Howdy! ElectricJ here! I don't use that handle anywhere else, but, uh, here's my first fanfic that I feel is decent enough to put online. Undertale belongs to Toby Fox and not me, etc., etc. Don't keep reading if you haven't played Undertale, by the way. Story's an AU but there's still more than a few spoilers up ahead. Yes, the main character is an OC. Please don't kill me.

Er, but without further ado, I present: Fallen. I'm not great with titles. Comments, criticism, dating advice. Just, uh, leave that if you want to.

EDIT: Fixed the clunky formatting in dump 1! Wow, this crap looked a lot better in the word document.

You're going to prove your classmates and teachers wrong; you just know it. With a digital camera in your bag and a flashlight in your hand you're going to climb that damnable mountain and settle years of academic squabbling. Monsters are real and they are interred under Mount Ebbot. The legends are true, you're sure of it. A brisk autumn breeze numbs your exposed face, but you still clamber over stones and grass. You're **really** not supposed to be out here, a thought that makes you bite your lip nervously.

But you can't turn back after so much careful planning. You had to wait for weeks for your father to finally give in to his temptations and get drunk enough to let you out this late. You can't waste this golden opportunity. Cheeks burning red from the cold, you stumble through a twisted copse of oak trees and into a clearing. That's when you find a lead- or, rather, a gaping hole in the mountainside, ringed by tall grass that scratches at your calves as you march closer. There's neither fencing nor trails near this place- which means that the potentially dangerous hole is unexplored. Brilliant.

You're glad that the moon is out tonight. Any darker and you'd be forced to use your flashlight and draw unwanted attention to yourself. But… It couldn't hurt to shine the electric light down this hole, right? Trembling, you fall into an army crawl and bring your head just over the lip of the pit. You're immediately hit by the sweet fragrance of flowers. Flowers!? What are flowers doing down there? You bring a hand to rest over the hole alongside your head and click your flashlight on. Cold, white light fills your eyes with tears that you do your best to blink back. What you see shocks you- or, rather, what you don't see. There's no visible bottom to this pit. Indeed, it seems that its walls end and that it opens into… A wider hole, perhaps? But you can't tell how deep that is, either. Your powerful flashlight, an impressive 1000 lumens, cannot even shed light (heh) on the mystery of this pit.

You crawl backwards into the grass and shakily rise to your feet. This might be the entrance to the fabled underground realm of monsters, maybe even the very pit through which they first entered the subterranean prison. Gathering your wits, you drop your bag, pull back its frigid metal zipper, and fumble for your camera. Breathlessly, you slam your thumb into the power button and begin recording, flashlight clutched white-knuckled in your other hand. "Th-this might be the entrance. To the, uh, land of monsters. That sounds kind of silly, but, uh, I think this might be it. I'll need to come back with climbing equipment and-" Damn your habit of pacing while walking! You've managed to catch your foot in one of your backpack's straps. You tumble forwards, and your hands scramble for purchase. They're met only with air, and in one horrifying moment you realize that you're falling down, down, down. Into the depths of the mountain.

THUMP. Ow. Your entire body is wracked with pain. Wait, you're ALIVE? You open your eyes and twist your head this way and that. You're in… A black void? It's warm and you can vaguely hear a voice echoing around you. Someone male, laughing, only to be interrupted by a soft, undoubtedly female voice. You try to move, but to no avail. You cry for help.

But nobody came.

Will you be trapped in this pitch-black purgatory forever? You feel a heavy, throbbing pain pulse through your body, and the male laughing grows father and farther away. Then, in the distance, you hear the male scream. All is silent.

And then you're awake. For real, this time. You're sure of it. These surroundings are too, uh, not-inky-blackness to be a construct of your imagination. You hope. You can't move your aching head too well, but your eyes roll around to take in the room- a child's bedroom, you're sure of it. The opposite wall has naught but a round mirror and childishly simplistic dresser made of some unidentifiable light wood. Beside your bed sits a nightstand of similar construction. Atop the nightstand is a small lamp with a white, floral-printed shade. It's not currently emitting any light.

You consider calling for help, but decide that you might as well save your energy. There's no need to alarm whoever it is that saved you from that hole. Introductions can come later, when you don't feel so tired and… light? Yes, apart from the dull pain pulsing through your body there's a weird lightness, as if someone filled you with helium. And the bed is strange- you're warm and covered in sheets even though the bed itself can't be larger than a twin size. You sigh and let your eyelids flutter shut. You should really stop worrying so much about trivial crap. You're not dead. That's enough.

The next time you awake, the pain's mostly gone, but the lightness persists. The room has gone from dim to pitch-black, and you feel like you're being watched. You're not sure how you know, but you know: someone is in the room with you. And they speak, with a woman's voice: "My child, I am sorry for turning out the lights but… I thought that we should talk before you see the condition you're in." You squeak audibly. The condition you're in? Are your legs broken? Was your spine snapped in twain? Will you never walk again? Despite the darkness of the bedroom, the woman notices your panic and laughs softly. "Do not worry, my child. You are well. You took quite the hit on your fall, though. You are lucky to be alive!" You hear more quiet laughter from her. Though you haven't even seen this woman, you feel the urge to trust her. There's something so warm and genuine about the way she speaks- almost like a mother to her child. "Tell me, have you ever seen a monster?"

You shake your head before remembering that she probably can't see you, and speak quietly instead. Your voice is scratchy and broken, but you manage to tell her that no, you haven't seen a monster before and you're not entirely sure if they even exist. She speaks again, this time in a much more sombre tone. "My child, monsters are very real- and well… How do I explain this?" Your breath catches in your throat. What is this stranger getting at, and why are you suddenly so scared to see the lights turned on? "I suppose I should give you some context. You see, monsters are different from humans in many ways- particularly in how they fight. They can use magic to target the very souls of their opponents… But their own souls are weak and fragile."

What? Souls? Is this woman going on about religion? She takes your silence to mean confusion, and sighs. "Listen… It is difficult to explain. Something out there, neither human nor monster, attacked you. What it did to your soul should have killed you… But it did not." Wait. "So, let's get this straight," you respond, "you want me to believe in magic, and that it can be used to attack peoples' souls? Listen, ma'am, I want to thank you for hauling me outta that hole but I really don't have time for this-" She sighs again. Apparently she's just as tired of your disbelief as you are of her nonsensical rambling about magic and monsters. With a loud click, the lights come on.

You scream. It's all you can do.