can explain later now lets go!"

The boy was unsure of this, but followed anyway, it soon became clear that he moved much faster than the flower and the latter stopped him and decided to wrap it's stem around his arm in a way so his head popped over the boy's shoulder. The flower gave directions and the boy followed them.

"So what's you're name kid?" The flower asked as they progressed through the first part of the ruins.

"Frisk," The boy responded "My name is Frisk."

"That's a strange name," Flowey said "But I suppose most humans have strange names." Flowey stopped them. "Look, I need to teach you something important," he said suddenly Frisk felt woozy as the world faded to grey tones and he say a red light shining from his chest. "See that heart, that's you're soul, the very culmination of your being. It starts weak, you can strengthen it… but doing so would require you to… Y'know what, never mind, forget I said anything." The grey tones faded back to color. "Monsters will attack you and try to take that soul, don't ever let them okay?"

"Uh..." Frisk replied "Okay..." This was starting to sound like a nightmare, monster's who hunt your soul, that sounded like those movies his mom wouldn't let him watch.

After the first room the sound of footsteps could be heard "Shit!" Flowey said "She's here! We gotta hide somewhere!" the flower proceeded to disappear into the purple sweater that Frisk was wearing leaving the boy to find a place to hide, he was not successful. And as he looked around confused the form of a humanoid goat appeared before him.

"Oh My!" the goat woman said "A human has fallen down! Oh child, I have waited so long for you! You are most welcome here in my ruins!"

Frisk could hear muffled curses coming from the flower as the goat woman approached. She took Frisk by the hand, as she did Frisk felt a tug, nothing major, just a sudden pull, as though this was familiar and known to him, he shook his head and passed it off as a dizzy spell.

"I do apologize, the Ruins are full of traps." Toriel said as they moved forward together "I keep them set to prevent monsters from further ruining my home, but I will show you how to get past them!" the goat woman had a smile on her face, though something was off. Her red and white tunic dragged a bit on the ground obscuring her feet from behind.

As they approached a large room with a double stairway leading to a door Frisk noticed a golden light near some leaves, as Toriel moved up the stairs Frisk moved closer to the light, something was odd, he felt as though he could touch it, and touch it he did. The sensation was similar to electrocution, he felt energy enter his body, he felt invigorated and determined, then came a new sensation, he felt tied, connected to this spot, though it was not a physical feeling it was like his soul was tied to this place.

"Are you coming my child?" Toriel asked from the top of the stairs, she seemed as though she was a little worried. Frisk started climbing the stairs

"I don't see why you think she's so bad." Frisk said to the flower hiding in his sweater "She just seems lost and lonely." Flowey was silent though Frisk could feel him moe, perhaps he was thinking about something.

"I'm right here miss..." He was about to say her name, but realized she hadn;t given it, and wasn;t sure if it would be rude to say it.

"Oh, dear me, where are my manners?" Toriel said suddenly "I'm Toriel, the caretaker of these ruins. What is your name child?"

"Oh!" Frisk responded "I'm frisk, I don't have a cool title like yours though." he said sweetly.

Toriel blushed a bit at that staement "Well frisk allow me to educate you on the workings of the ruins." she walked over sever floor tiles that stuck out higher than the rest and a door opened "We monsters us puzzles for self defense, they're a type a trap to stop intruders, they're… unfortunately necessary down here."

Frisk cocked an eyebrow, this was a bit strange if there were traps everywhere it would be hard to get around. They entered a new room.

"There is a new puzzle here," Toriel said "It requires you to flip switches, I've marked the ones that need to be flipped, go ahead and try to disarm it." The goat woman smiled, it seemed a sad smile to Frisk as though she was trying really hard to have a warm and helpful smile, but something kept it from really being warm and loving frisk thought it must be lonleyness, he got that vibe off her a lot.

Frisk approached the torch lit walls and saw that there were two switches with arrows pointed towards them he flipped the first one and wandered over to the second and flipped it, he heard a loud sound of metal against metal and looked towards Toriel who stood in front of a metal plate with many holes in it.

"Brilliantly done child!" Toriel said "Now we may pass!" they headed through another several rooms passing through the traps there, she walked him down a long hallway and at the end she seemed to have an epiphony "Child wait here." Toriel said "I have an errand to run and I haven't explained the puzzles in the next part of the ruins yet, I don't want you to get hurt my child." after another moment she has another epiphany and digs in the pockets of her cloak pulling out an old cell phone model "Here if you need anything call me, my number is already programed in!" She smiled that sad almost kind smile again and walked away.

When Toriel was gone and Flowey was certain she was out of earshot he reappeared from the sweater.

"She may seem nice," Flowey said sadly "I think she even believes she's being nice, but… she has issues Frisk, and the less of those you see the better, trust me."

"What did she do to you?" Frisk asked curious.

"I never said-"

"You didn't have to." Frisk said

"I'd rather not talk about it." Flowey answered "Now lets see if we can get out of here before she comes back."

"Okay Flowey," Frisk says "I trust you." Flowey seemed to stiffen a bit at the statement but he made no comment. As they entered the next room a frog like monster jumped out in front of them and and the world again turned to shades of grey with a Frisk's heart glowing red.

"You're a human huh?" The frog said "Heheheh! I'm gonna get your soul and take it back to Asgore, then the king will make me the head honcho froggit!

"You don't know what you're doing froggit!" Flowey said desperately "We need this human alive!"

"Since when have you worked with the king?" Froggit answered "You always want to ruin his plans, you couldn't save the others, and you're not saving this one either!"

"Others?" Frisk asked before the froggit opened his mouth and several flys came out to attack him "Gross!" Frisk yelled dodging the first fly but taking a hit from the other two. He felt weakened now, the froggit grinned and jumped up on him slamming his fist down on Frisk's head and finishing him off. Frisk felt the fist make contact, he felt his skull crack open and screamed in pain as life left his body, but then suddenly he was standing at the bottom of the stairs again.

"What?" he wondered aloud.

"Are you coming child?" Toriel's voice asked in a worried tone again. He looked up to see her standing at the top of the stairs, flowey was hiding in his sweater again.

He climbed the stairs "I don't see why you think she's so bad." he said wondering what Flowey would do "She just seems lost and lonely to me." just like before he said nothing, but shifted inside his sweater. He wondered if he was the only one who knew what had happened. He re-introduced himself to Toriel ans she was startled and introduces herself, she showed him the traps and praised him for getting past them again, then left him alone with a cell hone just like before.

Flowey popped back out of his sweater again "So… you have that power too." he said.

Frisk was surprised "You remember?" he asked.

"Yeah, I've had that power for a long long time now." Flowey said "I thought I was the only one… there was someone else like you… before, but they died, not sure how really, they never came back though."

"I thought I was living in a weird dream there for a minute." Frisk said "but you're saying this is real?"

"Yeah, it's real, now this time try to doge frog face okay."

"Yeah, I guess." Frisk responded as he walked into the room again, though this time Froggit did not appear right away, he walked northward into another room and found a bowl of candy. He took a piece out and looked at it.

"That's monster candy," Flowey said "I don't know if humans can eat it." in response frisk unwrapped the candy and put it in his mouth, despite Flowey's ecxcessive explatives the candy tasted sweet, sort of like caramel, he grabbed another and ate that one too.

"Hey! Lets' not be too excessive!" Flowey said "Those are Toriel's!"

"Oh!" Frsik said feeling a little bad for taking them now, he returned to the room to the south and found another shining gold light here, he touched it and felt the tied feeling again.

Right after this Froggit appeared rounding the corner he stared for a moment before smiling.

"Heheheheh, You're a human right?" he asked excitedly "I'm gonna take your soul and bring it to Asgore, then I'll be top Frog!

Flowey tried a new tactic "Nope, you can't have him, he's mine." Flowey said.

The frog looked confused for a moment "What? you don't follow the king, you always mess stuff up!"

"But you certainly can't stop me." Flowey said with a smile "You tried before didn't you." The frog was still another moment

"What?" Froggit replied "You gonna act all nice now and tell me to walk away? It ain't happening flower boy, that soul is mine!"

This time the world did not shift, but frisk saw his soul become visible, the frog let out a flurry of flies and this time frisk dodged them, he dodged the jumps until flowey knocked the frog backwards, the vine that hit the frog looked like it had hurt badly flowey then raised the vine and bared it's thorn filled end towards the froggit.

"No!" Frisk yelled getting netween him and his target "Don't kill him!"

"Why not!?" Flowey said surprised and bewildered "He would have killed you!"

"I don't care!" Frisk replied "It's wrong! He just wanted to make his life better, i'm not gonna give him my soul but i'm not gonna kill him for that either!"

Froggit got up and looked at his savior, something stirred in him, he couldn't kill this kid, not now, not after he had saved his life, from his own friend of all things.

"I'm gonna go home," Froggit said sadly "You're right flower boy, I never could beat you, but you could never beat him either."

"Him?" Frisk asked.

"Someone I don't like… you'll probably meet him eventually, he's easily the worst monster in the underground." A thought occurred to Flowey then "And you cannot try to win him over with kindness kid, he's a stone cold killer, he's killed humans and taken their souls before, he won't hesitate to do so again."

"I don't want to kill anybody!" Frisk said sternly.

"Oh trust me, you won't kill him," Flowey said "Best bet for you, is to run if you meet him."

"Oh..." Flowey's words betrayed a level of fear he had for this individual, Frisk was now quite afraid as well, but he seemed wrong about Toriel, maybe he was wrong about this guy as well.

They continued through the ruins dodging more traps until they came across the sleeping form of what appeared to be a ghost to frisk.

"Um… Is that what I think it is…?" Frisk asked

"It's a ghost," Flowey said calmly "Specifically it's Napstablook, he's relatively harmless as long as you leave him alone."

"But he's in our way." Frisk said "Didn't you say we had to hurry?"

"Yes… I don't really want to run into Toriel again." Flowey responded. "Napstablook, Ghosts don't sleep, get up!" Flowey said as they approached "Seriously, I don't reall want to bother you, but you're kinda in our way buddy."

One of Napstablook's eyes flicked open and he stared angrily at the flower. His form suddenly flew upwards and closer to the two's faces eliciting a response of terror from Frisk who froze up.

"REALLY NOT IN THE MOOD FLOWEY!" Napstablook yelled angrily.

"What? More hate mail?" Flowey asked "Go pout at home Blook."

"How about NO!" Napstablook yelled and again Frisk could see his Soul the ghost seemed to cry out tears, but the tears were movig oddly, trying to attack him, he dodged and rolled. Flowey tried to attack the ghost, but his attacks just moved right through the incorporeal being. Eventually Frisk managed to get closer.

"Y'know..." Frisk said noticing a par of headphones on the ghost's head "Those headphones are really cool, where'd you get them."

The ghost stopped in his tracks, he stared unsure how to react. Though Frisk wasn't sure if his ploy had worked or if the ghost was just so taken aback by the ridiculousness of it all that he just didn;t have a response ready.

"You really like them?" Napstablook asked with genuine curiosity.

"I like the colors, I used to have some that were red and black like that." Frisk said.

"My cousin gave them to me, before he tried to become Corporeal." Napstablook said… "He became a T.V. Star, but everybody hates him, and of course that means they hate me too."

"I don't hate you," Frisk said "You seem nice."

"You don't mean that!" Napstablook said "You're just new here!"

"I am new." Frisk said "But I can't hate you for something your cousin did, and I haven't seen your cousin, so I can't hate him either."

"If you saw him you'd hate him." Napstablook said seemingly unsure if he should be sad or angry.

"Can't really argue with him Frisk," Flowey says "Mettaton is pretty terrible."

"See!" Napstablook said turning on the flower, "You're just ignorant."

Frisk stepped forward and put his arms out, but his body passed through the ghost, he blinked confused at this and tried again.

"Awwwww!" He said dejectedly.

"What are you doing?" Napstablook asked.

"I was trying to hug you," Frisk said "I thought it might make you feel better."

Flowey slapped his face with a leaf and dragged it down slowly.

"You-You'd do that for me?" Napstablook asked "You don't even know me, why should you care?"

"I suppose I don't have too," Frisk said "My mom and dad don't think it's safe but… I can;t really help it y'know, You're so sad, I just wanna hug you and tell you everything will be okay, that usually makes me feel better when I'm sad."

Again Napstablook floated there motionless, apparently processing what he was told before he began to sniff, followed by sobs and then tears.

"I've never told anyone before but..." Napstablook said between tears "I come down here to get away from everything, from everyone, they've all gone crazy, it used to be nice but not anymore, I didn't think there were any nice people left in the world!"

"They've gone crazy?" Frisk asked "Are they really that bad? I think you're cousin probably cares about you, even doesn't show it all the time."

"That's so sweet of you to say!" Napstablook said "Thank you for being nice to me, you have no idea what it means to find someone like you still exists in this world!" he sniffed and composed himself "Here, I'll get out of your way, you go on, I won't stop you anymore." with that the ghost disappeared into the ether and the two were left to themselves.

"How did you…?" Flowey began "He was one of the meanest monsters in the ruins, probably right next to Toriel… I had no idea he even had that side to him."

"People like to judge by what they see," Frisk says "My dad always told me not to, he'd say you have to look past the skin, see what's underneath, I didn't get it at first, but I think I figured it out… you just have to see what's really upsetting them, then try to fix that problem, even if you fail, the fact that you tried is something right?"

Flowey stared at Frisk almost uncomprehendingly, he'd call the kid Naive, but he had just proved his whole belief system right with Napstablook. What was this kid? Could he possibly be…

"Are you… Chara?" Flowey asked in an almost awe toned soft spoken way.

"Huh?" Frisk felt something tug at the sound of that name, like a part of him wanted to answer to it, but he shook his head "My name's not Chara, it's Frisk!"

"Y-yeah..." Flowey responded "I guess..."

The two continued, and Flowey continued to be amazed at this child's ability to turn away all the attacking monsters, it seemed he was defeating them with shear cuteness and goodness, he didn;t know what to think of it. Finally they came to a tree in another hall.

"Y'know, kid," Flowey said "You're charm might work down here but… I don't think it'll work outside the ruins."

"Why not?" Frisk asked. Before he could answer the two heard the faint sounds of footsteps and mumbling, it was Toriel's voice that they heard. Flowey hid back inside the sweater without a word to keep himself from the goat woman's sight.

"That took too log… too long!" she said she pulled out the cell phone and dialed a number, the phone in Frisk's pocket rang. "What?!" Toriel responded to the suprising closeness of the sound, she looked up at Frisk, Her eyes were wide and and red rimmed she stammered at a syllable for a moment, looking incredibly frustrated, worried and upset.

"What are doing here my child?" she asked in a somewhat unhinged voice "I told you to wait for me!" She continued "Why didn't you wait for me?"

Flowey had a thought as she stared down the poor child I told you so kid.

Author's note: I was gonna try to shove all of the ruins into one chapter but… I think this is better.