Chapter Text
The door that separates you from the rest of the Underground is very large. It towers over you like a beast ready to swallow its prey whole and sends a nervous shudder through your bones. You clench the handle of the pan in your main hand and push the massive frame of the door open with your free one.
You miss Toriel already. You will go back as soon as you have found who you are looking for. Until then, however, you can’t go back. You left a note for Toriel before you set out out so she doesn’t worry about you. You would hate to leave her wondering where you went. She’s your Mama Tori; you can’t bring yourself to worry her.
The small, dirty apron is no protection for what you find beyond the door. It is so cold. You can feel the moisture sitting beneath the tips of your fingers freezing over from exposure to the air. It’s been a long time since you felt such a chill on your skin. Toriel would never let you live in anything but complete comfort.
There is one good thing about the area being freezing cold, at least. That one good thing is that it snows, apparently a lot given how high the white fluff goes. Setting into the white ground is a small, human footprint. It seems you were right about them passing through this way.
The footprint isn’t alone, either. There are dozens of them, all leading out into the distance. The weight of the pan in your hand seems to vanish as you drag your feet to follow after the trail that has been left for you.
You barely feel the cold as it brushes past you. Right now, there is nothing in this world or the one you originally came from that could stop you from accomplishing your goal. You only know you have to find them and fast. This part of the Underground is unfamiliar and they could be really hurt.
You keep the prints in sight as you walk. They don’t look like they’ve begun to be covered up, which means they were made recently. Or, you hope so. If they are too old, you won't be able to track them to the source. You just want to find them safe and sound.
The trail leads in circles as it twists and turns around itself. Occasionally, there are small handprints alongside the path. They sink down deep, like the force behind them was the entirety of their weight. Sometimes, you find hints of other prints beside their own. Each time, you worry that you will find blood or dust along the path, but it never appears. No matter how many times the path deviates or divides into multiple prints, it never shows signs of a major struggle. Nothing outside of one of the normal tussles like what you would come across in the ruins.
The trail even leads through a town. One that is full of kind monsters. They remind you of Toriel, which gives you hope they should kindness when the little one needed it. You cannot imagine what they may have went through without it.
The only issue you come across is when the path ends. The snow thins out into non-existence and the footprints fade with it. There is no more path to follow and no sign they turned around. You have nothing left to find them by.